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Survivor: Micronesia - Episode 7 (Ratings Watchdog)

Here are my final ratings for Episode 7.

Airai Tribe

Alexis: UTR1

Alexis was once again largely ignored in the editing, but she did get a confessional. The way her edit has been going almost seems like a deliberate attempt to keep her away from getting an INV1. Anyway, her confessional was actually fairly significant to me in that she said that game still continues to go on for everyone else, even though Kathy left the game. It shows that Alexis is thinking about the game and she is very game-minded, even though we haven't really been seeing any of that on the show. I could be wrong, but I don't think her confessional was enough for her to earn a 2.

Eliza: UTR1

This is the first time that Eliza hasn't had a confessional, but she narrowly escapes INV1 as well for being prominent in both of the challenges (especially the Reward Challenge, where she was the caller). I believe that her challenge visibility was enough to keep her on the viewers' radar and it made her not be completely ignored.

James: MORP2

Once again, James had two confessionals in this episode: the first one talked about everyone complaining about the rain; he said that it couldn't have been any worse than what they had before and that they won't be on the island forever. The second confessional was about Kathy quitting the game. He said that she basically lost her motivation and you can't be upset with her or hold it against her. He has not been shown a lot this season at all, but I think that the way he was shown being sympathetic to Kathy was enough for him to earn a P.

Jason: INV1

This episode was definitely the final kiss of death for Jason. Going from OTT, as I rated him last episode, to INV1 in two consecutive episodes is just about the worst thing that you can do. And the fact that the Exile Island scene was not shown basically seals it for him as well. It's unfortunate because I still believe that he had a very strong Episode 1 edit and I wonder why they gave him so many confessionals about being a Fan and wanting to survive in the wild, etc. I think he'll be an important character in the end, but he won't win.

Kathy: OTTP5

Well, that was a surprise and it makes two episodes in a row where we've lost two castaways in each one. The mid-episode scenes at Airai were pretty much narrated entirely by Kathy as she described the circumstances leading up to her emotional breakdown. It's very interesting how her quitting was treated in a positive and sympathetic manner. Once again, I'll point out the sad music being used that was definitely meant to make the audience feel sorry for her and be understanding of her situation. Her edit seemed to be very one-sided; I can see how there might be some complexity with the turbulent emotions involved, but I just think that she had to be characterized and shown as very one-note. There's no question to me that she should be an OTTP5.

Natalie: INV1

Natalie did say a few noticeable sentences, but compared to Alexis, Eliza, and Parvati, who all earned UTR1s with me, Natalie is a step below them and I can't in good conscience give them all the same rating. Natalie was on the same level as Jason, so that makes them both INV1. If she does get INV1, that ties her up with Stacy Kimball as the most INV1s ever, and plenty of time to break that record if she sticks around.

Parvati: UTR1

One more episode like this and Parvati is going to have to drop on my Winner's list, but it looks like next week, she'll be shown more. This is three episodes in a row where she has hardly even been shown at all, aside from maybe a confessional here and there. I understand that her tribe has never lost or had to go to Tribal Council, but if she won, I would still expect her to get shown a little bit more. This is about the time when she disappeared in Cook Islands too, which I think is interesting. Perhaps she falls short in the end like last time. Anyway, she got a confessional talking about Kathy's departure, which *is* a good thing for her to talk about, in my opinion, since it was the most significant thing that happened on Airai this week.

Malakal Tribe

Amanda: MOR3

For some reason, these MOR3s she's been getting seem really inflated for the amount of content in her edit, but alas, I will give her a MOR3 this week (compared to an UTR2 for the last episode). I agree that she was more developed in terms of strategy in this episode, and we saw more of her than usual (speaking of visibility, and the Reward), so I guess this rating does work. Her confessional was about not knowing whether or not she should turn on Ozzy; she said that if she wanted Ozzy gone, he would go and that it's inevitable that you'll hurt someone's feeling. We also saw her talking a bit with Cirie about possibly voting out Erik. She then didn't want to be the person to have to decide on who was going home. She was the only person on Malakal to not get a question at Tribal Council. I think that she did have some moments that may have been bordering on CP, but not enough, unfortunately, so MOR it is.

Ami: CP4

Ami's visibility might make more sense at a 3, since she was only really shown after Malakal lost the Immunity Challenge, but then again, she did have 3 confessionals and a Tribal Council question, so a 4 would probably be deserved. She was very strategic in the last scene, trying to arrange a 3-2-1 vote to take out Ozzy and was of her confessionals was about explaining this plan. She also got the typical "swing vote"-type confessional right before Tribal Council where she said that she didn't know if she would turn on Ozzy and that the vote was a big decision. At Tribal Council, she got a question about voting out the big threats and choosing the best time to get rid of them, which Ozzy figured was talking about him. Overall, I definitely think she was CP again in this episode.

