Survivor TV Show - We Did It Guys - Survivor Recaps, Survivor Reviews, Survivor Episodes | TWoP

Aired 2010-11-24

It's time for the annual Thanksgiving recap episode, this time featuring almost all previously unseen clips that shed a little more light on the contestants and their personalities. For instance, we learn that everyone in the young tribe has no personality, while the old people are even more ridiculous than previously suspected. Tyrone proves to be much more difficult to get along with than his edit let on, while Dan actually has a game plan and a way he thinks he can win (or at least get to the end), as does Jud, who isn't so stupid and clumsy that he doesn't realize that if everyone thinks that's all he's for, he'll be safe and make it pretty far. And, of course, we see more of the fallout from Naonka's flour-stealing episode, not like it really mattered.

Like so much stuffing fills a turkey, Survivor rolls out the annual Thanksgiving recap episode full of "bonus" "unseen" clips to fill the hour until week's actual new episode. Probst kicks the show off with one big previously segment showing the season so far, in which we see as many clips of Jimmy Johnson as possible as well as reminders that Holly and Naonka are crazy. Then a bunch of old people and Shannon are voted out and Brenda and Sash are credited with being in total control of the game until Brenda is voted out. Probst says this episode will give us a "deeper look" at how the nine remaining contestants managed to stay in this game and they actually do include a shot of the other Kelly as one of those nine, even though the editors usually like to forget she even exists. I have a feeling this episode will be no different and we will not be treated to a deeper look at the other Kelly.

We begin at the beginning ... again. I mean, I thought we just did this in the previously on segment, but apparently we're going to do it again, except for much longer. Espada arrive at their camp and introduce themselves. Jane gives Marty a big hug, which is interesting to see in retrospect. Oh, good -- more from Jimmy Johnson, who reminds us that everyone in Espada is old. The menfolk set about bossing each other around about where and how to build the shelter. Marty interviews that the only person who probably knows how to actually build a shelter is "Joe Pesci over there," a.k.a. Dan. Ha! Joe Pesci. Brilliant. As it turns out, Joe Pesci's "construction" work is merely a mob front, as he knows nothing about building a shelter and interviews "who the hell ever built a shelter before? I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, think I ever built a shelter?" I love how the fact that Dan was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York is the reason why he doesn't know how to do anything. Milking cows? Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Riding a zipline? Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Building a shelter? Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Meanwhile, the women weave palm fronds peacefully and roll their eyes at the men's inability to get along or build anything. Jimmy T. stomps around barking out orders that he thinks are simply helpful suggestions while Tyrone interviews that he's just going to ignore Jimmy T. like the crying child he is. Jill interviews that Jimmy T. seems to be doing a lot of yelling and cursing but at least the women are making good progress on their palm fronds. She doesn't have much hope that they'll have the shelter built in time for nightfall.

By Sara M

Meanwhile, everyone on the younger tribe just wants to have fun! They all go swimming and Brenda says they're getting along well and happy to be there. Naonka, meanwhile, is not pleased. She says everyone on her tribe just wants to go swimming and they are "a bunch of idiots." She wishes she was on the other tribe, who she expects already have a shelter built with a door, windows, basement and attic. "Cause I know those women were sitting up there weaving," she says. Well, she was right about that.

Night falls on Espada and the shelter is finally complete. Jimmy T. says he was upset with the way the guys spoke to him earlier, saying "maybe they just weren't eloquently in the way they spoke to me." Yes, as opposed to Jimmy T., who, as we just heard, is a fucking wordsmith. Basically, Jimmy T. isolated himself as a belligerent weirdo from the start and it was only a matter of time until Espada got rid of his annoying ass. The tribe piles into the shelter and lies down. Marty says things are going well so far, but you never know because this game changes all the time. And with that, the floor of the shelter collapses. Someone reacts with a sad trombone sound effect, which was freaking awesome. I wish I knew who did that, because then I would have cheered for him until he was voted out. Unless it was Dan, who will never be voted out so I can cheer for him forever.

