As the “finale” kicks off with Probst walking it back and instead calling it a special penultimate episode, we’re down to our final six, all of whom found power and lost it throughout the season, often many times over. And now it’s Teeny, Sue, and Rachel’s turn to suffer on the bottom after Andy’s huge flip sniped Caroline out of the game.
Sue lost her last true ally and wants to rip Andy apart, but at least she’s got an idol nobody knows about. Teeny sums it up perfectly: they all look like idiots tonight. They got insanely cocky, and Andy embarrassed them. But Andy’s still proud of dunking on his former underdog alliance, and Genevieve and Sam are happy to let him take all the credit for it, knowing he’s an easy fall guy if they need a last resort.
But this new mafia needs a fourth member if they want to take true control, and with Teeny playing super emotionally and having nowhere to go from rock bottom, Sam and Genevieve make a pitch to them: Andy’s flip wasn’t this huge scheme they planned together. It was an accident they had no idea was coming just like everyone else Andy betrayed this time. But they’re willing to team up with him and Teeny moving forward just to have some safe harbor going into the endgame. Without a solid home, Teeny agrees, immediately throwing Rachel under the bus and revealing her Vote Blocker to the mafia trio.
Meanwhile, Rachel pulls a trick out of the Vlachos playbook and spies on the new core four from the shadows, overhearing everything. All the talk about how Rachel is going to sweep the jury vote and can’t win immunity tomorrow? Rachel knows. Teeny spilling the beans about her advantage? Rachel knows. Genevieve’s mysterious idol? Rachel knows. The way they’re all voting for Rachel until she’s gone? Rachel knows.
But what Rachel also knows is that none of them know about her idol, the one secret weapon she has left. The next morning, she solidifies her bond with Sue by making her idol less of a secret (as Sue ironically doesn’t reveal her own), and now she’s playing from against the ropes yet again. It’s four against two, but the underdogs are fully loaded and know how to carve their path to the end via brute force.
The immunity challenge comes down to Rachel and Genevieve, but it’s not that close as Genevieve runs away with it to claim her first necklace of the season at the most crucial time. With it comes a food reward for three at the Sanctuary. Sam declines the spot in favor of giving the hungrier players a chance to eat, so Genevieve takes Sue and Teeny, leaving all of Gata back at camp to reflect on where it all went wrong. But it’s a hollow victory as Rachel knows she and Sue will control the votes tonight, immunity loss be damned.
At the Sanctuary, Genevieve’s plan is simple: build some bonds and turn them against Rachel. Sue doesn’t really care for her plan, but Teeny gets a little too tipsy and reveals their knowledge about Genevieve’s “idol” she showed off before the last vote. As Teeny panics, fearing they’ve burned Genevieve less than a day after mending fences, Genevieve is actually excited! If people think she’s got an idol at five, it’s just one more reason to target someone else… unless, of course, her fellow mafia members sell her out.
Meanwhile, Gata sits down to chat at Beka beach and the emotions come out. Rachel plays up those tears to sell herself as the hopeless bottom feeder who got sooooo close but fell just short. Sam decides to be open about his planned vote against her tonight, wishing that Gata hadn’t been such a hot and cold mess that worked together more often. And Andy, despite pulling off a huge move with Operation: Italy, still feels bitter when Rachel says the jury might not vote for him to win over the likes of Sam simply because Sam is more liked. Rachel’s got his wheels spinning again, and Andy’s suddenly considering more options.
When both groups reunite at camp, the real strategizing begins. Rachel and Sue talk with Andy, and he’s open to voting out Sam with them tonight as long as they keep him safe at final five. If he’s supposedly still in the goat zone, another huge flip would surely prove his worth to the jury, right? The trio agrees to the Sam vote, but once Andy is out of the picture, Sue reminds Rachel that he’s betrayed her so many times, and he can still do it again. He’s a pro flipper playing for himself, not for her. Rachel is hesitant, but after talking one more time with Andy… suddenly her mind is opened.
Andy confesses that he’s made up his own mind and will be voting her out tonight. She’s just too much of a threat. Nothing personal. But for Rachel, this is just a red flag buffet, made even worse when Andy shamelessly tries spinning her into some last-second jury management web before she goes home. He boasts about his game and how will blow people’s minds at Final Tribal, and Rachel will not only vote for him to win but share his game with the rest of the jurors. It’s a premature celebration, and you know what would be really funny? If Rachel flipped the vote from Sam to Andy solely because Andy couldn’t keep his mouth shut for a couple more hours.
Either way, Rachel is getting votes, none of them will count, she’s playing her Vote Blocker, and she gets to decide who leaves as Sue’s doing whatever she says. At Tribal, Rachel gets the usual endgame threat sob story exit where she sums up her game and how it’s changed her life to play Survivor… but in a lovely subversion of expectations, her story’s still got legs, and Andy’s get chopped off instead as the flipper has the script flipped on him for a change.
