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Great episode! How very Egyptian princess on the Nile with her young servants, eh?

Cirie
Cirie fans were cheering to see their girl taking control like that, while naturally her detractors are calling her 'stupid' (and that's regardless of whether they were sad to see Yau-Man leave.) I was sure she was toast, since swing voters usually manage to get themselves hoisted on their own petards or something equally sinister. Her bravado and sheer stick-to-it-iveness impressed the hell out of me. Looks like I was wrong last week. Not only did Cirie not get voted out, she showed herself capable of being a mover and a shaker in this game. Was her gameplay smart or stupid, all things considered? Did she make the right choice to accept what was offered? Has she made a solid alliance, or painted a giant target on herself?

From the fighting in ep 3, Jonathan and Cirie agree that she had kind of sort of signed up to be the 5th member of the JAYE Birds, as we might call them. Cirie didn't feel particularly happy with the Jonathan, Ami, Yau, Eliza, Cirie scenario. Why would she? She was brought on board as a fifth wheel, for the purpose of booting the Lovers' Alliance members. When her usefulness ran out, she could expect to be booted.

Let's look at what we were shown. Although I'm not 100% certain that both Parvati and Amanda promised Cirie they would turn on their menfolk, there was the vibe that that was the agreement. I know Parvati said she'd turn on Ozzy, but did Amanda make the same promise about James? Cirie may have simply wanted to believe they would because this is the younger crowd Cirie wants to be part of. Or she really believes Parvati will turn on Ozzy when the time comes.

What about the JAYE Birds? Could Jonathan have offered something similar? Should he have? He likes to pride himself he's playing an honest upfront game, so he wasn't willing to lie. He obviously didn't feel comfortable during that fight with Cirie on the beach, when her expectation was palpable, and he was refusing to deliver the one sentence she wanted to hear. All his assurances that everyone in the group of 5 woudl be "equal" carry no weight when one person KNOWS she was brought in last. During that scene everyone who didn't already know became aware of Jonathan's close alliance with Yau-Man.

It's ironic that Yau Man had to be booted in order for there to be room for Cirie in the JAE Alliance. Now that he is gone, it would be game suicide for Cirie to re-align with JAE. Chances may even favor Jonathan finding other allies (namely Ozzy & James) to help boot Cirie. The only thing standing in Jonathan's way is Jonathan. We saw how stubborn he can be. He wanted to target Parvati and would not consider anyone else. He will get his sights set on someone and could find that his inflexibility will make him the next target, not Cirie.

To be fair, Cirie wasn't initially chosen to be part of the "inner 4" with the Lovers' Alliance, either. The key difference between the two groups of four is that Parvati and Amanda were willing to make an offer of Final 3 to her. Cirie could have rejected this offer and stayed with the other group where she knew she was at best F5. But how much fun is that? Considering the many times some of us have yelled at the TV exhorting someone to look beyond the first option that comes their way, Cirie's move does not feel like a bad one in one important respect: it's more fun! Here she is, really playing the game. She wanted someone to promise her something substantial and someone did. She made something happen in this game. Last time she seemed to be more of a follower, this time she is taking up the reins of power.

Frankly, I totally get why Cirie did it. If it costs her her place in the game, it will have been worth it just to find out what it's like to run the game and not just follow what other people dictate.

Ordinarily, someone who swaps allegiance back and forth like Cirie has done would already be a marked player. But in this case, there are a few other points worth noting. There was for example, the presence of Ami during talks with members of the Lovers' Alliance. How is she able to come and go with such ease?

And why were we allowed to know that Ozzy wanted to target Eliza? I find it quite odd we were shown that tidbit, since it went nowhere as a plan. Maybe it's just the resurrection of the old "Everyone is Out to Get Eliza" theme from her original Vanuatu season.

