Alex has plans, man. PLANS! He's just biding his time, because the Earl-liance is having kind of an argument about Earl's frustration at the bad outcome from the split vote that ousted Mookie. So Alex is hanging out. Hanging out! That's his plan, man. His PLAN! Boo wins reward, and he takes "Dreamz" and Yau Man on a trip with him, and they both wind up finding Boo incredibly annoying. When they return to camp, it turns out that finding Boo annoying is not exactly groundbreaking. It seems like the tide is turning toward possibly getting rid of Boo before Alex, but when Boo wins immunity in a digging/climbing challenge, any prospect of that goes away. Alex makes what is probably his only move, which is to approach Cassandra, "Dreamz," and Stacy about getting rid of Yau Man before his idol comes into play. Alex also argues that Yau Man ultimately intends not to take "Dreamz" and Earl to the end, but intends to sub in somebody like Boo or Stacy. "Dreamz" is totally into getting rid of Yau Man, owing to his fondness for Doing Stuff, and Stacy will do whatever Cassandra does. Earl applies pressure to Cassandra to stick to the plan, and it appears unclear exactly what she's going to do right up to tribal council. There, Alex continues trying to plant seeds, because that's his plan, man. His PLAN! He drops what he thinks are intriguing hints about how everything is going to crash down around the ears of the Earl-liance unless he is kept in the game, but it doesn't work. He fails to get a single vote to go his way, and he's sent to the jury. I guess that thing about how lions are most dangerous when they're cornered is totally not true.
Previously on The Season That Got Awesome After You Probably Stopped Watching: Alex and Mookie saw that the writing on the wall read "Pack Your Stuff, Jackass." Mookie decided to go all Patriot Act on Yau Man's bag and found his idol, which led to a seminar taught by Mookie and Alex called, "How To Neutralize Your Potential Advantages." Yau Man told the group about the idol and the blackmail he was exposed to, and what really bothered everyone was Mookie and Alex's Li'l Tony Soprano routine more than Yau Man having the idol in the first place. "Dreamz" was the only one who seemed inclined to act against Yau Man as a result of the idol revelation, because he gets suspicious and upset about everything, and everything gets him down, including rainy days and Mondays. Boo headed to Exile Island, where he learned that the new idol was going to be fairly easy to find -- maybe easy enough for him, even. After Stacy managed to win immunity, Boo talked the Earl-liance into a split vote, which was intended to put Mookie and Alex into a tie to be later broken in favor of tossing Alex, provided that nobody produced a secret idol. Earl didn't think it was necessary to protect against secret moves of genius coming from Mookie and Alex, who morphed at some point into The Gang That Couldn't Vote Straight Even Though They Want You To Know That They Totally Are Straight Even Though They Have This One Gay Friend Who's Cool. Alex threw a wrench into the works, which shouldn't have been surprising but kind of was, when he voted against Mookie, tipping the vote against Mookie instead. So the split vote didn't really turn out as planned, in that Mookie took a walk and the potentially less stupid Alex hung around. Although when the biggest threat to a dominant alliance is Alex's brain, I would say it's time for that dominant alliance to softly sing "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" in the background.
Bula Bula, Night 30. The ants are restless. The group is coming back from tribal council in night vision, and Earl is griping gently to Cassandra about how he didn't like the idea of the split vote, and how this was why -- it didn't wind up working the way they intended, because they wanted to get rid of Alex. Meanwhile, Alex explains that poor, gullible Mookie voted for Boo, while Alex himself voted for poor, gullible Mookie. And he knows that this was the vote that saved him. He rejoices that he's "still here," and then he slaps his own chest for effect, like you might do if you had lived through an earthquake or a fire or perhaps in Alex's case a collapsed ceiling at a hipster bar, instead of part of a game show. Earl whispers to "Dreamz" and Stacy that he was against the split vote from the beginning, but he went along, and that's the last time he goes along with anything he thinks is the wrong move. Earl interviews that he really wanted to boot Alex, whom he perceives as a bigger threat, but the tribe wanted to split the vote. Earl tells us that the idea that Alex might use his vote against Mookie was pretty obvious (like, he uses the word "duh," actually), which makes me wonder if Earl brought that up when the split vote was discussed. He didn't seem to. But maybe he did?
