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Review: Survivor Samoa - All Hell Breaks Loose
by Jackie Schnoop, posted Nov 6th 2009 1:00AM
(S19E08) I know this photo might be considered sort of spoilerish for the front page. But since last week's Survivor promo showed the merge going down, I know you all know Evil Russell will attempt to work everyone. Heck, that's what the guy does. To me, he comes off akin to a snake oil salesman. Yet he seems to get people to believe his wily ways. I bet he could have sold a lot of snake oil a century back.
Now, I know Russell is a snake in the grass. But each week I have to begrudgingly give him credit for playing the game and realizing what the show is all about. He's a bit like a slimier country boy Richard Hatch, albeit not gay and (thankfully) he keeps his clothes on. I like to think that I'd be like a Liz and see right through his slime. I'm still not understanding why so many people are just falling for the ooze. He did it again tonight. Not everyone fell for it, though.
Although Russell kept going on about how much trust he has with the remaining Foa Foa members, I don't think he'd hesitate to throw any of them under the bus if he thought he had a better ally from Galu after the merge. When the merge went down tonight, he was immediately running around showing his hidden idol to half of Galu and cutting deals for the final seven, final two, you name it. I'm not sure that's the best approach as it kind of blows the idea of having a secret immunity idol. So, Mr. Snake Oil Salesmen screwed up a bit right there.
He predicted he'd swing the Galu folks around to vote off one of their own and they did. Maybe he did know what he was doing after all. Because Laura was sent to Foa Foa by Shambo last week, he thought she was easy ally prey. Little did he know that Laura would do the reprehensible -- she'd disrespect his authority. Oh no! She must be crushed as is anyone who dares not fall for his ooze of slime!
The immunity challenge threw a wrench into that plan after he got just about everyone in on the "oust Laura" plan. Had they not switched the game up and had two people win immunity -- one man, one woman -- and had Laura not been the woman, she would have gone tonight. Instead, they had to scramble. And the target made himself the target with his attitude and his mouth.
I didn't think I'd like anyone less than I liked Ben (sent home a few weeks back). I don't like guys like Ben or Erik. They're so smug, so cocky, so sure that they're so much better than everyone else. Yeah, Russell is like that, too. But he's not so much that way in front of a crowd at tribal council, nor does he demean people to their faces. He plans his game and does have a strategy. Erik's strategy seems to be all about "I'll win because I'm so much better than all of you." He doesn't have an actual plan at all. He must figure the cream floats to the top and so will he.
Dead wrong. With the exception of Shambo (who's eternally out of the loop no matter what), every single merged tribe member voted off Erik and his attitude. There comes a time that enough is enough. If Erik wasn't done in before the tribal council, his words there did him in with anyone undecided at that point. Good riddance, I say. How about you?
[Watch episodes and clips of Survivor over at SlashControl.]
| Yes, they all knew he had it | |
|---|---|
| No, he should have known he was safe |
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