After an awkward Tribal Council that saw Aaliyah taken out as the Helicopter Alliance’s first casualty, the Tokas return to camp to deal with the fallout. Devin and Jelly were left out of the vote, and Brady got his way, but there are no hard feelings because the bros were open about their feelings and avoided any blindsides. But just in case those on the bottom needed a scapegoat for another vote, Lewis arrives from Exile to join the tribe three days behind in his social game, and Kilby isn’t trusting a word he says about missing out on an idol out there.
Then, after one of the most jarring opening credits sequences ever, where half the cast is hardly visible, and the Ancient Voices remix sounds like some intern got bored with their DJ set, we cut to the winning Savu tribe to find Alexis and Ana have built a “Persian sisters” alliance with their sights set on Sharonda and Linnea. But when Ana brings Carter into the fold, he shuts down the Alexis of it all, and to make it even worse, Alexis catches Ana talking behind her back and rallies numbers against her supposed ally. And Linnea and Sharonda love the sound of an easy vote, even easier than Eric, who was set to be the consensus boot for three days. So, Ana really got the chaos she wanted if you think about it.
Meanwhile on Toka, Lewis introduces himself to his tribe as a guy who’s lived a crazy life and knows all about uncertainty. But nothing’s more uncertain now than Brady’s status in the game after he dishes a nasty chop to his thumb that takes off the entire tip, which we see in a disgusting close-up. But in his eyes, it’s less about the injury itself and more about his ability to stay, and he’s so desperate to stay he threatens to do push-ups on the spot as tears stream down his face.
Thankfully, a doctor’s visit clears things up and clears Brady to play, preventing Toka from becoming the Open Era’s first disaster tribe. But it will still be a potential risk moving forward, I’m sure, so Brady better pray it doesn’t get worse. And what better time to test his injury than in the first reward challenge of the season? It’s all for comfort items, including a tarp, and despite all their setbacks so far, Toka barely takes the win after nearly choking at the end.
Comfort items aren’t the only thing Savu loses in the challenge, though. Kristin suffered an accident and wounded her leg in the nets, potentially risking her status in the game too. But she knows her stuff about the local flora, so she whips up a natural remedy to lessen the swelling and hopes for the best. But Kristin’s not in anyone’s sights, especially when Linnea and Eric are getting heat for their bad decision-making in the challenge, and Rob’s emotional reaction over it gets him spiraling too, even about things that happened days ago like the puzzle his tribe won.
But if you thought Eric was maybe finding a way out of the firing line after a disastrous start, his cringey improv routine around camp impresses nobody. Sharonda wants him out and has to bite her tongue. Ori calls him a cancer that needs to be removed. Seems that wacky New Era summer camp vibe isn’t going to fly so easily in the 50s, and thank god for that.
Across the sea, Toka sets up their new camp comforts, giving Jelly plenty of time to go idol hunting, which proves to be a quick success. Like Rob’s idol last week, there’s no beware here. It’s just an idol, no strings attached, no danger, no signs of Jeff’s “monster” or whatever he was rambling about for the last five years. So with newfound power, Jelly reassesses her game and decides Devin’s open honesty isn’t gonna work for her. He’s just going to spill all their secrets in his attempt to play an Open Era game, so she finds a new number one in Patt, telling her about her idol to cement a bond that can flourish into a competitive new majority with Devin, Brady, and Mike as their numbers.
And this new majority won’t be tested anytime soon, because Toka shows up to play and crushes a difficult whale-escort immunity challenge, sending Savu to Tribal and taking a numbers lead. We have some wild options for tonight’s boot as over half of them have been brought up as targets so far. But Rob is dead set on Eric going home, and he’s expecting a 9-1 vote as people openly debate how his name is spelled around camp.
Ana throws out Kristin’s name as a decoy, then immediately realizes her mistake and suggests herself instead, only to realize she made another mistake and swear she’ll keep her mouth shut moving forward. But Sharonda, if it were her call alone, wants Ana gone for throwing her name out yesterday. She can’t just go against the grain on the first vote, but when Linnea, Alexis, and Sharonda overhear Carter and Ori “scheming” in the shelter (they were actually talking about crabs of all things), Ana suddenly becomes a lot less safe.
The women grab Eric and let him in on what Ana, Carter, and Rob have been saying about him. Sure, he’s irritating, but he’s not hurting anyone’s game but his own with his cringey antics, so why not scoop him up as a free number and give him a home? Sharonda has one more piece she needs, though: her real number one, Ori, who isn’t sold on the plan whatsoever. He’s still out for Eric’s head, fearing he’ll make a big move from the bottom at some point, be it at the swap or the merge.
But as the tribe scrambles, Rob sits alone in the shelter and begins breaking down from homesickness. Out of nowhere, he decides to fall on the sword and tries roping Eric into some mysterious live Tribal plan. If Eric gives Rob his Shot in the Dark as a token of trust, he’ll give it back that night, and the plan will be on between them alone. But… in what world would Eric believe any of this? It’s less than a week in, and the tribe is a mess with battle lines yet to be tested. Risking it all on this verbal vague-post from Rob when Eric’s already got some numbers supporting him would be insane.
Insanity is the name of the game tonight, because after a nothingburger Tribal, Rob stands up and pulls Eric aside to lay out the real plan. Step one: everyone’s going after Eric tonight, so he needs to play his Shot in the Dark. If it doesn’t hit… Step two: Rob pulls out his own idol and plays it on Eric to give him a second chance at life. Step three: Rob votes himself out and… wait, production tells him he literally can’t do that (unless Jimmy Fallon says you have to, I guess), so the entire self-elimination plan is canceled, and Ana is voted out 6-4 in a major blindside with Carter, Rob, and Ori left out.
Um. Okay then. So, to sum up what happened: Eric was the obvious boot for several days, only for Ana’s alliance to shoot itself in the foot and turn everyone else against them thanks to loose lips and misunderstandings. Ana herself threw her OWN name out as a decoy for no reason, which became the real plan. Rob, feeling homesick, tried to idol himself out, thinking all the votes were going on Eric, only to bail on his plan to quit and vote for Eric, the man he was trying to give a second chance to in the first place, when he learned self-voting isn’t allowed (again, unless Jimmy Fallon demands it). And all the while, the Ana plan went off perfectly, so Rob’s entire scheme wouldn’t have even worked.
I was ready to give this episode some negative press if everything boiled down to Rob pulling an elaborate quit and ruining all the compelling strategy we saw tonight. But this turn of events was a magical viewing experience, made into an all-time twist by Rob’s awkward inability to understand a simple rule that’s been in the show since 2000. In reality, he was a total non-factor in this vote, but he gave us the perfect red herring to spice up an already great blindside. Does that mean he’ll probably quit in a couple of episodes when he gets the chance? Probably. If he’s already out of steam on Day 5, I don’t think Day 10 will be any better for him. So I’m not looking forward to that waste of an episode.
But for now, this season is firing back-to-back banger Tribals with all the camp life and personality clashes we love and none of the sappy, overproduced, summer campy New Era slop we got sick of years ago. Seriously. Two episodes in without a forced Journey or lost votes, and no battle for supplies that wastes twenty minutes watching people carry coconuts or run around the jungle. And if the preview isn’t lying, we’re getting a potential Mutiny next week?! You mean the twist I most wanted to see return for the Open Era is back already? Say no more and bring on the next episode, please!
Written by