Survivor: Heroes vs Villians

[Tears of Lys]

"You're a little man."

Can't you just IMAGINE how that made Coach feel? I was somewhat surprised to see that he wasn't buying what Russell was selling - however, because of what he did, he may as well have been. He was the spoiler - somewhat like the Ralph Nader of the Survivor Island.

Courtney was pretty funny with her riff on Russell. And right on with her comments about Parvati - "She apparently will flirt with ANYTHING."

:lol:

[Gertrude]

Oh yeah, Coach is all butthurt that he got called out. He is displacing his anger at himself onto Russell, which is fine with me. I think it's just going to make Coach a priority target - again, fine with me. Probably not immediately as Russell still needs Jerri, but he's putting himself right in line. I wouldn't put it past Russell to rope Sandra and Courtney in and go after Coach first because that's how Russell operates. He constantly changes his priority targets based on who has most recently and most loudly challenged him. He's a good schemer and scrambler, but not as strong a planner, I think.

[kuenjato]

awesome episode. of course, Russel and Parvati are in my top 10, so.. :)

I loved it when Rob asked Russel who should go, and he casually gestured at Sandra and Courtney. "One of these two." And he was right. It would have been better to take out Courtney, but Rob was more dangerous if a merge is coming.

[Slurktan]

I thought this was an interesting episode and unfortunately for Rob he made a bad, bad, move. Why target Russell? Just nonsense, why wouldn't he just target Parvati again? Coach would have definitely voted her and then would have forced Jerri to flip or take a rock for Parvati. Just dumb, dumb, dumb. Instead he went with the pissing contest against the other strong guy on the tribe.

I quite enjoyed that Russell called out Rob's(and by extension Coach's) hypocrisy out at the TC, trying to vote out Russell is keeping the tribe strong?

Unfortunately for Coach I'm guessing he is going to run his mouth if they lose next week. And if you run your mouth around Russell, then he will target you immediately. And considering that without Rob and Tyson(and at this point there is no reason for Russell to try) the Villains are worthless in challenges I'd go with 100% that they will lose the next immunity. So sadly I'm guessing the noble warrior will be gone next week.

[Mya Stone]

:crying:

That is all.

:crying: (for good measure)

[RedEyedGhost]

It totally sucks to see Rob go, but it was a very interesting episode. Luckily, it looks like it sets up a lot of crazy for next week, and that's why I watch Survivor.

[Gertrude]

Agree on the crazy - that's the best part.

Rob should have gone for Parv, I agree. I think Russell had shaken his world too much and he got scared. He didn't totally trust his alliance either. Ultimately he was right, but it hadn't happened yet and he didn't catch it. He trusted Coach too much and hoped that he would pull Jerri with him instead of putting in the effort with her himself. I don't know that Jerri was wrong, to be honest, much as I hate saying that.

Rob's main pitch point was that he could trust her because he was backed into a corner or something like that. I didn't quite follow, because that trust/loyalty would only be good as long as he didn't get back into a position of power. In All-Stars, he made the awesome and ballsy move of talking to Lex at a challenge to save Amber. It worked and he cut Lex off at the knees when he had the chance. I liked that move by Rob and Lex was stupid to blindly trust him, but it ultimately showed what Rob was capable of and likely to do again. His reputation caught up with him and Jerri didn't fall in line.

I wonder how people would perceive Russell if they had seen his season play out before hand? All they knew was that he was a villain and he was villainous enough to be included in a top ten. Jerri is trusting the devil she doesn't know over the one she does. As much as Jerri claims others don't get it, I don't think she has a clue either.

[The Wedge]

"You're a little man."

Can't you just IMAGINE how that made Coach feel? I was somewhat surprised to see that he wasn't buying what Russell was selling - however, because of what he did, he may as well have been. He was the spoiler - somewhat like the Ralph Nader of the Survivor Island.

Coach should have skipped the Arthurian comparisons in the website extra from last week and gone with ASOIAF instead.

I kept thinking about Jaime and Brienne talking about vows and how one vow makes a person forsake another vow until it's all just for shite.

