Remember when Ozzy voluntarily got eliminated and sent to Redemption Island and gave Cochran of all people the Immunity Idol? So that happened. So Ozzy goes to Redemption Island and lies to Christine that Cochran blindsided him with the Immunity Idol and he got voted out. So that's step one in his plan. Now he needs to beat her at the Duel and then give the other tribe false information headed into the merge (that he and Cochran are at odds). So when the Duel comes, it's the one where you had to build a pole and then use it to retrieve three keys, Brady Bunch style. Ozzy struggles a bit at first but then dominates the Challenge and sends Christine home.
Immediately following the Duel, Ozzy rejoins his tribe and they merge. That seems a little convenient, no? So the first day of the merge, Cochran goes to Coach and tries to pretend like he sent Ozzy out. Coach somehow knows THE ENTIRE PLOY. Someone must have told him because he lays out exactly what they did, point by point, right down to Cochran having an Idol in his pocket. So Cochran realizes the plan isn't going to work, and jumps to his Plan B – he admits everything to Upolu and throws himself on their mercy. Then he also goes to Dawn and talks to her about doing…something? I'm not really clear on what he proposed. But if no one flips on their former tribe, they will "go to rocks" at Tribal, meaning they will have to pick rocks to determine completely by chance who goes home, since any vote will be a 6-6 tie. Cochran and Dawn have to decide whether they want to chance "going to rocks" or flip on Savaii and become number seven and eight in the Upolu alliance, or stick with Savaii where they are numbers five and six. Crappy choice either way, really.
The Immunity Challenge is to hold a coconut balanced on a sort of hammock made of two ropes while standing on a perch. At intervals, they lengthen the rope, making it easier for the coconut to slip through. Dropping the coconut or leaving the perch means elimination, and there are two Immunity Necklaces awarded: one to the last man standing and one to the last woman standing. Dawn wins for the women, pretty easily – it was only the second round. Ozzy wins over Albert in the third round.
Savaii discusses their options. Ozzy and Dawn have immunity and they decide to give Whitney the Idol (Why Whitney? Unclear.) Cochran tells Sophie the truth, that his tribe is voting for Rick and will play the Idol. He posits that Rick should play the Idol too – then Cochran won't have to reveal his loyalties with a vote. Sophie's like, "Yeah, we're not wasting our Idol to save your ass." Other than that, Cochran is given a warm welcome by Upolu, though Dawn is in his ear telling him that Upolu will promise him anything to get his vote and he shouldn't trust them.
At Tribal, Savaii finds out that Upolu didn't buy their story. Ozzy admits that it was a ruse and his team plans to play the Immunity Idol, but obviously he doesn't tell them who will play it, and we (the viewers) don't know who Upolu is planning on voting out. After the votes are cast, Ozzy plays the Idol for Whitney. No one on Upolu plays an Idol. Keith gets six votes and Rick gets six votes (so why did they give the Idol to Whitney again?). That triggers a revote, where they can only vote for Rick or Keith. Will Cochran flip now? That was his original plan. And he does. I gasped out loud. So Keith goes to Redemption Island. Jim calls Cochran a coward repeatedly and Brandon yells at him, saying that behavior is why Cochran flipping in the first place. I don't know what Cochran has to gain from going from the sixth person in a six-person alliance to the seventh person in a seven-person alliance, but maybe he's hoping he can leapfrog some of the people in his new tribe. I guess at least he tried something and made the game a little more interesting.
Savaii. Night 18. The tribe returns from Tribal Council, where they just voted out Ozzy at his request to send him to Redemption Island to beat Christine and prevent her from returning at the merge, which could potentially give Upolu the numbers advantage. Except that Christine hates her former tribe and probably would have joined up with Savaii. Oops. Anyway, Cochran recaps all of that for the cameras, and adds that if it all goes down like they hope, it will be "one of the greatest moves in Survivor history." Well, that depends. Even if it works, it will still be six against six in the first merged Tribal Council. Which is better than seven against five, but it's not exactly a golden path to the finals, by any means.
