Survivor: San Juan del Sur

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Binary Logic: Dec 28, 2000; Fun Shoe

The Lord Bude posted:

No, Nicaragua was better, because Marty was an interesting character to root for early on, and Watching Fabio Forest Gump his way to the win was mildly entertaining.

This season I can't even put names to faces besides John Rocker.

That's on you, not the cast.
It's been entertaining so far, and the voting is going to get more twisted as the season progresses.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 00:29

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# ? May 17, 2024 23:40

STAC Goat: Mar 12, 2008; Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Count me amongst those enjoying this season. It's not great but it's totally inoffensive with some enjoyable aspects. I thoroughly enjoyed the downfalls of Rocker and Drew. I enjoy the never ending Blue Tribe vs Jeff feud over their inability to get their poo poo together and keep expecting him to bail them out. I enjoy Jeremy and don't quite get the seething hate some have for him. It's a taste thing, I guess. I enjoy Jeremy and the way he kind of balances his grounded and over the top stuff more than a guy like Tony last season who is so over the top he's basically a cartoon.

It's not a great season and there's no great players emerging but I don't need that. It's one hour a week and it's finding a story to entertain me each week. This week I enjoyed Jeremy and Natalie realizing Alec is just Drew with an inferiority complex and incredulously resigning themselves to kissing his rear end. And Jon and Jaclyn trying to figure out how to play and navigate which pigheaded parent to side with. It wasn't some amazing everlasting episode but it entertained me enough.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 00:36

Nexal: Apr 21, 2010; Moby - Extreme ways

Poque posted:

It's weird how nobody was voted out in this episode.

I see what you did there.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 01:02

savinhill: Mar 28, 2010

DaisyDanger posted:

Yeah, considering they won't let anyone die of starvation, they will need to go in with an offer that won't be refused. I'm guessing shelter gets taken away as it did in Australia, though that is boring.

Edit: I also liked Kelley, but that's only going off of the poo poo with Drew. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much else of her shown!

She had potential. She seemed as perceptive and strategy-smart as anyone else this season, and judging by how blunt & honest she was about her father, could've been good in the confessionals if she got far enough to actually have a decent amount of screen time devoted to her.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 01:57

Milovan Drecun: Apr 17, 2007; I masturbate in traffic.

Wes is really good in challenges and pretty good in the social game. I think he's my favorite at this point.

Boxman posted:

"I wish I didn't play with my dad"

I'm sure he'll be super happy to hear that, whatever your name is.

First episode they talked about not being that close. He did a good job early on, but I think his personality grated on people.

Shakugan posted:

I think thinking of this level is a little too high order for this seasons castaways.

Your reason made little sense, getting rid of Kelly probably had everything to do with her being from Jon's tribe and him not trusting her at all. Dale also has little to no chance of doing anything in this game, who are his allies at this point?

savinhill posted:

I thought it was the wrong move for them. Dale and Kelly seem much more likely to stay loyal and Jacklyn knows that Baylor is in tight with Josh, adding all types of uncertainty for post-merge. Dale being annoying is a bonus, you already got a prepackaged excuse if you need to jettison him and he's probably the least threatening player in the game.

She was tight with Jeremy and company, Jon saw that he was on the outs with them. He was right not to give her more life. Baylor and Missy have both been sliding by to some extent. By giving them a chance they've bought a close alliance that isn't a real risk to make a big move. Baylor and Josh are tight, but she doesn't trust him fully and has plenty of reason to trust Jon/Jaclyn now. Missy will almost certainly stick with whatever her daughter wants.

Jaclyn being pissed at Baylor was stupid as the girls had no shot at pulling Josh. Baylor voted with Josh since he was her ally, the girls thing only materialized with Val's return. They began working together soon after. I think they trust each other a bit more than the episode made it look like. They did take out Rocker together and would have been relying on each other if there wasn't a tribe swap.

Bigass Moth posted:

Kelley was a social threat who was probably the most athletic woman out there.

Uhh, social threat maybe... most athletic is definitely Jaclyn, though.

Robnoxious posted:

Keith isn't smart enough but if he knows Dale is next he should give Dale the HII and take a stab at Baylor or Missy (I'd lean Baylor).

Fast Luck posted:

Even if he would, the two allied couples make a foursome, so where would you go after knocking one of them out? Now you're 2v3 (I'm assuming the person whose loved one you booted now hates you).

Was going to reply to that post but Fast Luck nailed it. Keith actually would be smart to hold the idol and not tell anyone but Wes about it. He's sitting pretty good at this point.

DurosKlav posted:

Maybe the price for food will be trading a player to the other team, though if he was going that route just making them go to tribal instead would have been simpler. If they make up wait till next week im going to be annoyed.