But maybe all these tidbits are intended to show us that the Alliances as acknowledged by "everyone" are actually not the true alliances. Why has Ami been SO low-key? Perhaps she is working the room in a UTR (under the radar) manner, appearing to be everywhere and nowhere. Why did Ami vote for Cirie? Was it to send a message, or make Cirie think someone is out to target her, or put people off the scent that there's a different alliance going on beneath the obvious?

Most interesting of all is Eliza's vote for Yau-Man, especially when you consider this scene










(Vidcaps & added dialogue by ZombieLinda)

Clearly, Eliza and Cirie must have something going on that is not being displayed openly. Rather, there are hints and clues, notably the lack of enthusiasm to go with Ozzy's plan to target Eliza, and Eliza's vote for Yau-Man, which means her scene with Jonathan was intended to mislead him for long enough to get the job of booting Yau-Man done.

I can't wait for next week to see what happens next with this group.

In the meantime, here is the background on Cirie's reasons for pushing to vote out Yau, from her MySpace:

Before our immunity challange I went to Yau and told him where the 4th clue was at Exile Island. Knowing with my help Yau would be sure to find the hidden immunity idol, and we would share the idol (as needed) like he did with Earl. I wanted to allign myself with Yau and I trusted him! All Yau would have to do is volunteer himself to go to Exile Island, NO ONE WOULD HAVE SUSPECTED ANYTHING! We agreed that we were cool and together in this plan.

After the challange Yau immediately spoke up saying, " I think Jonathan should go to Exile Island". HELLO! DING DING DING..... Get the picture? Yes!!

Yau had told Jonathan what I had told him,where the 4th clue was.. allowing him to be the one to find the hidden immunity idol. They would then share the idol, knocking me right out after I approached him and GAVE him the information.

So.. when you ask Why Cirie Why? That is why. I trusted Yau and he tried to turn the information around against me and with Jonathan no less!

WOW EH? Sheds a whole new light, doesn't it? Thanks to platinumtic for bringing it to the boards.

Fans
Since I'm mostly interested in Tracy and Jason, it's no wonder I felt as though we spent no time with the Fans this episode. After much reflection and reading of threads at various boards, I recalled that Joel and Mikey made peace following the blindside at Tribal Council. Actually I'm not really sure if peace was made but they weren't yelling too much so maybe it sort of was. Then there was the traditional O Woe Are We, How Will We Survive bit about the crappy shelter options complete with footage of shivering bodies, unhappy faces and wrinkled fingers.

I do find it interesting that Tracy was not given facetime after having been lauded last episode for her abilities in the shelter-building department. Surely someone must have made a snarky remark. If she were the winner, I think they would have included it in order to cast doubt on her chances. Sadly she can probably be safely eliminated as a winner I think.

Jason had a segment shivering in his leaky cave shelter. This is where the experience of having done it before really pays off for the Favorites, and the inexperience of having only lived it vicariously rears its lame head for the Fans. As a viewer it's just not enough to declare, "I could do it better." One needs to think about exactly what one would do, and perhaps put some effort into researching shelter building methods, and other subjects pertaining to life on an island. For all their interest in the show and despite being ahead at the moment, these Fans really aren't doing very well.

Alexis received enough facetime for the Edgic (Logic of the Editing) people to figure she still has a very good chance to win the game. Those were her wrinkled fingers, after all. I think she simply turns out to be the Fan who lasts the longest.

Challenges
I should have more to say about these challenges, I suppose. The first was brutal, the second was fun but a little dull. Compared with all the goings on at the Faves' campsite, the challenges pale in interest. Maybe next week.

Conclusion
Unless there is a tribe swap, the Fans must construct a much better shelter or they will hit a serious wall. They got lucky this week with that IC win, but after a few nights of little to no sleep, they will be unable to win a thing and will be decimated as a tribe.

I'm enjoying this season largely because of the dynamics on the Favorites tribe. Thinking we know how they operate is actually making it possible to be surprised by their behavior, which is a little ironic too, isn't it?

Thanks for reading.


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