A Sarah Sandwich on Episode 6

What a crazy turn of events!

It's not just hyperbole when I say that was one of the best episodes I've ever watched.

Just like the premiere...wow. Wow. What a crazy turn of events, right?

Now that I've gotten over my shock, let's recap the merge episode of one of the best seasons in a long, long time.

With Solana and Aparri merging, both tribes take the opportunity to have a little conference, make sure tribal unity is strong, and plan who to vote out from the other tribe. As soon as Solana hits the beach, however, (and becomes Solarrion, which is awesome), Tony gets right to work on Sarah.

Tony gets right to work on Sarah.

He's hitting her with some great points, but they're just not getting home. "You have no one over there!" Tony exclaims during one of their talks. And he's absolutely right. Sarah's best move actually would have been to flip over to Solana (I'm now just referring to that alliance by its old tribe name), where she has a much better chance of actually getting to the final three, with Tony and Trish.

Well, President Sarah (as she called herself), didn't flip; instead she became a Sarah sandwich, which she ironically described earlier in the episode. Her brewing rivalry with Kass came to a head rather quickly, and seemed very heated for an argument about who to vote for. Kass was a little blunt with Sarah, as always, but Sarah was far too stubborn in her refusal to vote for Trish or Jefra. If someone's just told you they don't trust you, don't give them reasons to trust you even less!

Chaos Kass...lurking in the Aparri alliance.

Continuing an awesome trend of players who don't feel comfortable flipping the tables, Chaos Kass switched to the Solana alliance. What a turn of events, right?! And that's not all, even: Tony played his idol for LJ, and then LJ played his idol for Tony!!! On practically any other season, this would almost guarantee that the Solana alliance was safe. After all, people usually tend to gun for the big players after the merge.

But the castaways are playing smarter this time, which I'm really happy for. What's funny is that it was Kass' agenda to get Jefra voted out, and yet she was the one who switched over to save her. I was kept in suspense until the very last vote, which is how Survivor should be.

What a great episode...now let's answer the three burning questions you have about it.

1: Is Woo a Pokemon?

Tony: How're you feeling, Woo?
Woo: Woo!

Yes, I'm sure you were wondering this. During the immunity challenge (which was way cooler this time than Andrea vs. Brenda on Caramoan), Tony shouted out "Woo!" several times, which was funny, but the funnier part was when Tony asked, "How're you feeling, Woo?" to which Woo simply replied "Woo!" I love Woo. He's a great character, even if he's getting very little screen time, and I knew he would be a force to be reckoned with in the immunities. Let's hope he can survive to the endgame.

2: Did Kass make the right move?
Even though I was extremely glad Chaos Kass flipped, and am now rooting for the Solana alliance (I think), I believe Kass made a poor decision. She allowed her desire for power and her annoyance at Sarah to get in the way of calm, strategic gameplay. Sticking with the Brains would give them a nearly guaranteed path to the Final 3...which, now that I think about it, might not be so great for her, because she could very well lose to Spencer.

Even so, it's far too early to switch alliances, and if for some reason Kass is able to get back with the Brains (she won't, I'm sure), they'll never be able to totally trust her. So congratulations to Trish for flipping her!

My money's on Tony getting the idol.

3: Who will get the OPHII?
I'm still not totally happy about the overpowered idol, but maybe now that both other idols are gone, we need something to spice up the game. It's going to be waaaaay too powerful, just like before, and I think that it could dumb down the great strategic game we see unfolding before us, as the holder/alliance relies solely on the idol's tremendous power.

As to who will get it...my money's on Tony right now. He's smart and shrewd, and seems to be the type of player who might follow cameraman clues, which has been mentioned before by Penner; it helped him know where not to look in the Philippines. But really, anyone could get it. Let's hope it's never found.

That's it for tonight's recap...I'm hoping Ethan and I will get to talk tomorrow and I can have the scrutiny of the episode up for you tomorrow night, so stay tuned!