Cirie: MOR5

Hmm. This is probably the most difficult rating for me to determine this week. Cirie got a lot of facetime and confessionals in this episode; some of it seemed to lean more towards an OTT type of edit, while some of it showed more complexity. I think her edit was pretty well-balanced in terms of both, so I have decided to simply go with MOR. She had confessionals about the Ozzy/Erik relationship, the boat expedition, and then one about Amanda seeing Ozzy's arrogance. At Tribal Council, she got a question backing up Tracy about Ozzy being called the leader because the tribe checks with him 90% of the time. I did sense a slight negative tone, but it definitely did not seem like that was the intent. I would almost say Mixed (since some of her comments seemed more light-hearted and had her laughing), but that doesn't feel right either.

Erik: OTT3

I think the description "a wide-eyed kid in a candy store" perfectly sums up Erik's edit in this episode - not just towards winning the Reward, but towards Ozzy as well. He has had numerous confessionals about being in awe of Ozzy and that trend continued into this episode where there was a little scene about Ozzy and Erik climbing coconut trees. It all seemed very one-note to me; we only really got to see that one side of Erik, so I think a toneless OTT perfectly captures Erik's edit.

Ozzy: OTTN5

A note to TheLurkerSpeaks: I did see your post late on Wednesday night and I apologize because I didn't have a chance to properly respond to you. I can definitely understand your argument for why Ozzy should have been OTTN, and I think that even if he wasn't quite there last week, he was definitely OTTN this time. (I don't think the edits were exactly the same both weeks). This week, Ozzy almost came across to me the same way that Guatemala Stephenie did in her early confessionals about Lydia and Brianna doing terrible at challenges. He had that same kind of rant about the chicken situation. Not only did we see a lot of arrogance from him, but there was also a lot of denial as well when he said that he wasn't the tribe's leader (notice the reaction shots from tribemates who clearly thought he was). I still can't eliminate Ozzy after this week, but he's extremely, extremely close to it now. I could see either a 4 or 5 visibility for him.

Tracy: MOR3

The fact that Tracy wasn't shown on Exile Island was an immediate flag that she might be voted out in this episode. I'm a little disappointed by her edit this time because they could have sent her off on a very positive note, but it was just a typical MOR edit - not even a positive tone. Her only confessional was about Ozzy not wanting to kill the chickens: she said he's in control of the tribe, he tells people when they eat and what they can eat (that sounds like Dave in my China fanfic!) and it's crazy. She said he'll win if they don't take him out, which is very interesting because there's now been a few comments made about him being in the game for a long time. Other than that, she really wasn't seen until after Malakal lost Immunity, where she was involved in some strategy discussion with the girls. Finally, she had two Tribal Council questions: one where she once again called Ozzy the leader and the other one where she said that Ozzy would be a bigger threat to the girls so it makes more sense for them to vote him out instead of her.

POSSIBLE WINNERS:

1) Parvati (she did dip again for another UTR1, but I have to keep in mind that her tribe has never gone to Tribal Council, there's been people quitting to take away opportunities for her to be shown, and other people have worse flaws with their edits)

2) Cirie (I've decided to un-eliminate Cirie after this episode, although she has a few weaknesses: namely, the low visibility Episode 1, and then getting 2 5s in Episodes 2 and 3, but I do think that those would be difficult to avoid given the story; the other disadvantage is that one of the recaps painted her decision to vote out Yau-Man as a negative betrayal, and I'm not sure that they would do that with the winner, but all of that aside, she's definitely been playing the game and has gotten a strong edit)

3) Eliza (has been very strong all around, but lacks the opening confessional in Episode 1; I do not think that she should be INV1 in this episode, so that keeps her in the running for now)

4) Ozzy (he's just about eliminated now for this OTTN, but one thing I did want to respond to TheLurkerSpeaks about: I said that there was doubt created by Erik and Tracy saying that Ozzy would be "invincible." This is a different form of creating doubt (in my opinion) because it because one thinks "Ozzy's supposed to be invincible. That means he can't make it to the end because it would be too obvious, right?" So there is doubt created about whether or not Ozzy really will make it to the end or if he is in fact invincible)

If, in the very slim chance, a Fan wins the game, it will be Alexis due to her opening confessional (yes, I know that some of you hate that it keeps being brought up). In trying to think of what the editors would do, it's an obvious thing to give the winner that type of confessional, but at the same time, it could easily mean nothing just like Jason's and Tracy's confessionals about being Fans apparently did/do. But I also feel like Alexis has been deliberately given fluffy confessionals (and even a confessional like the one in Episode 7 where she said "The game goes on") just to keep her from being totally INV1 and that's something I pick up on as well. I definitely think that the four Favorites I listed above have way better edits than Alexis, but still, I just can't eliminate her yet.

ELIMINATED BY EDGIC:

Chet, Erik, Jason, Kathy, Mary, Mikey, Natalie, Amanda, Ami, James, Jonathan, Yau-Man