And then it's Day 4 and we are still at Espada. Probst claims that Jimmy Johnson "emerged as the group's natural leader." He does this by calling the tribe together for a meeting about sleeping arrangements. This leads to the men joking about spooning with each other, and Jimmy Johnson telling Tyrone he was his favorite person to spoon with. "I needed a cigarette when I woke up," Tyrone says.

Moving right along, we skip ahead to Day 9 at La Flor to focus on Jud and his game plan to avoid leadership, stay under the radar, and sneak his way to the end. And be a total klutz. First, he gets some hot pepper juice in his eye and whines about the burning for a while. Naonka interviews that Jud needs bubble wrap all around his body because his stupidity gets him hurt no matter what he does. Sure enough, Jud tries to pick some fruit off a tree, only to find a beehive. I think they just put bee sound effects in there, though, because no one is freaking out about being stung by bees or anything, which they probably would or should be if the bees were as close and as numerous as the buzzing suggests. Anyway, Jud falls out of the tree. , he steps on a thorn. He interviews that if people thinks he's young and goofy, they won't consider him a threat, so that's good. And he's right -- it's gotten him this far in the game and his name has yet to come up. Jud may be a secret Survivor genius after all. Jud then walks into the ceiling of the shelter and bonks his head before taking a walk on the beach with Jane and another woman whose face I can't see. The women have no problem landing a small jump off a ledge, but Jud slips and hits himself in the ass.

By Sara M

At Espada, Holly's crazy paranoia is in full swing. She pulls Jimmy T. aside and acts all frantic as she says she thinks "something" is going to happen at the challenge tomorrow -- a tribe swap, she thinks, where the "city kids" join Espada and I guess adults from either the city or the country go to La Flor? It doesn't make much sense the way she explains it, although she wasn't exactly wrong about a tribe swap. That said, I think we all know where Dan would end up. Wherever the "city adults" went, as he is from Brooklyn, New York. Of course, being from Brooklyn, New York, he wouldn't even know what a tribe swap is. Holly says this is why "no one is making alliances," apparently thinking that everyone else somehow knows this is going to happen and not realizing that just because no one is making an alliance with her doesn't mean people aren't making alliances. Jimmy T. interviews that Holly is "off the deep end" and acting crazy. He tries to suggest to her that she stop stressing out and calm down. "I'll drink a lot of water," Holly responds, as if that has anything to do with what Jimmy T. just said. Awesome. She admits in an interview that she is turning out not to be very good at the strategy part of this game. Cut back to her talking to Jimmy T. and trying to talk about a contestant but not remembering her name. That does make it hard to strategize when you don't bother to learn people's names after nine days in this game. Maybe if she drank more water, it would jog her memory? Anyway, I kind of love how Holly is both self-aware and totally oblivious at the same time.

By Sara M

The day, it's raining at La Flor, and people are bummed. We get to hear from the other Kelly, who says she's been wet and cold since this game started and she's having a hard time with it. But since everyone else seems to be able to deal, she just has to put on a brave face so they won't think she's weak. Naonka ends up giving her a pep talk, which is kind of funny since we know that later on, it will be Naonka who needs a rain pep talk from someone else. She says she'll be the other Kelly's support system for as long as she needs because she's an important member of Naonka's alliance. Once the rain is over, La Florians marvel at the flooding the water caused around their camp. For some reason, the other Kelly's reaction to it (marveling that it looks like some kind of post-apocalyptic scenario, although not in those exact words, of course) causes Ben to interview that she's a "huge waste of space" who complains all the time and needs to go home. I have a feeling that Ben says that about pretty much every woman he comes across. I also have a feeling that the editors only put that in there to tell us that they share Ben's feelings regarding the other Kelly.

