S:12ep02 - When Bipolar Would Be An Improvement

February 10, 2006 · Filed Under popmedia

First off, a shout-out to all you (CCF) nurses out there — y’all must be so proud of your fellow ‘angel in white’, the ever robust Cirie! (Oh, I am so going to pay for that remark next week… :eek:)

So, what is it about this particular location (Panama/Pearl Islands) that seems to be breed folks who are even more manic & willing to quit than anywhere else Survivor’s been? I mean, really, first Osten (S:7 - Pearl Islands), then Sue & Jenna (S:8 - All-Stars), and now Shane, who just might be the most unstable castaway ever! I know that folks in the Amazon (S:6) were worried about Matthew, what with all his machete-sharpening & ‘helter-skelter’ facial expressions, but, wow! — Shane is really raising the bar in terms of making us wonder if we’re going to see our first clock-tower like psychotic break. If I were Mark Burnett, I think I’d stay away from Panama for a good while after this…

I liked the overall arc of this episode, as the use of the pick’em & Exile Island were both quite good (although, I must state that the schoolyard pick’ems I grew up with were never quite like this one — they were more like the one in S:5 - Thailand, where a captain made all of the choices…). The challenges were good, and we got some reasonable character development.

Of primary significance, however, is quite obviously the two new tribes:

La Mina — currently, my tribe of choice. I was glad to see the Dan & Terry proto-alliance kept together, and I think Misty is a strong addition as well. This tribe seems nicely constructed, stable, & quite functional; hopefully it’ll stay that way (although I must admit that Sally losing the spear so ineptly could portend some future conflict…).

Casaya — Well, they seem to have self-selected a tribe consisting of the Manson-family reject & master alliance architect (Shane — btw, “34 going on 12″? That’s an insult to 12 year-olds everywhere…), both touchy-feely nut-jobs (Aras the “psychic firestarter” & Courtney “mother-earth turtle-lover”), and the two most moronic mature matrons (Melinda & Cirie)! In a rational world, these yo-yos would have no chance & no hope. Survivor, however, is hardly a rational world, so I guess we’ll have to wait & see. (but, nah, they still don’t have a chance as long as they keep Master Detox around & calling the shots!)

Strategically, I can’t say that Casaya dropped the ball when they voted off Melinda (though I think Cirie would’ve been a better choice…), as replacing one of the “older” women with Bruce is definitely a trade up in terms of making them more physically capable during a phase of the game where team strength is of primary importance. Even so, if it were up to me, I think I would’ve leaned in the direction of taking the chance of getting rid of Shane, if only for the collective sanity & emotional well being of the tribe. Swapping Shane for Bruce would’ve been darned close to a wash physically, and it was a reasonably close enough finish in the challenges to make it worth the risk.

All in all, a good episode, and another step along the way to what looks like will be a strong & entertaining edition of the king of realitytv.

-ghp

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