‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’ episode 11 review: Adam’s powerful family visit; Will’s … will
Following what happened with the rock draw last week, it was clear to us going into “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X” on Wednesday that CBS and the producers had their work cut out for them trying to create anything of even remotely the same quality.
The episode began with what was probably a far-too-ridiculous show of confidence from the dominant five in the game in Will, Zeke, Sunday, Bret, and Jay — though mostly, it was Zeke speaking about how thrilled he was to be in the likely top 5 and how David wouldn’t have a chance to be at the end. If there was ever the “Survivor” editor equivalent of dropping an anvil on someone’s head, we’re pretty sure this was it. Let’s see if these words come back to haunt him later.
The family visit – This had to be one of the biggest family visits in the history of the show, and it may also be one of the most emotional given that Adam hadn’t told anyone about his mother and her cancer battle. His brother came out to see him, and while he could’ve stolen the reward from someone else, he opted against it because he couldn’t do that to someone else. Eventually, Jay (who won the challenge) chose to reward him for not using it, and this produced a moment equally powerful to last week’s Bret – Zeke conversation last week. He did as great of a job picking people to join him as he could have. He selected Sunday and Will, as well, just because of prior promises in the game.
Everything between Adam and his brother during the reward was enough to make even typing this review difficult, mostly because it was so emotionally-charged and significant to his life. His mother was doing better per his brother, and was getting strength out of him being there.
What was a little bit of a surprise after all of this was the decision for Adam to give Jay the advantage, which he claimed was a decision made to repay him. While we’re sure that was the intent, we’re not going to lie: This may have helped to make the target on Jay even larger. This is a guy who’s won two straight challenges, and everyone knows already that he has an immunity idol. Pull a Monica Culpepper and throw it in the fire!
Will goes to the dark side – This was just a small moment before the immunity challenge, but an important one given that Will potentially flipping on his alliance to get rid of Zeke could be a game-changing decision. We’re not sure that this is the right time to do it given that he’d be going from potentially fifth in one alliance to another, but we’ll see what happens with it.
Immunity Challenge – This may be the shortest endurance challenge ever, mostly because there was such a focus on concentration to it, as well. It came down to Adam and Jay a.k.a. New Joe Anglim, but Adam came through! If it weren’t for Evil Will, Jay would probably become a potential target instead of Zeke.
Time for a blindside? – Did the prophecy of Zeke and the anvil come true? Well, here’s the problem: Ken is a ridiculous human being in this game. We love the guy, but what he did made zero sense in the game at all given that he chose to reveal to everyone what was going on with Will after a conversation between the two. Ken doesn’t understand the meaning of being covert, apparently.
Going into Tribal Council, the mistakes continued. Sunday made a big blunder in saying that Will was “swayed” to the other side, which is the opposite of what he claimed. This was the whole issue: Will’s ego went a little bit out of control here, given that he wanted to be respected as a game-player to the point where everyone was at his mercy for the vote. He’s lucky that they all didn’t just band together and try to get rid of him.
Ultimately, Will did flip on his other alliance to get rid of Zeke, but as an insurance, Adam played his immunity idol on Hannah — who got the majority of the votes for the second straight week. GREAT job by the editors here in not including many clues to this. We legitimately didn’t see it coming!
It is a shame to lose someone as great as Zeke both in terms of him being a smart strategic player and a fun character, but that’s in part what makes this season so great! You’ve got several people with the capacity to play hard, and after tonight, we definitely cannot say that this game is devoid of players. Grade: A-.
Next week – Don’t worry: We’ve got a look at what you can expect to see next over at the link here! (Photo: CBS.)