Elsewhere, weirdly, Stacy goes all suck-up with the least powerful person in the group, telling Alex that she doesn't want there to be "a rift" between them (or between they, actually, since she says "between you and I"), because she says that she can admit she's wrong if she's wrong. Wrong about what? I don't understand her. Last week, he was lucky if he got fed. Now she's trying to stay on his good side? I guess she's going for the jury vote. Awesomely, Alex interviews that Stacy came up all wanting to make amends, but he tells us of his own response: "Like I care." Yeah, why would he care? She's only the one person out of the other six people now in this game besides you who's showing you an overture. Why would you respond to that with anything other than hostility? I mean, honestly. It's kind of sad that Alex got his one overture from the one person everyone has literally already said they hate on a quiz. That was, in a sense, graded. That has to hurt.
The Earl-liance is observing this hush-hush chat between Stacy and Alex, and Boo comments that he doesn't think the two of them should be off doing this verbal canoodling. Earl tells Boo to go break it up. Boo plods over to where Stacy and Alex are talking, and he adopts the following brain-on-a-hamster-wheel strategy for breaking up their discussion: "Stacy, I think everybody wants to talk to you when you're finished over here." "Who's 'everybody'?" she asks, annoyed. Boo: "Everybody besides you and Alex." Ha! Boo certainly did take that spy mission seriously. They told him to go break it up, and HE BROKE IT UP, DAMMIT. When you tell Boo to break up a mofo, the mofo gets broke up. Alex know-it-alls that he can tell that the Earl-liance is arguing, so they're clearly not "in agreement" about what to do about him. For some reason, he seems to see it as good news when people can't quite agree on the most efficient way to dispatch you. Alex is sure that this will give him an opportunity to break the six-person group. When Stacy comes over to find out what they want to talk to her about, they don't have a great answer (nice job, Boo), and Alex continues to voice over that he can just sit here and ride the arguing among the Earl-liance. He's home free, baby! Home free! Stick to the plan! He says that he'll be playing with "a smile, velvet gloves, and a dagger in my pocket." As was pointed out on the boards, the saying about the velvet gloves really requires the accompanying iron fist, or else you're just "a fop" (as the boards said) or "a character from a novel involving dueling" (as I would say). Maybe it's the same thing.
Credits. AIII-YAAAH! Is it just me, or is a skeleton going up in flames overkill? Like, it's dead. The pirate (or whoever) is over. You don't have to burn the bones.
Bula Bula, Day 30. A bird. People lying in the sand. They're sleeping, except for Alex, who's pretending to sleep with his hat over his eyes, but who's carefully listening in case anything happens. Alex calls this "ninja mode," and the International Ninja Association immediately files an objection, in which it states that ninjas do not lie around on the beach with hats over their eyes. That is considered un-ninja-like, in fact, which is the cause of the ancient rift between ninjas and surfers. Alex says that instead of getting up and "doing his business" (yick), he decided to listen. And he says "ninja" again, but let's try to put that behind us, shall we? As it happens, he (we are led to believe) overhears a discussion between Earl and Cassandra. Because that conversation mostly involves their confirming their trust of several people in their alliance, I don't think it's actually of that much help to Alex. The exception is that Earl says he doesn't really trust Boo, but for whatever reason, Alex does not seem at all inclined to approach Boo. I don't know what it is with those guys, but I think it must be serious, because that's actually the best information Alex gets, and he does nothing with it. Interestingly, Earl comments that he finds "being honest" to be the best way to go far, and he says that he can count on Cassandra and count on Yau Man. I have decided that "You Can Count On Yau" is the title of the inspirational song I will be submitting to American Idol. I admit I am writing to a small target audience of Earl, but if you put Blake Lewis on lead vocal, I think he could give you just the right tone.