It’s poetic, really. Andy spent the entire season building up a mastermind game in his head, hated that people weren’t seeing it his way, and then the minute he finally convinces someone he’s worthy of winning the game, it’s the reason he’s idoled out.
But with the season’s star character gone, we’re down to five. Genevieve and Rachel are open and honest when they get back to camp. They’re the biggest threats, and the island is only big enough for one of them to survive to the end. But Genevieve’s fake idol is the big monkey wrench in this operation, as Sam’s the only one left to know the truth. So now it’s once again a do-or-die round for Rachel as she’s out of advantages and places to hide.
The next morning, Rachel and Genevieve go out idol hunting as respected rivals and talk some game, concluding that if one of them somehow doesn’t win, it’ll probably be well-liked underdog Sam sweeping against the emotional players Sue and Teeny. But back at camp, the three of them start venting. You see, people don’t appreciate when the big threats start peacocking about how great their games are and how nobody else has a chance to win in front of the rest of the cast.
So now Rachel and Genevieve have unknowingly pissed people off, and the new underdog trio isn’t about to let that go unpunished. Teeny’s tired of the perceived disrespect yet again, Sam’s annoyed with all his work from the bottom being overlooked, and Sue’s still sick of being underestimated as she has the last idol of the game, the one she found all those days ago and wisely never told a soul about.
In another immunity showdown, it’s a battle of dexterity between Rachel and Genevieve as they’re the only ones to have the finesse to win this challenge. Rachel eventually emerges on top, securing herself a spot in the final four and a very high chance of winning this entire season. But with the obvious target off the board, all eyes fall upon Genevieve and her “idol” now, and that one little lie is the only thing she can rely on at this point.
Sam sees the writing on the wall, knows he’ll be targeted if he doesn’t make a move, and tells Teeny about how the fake idol was made. It all makes total sense. Teeny puts pieces together spanning from the Kishan boot to the Sol boot to Operation: Italy to the scrambling happening at the final five. Genevieve’s been playing them from the beginning, and every time they think she can be trusted, they end up with egg on their face and get suckered in again for the next betrayal. But not this time.
Unfortunately for them, Teeny still has to convince Sue and Rachel to change the plan, and their first instinct is to assume Sam and Genevieve are once again pulling the wool over their eyes with another crazy mission. It’s too risky to assume what Sam said is the truth when he’s probably just trying to save himself at the last minute, so they need to stick to the plan and let Genevieve sit pretty one more night.
Frustrated at their warning falling on deaf ears, Teeny confronts Genevieve about the idol and she actually speaks the truth this time, both about the idol and wanting to vote Sam out as a last resort. With new information in play, Teeny runs back to their allies, and yet they’re still hesitant to buy it. Maybe it’s just another scheme, and Genevieve’s just blowing more smoke in their faces because she wants the votes on herself.
But Sue’s eventually willing to hear Teeny out, and to her, it doesn’t really matter if Genevieve has an idol or not. Sue’s got a real one, and she’s in the final four. Easy peasy. For Rachel, it’s not a dangerous decision either. She’s immune. So basically, it’s Sam and Teeny panicking to get Genevieve voted out as she prays for another Survivor miracle, and it just depends on where the majority trio decides to vote. Do they take the risk and assume the idol is fake? Or do they play it safe, keep a massive threat in the game, and cut Sam as the risk-free vote?
After all the scrambling and whispering, it comes down to Teeny spending forever in the voting booth. Genevieve or Sam? Risk or safety? Revenge or forgiveness? Big questions for the last vote of the season, and Teeny surprisingly takes the high road, casting their vote for Sam despite all the trouble Genevieve put them through this season. But it won’t matter, though, because Rachel and Sue vote for Genevieve anyway, sealing her fate and taking Sam to the final four. And Sue finally played her red paint meme idol too, I guess. Good for her.
Since they’re actually advertising it as a legit standalone finale now and not some weird “finale: part two” thing, we have a final four finale for the first time in years. And uh, yeah, it seems pretty obvious who’s going to win. Teeny and Sue apparently stand no chance playing such emotional games, which means either clear frontrunner Rachel stumbles hard to give Sam an easy win against a couple of apparent goats, or she finishes strong by winning immunity or fire at which point you might as well skip to the reading of the votes and give her the check.
Maybe this wild season will have a truly wild finish, but I really don’t think we’re getting Gabler’d again. But that’s honestly okay because a solid season with a solid winner is nothing to complain about. It’s been a really fun ride, and whichever one of Sam and Rachel takes the million dollars next week, it was a well-fought, well-earned, and well-played victory.
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