Dear lord, this episode of Survivor went Deer Hunter on us…seriously!
That clip from the Deer Hunter is what we witnessed from this episode; all we needed was Jeff Probst wearing an eye patch. It was the tensest sixty seconds of survivor I can ever remember. My first question was how did the producers rig it so Katie got the cursed White rock? Did they have David Blaine as the technical advisor on site to facilitate Katie’s exit? All people involved showed some serious canjones. Everyone came to play this episode, even the ones who weren’t involved in the Russian roulette challenge showed a lot fire, Gervase, Hayden and Monica. That Tribal council will go into the pantheon of all-time survivor tribal councils. We had the possibility of one of three completely different parallel universes unfolding in a game where usually at this point “chance” is a factor that becomes somewhat obsolete as the remaining strongest alliance in the game usually determines the exit strategies of each player . Seriously, if you look at how different the game would be in each of the possible three outcomes of the rock drawing, it’s crazy because it could have potentially led to everybody with maybe the exception of Katie winning the game. It’s like one of those choose your own adventure books we use to have in the 80’s and 90’s, where there were forty different possible scenarios. It’s crazy because in that moment, Tyson, Ciera, or Katie could have each taken the easy way out, panicked and voted the other way to ensure themselves at least another day to fight, but each of them decided to stick to their guns and let fate decide. All the players left in the game (Not counting redemption island players) are completely different personality wise, and each of them have stood out in different ways this season. If each could go back into time during this season, is there any move or moment that one of them would go back and change? That question is what led me to this week’s theme, which of course is time travel movies. Everybody loves time travel movies right? So this week were going to include some of our all-time favorite time travel movies as companions to each remaining survivor player’s game. I know if I went back in time, I wouldn’t be able to contain myself, I would pull a Biff Tannen(more Back to the future later as well) in part two of Back to the Future and ruin everything for everybody by doing unseemly, shallow and greedy things:
With that said, let’s all jump into our Cocaine funded DeLorean’s and get this party started.
· Tyson and Back to the Future:
Ok, before we get to Tyson, let me say that Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies of all-time as I’m sure it is for most of my nine readers of this blog, but the older I get when I watch this movie the more it seems really creepy to me that Biff, who basically was trying to date-rape Lorraine Baines McFly would then be hired on in later years by the McFly’s to wash and detail their cars, at their home no less. I mean, if some dude tried to force himself upon your future wife, would you ever:
A. Speak to him again?
B. Force your wife to have to face the person that tried to sexually assault her every day?
C. Let that person be around your kids?
Did the McFly’s find it weird that their 3rd child looked identical to their friend from school Calvin Klein, who I’m sure in their mind, went tragically missing on one of their most memorable nights in their lives? Don’t you think that Calvin Klein going missing would have sparked some serious heat and inquiry towards Doc Brown? Do you think he was taking in for questioning? Was Doc Brown rumored to be a killer in Hill Valley from that day forward? Ok sorry, enough questions about the movie and on to Tyson. It is crazy to think that Tyson could have drawn the white rock. The ramifications of Tyson drawing that rock would have been huge; it would have flipped this whole game on its head and made about 87 possibly different outcomes. Like Marty McFly, Tyson seems to have some fate and destiny on his side. It’s tough to argue that Tyson doesn’t have some magical producers forces, helping him navigate through the late stages of this game. In the Back to the Future world, Tyson is Marty, Gervase is the Doc and right now Hayden is the Biff Tannen, who almost got his hands on the Sports Almanac if Tyson would have drawn the white rock. Since Katie got the white rock it would seem that Tyson would be safe (and he has the idol of course) next episode because of Gervase and Monica. Gervase has shown that he is staying loyal to Tyson, but will Monica switch sides now? The fact that he found the second hidden idol will prove to be the best insurance policy he will ever buy, because it could be the piece that wins him the game if he has to use it next episode. If he does play the idol next episode he can blindside Hayden or Ciera, and I do think he would take out Hayden before Ciera. Is taking out Hayden smarter than taking out Ciera? That is the question I’m leaving for you guys to help me with, because my guess is that Aras and Vytas will vote for the best player but everyone else could potentially be bitter jury members and so if Ciera ended up in the finals against Tyson would a bitter jury against Tyson vote for her and therefore should Tyson see Ciera as a bigger threat then Hayden, Monica or Gervase?