Earl goes on to explain in an interview that he has this "core alliance" made up of himself, Cassandra, and Yau Man. But he and Cassandra are discussing "Dreamz" as their possible fourth. Earl goes with Cassandra to talk to Yau Man, who isn't happy about the prospect of adding "Dreamz" to the inner circle. He knows how tight "Dreamz" and Cassandra are, and he manages to say in a pretty diplomatic way that he thinks their fourth should be someone that they all have a chance to align with as far as an F4 situation, rather than the closest ally of one of the people in the threesome. Yau Man confirms to us that he and Earl have had a disagreement over whom to put in the top four. Earl wants the three of them plus "Dreamz," which is horrible for Yau Man, because he stands no chance of either getting Cassandra or "Dreamz" to vote with him against the other, and they won't vote out Earl. He sees himself being bounced at F4 in that situation, almost without question. Basically, he tells Earl and Cassandra that he wants "a very weak candidate" in that fourth position -- someone who isn't automatically an ally of one part of the threesome, and presumably, someone they'll all drop simultaneously as long as said person does not win immunity. Yau Man also says that he's not exactly thrilled about taking Stacy. "I wish it was Michelle," he says, and you know that was the plan, and they seriously almost got to the point where they could do it, the four of them. An alliance of nice people, just like last year. Weird. The way the three of them are able to discuss this entire thing is achingly good-natured -- they clearly all understand that they're playing a game, and they all want to win, and Yau Man obviously knows that he can tell them truthfully that he thinks that putting "Dreamz" in that spot will screw him, and they'll understand, and they may or may not agree, but it'll be a decent discussion. Cassandra tries to convince him that she wouldn't necessarily take "Dreamz" over Yau Man, but her grin gives her away.
Cassandra says "I trust Yau Man, but Yau Man is clearly playing the game for himself." Is that...wrong? I'm not sure I get it. She mentions the idol and discusses Yau Man as "a real big threat." In any event, the three of them agree that Alex is , as opposed to Boo then Alex, which is apparently also been considered for some reason. "It's one down, one to go, when it comes to those two," Earl says. Aw! Boo's not in the club! I find that sad on behalf of Joe R and all of his Boo action figures. Now with "FLOZ" cap!
Challenge. Giant hunks of meat hanging on ropes. Oh yeah, baby. The reward challenge will be requiring you to bite off pork with your hands tied behind your back (so you're using only your teeth) and transport it to a table. Whoever moves the most meat (by weight) in the time permitted is the winner. The winner and the two runners-up (not winner's choice, you'll note) will take a helicopter into the rain forest and do some river rafting. Then lunch. Also, winner sends someone to Exile Island. Also-also, winner gets an advantage in the later immunity challenge. Worth playing for? Why yes, Jeff. Uh...Jeff, you're not coming to lunch with us, are you?
Hands are tied behind backs. Five minutes to tear off as much as you can and put it on your plate. Go! Early highlights include Stacy getting bitch-smacked by a hunk of pork. It's not often that you can say, "The only thing that could save this season would be that lady getting cold-cocked by a swinging meat carcass" and stand a chance of getting satisfaction. One other interesting development is that it turns out that it's easier if you work with someone else, so that you can both push against each other in order to get some leverage. Others work in groups at least some of the time, but Alex is left all alone, like the sad little reject that he is, to hopelessly try to wrap his mouth around his meat unassisted. (Oh, grow up.) Earl gets down on his knees to fetch a piece from the dirt at one point. Hard core! Yau Man and Boo, in particular, seem to have a nice rapport going. I think my actual favorite part of this challenge is that on a couple of occasions, Yau Man carries giant pieces of pork in his mouth, and he gets so excited and happy that his eyes are huge as he drops the pieces on the plate. It's really funny. For whatever reason, Earl just doesn't seem to be in this one very much -- maybe he's not looking to raise his profile any more at this point? Doesn't want to send anyone to Exile Island? Doesn't like pork-on-a-rope? When Jeff finally calls time, Boo actually bumps Yau-Man's shoulder in appreciation for the way they worked together. The editors have a good time with the aftermath showing us people panting, ripped-apart carcasses swinging...it's a little creepy, I'll tell you.
