‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’ episode 3 review: Catching a big fish
Today, “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X” kicked off with a scene that we can only describe as AWKWARD. All caps are appropriate here since Zeke, in the aftermath of being blindsided by Hannah at Tribal Council, repeatedly told her that he did not want to talk to her — at least for a minutes. Her response to that? NO NO NO NO. What a bizarre conversation this was; it almost felt like they were speaking different languages. Truth is, Zeke didn’t play this incredibly well, but we do think that he will have a chance to recover. This is a long game, and there is plenty of time for some other Millennials to shoot themselves in the foot. They’re certainly capable of it.
Before we get to the big “twist” that was much-hyped going into the episode, let’s go ahead and start off the narrative of Paul Wachter as Rupert’s long-lost brother. He’s a man of many ideas! Problem is that many of them are terrible. Rupert is to shelter as Paul is to fishing. At least Rupert knew how to fish.
The twist – This is similar to what we’ve seen on other seasons over the years, where players got to take part in a summit. These guys were chosen at random to go and commiserate with the enemy, which was fun — or at least it was after Paul went off into the ocean and David and CeCe started spilling ALL THE TEA on what was really going on at camp. David wants to work with the Millennials down the road, and why wouldn’t he given that he’s at best guaranteed seventh with the current alliance structure?
Before the immunity challenge and following this summit, we saw a few fairly-decent attempts at strategy. Ken did his best to tell Jessica that Paul was a terrible leader and couldn’t practice anything that he preached, while over on the Millennial tribe Adam made a smart pitch to Michaela and Hannah: Michelle, Jay, Taylor, and Figgy are staying true to each other, so why go with them?
Immunity challenge – The Millennials won. To us, the two most notable moments to come out of this were CeCe taking approximately three years to cross the balance beam with a bag (something she didn’t need to do), and Lucy actually (kind of) saying something! Her “shh” may be her most notable moment of the season so far.
Also notable? Chris’ confessional suggesting that CeCe was the person to go home. Note to viewers: If someone says something right after the challenge about someone going home, there is a zero percent change of that actually happening.
The Paul plan – Now, things get interesting. CeCe knew she was on the outs, and David came up with a plan to try to get rid of Paul. There are only three of them, and ideally David, Ken, and CeCe could flip over two more people to their side. Or, he could play the immunity idol to save her, but that’s a little bit of a crazy move given that he may need that down the road and a swap’s probably just two Tribal Councils away.
Now, here’s where Paul made a mistake: He made a comment to Jessica that made it seem as though she, Silent Lucy, and Sunday were on the bottom. Therefore, why not considering chopping him now? At tribal council, we had the classic debate of loyalty versus strategy. We actually think that it’s better for Jessica and company for now to stick with the guys, mostly because they don’t seem interested in turning on them — for now. Creating chaos this early may not be a great thing. Yet, that’s terrible TV, and much like Tony Vlachos we are all #TeamTV. Flip the vote, ladies!
The blindside of Paul is therefore something we’re happy about — it doesn’t quite change the fact that the Gen X tribe lacks dynamic energy, but it changes this episode to a good one rather than one we’d forget in a few weeks. Grade: B.
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