Culturally Preconditioned

I know Toyota is no longer sponsoring the show, but that’s not an excuse for ntv7 to start butchering the show. Last week, they edited out this week’s preview. This week, the edited out last weeek’s recap, as well as next week’s preview. But I really shouldn’t be complaining since we still get to see the show less than 14 hours after it is shown in the United States.

Just like Thailand, the editors changed the opening sequence to a new one after the contestants were divided into their respective tribes (In Thailand’s first opening sequence, the women were grouped together, and the men grouped together. In it’s second - and subsequent - opening sequences, they were grouped together according to their tribes Sook Jai and Chuay Gahn). Vanuatu’s were reversed. They started with alternate castaways last week, and this week, they were grouped according to the proper Yassur and Lopevi tribes. However, I am still surprised the caption for “One Survivor” is still missing from the opening sequence.

All in all, it was a very interesting episode. I have to say that the reward challenge were clearly in favour of the petite women, that the big guys. But the guys got their revenge by winning the immunity challenge (and the flint that they direly needed). Heading into the Tribal Council, we finally get to see more group dynamics from the Yassur tribe. I am not liking the fact that the tribe is clearly divided into the young and the elders. I initially thought it was a misdirection, but it was talked about in the open at Tribal Council. I hope it won’t stay that way, cause Pagonging sucks.

Episode 2 : Castaways Impressions

Yassur Tribe
Ami - Ami had a few more confessionals this episode. She explained that the group was divided between the younger vs the older. She tend to gravitate towards the older. The keyword she used was “gravitate” and not “belong”. I interpret that as her not totally being on the outs with the young one, which is a very good thing. I seriously want to see Ami go far.

Dolly - Bye bye Miss Shepherdess. Well, my gut was right. Dolly was voted out on a 5-4 vote. But I was dead wrong on WHY she got voted out. I thought she would get the Tanya/Jessie boot (a mercy boot) after the previews last week showed her crying over the maggots in the plaintains. I was pleasantly surprised to see her scheming in the background, but she made one fatal mistake. And that was by taking a cue from Christy and saying “I am the swing vote” at Tribal Council. That pretty much shows that you are wavering on your alliance(s) and will nail the coffin if anyone has any doubt whether they should vote you out or not. Dolly. She’s not the typical sickly sweet girl that I thought she would be (thank God). Her scheming backfired. What a shame.

Eliza - I still can’t stand Eliza but I have to give props to her for actually playing the game. In all fairness, I think what she did was totally in her best interest. If they were to merge with the guys somewhere along the road, her chances of scoring some points with he guys would be much greater if she teamed up with the elders (less competition) than her counterparts. The drawback to that is, if the guys don’t buy it, she’s fucked cause she knows she is the fifth wheel in the women’s alliance. But yeah, kudos to her for playing the game. But that still doesn’t mean I like her.

Julie - *sigh* Julie, Julie, Julie. The only thing that stood out from her in the episode was her voting confessional where she said “Leann, I’m voting for you cause Dolly is running the show”. Well, it figures. Dolly was the Shepherdess, and you are the sheep. It’s interesting though, cause I could’ve sworn that Julie was the one who suggested that they vote off Leann, and not Dolly.

Leann - Not much out of her this episode, besides the fact that the younger girls targeted her this week. Perhaps the younger girls didn’t get to know much of her because she’d been quiet back at camp. Doesn’t matter. With the looks of it, she’ll probably be safe for the next couple of episodes.

Lisa - Boob job much? The cameramen are quite fixated on her assets, aren’t they? Anyway, Lisa didn’t have a single confessional this episode (her assets probably speak for themselves). I get zero register on her. I better hear some of that southern drawl next week.

Mia - Okay, THIS is the reason why I try not to choose favourites. They always get screwed and then I would get upset. Mia was clearly upset at the outcome of the Tribal Council, and things ain’t gonna be pretty. Well I hope she won’t go down fighting, and if she does get taken down by the elders, I expect there to be an explosive council.

Scout - Scout is alright for a woman her age. She seems to be well liked by everyone on her tribe but she really sucks ass at the Immunity Challenge. Better luck next time.

Twila - Nope. There’s just something about her that I don’t quite like. I don’t know but I get a feeling that she will always come across as a bitter old hag to me. She won’t be happy until she eliminates all the pretty young girls, and take my word on this, once the merge happens, she won’t rest on her laurels until she eliminates all the guys. It’s a strong woman feminazi power trip kinda thing. Mark my words. HOWEVER, it was interesting that Dolly mentioned that the young girls were gonna ‘keep’ her because of her work ethics. This means, all the bitchings from her were purely in her confessionals, and not openly to the other tribe members. If she can keep it that way, she might just end up in the Final Four.