Time for the weigh-in! Who will win? Jeff weighs Boo's meat first. (Heh.) Boo has 8.9 pounds of meat on his plate. Yau Man has 6.0 pounds. Cassandra has 5.8 pounds. Stacy has 4.3 pounds, so she's out of the money already. Earl has 5.0 pounds. "Dreamz" has 6.0 pounds. So he bumps out Cassandra, and now it's all about Alex. Alex only has about 5.3 pounds, so the winner is Boo, with Yau Man and "Dreamz" as secondary beneficiaries of the trip. Boo is to send someone to Exile Island, and he looks at Earl, who appears to be giving him a subtle nod. Boo says, "Earl, I know you don't take hard feelings to this; I'm going to send you back." Now Earl plays unhappy and gets on the boat. I mean, you can't send Alex, for idol-getting reasons. So who do you send, if not Earl? Jeff hands Boo a big purple bag that allegedly contains his "advantage" for the later immunity challenge. Everybody heads back to camp, and the reward winners will be picked up later.
After commercials, we are at Bula Bula on Day 32. Boo is very pleased to see his helicopter arriving to fetch him. I kind of want him to pull an ANTM Dionne and be like, "Can I keep it?" As they get in the helicopter, Yau Man tells us that he's never been in a helicopter before, and he's "very excited." As they go up, he says that it's great for somebody like him who grew up on islands to be able to see them from the air.
During the helicopter ride, we get the first signs of one of the themes of the episode, which is that Boo is kind of driving Yau Man and "Dreamz" a little bit crazy with the constant chatter. "Dreamz" complains in an interview that Boo was interfering with his "relaxing time" when it was "time to chill." Not anything that "Dreamz" himself would ever be accused of, obviously. Yau Man explains that when the helicopter finally landed (after, he claims, about an hour and a half), they hiked ten minutes or so to the river. We watch them get their boating gear on and get their little safety briefing, and then they get on the raft.
Rapids! Nobody dies! "Dreamz" tells us that the rafting was great, and he just wished he could have brought his family. As they drift in the boat down to a placid area with a little waterfall, Boo comments that they're "floating through a post card." Aw, nice! He interviews that he was trying really hard to be conscious of looking around and taking everything in. "I'm tickled pink; I feel like a little girl!" Boo tells "Dreamz" and Yau Man. Boo means, of course, that he feels like he thinks a little girl feels, not that he feels like a little girl the way you feel like a drink. This isn't one of the cannibal seasons.
Meanwhile, it's Day 32 on Exile Island. The snakes haven't left yet. Still under contract, apparently. Earl climbs to the top of the tower and opens the clue box, saying, "This is what I came here for." He unrolls the clue parchment, which has the business Boo saw about the singular tree, and which also says that it's near their regular paths, and it's inside a tree near a "tower of rock." Getting pretty specific. I think they want somebody to get that idol before the game ends. Earl tells us that he thinks two clues will be adequate for his purposes. Well, if they're these two clues, yes. They gave him everything but a map, quite frankly. Now, he can't wait to get back to camp so that he can look.
The rewardees enjoy a nice lunch. They love the food and everything, but the best thing of all is that at the end of lunch, they get letters from their families back at home. Family letters! One of Yau Man's kids reports getting six As and one B -- in algebra. "Why can't you get a B in Spanish or something?" Yau Man wonders aloud. Hee. Apparently, he considers algebra the universal language. Boo is amused by the fact that his entire letter consists of assurances that the members of his family are all eating well. "Dreamz," of course, gets a letter from his sister about how nobody would have thought any of them would ever have such an opportunity. He gets all weepy. Quasi-Coldplay arpeggios play as "Dreamz" assures us that he feels very lucky, thankful for the opportunity, etc. "It lets me know that my fight is just beginning," he announces. Oh...goody. Yau Man pronounces the reward "awesome."