The remaining tribe members sit around the fire and talk about their plan, but not before Keith takes the opportunity to passive-aggressively bash Cochran for not being willing to go to Redemption Island himself. I didn't see Keith stepping up, right? Did he offer? I don't think he did. I'm not sure why it was Cochran's responsibility to do so, other than that he knew he was going to be voted off, which probably wasn't his first choice of options. Shut up, Keith. And if you have something to say, say it outright instead of talking into the fire and pretending like you're talking about some theoretical person who didn't take one for the team. Anyway. Cochran is prepping for his upcoming double agent role, and wants to know what others want him to say about their bonds, like who is friends with whom and whatnot. Nobody really offers anything up. Cochran interviews that he thinks he'll be good at being a double agent, because he's been pretending all along that he likes the other people on his own tribe. Yeah, and he's been doing such a great job that they all hate him. Cochran is one of those assholes that is all talk in interviews, but when it comes to actually interacting with his tribemates, he backs down in every conversation and is practically scraping and bowing. He would be an excellent online troll. And by "excellent," I mean "incredibly annoying and quickly banned."
Meanwhile, on Redemption Island, Ozzy shows up and wakes Christine. He tells her that Cochran had the Idol, so when they all voted for him, he used it and Ozzy went home. Ozzy is a terrible actor. Have you seen his porn? I haven't, but it's porn, so the acting is, by default, terrible. Anyway, he yells a lot and gets all emotional, which Ozzy never does, so it's obvious he's acting. Not that it really matters what Christine thinks, since if their plan works, she's going home.
Duel Time! And if they wanted any suspense about the timing of the merge, they wouldn't have allowed everyone to come to the Duel, since it's usually just two people from each tribe. Way to go, show. It's now obvious that they will be merging right after the Duel. Probst starts out by asking Ozzy if he's surprised to be on Redemption Island. Ozzy gives a big monologue about how he's pissed at Cochran for hiding that he had the Idol and now Ozzy is out for revenge. It's a LOT longer than that and about as good as any third-rate high school production. The members of Upolu observe and Albert mouths to Coach, "I don't buy it." Good one, Ozzy. At least you didn't overplay it and make it obvious that you were lying. Except you did. Here's a tip: when lying, offer little information. The best answer to that question would have been, "Yeah, I am." Let Probst ask the follow-up (and try to keep a straight face.)
After Ozzy's big acting job, Probst is just like, "All right. Let's get to the Duel." The challenge is to use a bundle of sticks and some rope to make a long stick, and then (from behind a gate) use the stick to retrieve three keys on three keyrings. Those keys will unlock the gate, and the first person to do so wins the challenge and re-enters the game, while the loser goes home. These challenges always remind me of that episode of The Brady Bunch where the crazy old miner locked them all in jail in the ghost town and they had use shoelaces and belts and I think someone's purse to get the key. I wonder if the producers were inspired by that too, because if so, maybe soon there will be a relay race through a theme park with some architectural plans. Let's get to the challenge.
Christine seems to be wrapping the string around the joints where she attaches the sticks together multiple times; Ozzy is only wrapping once, but using more pieces. I am going to refrain from commenting on how many times Probst talks about long poles, because we would be here all day. Anyway, Christine is the first to make a try for a key, and she gets there, but her pole breaks in half before she can retrieve the key. Ozzy actually gets the keyring off the peg, but drops it about halfway back. Ozzy digs it out of the dirt, and gets the key. Then he quickly gets the second and third keys before Christine even gets her pole repaired and back out there. Ozzy unlocks all three locks as Christine's pole falls apart. That seems like a metaphor for something. Ozzy wins and his tribe cheers (except Cochran, whose acting is identical to a migraine sufferer in a commercial). Jim tells Christine that she had a good run, and everyone claps for her as she leaves.
Probst congratulates Ozzy and tells him to drop his buff along with everyone else, because they are merging. Everyone starts shaking hands and saying hello, and I note that Cochran immediately goes to Albert and Coach, which is smart, except we know that they didn't buy Ozzy's ruse. But still, at least Cochran is making an effort to keep things going.
The merged tribe returns to camp (a new camp, an old camp, I'm not sure) and they indulge in the traditional merge feast. Jim sidles off for an interview where he mocks the fact that everyone is pretending to get along, when really they all know that it's six against six and someone needs to flip or they may have to draw rocks to see who goes home. Coach and Cochran have become instant BFFs, and Cochran says that he feels reborn with the merge.
A bit later, Cochran and Coach are hanging out together away from camp a bit. Cochran is whining about how his tribe is so MEEEEEEEAN to him, especially Keith, and how they were mean before, but after he botched the last challenge so badly, now they really hate him. Coach asks what Cochran is thinking about, strategically, and Cochran says he's wondering if he's working with the right people right now. All these euphemisms make me think of someone who is trying to figure out if the other person is willing to cheat on their spouse or something. Like they're asking, "Are you happy? Do you feel fulfilled? Don't you miss the excitement?"