Lopevi Tribe
Brady - Not a single confessional out of him this time around. Calm before the storm? Who knows. One thing I do know is that he’s really good on balance beams. He was the first one to get off the beam last week, and he was the first again to do it this week.

Chad - Chad’s got a few confessionals on the sacred rock thingamagic back at camp. Some stuff about respecting the rock, the culture et cetera. He’s keeping it really low and seems way too likeable so far. Despite the prosthetic leg, he seemed to have been able to control his balance on the beam pretty well. Nice going!

Chris - There was not much out of Chris this episode except for his comments about needing fire desperately to keep things going at camp.

John K - John who? After the slightly pseudo homoerotic body hugging with the other John on the balance beam, I think this guy has disappeared in oblivion.

John P - Uh oh.. I get major Matthew von Ertfelda hinkies from him. His short confrontation with Travis was neglible. Will he be this season’s underdog? I don’t think so.

Lea - Lea raised beyond my expectations yet again. Who’da thunk? He’s put his drill sergeant expertise to some really good use! Not only did his shouting drown out Scout’s voice in the Immunity Challenge, he (unlike Scout) called out his team members by their names, which showed that he’s a real team player. He was also given a really positive edit from the Rory’s outburst. I am starting to like this guy.

Rory - Brutha just cant shut it. Not even for the first few EPISODES. *sigh* Rory proved to be an idiot. Point One was when he childishly whined and pouted for losing the Reward Challenge (AND getting real upset by the women celebrating - how I wish Shii Ann had danced her victory dance complete with finger pointing in front of him). Point Two was when he was making some noise and distracting Lea’s instruction during the Immunity Challenge. I am officially taking this guy off my MediaWhore league.

Travis - Bubba had a spike in face time this week. His conversation with John P was, as I’ve said, probably neglible but he did have an interesting quote in there. “There are 17 threats and only one will win”.

Predictions : Brain/Heart/Gut

Since ntv7 has once again brutally left out next week’s preview, you might be in for a surprise. I’m not going to consider this as a spoiler since it was shown in the actual previews but there will be two tribal councils next week. Both tribes will go to Tribal Council, and both tribes will have to vote out one of their members each.

Brain : For the guys, it has to be Rory. There have been too many scenes showing how he is on the outside looking in. Even next week’s previews suggested that (another Rory vs Lea scene). As for the girls, it has to be one of the young ones. Based on current editing, it might be Mia, because compared to Julie and Lisa, Mia’s got the most face time so far. And next week’s preview are also showing that she’s having a meltdown with Twila.

Heart : Rory (I’ve had about enough of Mr Negativity here) and Twila (how DARE she go off on my Mia? I mean, HOW DARE SHE! I’ll kick her scrawny ass)

Gut : John P and Mia.

Stickies for the Second Episode :

* There were lots of shots of bats in the episode. There was a particular scene right before the women talking about their votes. The bats could’ve been an indicator that some of them were going to be blindsided.

* Rory : “There’s magic on Vanuatu” (if there really IS magic on Vanuatu, he will be saved again next week, despite what editing has shown us)

* Twila and Lisa holding out the machete to kill the chicken. The chicken got away because they couldn’t go in for the kill.

* Chad talking about how important the spirit stone was and how they should respect it. Rewind back to Episode 1. Jeff Probst mentioned that the people of Vanuatu take their spirituality very seriously.

* Lopevi puts up the spirit stone. And the rain pours down once again.

* Rewind back to Episode 1. The only reason they kept John P was because “he’s the only one who’s really working for the fire”. The men now have fire, and he’s therefore, dispensable.

* Scout’s name never came up in the discussions of a possible boot option, despite the fact that she made them lost IC#2 (and almost made them lose IC#1). Scout sits in a very comfortable place in her tribe.

* IC#1 involved a balancing challenge in which the women won. RC#2 involved yet another balancing challenge which favoured the women. Rewind back to Episode 1. Chris : “You Outwit, Outplay and Outlast them. You don’t outbalance them”. If I was a betting man, I’d say a male is going to win Survivor Vanuatu. (On that note, a few other stickies : The tribes are now balanced with 8 males, 8 females. Next week, they will be balanced again with a member voted out of each tribe. Balance. It’s a recurring theme.)