Bula Bula, Day 33. "Dreamz," Alex, and Stacy are having a little chat around camp about how much they're bugged by Boo. "He talks more than the girls!" Stacy says in horror. Can you imagine? A man that talks more than girls? That's like a lady who's taller than a boy! God does not approve. Yau Man joins the discussion and pretty much agrees with the account of the trip that "Dreamz" has given, in that Boo talked the entire time. Yau Man interviews that it was so serious that it almost spoiled the trip. Everyone else is pretty much just shit-talking, as you do, but Alex tries to ramp it up, saying he can't stand it anymore and interviewing that he thinks they all hate Boo so much now that they wouldn't want him to win the money. Unlike Alex, who has engendered nothing but good feelings, I guess. Alex tells the rest of them, "If I hear something stupid, I may call it out." I swear, he is the least convincing bad-ass of all time. Sadly, though, this is actually exactly the kind of guy who would (allegedly) get cute with the police. The other great thing about this part, I think, is seeing Stacy sitting around talking about someone else being annoying. Stacy! Is talking about how Boo is annoying. Because...while I'm sure Boo can be annoying...Stacy? Really? Alex gives a little speech about how it's ultimately a popularity contest, and Boo wouldn't win a popularity contest. Unlike Heidik, Hatch, or Jenna Morasca, who totally looked like popularity-contest winners at this point in their seasons. He pronounces himself ready for "an anti-Boo campaign." I think it's way, way too late in the season to rely on personal dislike to get people booted. It's only like six more days. People can spend that much time with their relatives in vacation homes; they can do this where there's money involved. This is a stupid plan, making it perfect for Alex, given his recent fondness for improvising incredibly ineffectively.
Alex and "Dreamz" talk, and for some reason, Alex thinks that "Dreamz" is in charge of who goes. "Dreamz" says that it will be Alex, even though "Dreamz" wants to be rid of Boo. So Alex is like, "It's me or Boo?" even though "Dreamz" has not suggested that anyone else has any inclination to vote for anyone but Alex. Alex wants "Dreamz" to advocate for him and against Boo if Boo doesn't win immunity. "Dreamz" tells us that he never liked Boo, and he likes Alex, so he wants Boo to go first. Anyone else? Anyone? No? Alex and "Dreamz" agree that Alex should try to win the immunity idol. Now that's a better plan. "If Boo wins immunity today, I think I'm pretty much screwed," Alex says.
Aaaaand...immunity challenge time! Everyone gets settled, and Earl is brought back from Exile Island. Jeff takes back immunity from Stacy. (I know! Remember?) The course they're looking at has a lane in the sand for each person. You dig in your lane to uncover three "paddles" per person that are actually climbing steps that you'll insert into holes in a pole to get up the pole. Boo's "advantage" turns out to be that he has his paddles already. The first two people to dig up their paddles will join Boo in the finals, where each person will try to get up a tall pole using those climbing paddles. Alex is digging like a wild animal; Cassandra is barely touching anything. "Cassandra, digging like a small rabbit," Jeff commentates at one point. "Dreamz" manages to get two of his paddles before anyone else gets any. In fact, he gets his third before anyone else gets any. So he's going to the final with Boo. Yau Man, never a guy you want to underestimate, gets one of his paddles. Alex gets one. Cassandra? Still not trying. Alex gets another. "Cassandra, just waiting for it to be over," Jeff says, and I'm beginning to wonder if he's working on a Lydia-like hate for Cassandra. ["Which would be utterly off-base, considering Cassandra's actually working a pretty good strategy rather than just going with the flow like the fishmonger did." -- Joe R] Alex gets his final step, so he's going to the final with Boo and "Dreamz."
Final round. Alex tries the strategy of partially ignoring the steps and just trying to shimmy up the pole. He makes it a good part of the way, but then he just can't quite make it to the top. For his part, Boo is just plodding his way up the pole. And the first to grab the flag at the top of the pole is...is...Boo! No, not "boo" to the outcome -- "Boo" is who it was. Silly. Jeff calls the method they were using "not the easy way to do this challenge," I guess because they weren't using the climbers in a totally logical fashion, but were skipping a lot of holes along the way. Boo goes over and collects his immunity idol without, as Jeff points out "waiting for an invitation." So Jeff hates him now. Rude! None shall pass! So one of these other people will be going home later, and it won't be Boo. Cassandra consoles the obviously dead-in-the-water Alex.
Back from commercials, sharks eat fish. It's Bula Bula. It's Day 33. The group returns from the challenge, and Yau Man happily interviews that everything is good, because the intended bootee didn't win immunity. Earl confirms with the Earl-liance that they're all voting for Alex. Boo jokes that maybe he'll give Alex the necklace. "I'll freakin' tackle you," Earl vows. Heh. Yau Man tells us that he's feeling safe, so he sees no need to use the immunity idol.