Blue won a comfort reward last week, I think they'll lose that and maybe something else. Anything with going to tribal makes no sense, they simply wouldn't take it. Like the idea where only original blue team member would be able to be voted out is extremely silly, half that tribe wouldn't be interested in that trade so it couldn't happen. He'll raid their camp and maybe take all their flint.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 02:09

King Burgundy: Sep 17, 2003; I am the Burgundy King,
I can do anything!

STAC Goat posted:

Count me amongst those enjoying this season. It's not great but it's totally inoffensive with some enjoyable aspects. I thoroughly enjoyed the downfalls of Rocker and Drew. I enjoy the never ending Blue Tribe vs Jeff feud over their inability to get their poo poo together and keep expecting him to bail them out. I enjoy Jeremy and don't quite get the seething hate some have for him. It's a taste thing, I guess. I enjoy Jeremy and the way he kind of balances his grounded and over the top stuff more than a guy like Tony last season who is so over the top he's basically a cartoon.

It's not a great season and there's no great players emerging but I don't need that. It's one hour a week and it's finding a story to entertain me each week. This week I enjoyed Jeremy and Natalie realizing Alec is just Drew with an inferiority complex and incredulously resigning themselves to kissing his rear end. And Jon and Jaclyn trying to figure out how to play and navigate which pigheaded parent to side with. It wasn't some amazing everlasting episode but it entertained me enough.

I can't believe how in agreement I am with STAC Goat this season, it is like opposite world, but yeah, what he said.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 02:13

Pulp Can Move: Oct 4, 2012

Hunahpu will be awarded a bag of rice if one of their own heroically volunteers to become a Kelley. A mere shadow flitting among the palms. A ghostly whisper on the wind. A faint ripple in the tide. Barely said to exist at all, except as a name written on parchment.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 02:54

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Milovan Drecun posted:

Your reason made little sense, getting rid of Kelly probably had everything to do with her being from Jon's tribe and him not trusting her at all. Dale also has little to no chance of doing anything in this game, who are his allies at this point?

She was tight with Jeremy and company, Jon saw that he was on the outs with them. He was right not to give her more life. Baylor and Missy have both been sliding by to some extent. By giving them a chance they've bought a close alliance that isn't a real risk to make a big move. Baylor and Josh are tight, but she doesn't trust him fully and has plenty of reason to trust Jon/Jaclyn now. Missy will almost certainly stick with whatever her daughter wants.

I can buy booting Kelley instead of Missy/Baylor, but this reasoning doesn't quite work for me, because wasn't Missy also with Jeremy, just as much as Kelley was? Or did I miss something? The way I see it, the Missy/Kelley comparison, in terms of allies in the game, is equal. But Baylor is way closer to Josh than Dale is to anyone else.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 03:56

Mercaptopropyl: Sep 16, 2006; I can be framed easier than Whistler's Mother

King Burgundy posted:

I can't believe how in agreement I am with STAC Goat this season, it is like opposite world, but yeah, what he said.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 04:04

DaisyDanger: Feb 19, 2007; Sorry, a system error occurred.

Jon and Jaclyn didn't both vote for Kelley. Jon (and Keith) voted Dale. Was there a reason for this?

# ? Oct 24, 2014 04:06

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

While Kelley/Dale just wanted to straight vote out Baylor/Missy, Baylor and Missy said something like there could be an idol and a vote split was needed. So when Jon and Jaclyn chose Baylor and Missy, they went in on the vote splitting plan

# ? Oct 24, 2014 04:08

DaisyDanger: Feb 19, 2007; Sorry, a system error occurred.

Thanks, I missed that somehow.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 04:14

UltimoDragonQuest: Oct 5, 2011

Missy overplaying for her incompetent daughter should make for good TV.

Rice punishment is dumb and arbitrary but so is the tribe swap so whatever.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 06:09

Zesty: Jan 17, 2012; The Great Twist

savinhill posted:

She had potential. She seemed as perceptive and strategy-smart as anyone else this season, and judging by how blunt & honest she was about her father, could've been good in the confessionals if she got far enough to actually have a decent amount of screen time devoted to her.

Anything interesting Kelley might've done was probably not aired so that the Drew boot would be all the more hilarious.

Soon as Drew left, Kelley is allowed to talk to the camera... But that was probably because of her boot.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 06:38

xbilkis: Apr 11, 2005; god qb
me
jay hova

STAC Goat posted:

This week I enjoyed Jeremy and Natalie realizing Alec is just Drew with an inferiority complex and incredulously resigning themselves to kissing his rear end.