· Hayden and Twelve Monkeys:
One of the more interesting Time Travel movies through the fever-dream style of Terry Gilliam, Twelve Monkey’s is about Bruce Willis, who is in a future prison in a world all but instinct from a mysterious virus. Willis gets sent back to try and find the person who is responsible for spreading the virus. The movie is really underrated and still holds up pretty well. Brad Pitt is awesome in a role I think he got an Oscar nomination for. In the movie Willis gets assistance from an unlikely source in Madeleine Stowe, who apparently was a “thing” in the early 90’s and since then has been regulated to fourth lead on shitty, short lived TV shows. Hayden is like the Bruce Willis character in the movie, facing a world that he is completely outnumbered and out gunned in and Ciera has turned out to be his Madeleine Stowe. Getting out of the mess he was in, Hayden showed he could have been lead counselor on O.J Simpson’s legal team back in 94. If we trust the editing of the show then we are to believe that Hayden was dead in the water prior to Tribal Council. I can’t remember someone that was such an obvious choice to be voted out be able to talk his way out of it and force people whose own safety was all but guaranteed for the next two votes, go to a full on Survivor Cuban missile crisis. I think like the movie(spoiler alert) Hayden will face the same fate as Bruce Willis as he is going against destiny (Tyson) as he was very close to not only surviving but taking control of the game if Tyson would have drawn the ill-fated white rock. With Katie getting the bad draw, the numbers are again against Hayden going into the next episode. Hayden needs to get to Monica the same way he got to Ciera. The previews indicate that Monica might be willing to play ball, but with the hidden immunity idol in enemy hands, any good move Hayden makes may be all for not, but either way Hayden has shown why he won Big Brother and why he has succeeded in making a deep run in this game of Survivor.
· Gervase and Mickey’s Christmas carol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cn4VuODI4c
Forgive me, I chose this because for me this movie is very nostalgic as I would watch this movie every xmas eve when it was shown every year on network TV and for some reason it makes me feel good. I think this Charles Dickens classic is the first time-travel story ever told. With Scrooge McDuck in the Ebenezer Scrooge role as the bitter old man who is given the chance to go back in time and see where he went wrong and is given a chance to make things right. In Survivor years, Gervase is our oldest competitor. Gervase has shown some coldness the last couple episodes in that he is sticking to his belief of what has to be done to get to the end of the game. If money was Scrooges only true love then winning the game of Survivor is Gervases true love. Gervase revealed his hand this episode at Tribal Council that he is sticking with Tyson until the end and if Tiny Tim(Ciera) dies then so be it. Gervases place in the finals is not certain, but the odds are in his favor. The best case scenario for Gervase would be next episode having people gun for Tyson and then having Tyson play the idol. Hayden stated the obvious that Gervase could be playing for second place if he is head to head against Tyson in the finals. Hoping that resentfulness would creep into Gervases mind, Hayden tried to get Gervase on his side but it appears that Gervase is not going to take that bait now or in the future. Another possible win- win for Gervase would be Tyson getting blindsided in a scenario where Gervase’s hands would be clean from it, but that scenario is unlikely as I think Tyson and Gervase’s fates will be linked all the way in this game and if one falls the other may fall next, just like if one succeeds the other will most likely be right their beside the other. If Gervase could go back into time this season like a Scrooge McDuck would he change any decision he has made in the game? I say no, which is a testament to how well Gervase has played this season. Gervase has not let the traps of paranoia or impulsivity affect him like it affects so many survivor players. Gervase has played this season with ice water in his veins and although cold and calculating towards every player not named Tyson, it has shown that Gervase is truly a top shelf Survivor player.
· Ciera and Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure:
Probably the most fun time-travel movie we’ve included here in Bill and Teds excellent adventure. In a nut shell the movie is about two stoner dudes who get a visit from George Carlin who travels from the future to tell them that they are meant to change the world in the future with their music, but for that to happen they have to get pass their history class or else everything will go bad in the world or something. I went to high school and I don’t ever remember doing or hearing from anybody ever, a time where they had to do a presentation for one class in a huge auditorium in front of 10,000 people. I mean what if you suffered from anxiety? Why would one class in high school merit a presentation like that? So Bill and Ted go back into history and grab historical figures and then in the end have these historical figures talk about…things?? I guess the teachers assume they bought and hired actors to play the roles of the historical figures and so they pass and our world is saved. With that being said the movie is still a classic, if nothing else for launching the career of Alex Winter. I chose this for Ciera because like the movie above, Ciera started this season really shaky and then out of nowhere became really fun to watch. I mean the stones that Ciera showed by not acting like a non-descript vote for Tyson and Gervase and being willing to draw rocks for her survivor life really showed a lot. Like I mentioned with Hayden, if we trust the edit of the show it would mean that Ciera didn’t decide to make that move until tribal council. That move seems even smarter to me now, because after thinking about it, it was a huge low risk, high reward move, because one scenario would have been Tyson drawing the cursed rock, and even with him not drawing the rock, Hayden still emerges as the main target next episode and Ciera can potentially swing Monica her way next episode. Ciera had to make that move because like Hayden said, she was number four on #TeamTyson and would have died a slow death, which we have watched many times throughout different Survivor seasons with people like Ciera in her position, who just go along with the strong players until it was their time to go. Ciera demonstrated that she has more fight and guile then most Survivor players. Ciera and Hayden are now our Bill and Ted, and the massive history project is just about due, the odds are stacked against them, but together if they can somehow swing Monica their way and somehow figure out that Tyson has the idol and vote Gervase out, they might be able to shock the world…doubtful but then again so was this movie standing the test of time twenty five years later.