Honor in Survivor is for losers. Coach is a loser until he figures that out.

Somebody please target Sandra!

[buy one get one free]

What is frustrating, but I guess typical of Survivor producers, is that had it not been for the fact that both tribes had to vote someone off, the villiains would very likely kept up their winning streak. When they were forced to vote off, that did a number on their mental game and everything fell apart.

As much of a pussy move for Coach to not vote for either Russell or Rob, I can't fault his vote, really. I like Courtney for much the same reason I like Tyson, both are smartasses, but she didn't bring anything to the game and losing her would 'keep the tribe strong.' Obviously, Russell is looking at the long game now so can't really fault his targeting Rob, but if he plans on winning it this time, he's got to have a personality change when the merge happens, or he'll end up a bitter bridesmaid again.

ps This was the first season I liked Rob and I will really miss him. Now I'll probably root for JT, though I hate the Heros tribe.

[Blaine]

Awesomeness. You have to give it to Russell for maximizing on whatever momentum his crazy antics last week provided. My absolute favorite moment was the look of utter astonishment on Rob's face when Russell told him he would vote out Courtney or Sandra - sitting directly in front of Courtney and Sandra.

I think that Rob realized after last week's TC and through this conversation that Russell really is a different kind of Survivor than the game has seen before. Rob's beaten lots of folks, but he's never encountered someone like that and it freaked him out. His whole "suicide bomber" comparison is pretty apt.

That said, it looks like Parvati might be Russell's undoing. He gave me a little hope when he told Coach he wanted to ditch her before finals - but still, the edit we're getting is one that make Russell look disturbingly like someone being played by her. I'd like to think he's craftier than that and the editors aren't showing the confessionals where he talks as much trash about her as he did his old female teammates last season.

The weird thing is, Coach is right. Courtney seriously looks as though a light breeze could break her in half. When will these girls learn to eat BEFORE they go on a starvation-based reality show?

[Ken Stone]

Awesome episode again. It surprises me that Russell doesn't turn people off more with his arrogance. If I was sitting in TC and someone said "If someone comes gunning for me, they go home", I would change my vote right then and there. Also it seems like Rob could have survived if he wouldn't have insisted on blind-siding Russell. Seems like it would have been possible to say "Nice move Russell, let's vote off the weak links". You don't always have to plot to make it to the end. Sometimes you just plot to make it past the next vote.

[Tears of Lys]

Coach is right. Courtney should have been voted off. She's useless at challenges. Because Coach is so off the wall and, well, Coach-like, we tend to discount anything he says, but he was right most of the time last night... up until when he cast his vote. Once he got the lay of the land, he should have been the good soldier and chosen sides.

But I think Courtney hit the nail on the head when she spoke about Russell probably never being paid that much attention by someone as attractive as Parvati. I strongly suspect that will prove to be his undoing.

And I agree with you, Blaine, 100% about Rob's never having encountered anyone like Russell before. Who among us has? :P

Edited because the "have/has" was bothering me.

[Ken Stone]

But I think Courtney hit the nail on the head when she spoke about Russell probably never being paid that much attention by someone as attractive as Parvati. I strongly suspect that will prove to be his undoing.

The dude is a very confident, multi-millionare who owns an oil company. I'm pretty sure he's had plenty of hotties pay attention to him. The truth of the matter is that Courtney doesn't understand his game, and is assuming that he's fawning over Pav like all the other guys have. Make no mistake about it, Russell will cut her throat without a second thought. We could careless how much she flirts with him. He needs her for his alliance, and that's it.

[Blaine]

But I think Courtney hit the nail on the head when she spoke about Russell probably never being paid that much attention by someone as attractive as Parvati. I strongly suspect that will prove to be his undoing.