So then Coach, who has historically not been my favorite, makes a great play. He says that his tribe isn't budging, and then adds that he thinks Savaii is trying to play them, because he thinks they sent Ozzy to Redemption to get rid of Christine and then made up a story about Cochran being the turncoat. Coach nails every detail of what they actually did. It's pretty amazing. And then Coach says that neither tribe will budge, so he and Cochran will both be drawing rocks and potentially going home. Then he appeals to Cochran's ego by saying that Coach also knows how it feels to be treated poorly by people who are inferior. No, he really says that. That he and Cochran are both intellectually superior to the rest of them, so the others try to cut them down in other ways. Is that really what Cochran thinks is happening? That everyone else is just jealous of his big brains? Because I don't think that's it. I think he looks and acts like a victim, so they treat him like one, which isn't right, but you can see why it happens. Anyway, Coach basically tells Cochran that he can draw rocks and potentially go home, or he can make a big move and be a strong player by betraying Savaii and voting with Upolu. We don't see Coach go into what happens after that, which is the part I'd be most interested in if I were Cochran.
At some point shortly after that, Cochran talks to Sophie, Albert, and Coach. Sophie says that the whole illusion Savaii tried to create was pretty obvious. Cochran spills all the beans and says that Ozzy woke up and said he had a dream and that he needed to earn redemption. Cochran adds that he doesn't want Upolu to see him as someone who is disloyal, since he'd be ditching his old tribe. Albert says it's not disloyal, since they treated him so poorly and he's obviously not in the inner circle of Savaii. Does Cochran understand that Upolu will say whatever they think he wants to hear since they so desperately need him to switch? If he were smart, he'd open up a negotiation where he would offer up his vote to anyone who would promise him something. They might break their promise, but they might not. He's actually in kind of a powerful position here. Although then everyone might just vote him out to get rid of his ambivalence, I guess. And throughout all these scenes, I did have in the back of my mind that he might still be playing Upolu and trying to gather information to take back to Savaii. Although I don't think Cochran is that good of an actor. He just looks too happy to finally be among people that don't treat him like dirt.
Cochran then has a little chat with Brandon, who wants to know which Savaii member that Cochran wants to get rid of. Cochran says that Jim has a temper, and could blow up on Cochran once his betrayal is known, but Keith has been the most consistently rude to him. Brandon promises that Cochran will be protected. What's Brandon going to do, pray them to death? Come on. Cochran interviews that he considers himself a strategist and a mastermind (which is why he has nearly been voted out like twice? And no one on his tribe likes him?) but not an evil mastermind, so he gives Ozzy the Idol back. Well, not to mention that keeping it would mean tipping his hand in advance and probably eliminate the possibility that any of the Savaii would vote for him if he made it to the finals. So let's not pretend it's not at least partially strategic. Cochran goes on about how he's in control and he doesn't have to deal with his former tribe members who don't like or respect him and it's AWESOME. Here's the thing he doesn't address: right now he's #6 on a six-person alliance, right? So he wants to switch and be #7 in a seven-person alliance? I mean, perhaps he figures that he can hang with Upolu while they vote off Savaii one by one and hopefully improve his status and break up sub-alliances and whatnot. But I wish he would say that. Maybe he did the editors didn't want to give away his vote by putting it in. Who knows?
Cochran has a heart-to-heart with Dawn, the only person on Savaii that he likes and respects. He explains that he plans to vote with Savaii on the first vote, but if it's a tie, he doesn't want to have to draw rocks. For those of you who haven't watched every season of this show, or have more important things to keep in your memory banks, the tribes will vote like normal. If there's a tie (six for Savaii person, six for Upolu person), they all vote again except for the people who got votes, and they can ONLY vote for the people who got votes. If that is also a tie, they have two minutes to discuss and debate and try to come to a decision about who should go home. And if they are still deadlocked, then anyone without immunity (except the two people who already got votes) has to draw a rock from a bag. Whichever person gets the one black rock goes home, so it's totally random. Anyway, back to our conversation: Dawn says that she doesn't have tribe loyalty, and she acknowledges that their own tribe has disrespected her and Cochran, mostly Cochran. And then she bursts out crying, which leaves Cochran looking totally perplexed. She says that she's frustrated because she agreed to stay with Savaii, but then she met the people on Upolu and they seem really nice. Of course they do! They're trying to flip you! Dawn interviews that she's a fan of the show and she loves it when people stand up for their beliefs, even if it's at the expense of the million dollars, and she feels like she should have stood up for Cochran sooner, but she was trying to protect her own status in the game. And she should! Do you go on this show to stand up for your beliefs or to win a million dollars? Because you can stand up for your beliefs at home. I mean, if they asked her to, like, renounce her family or something, then fine. But lying and double-dealing and backstabbing? That's game play. That's strategy. Also, stop crying. Anyway, Cochran gives her a version of Coach's speech where he says that they can have some agency in the game or they can just leave it up to fate by drawing rocks. It's obvious what Cochran wants to do, but Dawn doesn't commit either way.
