Kathy's still blathering to Rob about why he had voted against the spectacularly unappealing Lex. I suppose she regrets the loss of reading matter.
Flashbacks, as well as this week's material, impress me yet again with two communication facts. One is that Bawston Rawb speaks with a really curious accent, not merely Boston in drawl, but with a strangely careful pronunciation, rather like a well-prepared and rehearsed alien, still being cautious about communicating with us earthlings.
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The other is that every single utterance from Rupert is slow, ponderous and utterly banal. He speaks with the weighty air of a man delivering a sermon or a speech from the throne, but absolutely never has anything to say that is worth hearing. His comments are more like Tarzan's speech in the early jungle films, and barely one step ahead of grunting: "Rain make things wet!"
Rob rules the roost – but how?
Rob's dominance of this series remains fascinating. Maybe it's that he seems commandingly confident. At times he seems emotional in a pleasantly sentimental way, and underneath it ruthlessly focussed and concentrating on essentials. But he rarely seems flapped or anxious. That seems to hold other contestants in some sort of awe, and they really hesitate to cross him. Some aim at Amber as a sort of surrogate Rob, so as to get back at him; but even there they mostly hesitate, assuming that his wrath would be terrible to behold. So effectively has he somehow convinced them of that, that he hasn't needed to get wrathful, at all. He's very quiet, like those schoolteachers who hold the class in order, not by shouting or waving a cane, but by a silky, quiet, air of menace. And then he is physically really effective at wining challenges.
More rain. As they return from Tribal Council, the rain continues to lash at the huddled tribe in their washed-out camp. Why do they never learn? They've had several opportunities to build a camp, but always choose to do so in a highly vulnerable spot, ignoring the certain impact of the inevitable rains. Who was it who said that the one thing we learn from history is that people hardly ever learn anything from history?
Kathy has stopped weeping, which allows her to look slightly less gruesome and monstrous than in the last programme. "I think Boston Rob has a soul..." she says, as if still unsure of this. Then she adds: "Amber is lying like a rug!" But generally, she's cheered up greatly, and seems quite chipper. She's still busy trying to manipulate everyone else, very explicitly. Whereas Rob influences indirectly, and people mostly respond to what they think he wants or might do, Kathy bustles round talking and negotiating tirelessly. Not everyone appreciates her efforts, though, as it's fairly clear she's also trying to save herself.
Tactics for the home stretch
Tactics are curious and ambiguous at this stage in the game. Now it can be handy to be allied to a strong contestant, hoping that they can carry you through to the last three or four; but you need someone strong enough to protect you from harm from others, but someone, who in the final smaller group, you can defeat. And you need avoid getting voted off by your fellow survivors; but then at the very last stage, the winner will be chosen by the people you have allowed to be voted off. So somebody might help you last another week or two if you can bring with you an alliance that can help them last another week or two - but you know they will ultimately want to get rid of you, and vice versa. There's a lot of chatter about "friendships", but nobody came into the game to make friends - that they can do at home. They came to win a million dollars.
Tom is looking a bit exposed, as Rob cheerfully says that Lex had inadvertently revealed that Tom had a secret alliance with him, making Tom now a more attractive target for Rob. Tom's not too anxious to listen to Kathy's advice. There are the usual brief tantalising glimpses of animal life, including a sloth in a tree, looking far more attractive than Rupert.
Like a soap opera summary
Tom seems to recognise that his potential alliance with Lex has been revealed, and now wonders whether he needs to be cautious of the Rob/Amber/Jenna trilogy, and align himself more with Rupert, Shii-Ann and Alicia. Alicia might have had a three-way (alliance, that is) with Rob/Amber, except that Rob seems to be looking much more favourably on Jenna L. Add in a couple of illegitimate heirs and someone with amnesia, and this could be any Soap-opera's daily summary.
Anyhow, they gather for a very highly complicated contest, involving an obstacle course to select a team of four, who can win letters from home and a rain poncho; and who then compete on a puzzle to win immunity and a video from home, with a jug of hot chocolate to sip while watching the video. First they watch a sampler video with snippets from the home vids for each of them. They're all moved to tears, not only by their own family, but by each other's sudden nostalgia.
For stage one, the reward winners are Rob, Ambah, etc. Rob's an effective and agile leader, and the competing team, supposedly chosen by the producers at random, has both Tom and Rupert, game, but noticeably less agile, and too large to fit through the crawl space easily! The final four have to juggle the pieces in a puzzle, and Rob wins immunity rather easily and adeptly.
Rob sacrifices his reward
Then Rob, did something noble, warm and human (or very clever, or, most probably, both) and offered to sacrifice viewing his video from home (anyhow, judging from the grim sound-bite we saw of his brother doing a dreadfully bad impression of the boxing entrepreneur Don King, he was losing nothing!) if all the contestants could receive their letters from home. Now, as the producers had already brought the letters, they presumably want to provide this reward. And Rob also had immediately shared his hot chocolate with everyone else (Hmmm, interesting that the producers had brought along enough cups for everyone, though ostensibly expecting to provide chocolate for only one person). Cue for much sobbing and smiling. The losers received not only their letters but also a rain poncho.
Rob remarked airily that his brother would be "pissed" and as the guy seemed to be longing to enjoy his international TV debut, one could understand this. A smooth move, which looked compassionate and generous, but consolidated his power in the tribe. Shii-Ann seems unconvinced, but the others look more inclined to trust him for now. Maybe, as it appeared as if they would all sit down to watch his home movie, Rob just wanted to distract them and avoid having them see his brother. They're interestingly churned up about this. The letters are irresistible for them, and though they suspect Rob's ultimate motives, they realise he was dominant enough not to need to make this gesture for purely strategic purposes. He blushes, and mutters something like "Well, you'd have done the exact same thing!"
And he is genuinely moved by their reactions and by his own home letter, seeming surprised by his own unaccustomed emotionality, as he sits, teary, his jugular vein looming alarmingly.
As they prepare for Tribal Council, Rob and Kathy seem to have made some sort of peace, and she has been angling hard for the eviction of Anyone Else, perhaps Jenna or Shii-Ann. Because the clues we are given make Shii-Ann seem by far the most vulnerable, we can guess that she'll be safe this week. She agrees with Kathy that they'll both vote against Jenna, but both of them break this deal.
Kathy gets the chop
At the Council, Lex strides in grimly as the first member of the ultimate jury. He has cleaned up and now sports a Mohican haircut. Isn't it interesting how hard and persistently this man works at making himself look like a freak? Kathy announces that she will vote against people who have been lying, and votes for Amber, looking unpleasantly exultant as she does so. Rob votes for Kathy, saying with a smil: "You didn't really think I was going to let you win?" So it's Kathy who gets voted out, six to two, with only her own vote and Shii-Ann's against Amber.
To a large extent it was Lex who ruined the Moggy-Moggy tribe, but he was only able to do so with the support of Kathy and Shii-Ann, so maybe now they're collecting their just deserts, as the iguanas come home to roost. Kathy felt Bawston Rawb had betrayed her - so, what's new?
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