SURVIVOR: PHILIPPINES – 10/31/12

Happy Halloween! Or, happy day after Halloween I should say. I hope everyone had themselves some fun last night, and that everyone stayed safe and checked all their candy for puncture wounds from needles and the such! God knows we got some crazies out there these days. A friend of mine lives three houses down from some lady who killed her own child, two kids she was babysitting, and even two dogs in the house at the time all because she heard demonic voices coming from somewhere. So, yeah, we think people aren’t crazy enough to lace candy they hand out on Halloween, but then we get reminded that people hear the devil at other people’s houses and go on murdering sprees that don’t end with them killing themselves, and get reminded that maybe we ought to check for those puncture wounds in the damn candy!! Really, I’m just kidding, nobody laced any of your candy with anything!

Anyway, Halloween gets the bastard stepchild treatment than other holiday’s get, considering networks still ran new episodes of television shows, whereas on nights like Thanksgiving and Christmas, we get nothing but reruns and movies about those holidays. Where did Halloween go wrong?

The episode starts off with Penner voicing his concerns over why his name was written down by whatever the chick’s name that went home last week. Jeff Kent did his best to cover up why she wrote his name down by saying she was just pissed at him and he couldn’t talk her out of voting him out, but Penner tells us that the number one thing he forgets about, on the island, is that other people are lying. So, he’s not so sure he’s safe anymore. I’m guessing he should continue to remind himself of that fact as the days progress, because if he doesn’t, he probably won’t make it too much longer in this game.

A boat approaches the Tandang beach and hands them a script, telling them that the two tribes (that was a six word stretch of words that started with the letter ‘t’ – try saying that fast, six times straight) are merging. They have ten minutes to grab everything they want to bring with them to their new home. And, yes, Malcolm, you should worry about remembering that idol. Can you imagine if he had shoved in some tree branch 15 minutes away from the beach?!? How obvious would it have been to everyone else that he had the idol when he took off in a dead sprint for the rain forest once he found out he only had 10 minutes to get back on that boat or he was kicked out of the game? Oh wait, those probably weren’t the stipulations, but still. This all but confirms it to me that they only have a small area of the forest they are allowed to use while stuck on the island. Because, if someone did have the idol, chances are they wouldn’t hide it right near the camp. I know they wouldn’t put it somewhere a mile away, but still, I can’t imagine they’d just keep it feet from where everyone sleeps and walks by each day.

The Kalabaw tribe gets the same scroll sent to them, by boat, and Denise is ecstatic because she is going to the merge with a strong foursome alliance, and hoping that her boy Malcolm is still on her side, as well. If that is the case, he can bring in whatever alliance he built while he was with Tandang, and Denise would be sitting pretty with two separate alliances, both as strong as can be. I think Denise may have just become my favorite to win this season.

After the two tribes merge, Skupin realizes that he and RC have, essentially, become free agents. He’s leery of his own tribe since, well, his tribe hates him and RC, so he’s willing to hear any and all offers and make a decision about which side he wants to take from there.

I know Lisa was just trying to be nice, and motherly, but in no way would I think it’s ok for her to just up and go through everyone’s bag within an hour of merging with the tribes. You don’t know those people, and I know it seems like a simple thing to do, but some people have HUGE issues with other people touching/seeing/whatever with their property. So, it’s probably best to just leave it alone and let those people either tell you it’s ok for you to hang up their clothes, or just to I don’t know, let them do it them damn selves!! But, since she’s so thoughtful, she ends up finding Malcolm’s immunity idol in his bag. And, because of that, Malcolm now has to bring her into his alliance with him and Denise. So, he tells her that she is now in a final 3 deal with them. Of course, Lisa is skeptical, since, you know, he’s only even talking to her because she found his secret, but at least it’s a new lead for her. At least it’s not like earlier in the season where she felt like the black sheep of the game and always off by herself, not talking to anybody at all. I don’t know, but Lisa seems like she would be one to make it far, mostly because nobody sees her as a threat and they believe she wouldn’t get a vote in the end. But, we all know how Survivor works, and that it NEVER EVER EVER has anything to do with who plays the best game. The people who win Survivor are the ones who take your clothes out of your bag and hang them up to dry, give you the extra scoop of rice so they end up with less, and give up their half of the blanket so you don’t freeze at night. It never pays to be strategic, smart, and good at competitions. You have to be nice and hug people in the morning if you want to win this stupid game!!