“Survivor 44” Recap: ‘Survivor With A Capital S’

HOLLYWOOD—It is the episode “Survivor” fans have all been waiting for: the merge. Yes, after five episodes, and two medavacs, the tribes of Ratu, Soka and Tika are now one and let the games begin. This week’s episode, ‘Survivor With a Capital S’ saw the tribes come together as one, but as with the game of “Survivor” lately there was a twist.

I must admit, I’m sick of the twists because they’ve become too much now. It is nice to have a twist here and there, but we do not need a twist in every single episode, it just stifles gameplay in my opinion. Things kicked off with Tika joking a bit, before we moved to Soka where they realized they would be moving to a new home. Remember the merge is no longer how it used to be: you have to earn the merge it’s not just given to you. That same news was delivered to Ratu as well. Carson was excited with the prospect of playing with multiple people. He revealed that he has an idol, but he believes it has no power and Lauren revealed she had an extra vote. Carson, Jaime doesn’t have an idol; Matthew lied to you. It is always fun to see people be happy, but Jaime your level of confidence and cockiness might be your downfall so be careful.

Kane was happy with the notion to play the game with others. Josh was planting seeds with Frannie, while trying to convince Brandon that he has the cage idol. Josh, real stupid move, good thing you relied that to Jaime, but you’re being messy way messy. Good thing Jaime shared those details with Frannie and Heidi. Yeah, utter chaos is unfolding right now. What is Josh doing? He is literally magnifying the target on his back. Yam Yam was feeling on the outs and got right to socially playing and bonded a bit with Matt.

I love that Carolyn refuses to change who is as a person and that makes the audience love her that much more in my opinion. Carson and Carolyn had a conversation late at night, and the three reunited despite the tension between Yam Yam and Carolyn. The trio from the original Tika plans to stay strong the rest of the game. Matt and Frannie must want to be targeted because they refuse to separate from one another. A challenge where two groups will compete, one will be safe one will not. The interesting dynamic is that both teams can vote interesting people.

One team involved Carson, Brandon, Jaime, Carolyn, Frannie and Matt. The other team consisted of Danny, Lauren, Kane, Heidi, Josh and Yam Yam. The puzzle became a strength for Carson and Matt, as Heidi and Lauren struggled significantly people. Looks like Orange is headed to Tribal Council people, this should be intriguing, but my gut is telling me Josh is in trouble. Wow, the fact that Carson had a replica of that puzzle in his house is crazy people.

Looks like Josh was the main target and Danny was showing his ego a bit too soon in my opinion. What the hell with all this not having a name thing? Just target whoever is not good for your game. This Josh and Yam Yam vendetta is annoying. Heidi and Lauren wanted to boot Josh. That lie is about to haunt you Josh, you should have stayed mum.

At the merge feast, everyone dug in. Brandon heard that everyone wanted to target Josh and a backup plan started to cook regarding Kane and Brandon’s rivalry. Carolyn made it clear to the others; he absolutely doesn’t have an idol. These idiots are not listening to Carolyn who was convincing as hell, people’s biggest flaw around will be underestimating Carolyn people. Jaime did exactly what Carson noted they shouldn’t do, as Josh continued to push Yam Yam. Dude, just take whatever is thrown your way and run with it. Josh wanted to repair that friction with Yam Yam and try to survive for another day, but it this point it feels too late.

Carson informed Kane that he could be in trouble and he wants to utilize him as an asset. Kane started to panic and spoke to Brandon, and now Yam Yam became a threat. Kane is not that interesting people, just as Brandon realized Carson was the one who squealed. Oh, I forgot, Matt does NOT have a vote. Why does everyone see Josh as this big threat; he is not the threat people and if he is the show has NOT DONE A GOOD JOB EXPLAINING TO US!

The fact that we’re less than 10 minutes from this episode being over tells me everything I need to know about this Tribal Council: it is going to be underwhelming. The TC as noted was boring, but I love that music that is played near the end. It is quite intense. Seeing everyone look at Josh grab at his bag was exciting people. However, as the votes were read it was apparent it was between Yam Yam and Josh, and as I predicted at the begging of the episode it was so obvious Josh was getting the boot.

Soka I cannot understand the reasoning of voting out one of their own. That is number you might need because Tika and Ratu can align (giving them 7) and they can take Soka out, one-by-one now. This was the first episode, I was disappointed in this season, since the real merge is next week, now the game can begin and I hope to see the fireworks erupt. Jeff teased a twist where people would not have a say in who is voted out. Intriguing. Until next week “Survivor” fanatics!