Immunity Challenge! Keith announces that the new tribe name is Te Tuna which is dumb and would also make me hungry every time I said it, so it's twice as dumb. Probst explains that today there are two Immunity necklaces, one for a man and one for a woman. Well, that seems fair and totally not contrived and like something they've done a million times. Wait, have they ever done that before? Possibly, but not very often because nothing is springing to mind. Then again, I'm old and my mind is feeble. Anyway! The challenge is to stand on a perch and hold a coconut between two ropes, using them like a hammock. If you give any slack to the ropes, the coconut will fall and you're out. If you step off the perch, you're out. At various intervals, they will have to make the ropes longer, which will make it more difficult. Everyone ready? Take your places and let's go! Sidenote: I would be terrible at this because I have really terrible forearm, wrist, and hand strength since I had kids. I don't know what happened but I can't open jars or hold heavy pots or whatever without shooting pains. In case you were wondering how I would do on this challenge, and no one was, so moving on.
Another rule that Probst forgot to mention in the opening was that you can't let the ropes or coconut touch your body, like use your torso to balance it. And Edna does, so she's out first. Useless. Cochran is out second. Also, useless. The first round ends and they lengthen the ropes for the second round. Whitney goes out pretty much immediately, so that means either Sophie or Dawn will win immunity. Probst is barely done saying how Sophie is doing a good job when she drops her coconut, so Dawn has immunity.
But what about the men? Everyone but Cochran is still playing. Coach is out . Everyone is dripping sweat. I don't know why everyone didn't put a buff or whatever around their heads when they found out what the challenge was to prevent sweat issues. Rick the Cowboy is out , followed quickly by Jim and Keith (who has a little temper tantrum).
And it's time for the final lengthening of the ropes. I have to admire the challenge producers this round; they found an endurance challenge that does require some stamina but it isn't like in seasons past where it takes hours and hours of boring standing around. So only Brandon, Ozzy, and Albert are left. Brandon tries to adjust his grip and drops his coconut, leaving only Ozzy and Albert. Ozzy is wobbly but Albert has a very strange posture and he can't really move around to get more comfortable. He ends up dropping his coconut and stupid Ozzy wins immunity.
Back at camp, the former Savaii has a meeting to discuss their plan. They are psyched that two of them have immunity, so there is a lesser chance that one of them will go home when rocks are drawn. They also discuss voting for Sophie or possibly Rick. They are assuming (correctly) that Upolu has an idol, and will play it on someone, but they don't think Rick will be that someone. Ozzy wants to do one final check that everyone is solid on their tribe and is okay with going to rocks. Cochran stupidly wavers and then tries to play it off like, "Why do you keep asking me?" Maybe because you're a weasel. Here was Savaii's mistake though; they had to know Cochran was vulnerable to flip. They should have been on him like white on rice. Boston Rob wouldn't have left Cochran alone to wander around. Although, I guess they didn't know that the jig was up and Upolu knew their plan? Still. They were arrogant and relied on their weakest member, and it was dumb.
Jim explains why picking rocks is better for his team, odds-wise. Strange that none of them have figured out that teams don't matter any more, and they should be playing for themselves now. Then Savaii discusses who should get the Idol, and they decide on Whitney, because they think that Upolu is going to vote for Whitney. I didn't get this at all on first viewing, but some forum posters explained it to me in small words, and now I get it. The following people will not have to draw rocks: Ozzy, Dawn, and whomever got votes in the first two votes. Upolu will want the strong players on Savaii to potentially go home, which means Jim and Keith. So they won't vote for Jim or Keith, making them eligible to draw rocks. That leaves Whitney (since they can't vote for Dawn or Ozzy, and presumably they think Cochran's on their side). I'm not sure why they have to play the Idol on Whitney since she won't have to draw rocks either way. Either Upolu votes for her, and she doesn't, or Ozzy gives her the Idol, and she doesn't. Just to make things even more confusing, it's not clear if someone who plays the Idol has to draw rocks or not, but I guess they're assuming she doesn't. So why play the Idol at all? I don't know. My head hurts. Cochran interviews that he doesn't care if the chances are one in three or one in thirty that he'll go home; he doesn't like to think about reducing his game to one of chance. Whatever, Cochran.
