Survivor: David vs. Goliath Episode 12 "Are You Feeling Lucky?" Analysis

"No more, please."

-Christian Hubicki

Wow.  This episode really threw me for a loop.  We got another Tribal Council where I truly didn't know how it was going to play out.  This episode did a great job setting us up for what looks to be a very unpredictable finale, but before we get to that, let's take a look at the gameplay from this penultimate episode.

Who Played Well:

We may as well start with Mr. Mike White, who was the mastermind behind the plan to eliminate Christian.  We really didn't get to see much of the plan coming together during the episode, but from the way the votes went, it looks like it was a split vote between Christian and Davie.  I have to give props to Mike, Nick, Alison, Angelina, and Kara for all being a part of this plan.  They HAD to get out Christian and it made sense to do it now.   But it was Mike who pulled it all together.  Mike managed to heard all of theses cats, get everyone back in line, and made a great play in pitting Nick against Davie.  This helped him get control of the game and he is in a great spot moving forward.  Plus he won Immunity, which is what gave him the confidence to make his move in the first place.

As I mentioned, Alison was part of the plan to knock Christian out of the game, but more importantly, she did what was in her best interest and not Davie's by telling Mike about the plan to take out Nick.  By telling Mike this information, this allowed him to set in motion the move to take out Christian.  Good thing too.  It probably would have been Alison going home otherwise.

As for Davie, he had a very mixed night, but he made mostly the right calls.  He had a great read on Nick's fake Idol and was totally within his rights to want to vote Nick out.  He also managed to find himself a Hidden Immunity Idol and made the right call to walk away from the game.  At that time, his vote was essential to his plan to vote off Nick.  Once Nick told him the truth, Davie made the right call to call off the hit on Nick and turn on Alison instead.  Unfortunately, he put too much trust in Alison, which allowed Mike to blow up Davie's spot, and he pissed off Angelina at the Reward challenge.  Finally, he found himself on the outside of the vote.  He's still in the game, but is my prediction to be voted out next.  He made a lot of smart calls, but a couple of bad ones as well.

Who Sucked:

The only person we have to talk about here is Nick.  The fake Idol plan was totally fine, but being the one to find it was extremely stupid and painted a target on his back.  It was good that he came clean to Davie, but should have done it much sooner.  He was part of the plan to knock out Christian, but misplayed his Idol and came off as lacking confidence to the jury.

As for Christian, I think he did everything he could do at this point.  He came very close to sneaking through another episode and would have if Mike hadn't taken hold of the situation.  He was very much in the background of this episode.  Laying low was the right call for him.  Short of winning Immunity or finding and Idol, Christian couldn't have done anything else to save himself.  It makes complete sense that he goes out here, even though it's a major bummer.

Verdict:

The player that wins the "Has Got It Going On Award" for this episode is Mike White for winning Immunity, telling Nick about Davie's plans, and for getting everyone back in line to vote Christian out of the game.

The player that wins the "Not The Player For Me Award" is Nick Wilson for the second week in a row.  He wins it for putting a target on his back with the fake Idol play, not coming clean to Davie soon enough, and for looking bad in front of the jury by misplaying his Idol.

Going into this episode, I thought Christian was going home for sure.  By Tribal Council, I thought he was totally safe.  The editing of this season has been top notch.  If this season can stick the landing, it could claim the throne as the best season of all time...