Survivor, or let the machinations continue sweetly along

Holy crap I love Survivor.

We begin with Mikey lecturing Joel over how his brilliant stab-in-the-back voting off Mary maneuver was the stupidest thing he could ever have done. Joel is just nodding while Mikey rambles on and on. Then it cuts to his private cam, and Joel takes the knife in the back metaphor one further and says something like "I can't wait until my baseball bat hits him upside the head." Mikey, I just learned from his official bio, is a commercial actor. But apparently he skipped the day in acting school where they talked about learning how to listen, cause he just talks and talks and talks. Hmmm, I'm sensing a parallel to Penner here, but that would be getting ahead of myself.

The reward challenge is sort of lame and proves that I'm not quite as evolved as I wish I were, cause I sort of enjoy watching them all wrestle and tackle each other in the mud. Curiously invisible is Ozzy, but Penner is shown working it out. The biggest gyp though (is that how you spell gyp? My spell checker seems to think so) is that we get very little in the way of James VS Joel, which is what I was hoping for. Producers, take note, at some point I am going to need a showdown here. Even more crazy is afterwards they like give each other a "good game" hug. C'mon guys, is it too much to ask for a little bitter rivalry here?

The crazy lady is again sent to Exile Island. Will someone please explain this to me???? Unless they are just hoping she is going to find the idol, I see absolutely no tactical advantage to sending her. Ami is awesome for going with her, and apparently Cirie has told them nothing about what happened. But then, uh, Kathy, right? Kathy gets there and decides she is too tired to play anymore. WTF? Why doesn't she take Ami to the fourth clue and start looking from there? This makes no sense to me, and I am officially over the crazy lady.

Big storm, the new kids are all wet and very, very sad. I only mention this because suddenly there is another guy on their team sleeping in the cave scared of spiders, and I swear I have never seen him before. It's like Ethan on Lost who just shows up and everybody assumes he has been there all the time. (Actually his name is Jason, but still he is absolutely unfamiliar to me.)

The immunity challenge seems like a good one. (And begins with another violence-laden threat from Joel about killing anyone who comes into his camp. I'm wondering if I should be scared of this guy?) However I've still had too much talk at All-Star camp (do they even have stupid local tribe names this time?) about alliances to know that they are heavily foreshadowed to lose. The editing is impossible to follow, but I guess the other team was just better with the coconuts or something. Why can't we just have a tug of war between Joel and James? Sometimes simple works you know. ;)

So it comes down to Cirie. And thus begins one of the absolute best pre-tribal shenanigans ever. Parvati and Amanda get Cirie alone, and promise her top three. Which to me sounds perfectly plausible. If James or Ozzy make it to the end, none of the girls would have a chance of winning. And regardless of the wacky hormones flying around, lust isn't worth a million dollars. Or so the girls say anyway, and at this point I believe them.

Watching from a distance, Eliza complains that the girls are "filling her head with lies", which totally cracks me up. I mean, obviously a lot is riding on what decision Cirie makes. But she isn't completely wrong when she complains that people aren't courting her vote more. Especially with a player like her, she should have been made to feel on the inside of an alliance from day one. So with her vote in the air, strategy and confrontation begins. But as the various strategies unfold - vote for Eliza, vote for Parvati, vote for Yau - I keep getting confused about who is involved in each scheme because all of the strategizing is apparently happening right out in the open. Penner is wooing Cirie with Parvati standing right behind him. Ozzy talks about voting for Eliza instead of Yau with Ami at his side. By the time Penner and Cirie start the yelling match it seems the entire team is there. Forget the stealth, these guys aren't even pretending that it isn't all about the alliance. Better yet, other than Penner and Cirie, there doesn't seem to be much animosity, just a realization that alliances are how you win. Pure naked strategy. I'm lovin' it.

All of the maneuvering is delicious to watch, but I'm unsurprised when Yau goes home. Bummed because I like him, but really I like almost all of them except Eliza. And Cirie is right, the three most dangerous are him, Ozzy and James. Yau is probably more valuable at the middle-of-the-game challenges than Eliza is due to his skill and coordination, but in these early challenges where it is all about strength it is a toss up. And even if Eliza makes it to the end, she isn't winning. So why not eliminate a threat? Penner, who I've been digging on, loses it with a lot of fake bluster about only wanting what is best for everyone, which is so ridiculous that I almost think he has convinced himself it is the truth. His strength is valuable, but his stupid fighting (and history of betrayal) makes him very, very vulnerable I think. Another great guy to go to the end with, but too untrustworthy to make it to the merge I think.

Very funny was when Penner and Cirie were going at it at tribal, Jeff was just sitting back with this smile on his face, and I half expected him to pull out a bag of popcorn. Also interesting was Ami voting for Cirie. Remember back to good old season one where every vote against you might actually mean something? Still, interesting.

Looking forward to more on the Joel/Mikey showdown. But until I start to get to know more of that team I'm still fine with them losing and getting rid of more of the excess baggage.

PS - is it just me, or is "Lost" back in a groove? Last nights flash-forward with Kate and Aaron was awesome!