Who you calling “chicken”? Tonight’s latest episode of Survivor: Edge of Extinction might have ended up feeling “fowl” for one unlucky player, but for the four chickens that were won as reward, it was literally a matter of life and death. One player put all of her eggs in one basket in an attempt to save them, hoping that her actions wouldn’t come home to roost…while elsewhere a tender nugget of information that was shared ended up sending one over-confident player right into the fryer and straight to the Edge of Extinction.
OK, I’ll stop. As I do at the beginning of every recap, please heed the following: Remember that this recap assumes that you have already seen this week’s Episode 3 of Survivor: Edge of Extinction. If you have not and don’t want to be spoiled, please come back later! It’s important to add that while we WILL hit on all of the important developments of the episode, this is not a linear “blow-by-blow” recap. It is more of a discussion and reaction of what we just witnessed together.
CLICK THE CONTINUE READING BUTTON FOR MORE, AND THIS IS YOUR LAST *SPOILER* WARNING!
Birds of a feather flock together, am I right? (I’m officially out of chicken puns, so let’s get to recappin’). Tonight’s episode was a bit of a slow-burn that culminated in what ended up being a pretty shocking turn of events for Chris Underwood. Chris hasn’t gotten that much screen-time through three episodes, but even leading right up until the final hours before Tribal Council, he seemed to be in a pretty good position.
On one side, he had the trust of David and Rick, who were plotting to blindside Kelley Wentworth (who is still in the game despite being the constant target!). On the other, he felt like he had a strong bond with Wardog, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite stand-out players this season. David tried warning Chris that if Wardog ended up finding out about the plot to blindside Wentworth, that it would be a bad outcome, and he was right. Chris didn’t take David’s advice, and by throwing out Wentworth’s name to Wardog, Chris ultimately threw his own game away.
I’m loving the David/Rick duo that has formed, and they surely have been calling most of the shots at the Blue Tribe. Still, it is never a good thing in Survivor to continuously lose Immunity Challenges. Three episodes in, and we’ve seen the Blue Tribe at Tribal three times. In a lot of ways, it sort of sucks to watch the same tribe go to Tribal over and over, but somehow, someway, both returning players have managed to escape elimination. For as much as newbies talk about wanting to play the game on their own, and how threatening returning players are to their game, we see it time and time again where returning players are just left alone, and allowed to make it far into the game.
David though, made the right call in going for Chris…although whether it was a good move or a bad move will be revealed to us in the coming weeks depending on what happens. Drawing a line in the sand this week would have created a lot of enemies, and would have essentially put David and Rick on the outs of every other player in the game…not a good place to find yourself in with still 15 players remaining. Had they voted for Wentworth, they would have made an enemy out of Wardog, plus keeping Wentworth in the game just gives the other new players just one more person to target in front of David.
Wendy has been an interesting character thus far: Equally charming and at times annoying…like, I happened to agree with Wardog‘s assessment of Wendy when he called her hypocritical for eating chicken back home. Judging by the promo for next week, Wendy is going to follow-through with her plans to release the chickens, a move I’m sure is not going to go over to well with the others. And now that David and Rick sort of lied to her, she has no real reason to align with either of them, leaving her with absolutely no allies in the game, or at least none without beaks.
We also found out this episode that Keith did choose to stay in the game, so I guess I owe him an apology based on the fact that I was all but certain he was going to head for home. The Edge of Extinction revealed that the voted-out players will have to make a super-long trek each and every day, if they want any rice at all during their stay. I’m still not convinced I like this twist, and it is certainly not helping that it seems like the producers have made the decision not to show the Tribal Council votes each week at the end of the show, instead opting for some lame dark shots of the exiting player grabbing their torch and walking in slow-motion. Why are you no longer showing the votes, Survivor producers??? This is a troubling trend, to say the least.
Elsewhere, it was sort of a huge moment when Aubry discovered a hidden Idol. She has now officially done everything you can do in the game other than win (which she should have, by the way, on Season 32, Survivor: Kaoh Rong). She’s the closest thing Survivor has to a Hall of Fame player in recent years, and I always find myself rooting for Aubry. When she got emotional tonight, it reminded me of how far she’s come in the game since breaking-down and having panic attacks her first few days on the island at Kaoh Rong. And her Idol find tonight is absolutely monumental for her game…nobody seems to want to play the game with Aubry (or Joe for that matter), so it was a crucial, crucial find for her game.
Episode Take-Away: This week seemed to start off a bit slow, but by the time the scheming began before Tribal, I was leaning in. As Jeff Probst pointed out, there is some complex stuff going on with this group of players, but I’d argue that we still haven’t quite gotten to know many of them. That tends to happen when one tribe dominates the early challenges, so here’s hoping next week’s tribe swap sends the game in the right direction, and deepens our care for some of the players that, up until now, have been relegated to the sidelines. But there are several Idols and advantages in play (along with Aubry, remember that Lauren has an Idol, and that Ron has that crazy “Advantage Menu” power), and with three tribes coming, that means just five players per tribe. These powers are sure to play in.
But are you all liking this season so far? Hit up the comments and give me your take on things!
Voted Out This Week: Chris Underwood (who was shown choosing to go to Edge of Extinction, joining Keith and Reem)
Won Immunity: Yellow Tribe (again)
The Vote: No Idols or advantages were played. Using deductive reasoning, I’ve found the following: 5 – Chris (David, Rick, Wardog, Wentworth, Lauren), 2 – Kelley (Wendy, Chris)
Next Week’s Episode: Wendy, who must not be too happy with the results of Tribal, decides to let those chickens free…oh boy, can’t wait to see how that goes over! Also, Probst announces that we have reached the game’s first major twist: The Tribe Swap, where the players will draw new buffs and align on three new tribes of five.
Quick Note! I appreciate that you are reading this recap! Because of the new “Edge of Extinction” format, CBS is not giving weekly exit interviews this season, so because of this, there will not be an interview article on Thursdays like you might be accustomed to. Further, because of this twist, I’ll be putting my FilmSurvivor Podcast on hiatus temporarily…I may do occasional podcasts throughout the season, but they won’t be weekly like normal…when I do post a Podcast, I’ll link it here.
Those that have followed me also know that I am a RottenTomatoes-approved film critic, and I encourage you to check out my weekly movie reviews as I am also the national film critic for AXS.com and am a movie critic/TV personality in the Detroit area. As always, the easiest way to get all of my Survivor coverage and movie reviews is to follow me on Twitter – @tomsantilli – or on Facebook.
TELL US – DID DAVID/RICK MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE IN VOTING OUT CHRIS? ARE YOU LIKING THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION TWIST? AND IF YOU WERE PLAYING SURVIVOR, WOULD YOU FREE THE CHICKENS OR EAT THEM?
Photo Credit: CBS/Monty Brinton/Robert Voets/Timothy Kuratek/Jeffrey Neira/Michele Crowe/David M. Russell
