‘Survivor: Philippines’ review: Was this one of the best episodes in years?
What a crazy, brilliant game “Survivor: Philippines” is turning out to be. You have so many moving parts, no obvious six-person alliance taking people out one by one, and you really get the feeling here that there is exciting stuff around every turn. By far, this is the best post-merge game so far in years, quite possibly even since the great post-merge games in “Samoa” and “Tocantins” as we watched blindside after blindside.
First things first, we really have to thing Jonathan Penner. If it was not for his improbable win during the immunity challenge, there is no way this conversation is even happening. He’s still a dead man walking, and needs to find himself an alliance and fast. However, we are sure the irony was not lost on him that Jeff Kent, who flipped on a great alliance to join up with a group that had him much lower in the group simply because he wanted the returning players out of the game. Who went home this week? Jeff Kent, who also gave one of the greatest post-vote confessionals in years as he seemed genuinely angry, trashed President Obama for taking 40% of what would have been his potential winnings (not being political here; it was just funny), and also seemed interested in diving right back into this game. Can Jeff Kent return for another season, please?
What also made this episode so great was that despite being #1 on the chopping block after Penner’s win, Mike Skupin did absolutely nothing to save himself. Instead, it was Lisa Whelchel of all people, who decided to start playing hard this week with a plan to blindside Malcolm, knowing that he has a hidden immunity idol and was a major threat to win the game. The problem? In telling Pete about it, he went and told Malcolm and the entire plan blew up. Malcolm later showed everyone the idol at Tribal Council, said he was going to use it, and then didn’t. What a great move. Malcolm is playing this game big, and he’s going to be gunning for Lisa now after what she did.
Even going into tribal, there was no indication what was going to happen. We had the crew gunning after Jeff (mostly the former Tandang), but there was also an alliance (albeit a temporary one) of Penner, Jeff, Malcolm, Denise, and Carter that went after Pete. Skupin was the swing vote, and he unfortunately did not flip. Did he make the right move here? Probably, mostly because Lisa is his biggest ally in the game at this point, and you need to have someone in your corner … and no one else is. Plus, we understand Lisa’s philosophy for the time being that she has a better shot winning against Pete, Abi-Maria, and Artis, who are all pretty unlikable players within this game and would garner few jury votes. Based on the previews, though, it also looks like Lisa could flip … so nothing is certain, and that’s how we like it.
This is the sort of season that, were it not up against a billion singing shows, should win “Survivor” fans back to the game. It was paced well, edited fantastically, and even had a pair of great challenges that included teamwork, puzzle-solving, and great camera work so that nothing is ever missed. The strategy seems to be changing on an hourly basis, as well, and it begs the following question: what do Penner and Malcolm, who are the obvious targets, do now?
Let’s get your thoughts now: was this one of the best “Survivor” episodes not just of this season in the Philippines, but in years? Be sure to share your thoughts below!