Episode Report Card Sara M: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Suddenly Susie
By Sara M | Season 17 | Episode 7 | Aired on 11.06.2008
And now there's a whole bunch more food for Crystal to knock over! Randy, who's now wearing a Fang buff, tells us that he's not too concerned, since there are three members of the Kota Six on the new Fang tribe so he should be safe. But he's not too sure that Susie won't align with Crystal and Ken, and says he's worried for Marcus if that happens. Too bad Marcus wasn't more worried about himself. Now the immunity idol is gone. "Susie's crazy and Susie's stupid and that's a horrible combination," Randy says, not realizing that it would only be stupid and crazy of Susie to stay with the Kota Six, who clearly don't like or trust her and will get rid of her the first chance they get. Marcus, meanwhile, doesn't share Randy's worries, and says both of the new tribes have a majority of Kota Six members on them, so he feels totally confident that he won't need the idol he threw away. "I have great relationships in this game," he proclaims; "no immunity idol gets me to the finals." No, but it can advance you one round, which give you three more days to try to save yourself. As evil mastermind music plays, Susie comes alive and tells us that she feels very powerful right now, since she's basically the swing vote -- if she wants to be. And Crystal weighs in with her usual optimism, saying that she feels outnumbered and doubts she'll last much longer.
The new Kota arrive at Kamp Kota, where, despite her earlier assumption that she'll be going soon, Crystal can't help but smile upon seeing all the nice stuff at her new home. Marcus, Bob, and Susie welcome them with fake smiles, and everyone agrees it's important not to go to Tribal Council. Duh, but perhaps the Kota people felt it necessary to tell the ex-Fangians that just in case they thought going to TC was a good thing, since they seem determined to go there as often as possible. Ken tells us that he thought there was going to be a merge. Instead, he's on a new tribe with only Crystal to depend on.
And then there's an interesting development -- it turns out that Marcus is best friends with Crystal's cousin, Kenny Cox. Bob and Susie do not look happy about this. I wonder if this means that Marcus now knows that Crystal is an "Olympian," since I'd think that if my best friend had a cousin who won a gold medal, I'd know about it. Especially if Marcus was friends with the guy four years ago when Crystal supposedly won her medal. "Small world," Bob mutters. He should be thankful for that small world, since I heard he was recruited for this show from a picture in the high school yearbook of one Julie Berry, Vanuatu contestant and Probst ex-girlfriend. Marcus tells us that now that he knows that he and Crystal have a connection, he feels "torn" and doesn't know if he wants to vote her out anymore. Marcus meets with her in the woods and says if she's anything like Kenny Cox, then she's "good people," and he wants to keep her around. Crystal has no problem with that. Marcus tells us that he really likes Crystal and now everything he had planned is in the trash. Crystal swears to Marcus that she won't write his, Ken's, or Bob's name down if they have to go to Tribal Council. But before you think Crystal is a moron for promising something like that, she tells us that she fully intends to use this newfound link with Marcus to her advantage, and while she might have promised Marcus she wouldn't write his name down, she also promised that to Ace. These are big words that fill me with hope, but Crystal's let me down so many times in the past that I just can't buy it.