As we watch Yau Man work on the fire, we also watch Alex watching Yau Man hungrily. Alex interviews that while his situation is quite grim, he's still playing strong. No begging, because "that's not the way it works." He says that his plan is to sit back and wait for people to approach him, which he's confident they will. Indeed, as Alex lounges around, Cassandra comes to see him, bearing a grin and her regrets. She tells him that he has a lot to be proud of, and Alex says that he "tried to be a gentleman." Oh, boy. He says he tried to be honorable: "Give my kids something they could be proud of someday." (Alex's Future Kids: "Where's our million bucks, you loser?") Alex announces to Cassandra that he doesn't think Yau Man will take "Dreamz" "to the end." I don't know what he means by "the end," exactly. F4? It's very unclear. Alex "informs" Cassandra that Yau Man is going to take Boo or Stacy to F4. Now...here's the thing. Yau Man, even with the damn idol, cannot single-handedly "take" one person or another person to F4. Remember, Yul's big idol-having power move came when there were two big teams fighting over the swing guy and Yul himself was the person that one of them was determined to vote out. This is not that situation. Yau Man can only use the idol in this tribal council, or in one of the two. Nobody is currently planning on voting him off, meaning the idol may very well not get played at all. Yau Man is already in an alliance that already intends to take him to F4. He doesn't need the idol to get to F4, and he can't necessarily pick and choose between Boo/Stacy and "Dreamz," contrary to what Alex is implying. Also? Boo and Stacy aren't going to take "Dreamz" to F4 either.
Aaaanyway. Alex also tells Cassandra that he thinks that either "Dreamz" or Earl won't be taken to F4. Here, of course, he shows his hand as far as how little he knows, because Cassandra now knows that he doesn't know about the close bond between Earl and Yau Man. But Alex tells Cassandra that if she wants to make a "power move," this is her moment. Cassandra interviews that Alex didn't do a bad job with his incredibly last-ditch effort at staying around. She said that he made a pretty good cause about Yau Man having the idol and keeping Boo and Stacy and so forth. Earl joins this discussion with "Dreamz" and Cassandra and Alex, and Alex explains how if you don't get rid of Yau Man now, you never will, because Yau Man will "take out" Earl or "Dreamz." How this will be accomplished is not explained, really. Alex claims that either time or the following time, Yau Man will "trade" Earl or "Dreamz" for Stacy or Boo. Again, both how and why Yau Man will do it this way is not explained. Alex insists that Yau Man will know he can't win against either "Dreamz" or Earl. Yau Man can't win against "Dreamz"? Bullshit! You think Lisi and Edgardo and Mookie are going to vote for "Dreamz" over Yau Man? I find that hard to believe. Mookie and Edgardo both see "Dreamz" as a backstabber, unless Alex talks them out of it in sequester.
Back at camp, Yau Man notes that he and Boo are alone and everyone else is gone. I guess Stacy is off at the powwow as well.
As he listens to Alex's pitch, Earl voices over that he totally knew this was coming, so it didn't faze him or anything. He explains how Alex was all, "This is your only chance," blah blah. And then, wonderfully, Earl looks into the camera and says, "But you know what? I'd rather just vote your ass off now, and I'll risk it." Wow, that was...great. He tells us that he winked a few times at "Dreamz" and Cassandra, and he's pretty sure they're not taking any of it seriously.
Woefully, this one time, Earl is quite wrong. "Dreamz" is talking to Cassandra, insisting that Alex's plan is great -- they can boot Yau Man, and then Earl will be with the two of them, 100 percent, and Alex drops out of the picture. Why they assume Earl will stay with them after that kind of a betrayal rather than, for instance, teaming up with Boo, Stacy, and Alex, meaning that he would have three widely disliked people going to F4 with him, I'm not sure. "Dreamz" voices over that Yau Man is "so dangerous" because of the idol, and Alex is his "friend." I'm sure Alex is really his awesome buddy. Bleh. Anyway, when someone has an immunity idol with twelve people left, he's "so dangerous," in a way. When he has an immunity idol with six people left and he is in your alliance, he's not all that dangerous to you, and when he has an immunity idol with six people left and he is not in your alliance, his safety is relatively irrelevant to you. As things look right now, if Yau Man stays, what will determine "Dreamz"'s fate as far as F4 is whether Yau Man can convince a couple of other people to vote "Dreamz" out before that. If Yau Man leaves, what will determine "Dreamz"'s fate as far as F4 is whether Boo and/or Stacy can convince a couple of other people to vote "Dreamz" out before that. It's just too late for this idol to make that much difference to a guy in the position "Dreamz" is in.
