There's lots of stretching and hanging in this episode. Pity we can't choose the victim.
The summary of the previous episode seems to pointedly ignore the fact that Angie lied about stealing tapioca-root from the tribe's dwindling supplies. Lorette, who has until now appeared admirably strong and resolute, tells Amanda that she allowed Grant and Angie to tell her what to do and how to vote. How spineless.
Advertisement
Grant seems to have a peculiar fondness for protecting nasty and useless women. All Angie has achieved by her unremitting malice and capriciousness, is to encourage Lorette and Mandla to reconsider their original alliance, and so to lose that support.
Lorette says she won't stoop to Angie's level, and doesn't trust her. Mandla feels sickened by her behaviour.
Santa Claws
Angie makes it extremely clear that she despises and exploits people who are honourable and who "won't lie". She perfectly inverts the usual scale of values and not only includes lying and being unpleasant as among the tactics she's prepared to use, but she is actually indignant if anyone else won't behave the same way.
She seems to be as outraged by good behaviour as most of us are by bad behaviour. She repeatedly sneers at people who are nice and honest and show integrity and relies on them to support her simply because they agreed to an alliance much earlier on - before she revealed her true colours - and yet now despises them for doing so.
Dangling participants
The reward challenge involves hanging by their hands from a beam, while memorising a long series of numbers and then trying to write down as many of them as possible. They'll win a KFC chicken feast, but the real treat is that the winner will share this with two family members.
A series of pairs of relatives and friends duly wander out of the jungle and everyone enjoys some tearful hugs. Mandla has his mom and sister, Lorette her husband and best friend, Grant his wife and best friend, Amanda her mom and sister. Angie has no relatives, only two friends. Hmm.
In the challenge it's worth hanging on for as long as possible, both to have more time to memorise the numbers and to require the others to wait longer, and potentially forget more of what they memorised.
Grant's the first to drop off his perch, but Angie mocks the whole proceeding by giving up ostentatiously and carelessly and comes up with very few numbers - clearly, she didn't even try to succeed in this challenge.
Mandla wins. Everyone else enjoys a short time with Mandla’s pleasant family, before he heads off with them to feast at the top of the hill.
Back at camp, they're really seriously short of food (exactly as Hein had predicted and arranged) and discover that most of their remaining tapioca root has gone mouldy.
Again, Angie reveals herself, joking clumsily that she thinks of rushing up to interrupt Mandla's family feast and stuff herself with as much of their food as she can before she gets dragged away. Unfortunately one could entirely picture her doing exactly that.
Angie being honest?
They wander off seeking food, apparently without success. But as the main group approach camp, Mandla's apparently about to reveal a secret to Grant and Angie, then shuts up promptly on seeing Lorette, who is very reasonably suspicious.
She confronts them and Angie plunges into further lying, including the line: "I've always been honest about all I've done." She then later comments that she's very surprised at how personally people take her manipulations.
Good grief, how else are they supposed to take it? Grant tries to excuse himself from Lorette’s suspicions and promises to take her to the last four, as does Angie, insisting that she is "very sincere".
He sounds like Angie when he complains, indignantly, that Mandla and Lorette "are playing a morally sound game", which he considers to be "rubbish".
He's irritated that they're "getting away with it." Indeed, Grant, ain't it awful that people are getting away with being honest and decent - it shouldn't be allowed.
Mandla considers this a state of war, and insists that he'll defend Lorette "to the death" if needs be. Angie is indignant that "I've hardly even done that much" and yet is being considered a "conniving person". But she sneers at Lorette for taking all this seriously and says, "I suppose not much happens in Middelburg".
Lorette is tearful, not understanding why someone is so hurtful. Mandla offers to give Lorette the small immunity idol he won and accept the added risk himself, which is a fine and noble gesture. He insists that he will protect her as far as he can. She refuses, gracefully. She trusts him, partly trusts Grant, and of course trusts Angie about as much as a mouse trusts a hungry cat.
Through all these dramas, Amanda is left out, sitting quietly by herself on the beach. The three approach her now (Angie lounging by herself further down the beach). Amanda's frankly happy to see turmoil in the other alliance, as it is potentially good for her.
Stretched to the limit
The immunity challenge involves highly uncomfortabe postures, stretching between posts, and a testing of endurance. Grant falls off surprisingly soon, again. Delightfully, Angie falls next. You can almost hear the mussels and oysters applauding. Amanda slips, and it's down to Lorette and Mandla.
After a surprisingly long period, Lorette mutters to him: "I really need this, Mandla", and he steps down, giving victory and immunity to Lorette (though of course he has his own immunity idol to use).
As they embrace, which is genuinely touching, the moment is spoiled again by a bad choice of bombastic Star Wars triumphalism on the music track.
Angie thinks he conceded deliberately and realises that it's her and Amanda at risk now. But she assumes that Lorette will keep her word and protect her, all the while sneering at this "Survivor Brady Bunch" approach.
Lorette insists that trustworthiness is essential and does not feel bound to keep her word when the other person has been so untrustworthy.
At tribal council, Dyke and Angela are seated on the jury. Mandla reveals that he has found the small immunity idol, so both he and Lorette are safe.
The voting is closer than we might expect, with Angie and Grant apparently voting for Amanda, but Angie gets the remaining votes, and is out. She really is long past her sell-by date.
And so the final four are Grant, Amanda, Mandla and Lorette. Next time we'll have the vast two-hour season finale.
Angie heads off into the dark, still sneering.
(Professor M.A. Simpson, aka CyberShrink, November 2007)
Bookmark with:
What are social bookmarks?