Alec has been an understated fascinating element of the past two weeks for me. Between projecting all of his pent-up frustration with Drew on Baylor last week, and talking about how he was glad to finally be out of Drew's shadow this week only for Jeremy to immediately say "Alec is exactly the same as Drew," it's a pretty funny insight into the relationship the brothers have.

This last episode was kind of boring (I don't really care about the politics of food rationing), but I think this season has been pretty solid throughout. I like basically everyone who has been voted out, which has been frustrating, but most people have shown the potential to be at least mildly interesting. And then there's Reed

# ? Oct 24, 2014 06:59

STAC Goat: Mar 12, 2008; Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Yeah, Alec is kind of interesting and Drew leaving so early basically makes Alec the continuation of a more interesting version. He's the same basic guy as Drew. Clueless, arrogant, douchey. But he's also got such an obvious little brother thing going and wanted so bad to beat his brother and prove he was better. I really enjoyed how Jeremy and Natalie immediately recognized that, acknowledged it casually, and just shrugged their shoulders at the fact that they really didn't have any other choice but to play to the kid's ego and insecurities because they needed him. I look forward to seeing how that all plays out. Next week or soon after there's going to be a Tribal where Alec is the power and that should be amusing.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 07:21

Midrena: May 2, 2009

DaisyDanger posted:

Jon and Jaclyn didn't both vote for Kelley. Jon (and Keith) voted Dale. Was there a reason for this?

They were splitting the vote between Dale and Kelley in case one of them had an idol, so I guess they could've decided to do "the men write the man's name down, the women write the woman's name" to keep things simple.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 11:36

Milovan Drecun: Apr 17, 2007; I masturbate in traffic.

Fast Luck posted:

I can buy booting Kelley instead of Missy/Baylor, but this reasoning doesn't quite work for me, because wasn't Missy also with Jeremy, just as much as Kelley was? Or did I miss something? The way I see it, the Missy/Kelley comparison, in terms of allies in the game, is equal. But Baylor is way closer to Josh than Dale is to anyone else.

!Alert! I'm definitely speculating and I don't believe you missed anything concrete. Waste your life reading my post if you desire...

I guess I feel like Missy is not actually playing but trying to advance Baylor's game as best she can. While she has some connection to Jeremy, Baylor's smart enough to stick with couples and will dictate what they do as a pair. It would take a megapost to break down all the different combinations of people who can be left at the merge, but imagine a worst case scenario where Jon/Jaclyn/Baylor are all that's left. That leaves Josh/Reed/Wes/Alec vs Jeremy/Natalie/Julie vs Jon/Jac/Baylor. Baylor's alliance with Josh becomes an asset, as she can connect the two remaining couples and birth a new alliance altogether. They would need to play it right, but that's a divided enough situation that you can prevent a tie (for instance: tell Wes/Alec you intend to use Jon+ to take control and then turn on them, then vote out Wes/Alec to secure Jon/Baylor/Jaclyn's trust). It puts Baylor 5th, but it's the sort of 5th that can be a swing toward the end and suddenly you're third (or more!). That's good for someone who could have been out third episode.

If singles decide to all gang up, Baylor very likely puts herself at the bottom of a 6 person alliance. She'd be putting her fate in the hands of Wes and Alec. Kelley entering that situation has all her old allies in the mix and is very likely to flip and not be bottom (Wes/Alec). Dale in that situation produces more chaos than anyone else, which is bad for Jon and Jaclyn since they'd be fighting to keep him and screwed if the didn't.

That's the worst case for them, at least in their minds (where they are probably not accounting for Keith having an idol). It's not every angle but I believe it helps makes sense of their decision. If they go to the merge having won a single immunity and successfully take out Keith and Dale, Missy/Baylor, Reed/Josh, Jon/Jaclyn will probably ally immediately. It's no guarantee but it's a great position for any couple to be in. Kelley and Dale may have stuck with it, but that's why I suggest looking at the worst case: it's where you start to see how thing could play out differently.

tldr: Missy/Baylor ain't Kelley/Dale and I'm a frothing idiolt

Milovan Drecun fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Oct 24, 2014

# ? Oct 24, 2014 16:04

Truther Vandross: Jun 17, 2008

I feel like Alec might actually be a capably intelligent person but he's been around his brother so long that it has turned him retarded.

He shows glimpses of sense but it's like he's conditioned to be loving stupid because his brother is legitimately one of the most moronic people walking the earth.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 17:42

thexerox123: Aug 17, 2007

Saveron_01 posted:

You know there had to be a brainstorming session on that one, it can't be that simple.

They'll get a new bag of rice... but Drew will come back into the game and join their team, with 3 weeks of immunity.

# ? Oct 24, 2014 18:04

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

thexerox123 posted:

They'll get a new bag of rice... but Drew will come back into the game and join their team, with 3 weeks of immunity.