Elsewhere, "Dreamz" and Cassandra tell Stacy of the possible switch to a Yau Man vote-off, and Stacy basically agrees to do whatever Cassandra wants, which is an interesting switch from the famous "Cassandra isn't important and has no shot" speech. Cassandra pronounces herself potentially "down with" this plan to oust Yau Man. Cassandra interviews that if she votes out Yau Man, Stacy and "Dreamz" will vote that way, too. She says she's pretty undecided about tribal council.
Cassandra now chats with Earl, who's basically like, "Please tell me you're not considering this." She claims that she isn't. She also wonders why "Dreamz" is trying so hard to keep Alex in the game. Earl doesn't think he is -- isn't "Dreamz" getting all the winks? "Dreamz" tells Alex elsewhere about Earl's winking, and how this clearly was Earl's signal that he was not "down with the plan." At the same moment TV-wise, Earl is telling Cassandra that they have a perfectly good plan, and that screwing with it would be a huge mistake. Earl tries not to strong-arm her, telling her that she's going to have to make her own choice, but he's certainly voting for Alex. Cassandra interviews that as a result of Earl and Yau Man's close friendship, they're going to have to sneak up on Earl if they're going to do the Yau Man plan. She acknowledges that her head and her heart are sending her very different messages.
Tribal council. We bring in the jury. Mookie looks really frat-punk. He's one of those guys who wears his propensity for giving noogies on his sleeve. Jeff starts by challenging Alex on his vote against Mookie last week. Alex gives a general "I'm just fighting hard" defense. Jeff asks Yau Man whether he's concerned about "something dramatic" happening as a result of the arrangement of six people plus Alex, making Alex all-important swing-vote guy. Yau Man says that he's decided to trust his alliance, and while he thinks one or two people might be flippable, he thinks that three aren't -- and he sure hopes he's right. Heh. "Dreamz" is rather not-subtle when he's called on, and he just wants everyone to know that it's VERY possible that three people could flip. Jeff asks Alex what he did about his back being to the wall, and Alex is all "that's for me to know and you to find out" about it, and I'm so tired of him.
Jeff asks about the hidden immunity idol. Jeff points out that the idol kind of makes you safe, but it can also kind of make you a target. Yau Man says he's not feeling "the pressure" right now too much, but he anticipates feeling it starting time. Which is sort of inviting them to vote for him tonight, but...they don't really have time to talk about that. Jeff asks Alex whether there's "chatter" about the newly re-hidden immunity idol. Because Alex has nothing to say, he vamps about how dangerous idols are in general. AND YAU MAN HAS ONE. He just didn't want you to forget that. Jeff asks Alex whether he's surprised by how comfy the other six people appear, and he says he's "very surprised." What's great is that he sort of chastises them for not understanding the game, which is a pretty weird shot of condescension from a guy who...you know. Kind of lost the entire game after having a huge advantage. Jeff asks everyone whether they're "legitimately concerned," and everyone says "no" except Alex. Of course, when Yau Man answers, the Rattlesnake Of Not So Fast rattles in the background.
Time to vote. No voting for Boo! Alex votes for Yau Man, which is "nothing personal," of course. Boo votes. Stacy votes. Yau Man votes for Alex: "Goodbye. It's finally time for you to go." Earl votes. "Dreamz" votes. Cassandra dramatically votes. Time to tally the votes! When Jeff returns, he asks if anyone wants to play an idol. No one does. First vote is for Alex. Then Yau Man. Then Alex, Alex, and Alex, and that will do it. Mookie makes a sad face. Snuff! Go home! Booooooo, lawyers! Jeff says that now, it's time to "start sharpening those knives." Sigh.
In his parting words, Alex tells us that he tried his hardest, and that kids should never stop dreaming. You only wish I were making that up. He insists that the rest of them are "dreaming" if they think they won't have to backstab.
time: "Dreamz" is still angling to get rid of Yau Man. Yau Man tries to "make a deal." "Dreamz" probably says some more stuff, and Earl probably tries to ignore it.