Survivor: Winners at War, Episode 13 "The Penultimate Step of the War" Breakdown

"Tribal Council was a disaster, as usual."

-Michelle Fitzgerald

Well that was a decent 90 minutes of Survivor.  I don't know what the heck the last half hour over on the Edge of Extinction was all about.  That was a bigger waste of time than watching Seal Team.  The important thing is: we've made it to the finale and TONY VLACHOS IS STILL IN THE GAME!  Never in a million years did I think this would happen.  I'm so happy!  Anyway, we have two votes to talk about, so let's get into the first half of the episode.

Who Played Well:

We'll start with Ben.  Yes, he got caught trying to play Jeremy and Michele against each other, but I respect the attempt.  More importantly, he took his biggest rival, Jeremy, out of the game.  Denise was also part of the plan to take out Jeremy.  I don't know why they didn't try to break up Sarah and Tony, but they still need to take Jeremy out, so it's fine.

Finally, we have Nick, who managed to save himself by winning Immunity.  He was also on the right side of the Jeremy vote and ended up being the swing-vote.  With the choice of Ben or Jeremy, Nick definitely made the right call in voting out Jeremy.

Who Sucked:

Michele made the smart call in playing the 50/50 Coin for herself, but was ultimately on the wrong side of the vote.  Plus targeting Ben was a terrible move on her part.

Sarah and Tony made a terrible move in getting rid of Jeremy.  I truly thought they were done for in the second half of the episode.  Denise and Michele would have been much better targets to take out.  Plus I have a feeling Tony really pissed off Jeremy.

As for Jeremy, targeting Ben was probably the best move for him, but he pushed too hard for it when other parties weren't as interested.  He's had a huge target on him for awhile now and it's impressive he made it as far as he did.

Verdict:

The Best Player of the Episode (Part 1) goes to Nick Wilson for winning Immunity and getting rid of Jeremy.

The Worst Player of the Episode (Part 1) goes to Tony Vlachos for getting rid of a huge meat shield in Jeremy and for pissing Jeremy off on his way out the door.

Now let's move onto the second half.

Who Played Well:

We'll start with Michele.  I hate that she isn't trying to target Sarah and Tony more, but she seems to be trying harder than the other hyenas.  She's throwing stuff at the wall and trying what she can.  Plus she won Immunity and saved herself.

Sarah and Tony somehow weren't even targeted and made a great move for their game in getting rid of Nick.  Plus Tony's Spy Nest finally paid off and now he knows he can't trust Denise.

Who Sucked:

Starting with Ben, he voted out Nick, the person he had the best chance of beating.  He's riding with Sarah and Tony and I can't figure out why.  He's going to be a zero vote finalist.

Denise managed to survive this vote, but she should not have targeted Nick.  Sarah and Tony need to be split up!  Plus Tony spied on her pitch to Ben and Sarah.

As for Nick, he should have played the Challenge Disadvantage on Tony and hoped he would do something crazy like play his Idol.  He had a golden opportunity and wasted it on Ben.  Going after Denise was a bad move and putting his trust in Sarah and Tony came back to bite him. 

Verdict:

The Best Player of the Episode (Part 2) goes to Tony Vlachos for getting rid of Nick, not being a target, and spying on Denise.

The Worst Player of the Episode (Part 2) goes to Ben Driebergen for voting out Nick and failing to target Sarah and Tony.

I'm so pumped for the finale.  I'm predicting Michele will win, but there's a chance Tony could pull this off and I love it.  Natalie is totally returning from the Edge by the way.  Can't wait to see how this season finishes off.