And then we go back in time to Jimmy Johnson's boot and the remaining Espada men trying to "fill the leadership vacuum" that the editors are determined to prove to us existed despite all evidence to the contrary. Espada didn't need Jimmy Johnson's leadership, didn't seem to do much with it, and they lost all the challenges that he was their "leader" for. Marty says he is now in total control of the game, but Tyrone suddenly makes his presence known by "suggesting" that they move the campfire Marty just lit away from the shelter and the woodpile, lest they catch on fire as well. Marty dismissively says there's no way the campfire will set anything else alight. Tyrone wants to move it anyway, and points out that the fact that he's a fireman and all should suggest that he knows more about fire than anyone else there. That's not a bad point, albeit really condescendingly made. Also a good point? That they shouldn't put the fire so close to piles of dry wood. Tyrone must have laughed his ass off when he saw the camp burn down last week. I hope Probst mentions this at the reunion, but he probably won't even look at Tyrone because he'll be too busy kissing Jimmy Johnson's third-booted ass. Marty runs off to interview that Tyrone is only talking so people will think he's important. Back at camp, he gives up on trying to help Tyrone move the fire and storms off, saying Tyrone can do whatever he wants with the fire. Which is good, because that's obviously what Tyrone was going to do anyway.

By Sara M

Tyrone says that Marty had a hissy fit and acted like a "little girl," then decides to confront Marty about it. Frankly, I thought they were both acting like assholes to each other in that exchange, but Tyrone proves himself to be the biggest asshole when he tells Marty never to speak to him like that again because Tyrone thinks he gave Marty respect but Marty didn't give it back. It was pretty clear to me that neither of them respected the other, but whatever. "If you come at me disrespectful again ... I'ma do the same and it's gonna be ugly," Tyrone says. Okay, if people being respectful towards you is that freaking important, don't go on Survivor. Marty thinks Tyrone is blowing this just a little bit out of proportion and says he does not respond well to threats. Tyrone says he was just trying to come to Marty the right way even though he knew it wouldn't be an "easy conversation" for either of them to have. Marty awesomely retorts that threats usually don't make for easy conversations. Tyrone says he was not threatening Marty, and he would know if Tyrone was. And I guess that attitude is why the post-swap Espada tribe voted Tyrone out as quickly as possible.

After the break, the tribes have switched and Marty and Jill are pretty much screwed. Jane makes sure the young people know that she can make fire, catch fish, and do the Cabbage Patch at every possible opportunity, and Jill interviews that she has a feeling Jane will flip to the young people's side to save her own skin and the young people will be happy to have her because she keeps them fed. Indeed, Jane interviews that her ability to do anything and everything around camp is part of her strategy in this game, and she's been preparing herself for it for months before it even started. Even though she claims she's really poor and needs the prize money more than anyone else, she says she bought a sauna to sit in to get used to being in the heat. She sets out a bunch of fishing lines and winds up catching dinner, but when she runs off to start a secret fire to cook and eat it herself, the sun is too low for her to use her glasses, so she has to sneak back to camp and steal an ember from the firepit.

By Sara M

Jane returns to camp, where Brenda informs her that someone is getting water to boil for a crab dinner tonight. Jane recommends that Brenda "go down yonder" and wash the crabs in the ocean. Brenda does, and Jane sidles up to the fire while recommending that the remaining contestants hanging out nearby go down to the ocean to give Brenda a hand. This works, and Jane easily grabs a burning stick from the fire and takes off unnoticed. She interviews that she isn't like this in real life, and her behavior on this show has nothing to do with her behavior at home. On this show, she'll do and say whatever she has to in order to win the million dollars. Apparently, it's okay for her to do that but when Marty is mean to her, he's evil and wrong. Jane starts her secret fire and eats the fish.