· Monica and Peggy Sue got married:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPUcNggb2xM
The forgotten Time Travel movie, Peggy Sue Got Married, starring Kathleen Turner before she turned into a 6’4, defensive end for the New York Jets with a deeper voice then Barry White. The movie is about Peggy Sue, a divorced mother of two, who goes to her high school reunion, has a stroke or something and goes back in time to her senior year of high school. Peggy decides that he doesn’t want to do things the way she did the first time around, specifically not marrying her high school sweet heart Nick Cage, mainly because she knows she should have married Jim Carrey because his future was way more brighter…ok I made that last line up. Fate and destiny intercede because as hard as Peggy Sue tries she can’t avoid the universes plans and she still ends up “necking” with Mr. Cage. Monica is suffering from the same fate as Peggy Sue, as I don’t think it matters what she does, fate and destiny of Survivor has already decided that her part to play in this game will be to advance Tyson. Some people don’t believe in fate or destiny, so maybe if your one of those non-believers you think I’m crazy and stupid and think that Monica is in control of her own Survivor destiny, but I don’t, and I think what’s going to happen is that Monica is going to play it safe and stick with Tyson and Gervase. If she does switch sides it seems as it will be ill-fated as Tyson will most likely play the idol and again keep the power with him and Gervase. Monica has shown that endurance competitions are her strong suit and so I’m sure we will get another one of those soon and if she can keep winning those and protect herself she can bring herself deeper into the game. If Monica really does want to attempt win this game then she has to switch sides now.
· Laura and the Terminator:
The First Terminator is awesome. Did you know that O.J Simpson was rumored to be the original choice to play the Terminator? That would have been….awkward looking back now. If you haven’t seen the Terminator I’m not going to explain it here because I’m already 2,672 words deep in this blog, but Laura is our Redemption Island Terminator. She takes out anyone who steps to her with the efficiency of a machine. Any future threat to Tyson and Gervase has been eliminated by Laura. She has more kills and blood on her hands then Stalin. The real curve ball in this situation is if Laura gets back into this game with Ciera still alive. If they can come together with smaller numbers this time around then potentially you could see them do some serious damage.
· Tina and Time after Time:
Our most seriously dated time-travel movie for our most dated survivor player. Seriously watch that trailer again, Jack the Ripper comes to late 70’s San Francisco with H.G Wells hot on his trail. Has anybody ever seen this movie shown on TV in the last 30 years? Anyways, Tina looks tired and with Katie joining the Redemption Island mafia, it may be time in Tina’s mind to exit the game gracefully and by gracefully I mean throwing the competition so Katie moves on. Doesn’t it feel like Tina has served her purpose this season? To me, she looks like Aras looked right before he went off into the sunset. I think helping Katie advance in the game is the last move Tina will be making this season.
· Katie and The Butterfly Effect:
The movie where Ashton Kutcher keeps going back in time to try and change the destinies of his three friends lives. Do you think if Ashton could go back in time he would change the choices he has made in movie selections? It’s pretty grim. I think this is literally the only movie that could be described as “watchable”. In the movie he sacrifices his own destiny for the betterment of his friends. Katie by either fate/destiny or bad luck sacrificed her game for the betterment of Hayden and Ciera. Didn’t just seem destined that Katie was going to draw the white rock? Katie could have for sure saved herself for the day and just voted out Hayden, but instead she made a move and although it didn’t work, it showed that Katie had the courage to try, which in my book means a lot. Too much in Survivor we see players play it safe and boring so it was refreshing to see Katie stay strong and go to the rock drawing. Katie will get to battle it out at Redemption Island for a bit, especially if her mom throws the comp next episode, but no matter what happens now, Katie will be looked upon in a better light then she was before the great rock drawing of 2013.
Let’s get to this week’s power rankings:
1. Tyson
2. Gervase
3. Monica
4. Ciera
5. Hayden
6. Laura
7. Katie
8. Tina
Thanks for reading and you can hit me up on Twitter @Scotty07 or the comment sections below!
