Survivor, or the Rise and Fall of the House of Ami

This episode was sort of messed up for me. Not that it was a bad episode, but it is definitely an outlier on what has been an extremely satisfying season so far.

First off we have Ozzy complaining about being labeled the leader. Dude, really? Yeah, he admits, everything he thinks and everything he does is better than everyone else, but Stop. Labeling. Me. If he were simply downplaying things to his teammates, but then to the camera was like, yeah, I'm in charge but don't want the emphasize that, I'd be totally down with that. But he actually gets upset at it. Suddenly I'm remembering how mad he seemed when he lost his season and how much it bothered me. Or how lame he was that he threw a challenge just to get rid of someone he didn't like. Ozzy, your ego is overwhelming me through the TV, and it seriously bugs.

Apparently the producers are happy to weed down their cast as quickly as possible, so instead of giving the cast a few days to develop their storylines, we skip the reward challenge and go right to immunity again. The idea of getting to pick someone from the other tribe not to compete is, I guess, sort of an interesting twist, but it isn't an especially interesting one. And why bother giving them immunity? One team picks Ozzy, the obvious choice. The other team picks one of the invisible girls. I realize most of them, like the audience, are not huge Eliza fans. But have they been watching the last few challenges? She is a fierce competitor. You never know what invisible girl might have done, but I credit Eliza for her team's win. The two boys were pretty evenly matched, but Amanda was no match for Eliza. (I can't believe I just said that.)

Back on Team Loser, Erik makes his play and outs Ami. Now, normally I wouldn't have a problem with this, but Erik is so wearily earnest about everything. His backstabbing isn't enjoyable, it feels more like tattling. Ami, on the other hand, is a mature adult and even when she is scrambling I just enjoy her more. Anyway, she gets her finger in the bucket and things look to be fine. She has a creepy moment thanking Eric for outing her, but looking back I think she was actually being totally genuine.

But the Ozz-man returneth, and Erik makes another move. Which, again, he has to do, I don't blame him for a second. But again, instead of having fun with what he needs to do, he seems embarrassed about it. But he sends Ozzy spiraling into full paranoia mode. ::sigh:: This just isn't fun. Anyway, we get to tribal, and Ami gives one of the most honest defenses I think tribal has ever seen. At first I was loving her acting skills, but I soon realized she was being totally sincere. (If she wasn't, give the girl her Oscar now.) Basically she called Ozzy out on his lame paranoia, and it seemed like she had convinced them, but I guess that was just a trick of the editing. So Ami is gone. I've always had a soft spot for Ami, I just LIKE her. I can deal with her not winning, I mean she was dealt a bad hand in the beginning and I never really expected her to last forever. And maybe I'm just a total sucker for girl tears. But I am ticked off at Ozzy now, who is revealing himself to be a fickle, whiny leader with little natural inclination to be even the slightest bit gentlemanly.

Anyhoo. Most of the good news from this episode came from the other tribe. First, Parvati does what I've suspected she was going to do all along - sell out James and Ozzy. Good for her. I do wish, however, that she hadn't picked the two invisible girls as her co-conspirators. Somehow I suspect her final four plan isn't going to work as planned, or we would know those girls at least a little bit by now.

But the best, and I do mean BEST, moment came from the previews for next week, where apparently Jason shows Eliza his "immunity" idol.

"That can't be the idol!" She says.
"Why can't it be?" he says, wounded.
"Because it is just a stick!" she exclaims.

This line reading is, I suspect, the funniest and best thing I have ever heard on Survivor, and is probably the best thing I will ever hear on Survivor. I was crying with laughter. And the best part is that I get to hear it again next week. While I may be bummed that Jason will be warned against using it, which is always entertaining, I'm more than happy to enjoy his exposure as tool by none other than Eliza no less. This is definitely a topsy-turvy season, because dare I say I'm starting to fall for her charms.