Over at Espada, Dan is still trying to figure out who from their original tribe stayed and who went to La Flor. Like most of us, he forgot that Yve even existed, and has to be reminded by Holly. He gets to work on buttering the young people up, saying that Holly picked "the cream of the crop" and they're going to win every challenge now. With that, he plays with his hair, which is pretty long and has a strange texture to it since it's basically gray hair that he dyed jet black in an effort to convince himself that he's not as old as he is. Ben tactfully points out that Dan's roots are coming in and when he messes his hair up "it looks like a wig." Dan sits up, and he does have a serious case of Pacino Mop there. It reminds me of that episode of The Office when Creed died his hair jet black using printer ink to convince Ryan that he was young and hip. Dan worries in an interview that this may not be enough to convince the young kids to keep him around, despite the fact that he lets Holly sculpt his hair into an awesome fauxhawk, but Alina interviews that Dan is a valuable member of the tribe because he's weak and therefore a loyal vote they can count on. That seems to be Alina's only strategy in this game -- it's what she used to try to convince the tribe to keep her in, too.

By Sara M

Day 16 at La Flor, and Marty's life sucks. He talks to Sash about his options, and Sash says Marty's idol makes people nervous. Marty insists that he's not planning on doing anything with that idol until after the merge, and Sash says that he thinks his chances in a Final Two against Marty are better than with anyone else, so he wants to keep Marty around. This makes Marty think that Sash is very smart and worth trusting. Sash, meanwhile, says that while he was sincere when he said he thought Marty would be the easiest person on La Flor right now to beat in the end, he also has Final Two agreements with basically everyone else in this game. We see him talk to Naonka, Alina, Jud, and Brenda separately about this, as if they were never going to compare notes and find out what an insincere schemer he is. Which, apparently, they didn't. So I guess that was a good idea.

After the break, the tribes have merged to form Libertad. Soon after, Naonka steals their merge feast flour as Holly observes. Naonka buries the flour. "They're so stupid," says the woman who just stole food from a bunch of starving people. Back at camp, the contestants notice that their flour is missing and Holly asks Naonka what she did with it. Naonka denies everything. Dan pipes up to say that whoever stole their flour, "something should happen to them. To them, or their family." Jud laughs as if Dan is kidding. He is not. Look at his face. He is deadly serious. Naonka's family is sitting in the bottom of the East River right now.

Sometime later, Naonka goes to Holly and confesses what she did. Holly thinks Naonka's guilty conscience got the best of her. She says she isn't going to tell anyone what Naonka told her, but Naonka is going to have to get out of this somehow. Naonka thinks she can just put the flour back when no one is looking and no harm will be done and no one will know that she was the one who stole it. Holly gives Naonka some maternal advice: when you do something wrong, it's best to confess and apologize. "You're gonna get farther in life," she says. And that might be true, were it not for the fact that Naonka did that on national television and is a shitty person besides. So no matter how much she owns up to her behavior now, it's probably too late. Of course, we'll never know for sure, since Naonka will never, ever admit that she's in the wrong about anything.

By Sara M

Naonka interviews that Holly somehow reminds her of her own mother, and so she respects her. Really? Is Naonka saying that she also respects her real mother? Because it's my respect for my mother that would keep me from: a) going on a reality show in the first place, and b) being a total disaster trainwreck if I did go on a reality show. Anyway, I guess this all has a lot to do with Naonka eventually choosing Holly's side over Brenda's. Naonka tells Holly that she told her the truth because she "loves" Holly, and it took "a lot" for her to be honest and admit she screwed up. I think it might have also had something to do with the fact that Holly saw her steal the flour in the first place, but whatever. Naonka cries, and Holly tells her to put the flour back and gives her a hug. "We all make mistakes," she says. Um, knocking the flour over onto the ground is a "mistake." Stealing it because you're mad that Jud ate a tortilla or whatever is "proof that you're a shitty human being."

And so, as the sun sets, Naonka finally confesses, although she still claims that she was just taking half of the flour to help everyone ration it better. Though Dan was furious and threatening family members before, now that he knows the perpetrator was female, he's okay with it. "I don't think it's strange to see a young woman go nutso. If it happens to a woman, you expect it," he says. That comment should make me very angry, and yet, it doesn't. I don't know why, but everything that comes out of Dan's mouth is awesome. Even when it insults me. He adds that he is a chauvinist, but that's just his "Brooklyn attitude." You know, my brother lives in Brooklyn right now and I don't think he's aware that that fact can excuse all kinds of behavior. Maybe I should tell him. Dan says if a man stole the flour, however, he would have told him to "get the fuck out of here and don't come back." And unlike Tyrone's threats, that probably would have scared someone.

