Season 51, Episode 4: Where There's a Whale, There's a Way*

And we lost Jenna. Oh, Jenna. (Or, as Devin says, "Jenna, Jenna, Jenna."). She tried her best, but it was an extremely steep uphill battle. And I'm not sure it was possible for her to stay no matter which course she tried to take. Boat, car, or train, she was going to drive over the cliff (welcome to my world of the messy metaphor, a thing I do at least five times per therapy session because my brain is my brain).

In the beginning, we have a divided Toka. Patt-with-pants-on was just voted out. We have no idea if Patt knew she was in trouble. I am guessing she did because of how nervous she looked at tribal council. Brady might have told her that her name was being thrown out, but it doesn't look like they ("the jocks" as Kilby refers to them) believed it would happen, although Jelly is taking it hard and wishes she had made the choice to play her idol on Patt, so as to save her friend and ally. So one has to think they at least considered it a possibility. But it seems like they counted on having Lewis and Carter--or, at least, just Carter--on their side. Everyone seems mad. Mad about being on the losing side or mad that the other side is mad. This is always the funniest part of Survivor. How upset and hurt people get when their allies go. As if that's not the game. I mean, we love to see it and I'm not saying it's funny to watch people feel crushed. But it's funny that they (whoever they happen to be, but in this case Brady and Devin and Jelly) think people voting against their wishes is a vicious backstab. How dare people have other plans!

But the nerds have triumphed. Yay nerds! "Brady's a bulldozer."--Maggie. And, yep, he is. Devin and Brady are both bulldozers. Lovable, ones, though. Seriously, I can't hate on Brady. Or Devin (too much). And I do really love Jelly. But, like most folks, I can't help but root for the underdogs.

"Tribal council was sketch."--Kilby, having survived getting 5 votes. But Kilby, you survived in a kick ass way! Kilby's survival was a fuck you survival, the best kind of survival. Well, except maybe having one's Shot in the Dark work and then seeing one's name on every single piece of parchment.

Savu--the smaller tribe (by a lot)--is feeling solid and connected. Less people, but four chickens! And so we meet them doing yoga on the beach. How does anyone have any strength?

Soon, treemail arrives and the tribes are directed to get on boats. Everyone is nervous. But Lewis is sick to his stomach for different reasons (something he ate?) and is trying not to poop his pants. We also hope he doesn't poop his pants. One pants pooping per five years is all that is allowed.

After they all arrive on the beach, Jeff sets them up for a potential crazy large merge before revealing that he's kidding. "Oh you joker, you," yells Eric. I try not to cringe. Eric, he's sweet, but he's like that kid in fifth grade who thinks he's the class clown and no one has the guts to tell him that people aren't laughing with him. Eric, forgive me.

But what they are doing is switching into three tribes. We knew it was going to happen, didn't we? Modern Survivor cannot resist three colors. Interestingly, one tribe will be 5 instead of 6 because of Rob's "unexpected" quit due to the teeny tiny cut on his foot that would potentially lead to gangrene.

Here's the breakdown:

Purple (Savu): Ori, Alexis, Jelly, Devin, Jenna

(3 Tokas and 2 Savus)

Red (Dina): Kilby, Sharonda, Eric, Lewis, Linnea, Cristian

(2 Tokas, 4 Savus)

Yellow (Toka): Kristin, Brady, Mike, Maggie, Carter, Thien An

(4 Tokas, 1 Savu) Eek!

So Kristin is the only Savu with the rest being original Toka members, except for Carter who did mutiny to Toka, so could potentially count for Kristin as an ally, except we all know he won't (and doesn't) see it that way.

Poor Dina (which is the funniest tribe name to me. All I can picture is a lady at my grocery checkout asking if I found everything I needed and do I want my receipt. No thanks, Dina.) has to start over with a new home, meaning building a new shelter. As they work to get to know each other, Kilby and Lewis sell their previous predicament as being underdogs with a group of bullies. "The swap screw" is how Kilby describes his current predicament. He doesn't have the numbers. His plan is to make them feel sorry for him and feel protective of him. Kilby is so fun in confessionals, it's hard not to root for him, at least so he'll stick around for my entertainment. I waffle on his game play, but it's not a terrible move to invite sympathy when the numbers aren't on your side and he does seem to have made a huge fan in Eric.

On the new, but largely old, Toka, Kristin, our resident Crisis Manager, tells us that being swapped into a tribe where she's the only new member is "terrifying adjacent." She doesn't know that the tribe was pretty fractured and that they might not have any interest in staying Toka strong. I seriously need to learn more about what a crisis manager is. And I want Kristin to be my mentor because the woman is clearly smart. Kristin shows her worth immediately via providing knowledge and food. "What I care about is how people feel and how they feel in relation to me." Great start for Kristin, but I worry about her tactic with Carter.

Kristin to Carter: I'd love to play with you.

