It’s the night before Thanksgiving and we’re given the gift of A REAL EPISODE rather than a clip show of unseen footage. While that used to piss me off as a fan, as a reviewer, I have to admit I could use an easy episode to prepare for the holiday. But this is why we watch Survivor; right, to see another piece of the puzzle put in place? And since I’m such a huge fan of reality competition shows, anything that gets us closer to a winner is a good thing. Wouldn’t you agree?
And with a title like “Gloves Come Off,” I’m looking forward to some serious s**t hitting the fan tonight. I don’t want to be disappointed. We’ve been set up for an all out assault on Ciera (based on the promos I saw) but I wonder if that’s just the standard CBS misdirect. It’s probably Katie, in another predictable episode, but when has that been the case this season?
After a recap that tells us nothing new, we head to the Kasama camp as the tribe is returning from last week’s tribal. Everyone is consoling Ciera for casting the toughest vote all season, but Tyson is being a realist and saying that her vote just means that Ciera is playing hard, and is a force to be reckoned with. Just to be safe, he’s going to keep an eye on her, because he’s underestimated her all season.
We then see Laura arriving at Redemption Island and for a laugh, pretends to be Katie, “Mom!” she yells. Which fools Tina, but then all is revealed and everyone laughs and laughs and laughs… (not really).
So now Tina has to begin thinking about how she’s going to beat Laura tomorrow in the challenge. For some reason, everyone is afraid of Laura’s abilities (something I’ve never seen proven) but maybe it’s the one thing Laura has going for her on Survivor, so wear it like a crown, Mrs. Morett…
Then, as Laura, Tina and Vytas discuss the history of how she got voted out, why Ciera chose to vote for her, and what it means to the rest of the tribe, Vytas utters the one phrase that may be setting up this episode:
“Tyson is running [the tribe], why isn’t anyone voting him out…?”