Naonka leads the group to the clearing to dig up the flour. But now she can't remember where it is. This seriously annoys Jud, as well it should. He interviews that he hopes she goes home soon. Even Brenda is not pleased with Naonka's behavior, and interviews that she's too emotional to be a good ally. Meanwhile, Sash, Marty, and Dan are standing right on top of the spot where Naonka buried the flour and not finding it, while we see Jud searching for it up a tree. Naonka talks to Chase, who says she "really screwed up" but their alliance is still strong and she is in no danger. Chase interviews that he couldn't believe Naonka would do something "so stupid" when she had an easy ride to the end as part of a strong alliance. Well, now her ride is actually that much easier since she's an even better choice to take to the end than she was before. Also, was Chase really that shocked after all the other shit he's seen Naonka pull? Although I guess that was okay when he wasn't the victim. In the end, Naonka finds the jar of flour. "We gotta get her out now," Jud interviews; "um, I like her -- well, don't wanna say that." I love how Jud's first impulse is to say he likes someone. I guess it's easy to be so positive and happy when you're both attractive and stupid.

By Sara M

Night 21 at Libertad, and the contestants are subjected to Chase's singing because he wants to use this show to launch his music career. He sings a song about his dead dad and it makes everyone cry. Even Brenda, who usually has no feelings. She says she was able to re-focus soon after, because if you want to do well in this game, you can't have emotions. And Chase, she says, is "super-emotional" and trying to be a nice guy seems to be his only goal out here. So that means he won't win, which also makes him the perfect ally for Brenda. Except for when he's too nice of a guy to do anything to save her from being voted out. Oops.

Fast forward to Day 27. What's up with that yellow snake we keep seeing? Are we supposed to think it's hanging out at both the La Flor and Espada camps all the time, sunning itself and flicking its tongue symbolically? They could at least put in a shot of a different snake once in a while. It's like that stupid brown bird that opens its mouth really wide. They use that same shot of it turning to the camera with its mouth open once an episode. Sometimes they change it up by adding sound effects. Anyway, Probst says that Sash and Brenda are in total control of the tribe and certain they're the smartest people left in the game by far. Sash interviews that he and Brenda have "cast a special spell" over everyone left in the game and they will bow to their whim. He continues that while they're both promising each other a seat in the finals, he knows that Brenda is his biggest threat to beat him, so he doesn't know that it's in his best interests to follow through on that.

By Sara M

But! While Brenda and Sash are sitting on the beach feeling good about themselves, Chase and Jud are trying to convince Jane not to vote Brenda out. Jane says she knows Brenda is targeting her, so she wants her out before Brenda has the chance. Jane says that Chase and Jud are both trying to convince her to keep Brenda in the game because Brenda has them wrapped around her little finger like a "black widow." Um, I believe the animal imagery the editors were going for here is snake, Jane. Jane asks the guys who they'd rather vote out first, and Jud says Sash, which I think is actually the right move. Jane says it's important to her that "evil" doesn't win this game, although I have a feeling that no matter wins, if it isn't Jane, that person will be considered "evil." Chase tells Jane she can trust him, but interviews that he doesn't want to vote Brenda out because he doesn't think she's lied to him. That said, he knows this is part of the game and he has to do whatever will get him further. So I guess he's slightly more ruthless than Brenda thought. But only slightly.

Probst wraps things up by reminding us that nine people are left and the game is only going to get more intense from here. Jud complains that someone lied to him. Holly claims that someone "talks to much" and is "paranoid," which is funny coming from Holly. Dan talks tough again. Naonka cries about the rain again. We're lead to believe that someone gets yet another immunity idol. And for the closing credits, we're treated to a montage of Jane's fish dances. Thanks, editors.

You can read more from Sara Morrison at L.A.me, follow her on Twitter, or you can email her at saramorrison@gmail.com.