Survivor Blood Vs. Water Episode 8 Discussion and Recap (UPDATED)

Previously on Survivor:

With the women in control at Galang, Vytas was the odd man out.  Still, he managed to hang on, while Laura B. was sent to Redemption Island.  Meanwhile, at Tadhana, Aras didn’t notice that Tyson was busy undermining him at every opportunity.

Crabs scuttle down the beach as the Galang tribe returns to their camp.  Vytas thanks the women and says the word “trust” about ten thousand times.  Later, he admits to the camera that he’s just saying stuff the women want to hear.  Tina, flush with the blindside, starts talking about moving Monica up in their alliance to the “number five” spot.  This comes as unpleasant news to Monica, who decides she’s open to a better offer.

At Redemption Island, Laura M. and John commiserate with Laura B. about how stupid the Galang tribe was to vote her out instead of Vytas.    In the morning, they learn that the “final duel” is imminent.  John declares that he’s been training for this moment for twelve days.  Laura M. tears up, talking about how she promised to come back for her daughter.  And, apparently, Laura B. has nothing interesting to say about the situation.  Still, she looks pretty grim as she walks into the arena and glares at her former tribe mates.

Ciera nervously bites her fingernails at the news that her beloved mother may soon return to the game.  Privately, she worries that Mom will ruin her social game.  I get it.  You’re at this really rad party, and you’re the only girl.  The last thing you want is your Mom showing up, harshing everyone’s buzz.

The challenge is the classic “hang on a pole” endurance test.  Jeff gleefully points out how tiny the grooved footholds are, and how painful it is to use them.  Laura B. struggles early on, but manages to find a position she can hold — described by Jeff as a baby clinging to its mother.  John gets a spot, but he’s clearly hurting.  I immediately call it for Laura M.  She’s calm, relaxed, and she’s got small feet.

Predictably, John is the first one out.  Laura B. gives a valiant effort, but slides slowly until she’s clinging eight inches above the ground.  She finally runs out room and ends up with both feet in the sand.

Laura B. leaves, saying “I feel like I defied the odds.”  She reminds us that she’s from a farm and quiet, but now feels like a stronger women than ever.  John doesn’t want to go, and tells Jeff it was even harder than West Point.  (Jeff looks thrilled.)

Jeff welcomes Laura M. back into the game and tells her to drop her buff.  The tribes are merging!  He also gives her the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol.  She promptly puts it into the fire.  Jeff can’t help rolling his eyes just a little at that.  (What is it going to take to get people to look for that Idol?)

More crabs.  More scuttling.  More Aras thinking he’s in control of the game.  Now that his alliance is back together and all.  The new tribe (which is eventually identified as “Kasama”) finds a picnic feast of wine, cheese, and salami at their camp.  I can’t help thinking that the show is being a bit measly with the treats, but then again, since Tyson is getting everyone to scarf down the rice, maybe the crew doesn’t feel the need to indulge them.

Afterwards, Laura and Ciera go for a strategy walk together.  Nobody seems to mind or worry about what they’re going to talk about.  Which just goes to show how weak their positions are.  Ciera tells her mother about the “singles” alliance and warns her, point blank, not to try strategizing.  Laura, however, can’t help telling the camera that she’s sitting pretty, a swing vote for either the “singles” alliance, or the six “pairs” coalition.

Meanwhile, Tyson goes looking for that Hidden Immunity Idol, using clues he gathered from Hayden and Caleb.  He makes a beeline for a tree draped with twining vines, looks around for about ten seconds, then the music lets us know that he’s about to find the package.  And sure enough, he does.  It didn’t seem that difficult, really.  Either John was really dense, followed way too closely by the other guys, or the producers dug the thing up and stuck it under a rock hoping people would stumble over it accidentally.  Either way, it’s in play now.

Meanwhile… in another part of the forest, Aras and Vytas have a reunion that looks oddly stage-managed.  It seriously looks like the producers pointed them at each other and said, “Talk!”  They discuss some strategy, and Aras is adamant about keeping Tyson in their alliance.  Vytas worries that Tyson could be a physical threat in the challenges, but Aras points out that Tyson’s still got a broken arm.  (I think it’s actually a dislocated shoulder.)  So, Vytas suggests Laura or Ciera as smart votes.  The brothers stroll off with their arms around each other.

Later that night, Monica sneaks off with Tyson to discuss their strategy.  He interviews later that he needs to keep Monica on board, but it’s hard because he finds it so annoying to talk to her.  “She keeps repeating the same idea over and over again.”  Tyson should be careful.  Getting impatient with Monica’s endless strategy talks was what got Kat voted out.  However, that’s better than needing to gouge out your own eyes with a spoon, which is how Tyson feels after the late night session with Monica.

In the morning, Jeff does the ceremonial switch from tribal immunity to individual immunity — a stunning feathered filigree necklace.  The challenge is a brain teaser, where the players are given blocks with different symbols on each face.  Jeff shows them a sequence of six or seven symbols, and the players have to remember the sequence and match each picture in order.  Half of them don’t make it through the first sequence, and soon the contest is down to Aras and Vytas.  Vytas proves to have the clearer head (despite all the meditating that Aras was doing), and wins the necklace.  It looks beautiful on his long-sleeve baseball shirt — which is surprisingly clean after twenty days in the wild.  Then again, he only seems to wear it for special occasions.

So, we get some different voting strategies thrown quickly at us:  Aras tells Katie that the boys will vote for Laura and the girls for Ciera — just in case Laura has an immunity idol.  Ciera tells Laura that the vote will be for Aras, while Laura suggest splitting the vote between Aras and Tina — just in case Aras has the idol.  Gervase looks at the camera and tells us it could go either way.  Yeah, no, it can’t.

At Tribal Council, Jeff mentions that there are many shifting alliances to be made.  There’s old tribes alliances, new tribe alliances, people with relatives, people without relatives… What’s a player to do?  Hayden basically paraphrases Jeff without saying anything about what he’s planning to do.   But he assumes that the “blood” relations will vote with their loved ones.  Katie doesn’t rock to boat in any way.  Tyson agrees that there are many ways to cut up the voting pie.  His goal is just to stay with the majority.  Laura praises Ciera for her social game.  Gervase observes that the game can change at any moment, and one has to be ready to ride the change.

So, then it’s time to vote.  Katie for her BFF Ciera.  Gervase votes for Aras… and that’s all we really need to know, isn’t it?  The vote comes down to:  Laura 2, Ciera 2, and the rest for Aras.  Which means that Vytas, Aras, Tina, and Katie maintained their alliance, but everyone else jumped over to Tyson’s insurrection.

Aras pats Vytas on the shoulder as he leaves for Redemption Island (apparently we aren’t done with duels after all).  As he builds himself a fire, he muses that Vytas will probably be joining him in a day or two.

Next week!  Gross things to eat!