Yuku free message boards

Besides the theme of "Survivor is Harder than Fans Think", I'm starting to see another theme emerge, something like "Too Much Scheming is Bad."

We had Mikey applying a Plan Voodoo type scheme that back-fired and eliminated both his girlfriend and himself. Joel who schemed to get rid of the smart player walked blindly into the trap that was set for him. Tracy executed perfectly a terrible plan and, since it relied on dead weights, it caught up to her.

Why do I bring this up? We are left with two big schemers: Ami and Cirie and I don't see either one winning.

Amy was insignificant in her early episodes except for her scheme with Fairplay. That wasn't necessary to show and neither of her big plans with Tracy needed to be shown in such details since they amounted to nothing. It makes me think that her story will amount to nothing in the end. Too much scheming will cost her dearly.

This brings us to Cirie who has a much more complex story. She has been given the fun narration confessionals, the key observational confessionals and the intense strategic confessionals. Cirie was presented as the Couch Potato so she is both a "Devoted Fan" and an "Experienced Favorite". Cirie's win would be the "Perfect Ending" but I don't see it happening.

Cirie's scene out on the reef was edited to show that she was right to be pissed at Ozzy for having a little adventure at her expense. The camera showed the waves, the isolated little boat and NO FISH were caught on the reef to Justify Ozzy's little expedition. We are therefore led to believe that Cirie was right, Oscar will not have fun at her expense again.

But Ozzy isn't presented as a villain. He has flaws such as arrogance for sure so that we can expect his downfall but Ozzy is still presented as a strong, loyal player. In fact, we heard Ozzy telling the women of his alliance "None of us are going home" and "another strategy is to be with me and we can go to the end together." Cirie will backstab him but she won't be able to escape the blame of the betrayal. Her portrayal always as a little air of negativity that doesn't match with her fun, giggly confessionals. Cirie was definitely presented negatively when she went after Yau Man and that ended her winning chances. Being seen as a betrayer when she finally cuts Ozzy at the knees will be the justification for either getting a taste of her own medicine or not receiving enough votes from the jury.

If the big schemers are doomed this season, if they are even used to show that the strategy isn't that complicated, that leaves us with the players who have a simple strategy: Natalie and Alexis playing a perfect UTR game. Parvati and Eliza who simply make deals about going to the end.

Natalie's complete lack of story shows that, despite an effective strategy, she won't come out on top.

Eliza, with Jonathan's departure, is in as much peril than she has ever been yet she has become strangely quiet. Worse, she was often shown sharing the fans' despair while James was talking wisely about "We won't be here forever... This is a Game called Survivor". Eliza looked as worried as the fans during the thunder storm. Jonathan prophetically announcing he was passing the torch to his loyal ally would have been a great story. Except Eliza hasn't espoused that story. Eliza is nothing without a story. Eliza, I fear, cannot win.

Alexis said it was time to get back to playing Survivor. That could be a powerful symbol after all the shenanigans displayed by the fans. I still consider that her story was put on hold until the merge by her own introductory confessional. What will she do with her knowledge of the Favorites' strengths and weaknesses? Burnett dangled that question during the first segment of the first episode. We need a resolution.

Parvati was often shown relaxing during the torrential downpour just like James told us it was essential. Look at the scene were Kathy eats the raw clam. All the women are huddled miserably around the small plate but Parvati is sitting back, looking quite comfortable. The confessional she had after Kathy's departure was more than narration. It was as if she was answering Kathy that "NO! It isn't the stupidest thing ever to do this twice."

Alexis still has an outside chance and it will be important to see if she continues to be portrayed as a "incapable fan" or if finally she does get back to play Survivor. We'd get a sense that she is becoming an underdog while the other fans fall by the way-side.

More likely, the woman who had been presented as a pathethic player during her first attempt, the one we have now been told knew what she was doing when she worked alongside the other favorites to rebuild the fans' shelter, the one who was shown to be the star pupil of Joe and Edwin, the one who relaxes during that horrible night, is our winner.