I'm still torn on this. He definitely appears smitten... but then again, it's just so easy to imagine Russell opining to a confessional videocamera with something like, "Everybody misjudges me. But that's fine. That's what I want them to do. They think I'm in love with Parvati. And I let 'em. Parvati! She's the dumbest woman out here and there's plenty of dumb women I could choose from! I'm gonna let these dummy women take me all the way to the finals, unless they get out of line and then I'm gonna cut 'em loose. Just like that. Because I'm Russell and I'm the best blah blah blah..."

To me, that sounds like the guy we saw last season.

[RedEyedGhost]

Make no mistake about it, Russell will cut her throat without a second thought. We could careless how much she flirts with him. He needs her for his alliance, and that's it.

Yep, Russell doesn't give two shits about Parvati. She's just a means to an end.

[The Wedge]

Yep, Russell doesn't give two shits about Parvati. She's just a means to an end.

Check the CBS extra scenes. The full voting booth confessional for Russell has him referencing Rob messing iwth "his [russell's] girl," or some such.

There is another extra confessional of Parvati where she seems a bit in awe of the balls-to-the-wall always-in-game-mode of Russell. It's like she knows he dangerous because why else would someone from season 19 be back all the sudden, but she can't quite figure him out. IIRC someone upthread mentioned Parvati might have had some additional insight into Russell before this season began (?).

For as hated as he is, Russell is so much more entertaining than a dullard like Danielle or Candace.

[Slurktan]

Check the CBS extra scenes. The full voting booth confessional for Russell has him referencing Rob messing iwth "his [russell's] girl," or some such.

There is also another Russell confessional where he says he knows the two girls will be coming after him in time and he will take them out then. For the "my girl" thing I'd have to assume he would have said something like that to anyone who was screwing around with Natalie last season.

If I'm Russel I'd pretend to be smitten too. Parvati at this point in the game is a good goat to take. Russell is making all the game moves and nobody except Russell and Danielle likes her. Despite her confessional earlier this season, Parvati is playing the coat-tail rider; whether thats by her design or that Russell literally will let no one else make decisions remains to be seen.

[RedEyedGhost]

Check the CBS extra scenes. The full voting booth confessional for Russell has him referencing Rob messing iwth "his [russell's] girl," or some such.

Of course she's 'his girl', she's part of his alliance. As long as she's with him he'll do anything in his power to protect her, until she is either no longer useful/needed or she turns on him.

If Russell had thought he was the one going home last week then he would have used the idol on himself, but based on his talk with Tyson he was quite sure that Parvati would get more votes and he took a calculated risk. He didn't give her the idol to protect her, he gave her the idol to protect himself long term. If you watch this confessional, Russell talks about Parvati as a vote and a tool to help him get the other tribe to join with him after the merge.

She's just a tool to him.

[Blaine]

There is another extra confessional of Parvati where she seems a bit in awe of the balls-to-the-wall always-in-game-mode of Russell. It's like she knows he dangerous because why else would someone from season 19 be back all the sudden, but she can't quite figure him out.

Yeah, according to this interview with Rob at Entertainment Weekly, there were all suspicious of Russell, even though they didn't see his season:

Myself, I realized that 20 seasons in, you have 10 people that are considered the most villainous to ever play the game, and here’s a guy from the most recent season, so he had to do something so outlandish to get picked over all those other contestants. So to me, it’s a no brainer. This kid, you got to keep an eye on him. And then when you look at him and he looks at you with those beady eyes and doesn’t blink, and can’t give you a straight answer — look, I played poker. I can read him. I knew he was bad for business. But at the end of the day, he got me, so I can’t give it to him too hard about it.

[buy one get one free]

I'm still torn on this. He definitely appears smitten... but then again, it's just so easy to imagine Russell opining to a confessional videocamera with something like, "Everybody misjudges me. But that's fine. That's what I want them to do. They think I'm in love with Parvati. And I let 'em. Parvati! She's the dumbest woman out here and there's plenty of dumb women I could choose from! I'm gonna let these dummy women take me all the way to the finals, unless they get out of line and then I'm gonna cut 'em loose. Just like that. Because I'm Russell and I'm the best blah blah blah..."

To me, that sounds like the guy we saw last season.

:lol: Great imitation!