Carter: Okay

Hmm. So this could easily come off as disingenuous. He's gotta know she needs him. I think the better play is to own up to what happened before. Maybe even acknowledging that he'll probably struggle to trust her. Perhaps simply ask if they can start over. Yeah, we didn't vote together before and I know you might not trust me, but let's survive. Carter informs us that he can tell she's working and trying to "butter him like a pig." He's a livestock farmer, remember. I guess that's a phrase that means getting a pig ready for show. Like for 4-H fairs? I don't know. I'm a vegetarian. I like Carter despite this.

Carter (to us): Kristin I love you, but I'm not a pig.

On Savu, Alexis immediately tells Jenna that Devin had told them (during the meet and greet of last episode) not to trust Devin. "Jenna is sketchy" he had said. It's a potentially good play on Alexis' part if she wants to work with Jenna, but she's going at it hard and early. Perhaps she should feel things out more first, see what the vibe is in case she'd rather work with Jelly and Devin. But she's seeing the numbers and likely feeling some desperation. If there are cracks, she wants to "widen them." Although I'm not convinced she does want to work with Jenna. Her play might be more one of getting Jenna to admit she's not with Devin and Jelly and than using that against her. We don't exactly know her intention, only that she's scared.

Jenna sees what Alexis is doing. "She's like getting down to business." And maybe that scares her. Or maybe she sees the numbers and feels safety in them. Or maybe she rightly catches on that Ori and Jelly are buddies and so Ori will probably vote with Jelly who will vote with Dev. But Jenna decides her best bet is to stick with the Toka crew, or at least try to. She's holding onto the numbers. So she immediately tells Devin about what Alexis has done. What's interesting is that Devin does not go out of his way to reassure her of anything. He doesn't say, I can't believe Alexis told you that. And Jenna should have picked up on that. But for whatever reason, she continues to feel her best bet is to get Jelly and Dev on her side against Alexis.

I'm not sure what Jenna's best play would have been: try to align with the clearly dangerous Alexis and maybe win over Ori (not knowing about the Helicopter alliance) or stick with Jelly and Devin as original Tokas and try to get them to see the safety in numbers? What does everything think?

So the challenge is a fun one with what I think is a new thing: the two person rope maneuvering moveable ball maze. And honestly, it looked hella confusing, also super fun to watch. Have we seen it before? I don't remember it. Toka has an early lead, quickly getting the hang of tossing buckets of water to fill a receptacle that once full will deliver a ball for the maze part. Dina catches up and overtakes them, though. Savu struggles. Jelly never quite figures out how to successfully toss the water to Jenna, who does her best to gently coach her ("maybe try a different way?").

How about this awkward exchange during the challenge?

Eric (from the sit out bench) Oh, Maggie is near me, hey Maggie!

Brady (pointing at Eric): Stop talking!

Eric: I understand

Yikes. I'm not sure if Eric thought he was taunting Maggie, but it was the nicest taunt possible. Still, Brady wasn't having it.

Anyway, Savu loses the challenge. Toka and Dina are safe and have coffee, but the tribe of 5 has to send someone home.

The mad scramble begins, but it's really all show, because I just can't see a way that Jenna had a chance. Devin confesses that Jenna isn't his favorite. He tells us that they are "on again off again" and that he's "tired of the toxicity" of the relationship. There must be more we haven't seen. Because all we have seen is him not trusting her at all from the very beginning. He made a decision about her immediately and she apparently hasn't won him over. Of course, last vote, she was with the Lewis faction of their tribe, as was her right to do, but that might have been a final nail. Even though Alexis is clearly a dangerous player and Jelly and Dev should be cautious of her fight, they don't seem to give her much consideration. My guess is that Alexis is not going to be a loyal number for them going forward, but perhaps they aren't thinking long term outside of solidifying trust with Ori. And at this moment, they are sitting pretty. But come the merge, Alexis could do damage and this would be a time to get ahead of it. She's a fighter, and she's not afraid to pull out the nunchucks. Get dirty. If they lose again next week, she'll go home, but if they don't, watch out Helicopter!

So Jenna fights hard for her life, but it doesn't work. She says in her exit confessional that it's not fun to be blindsided, but was she? Did she really not suspect it was likely her to be going home? Ori is muscle. Alexis is with Ori. And Devin has a weird vendetta.

I don't think there was ever any question that it was going to be Jenna going home. Boy does Devin have a lot of power in this game. I wonder if it will catch up to him come the merge.

Side Notes:

1. Seriously, why is Devin so anti Jenna?
2. The subtitles on this week's episode say "Brodies" so I'm going with the plural of Brody as Brodies.
3. If I ever get cast on Survivor, I'm definitely practicing water tossing.
4. Lol to Carter yelling, "That's how you do it!...On Survivor."
5. Baby whale!
6. I'm so glad Lewis' illness didn't end up getting him sent home. Get well soon, Lewis!
7. I was certain that the ball not landing in the trough was gonna mean that Toka had to start over. Did Jeff decide on the spot that it was good? One gets the feeling they didn't plan for that possibility.
8. Alexis asking for Jenna's shoes. What was that? Alexis, I don't know about you.
9. I don't want to talk about the chicken.

*This pun title has nothing to do with the episode, I just wanted to use it.