Survivor: David vs. Goliath Episode 10 "Tribal Lines Are Blurred" Analysis

"Can I opt-out of the opting-out?"

-Mike White

Coming into this double episode, I was worried we might be getting some predictable boots and that we'd just see two Goliaths get picked off.  Even though the first part was a Goliath, it was far from boring and the second part was extremely exciting.  I have no idea what's going to happen next, but in the meantime, let's get a look at the double dose of gameplay.

I'm going to take a look at both parts of the episodes separately and two sets of awards will be given out.  We'll start with part 1.

Who Played Well:

Off the bad, coming back from Tribal Council, Angelina immediately made the right call by jumping ship on the Goliaths.  Alec and Kara voted for her, so selling them out and joining with the Davids was the right call.

Kara, who had a more mixed night, did not handle the Angelina situation very well, but there wasn't much she could do.  She did use her social game with Carl to get him to tell her too much information, which caused some cracks between him and Gabby.

Gabby handled the situation with Carl poorly.  Confronting him in front of the rest of the Davids was the wrong call.  That should have been a 1-on-1 conversation.  This is what leads to her being left out at the next vote by Carl, Davie, and Nick.  That said, she did put her emotions aside and made the right call in voting out Alec.  It was a mixed night, but, again, net positive.

Nick managed to find a Hidden Immunity Idol.  Davie knows about it, but that's it.  Good for both of them

Finally, Christian managed to take down Alec in a very impressive Immunity win.  His talking nonstop may be one of my favorite things I've ever seen on this show.  Plus he made the correct move to target Alec.

Who Sucked:

Alison also didn't handle the Angelina situation very well and didn't do enough with other players to make up for it.

Carl was the one who put together the plan to vote out Alec, which was 100% the right move, but he handled it poorly.  He gave too much information to Kara and talked down to Gabby and she was justifiably mad at him.  Plus he looked bad in front of the jury when he explained why he sat out of the challenge.

Mike didn't really anything of note in part 1.

As for Alec, it's a bummer to see him go out here, but it was absolutely the right call.  The guy was a total triple threat and couldn't be allowed to go any further.  

Verdict:

The "Has Got It Going On Award" for part 1 of this episode goes to Christian Hubicki for winning Immunity and making the right call in voting Alec out.

The "Not The Player For Me Award" goes to Carl Boudreaux for poorly handling the Gabby situation and making himself look bad in front of the jury.

Now we can move on to part 2!

Who Played Well:

Christian, Kara, Alison, Gabby, and Mike all get credit for putting the plan together to take out Carl.  Their relationships with each other and solid social games are what made this work.  I was especially impressed with Christian's comforting of Alison after voting out Alec.

Kara used her relationship with Carl to get information from him about targeting Alison.  Carl lowered his guard and Kara exploited that.

Finally, Mike was the swing-vote this time around and he made the right call going with the plan to vote out Carl.  I think this gives him more room to maneuver going forward as opposed to voting out Allison.

Who Sucked:

Angelina did annoy Mike with her negations, but sitting out the challenge probably earned her some goodwill with the tribe and she definitely needed some.  That said, she was on the wrong side of the vote and, though mixed, her night was net negative.

Davie and Nick were also on the wrong side of the vote and both probably have lost Gabby's trust.  Davie did win Immunity, but he also did a bad job of stopping Carl from revealing information to Kara and Mike.  Keep your alliance in check.

As for Carl, he had a quick rise and fall.  He let power go to his head and started to tell people what to do instead of discussing it.  People don't like that.  Carl was a fun character, but not a good Survivor player.

Verdict:

The "Has Got It Going On Award" for part 2 of this episode goes to Kara Kay for getting information out of Carl and helping form the plan to vote him out.

The "Not The Player For Me Award" goes to Davie Rickenbacker for ending up on the wrong side of the vote, losing Gabby's trust, and not keeping Carl in line when he started talking too much.

This double episode was great and a lot better than I was expecting.  The Christian/Alec showdown is one of the best challenges I've seen in a long time and the elimination of Carl was fantastic.  This season is amazing.  I just hope it can stick the landing.