Cochran and Sophie have a quick conference. Cochran says that they're all voting for Rick, although Sophie's name was on the table too. Cochran wants Rick to play the Idol, because then it won't be a six-six vote, I guess? If Savaii all votes for Rick, that's six against him, which would be tossed because of the Idol. Then Upolu could just vote for Keith or Jim and one of them would leave, right? Why not just do that? Sophie basically says, "That would be great for you, Cochran, because you wouldn't have to flip, but we still don't 100% trust you, so we need you to prove your loyalties with a vote." Cochran then begs her to protect him after the vote because he knows that everyone on Savaii will be PISSED. He's not wrong. Cochran takes his worries about Savaii being mean to him to Coach, who says that Cochran can sleep wherever he wants. As Coach interviews about how he's promised Cochran the world, we see a montage of Upolu members being nice to Cochran.
Dawn and Cochran have another conversation, where Dawn wants to know what Cochran plans to do. Cochran claims he's still not sure, even after Dawn promises that she won't rat him out. Cochran says he's "gotten some pretty good promises" from Upolu, and Dawn points out that they're just words, and there's no way that Upolu will protect Cochran ahead of their own people. Cochran interviews that he's a little nervous that Dawn won't be voting with him, so now he has to decide whether to stick with a group of people who have been pretty mean to him, or go with a new unknown group who seem to be a lot nicer. Dawn tries to convince him that, since the Savaii members are mean people, they will get theirs in the end. Yeah, that's how this game works. That's why Russell made it to the finals. That's why Richard Hatch won the first season. Cochran says that he has the opportunity to be proactive and make a move, and he wants to take it, instead of just following along with the crowd. Dawn interviews that she realizes that she does like her tribe at times, and she wants to stay loyal to them. But that loyalty doesn't extend to telling them about Cochran's plans, and she justifies it to herself by saying that there's still a chance that Cochran won't do it. On first viewing, I really thought Cochran wasn't going to flip at this point. I didn't think he had the balls, to be honest.
Tribal Council. Probst starts right off by asking Coach if they're likely looking at a tie vote tonight, and Coach and Ozzy both agree that they are. Probst asks Edna (Edna?) if she sees any scenario where someone would switch their vote, and Edna says someone who didn't feel incorporated into their own tribe might flip. Cochran says, as a student of the game, he's never seen two tribes so cohesive going into the merge, and Jim thinks there is zero chance anyone from his tribe will flip. Oh, Jim. So arrogant. And isn't he a professional poker player? Jim keeps thinking of the odds as a tribe, instead of the odds as an individual. Albert talks about how none of them bought Ozzy's big production at the Duel, and they think the other tribe still has an Idol, and Sophie says that she was offended by Ozzy's lame performance. Ozzy admits that he does have the Idol, and says he was trying to fight for his tribe. He sounds really defensive and also arrogant, which is kind of his default status. Probst remind them that they can't vote for either Ozzy or Dawn, and the voting begins.
After the voting, Ozzy plays the Immunity Idol for Whitney. Upolu doesn't play theirs. Probst reads the votes, and Keith gets six (oops, not Whitney) and Rick gets six. So then it's time for a revote, and Probst reminds them that this is their last chance to change their vote. Everyone except Rick and Keith vote, and they have to vote for either Rick or Keith. What will Cochran do? I really thought that he would stick with Savaii. I don't know why, but I really didn't think he would flip. Probst grabs the votes and reveals them. He flips over five votes for Keith, and four votes for Rick. And the final vote is for Keith, so Keith is going to Redemption Island. Coach is all smiles. Cochran turns around to Ozzy and Jim and says, "I swapped. I'll explain it." What is he going to explain? Ozzy, at least, looks kind of amused. Jim calls Cochran a coward twice, and Brandon speaks up and says, "Don't talk to him like that. And that's what you get for talking to him like that in the first place." Of all the things to call him, coward? Asshole, sure. Disloyal. Liar. But coward? Anyway, as they all leave, Brandon tells Cochran to stick close to him and we have to wait until week to see what the fallout is of Cochran's big move.