Yeah they, like, sent me back because I must be, like, a really good Survivorer. I heard one of them say they were really glad I was going back so that they could finally have someone good at the game to film. I think I even heard Jeff comparing me to Russell, so I must be pretty up there, ya know?

Anyway I'm going to go lay down, bring me some rice?

# ? Oct 25, 2014 12:23

Lone Goat: Apr 16, 2003; When life gives you lemons, suplex those lemons.

It's like Lil all over again.

# ? Oct 26, 2014 02:17

Bjay9: May 3, 2011; Kid, touch is for video games and gynecologists

UltimoDragonQuest posted:

Rice punishment is dumb and arbitrary but so is the tribe swap so whatever.

Are you really against something that's been going on in the show for 13 years? Or just this season's swap? I'm genuinely curious!

# ? Oct 28, 2014 17:54

SalTheBard: Jan 26, 2005; I forgot to post my food for USPOL Thanksgiving but that's okay too!; Fallen Rib

Bjay9 posted:

Are you really against something that's been going on in the show for 13 years? Or just this season's swap? I'm genuinely curious!

Somehow on all 3 of Coach's seasons he was never once involved in a tribe swap.

# ? Oct 28, 2014 18:13

Fast Luck: Feb 2, 1988

Did anyone else hear that Jeremy has a gay twin brother named Josh, and Josh has a brother named Jeremy

# ? Oct 28, 2014 20:03

Bjay9: May 3, 2011; Kid, touch is for video games and gynecologists

SalTheBard posted:

Somehow on all 3 of Coach's seasons he was never once involved in a tribe swap.

You just blew my mind.

# ? Oct 28, 2014 21:08

UltimoDragonQuest: Oct 5, 2011

Bjay9 posted:

Are you really against something that's been going on in the show for 13 years? Or just this season's swap? I'm genuinely curious!

The timing of the swap is producer meddling but a random draw should be fair and anything (other than Redemption) that can nudge people away from dead end alliances is worthwhile.

# ? Oct 29, 2014 00:54

Harriet Carker: Jun 2, 2009

I feel like the tribe swap is an integral part of the show. True, sometimes players are put into a position they can't possibly recover from but I think that's rare. Most deft players are able to use their social skills to maneuver into an advantageous position by spotting the cracks and slipping in where needed. Plus it shakes up the game and makes it fun for the viewers.

# ? Oct 29, 2014 01:44

Baddog: May 12, 2001

I thought they have had unlimited rice for the past 10+ seasons....

# ? Oct 29, 2014 01:49

UltimoDragonQuest: Oct 5, 2011

Budget cuts are getting serious.

# ? Oct 29, 2014 02:52

mancalamania: Oct 23, 2008

I think an interesting twist on tribal swaps would be to announce the swap in advance (as in Jeff announcing on Day 1 that on Day 11 there will be a random tribal swap). It'd make things a little fairer if they knew it was coming, while still keeping a lot of the advantages like mixing up alliances and changing general pre-merge strategy. You'd also have the weird looming countdown to the swap which would mess with people's heads and strategies.

# ? Oct 29, 2014 03:13

Nexal: Apr 21, 2010; Moby - Extreme ways

mancalamania posted:

I think an interesting twist on tribal swaps would be to announce the swap in advance (as in Jeff announcing on Day 1 that on Day 11 there will be a random tribal swap). It'd make things a little fairer if they knew it was coming, while still keeping a lot of the advantages like mixing up alliances and changing general pre-merge strategy. You'd also have the weird looming countdown to the swap which would mess with people's heads and strategies.

NO!

# ? Oct 29, 2014 03:29

Poque: Sep 11, 2003; =^-^=

Nexal posted:

NO!

it'd be funny if they announced it but then crammed five tribals in before that.

# ? Oct 29, 2014 03:30

Piell: Sep 3, 2006; Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer; Young Orc

mancalamania posted:

I think an interesting twist on tribal swaps would be to announce the swap in advance (as in Jeff announcing on Day 1 that on Day 11 there will be a random tribal swap). It'd make things a little fairer if they knew it was coming, while still keeping a lot of the advantages like mixing up alliances and changing general pre-merge strategy. You'd also have the weird looming countdown to the swap which would mess with people's heads and strategies.

Do this, but then don't do a swap.

# ? Oct 29, 2014 04:46

Nexal: Apr 21, 2010; Moby - Extreme ways

What if the game starts merged and after about 7 people have been voted off we split rest of the contestants into two tribes. Then they keep these two tribes alive till there are two contestants left in a single tribe and then they merge again.

# ? Oct 29, 2014 05:01