Survivor – “All mass and no class.”

Well so far, the Heroes have been consistent in one thing: they are a mess as a tribe. Last week’s elimination of one of the most brilliant social players of all time was a good move for the potential unity of the tribe. The question put to the test this week was if it would work.

The bottom line is that it almost doesn’t matter what alliances you’re on within your own tribe if you go into a merger with a massive disadvantage in the numbers. We have seen people exploit chinks in a larger tribe’s armor for their own benefit; Russell did it last season; but it’s a disadvantage that can be avoided.

Why set yourself up for that uphill battle post-merge by dismantling the strength of your own tribe?

I know Russell is all about sowing discontent within his own tribe, and last season he thrived by dismantling his own group, but he’s in a much different situation now, and for that he’s becoming a bigger target. It looks like Russell’s strategy works as long as people keep going home. The longer everyone sticks around, the more people start to notice him in all the wrong ways.

With only Randy having gone home for the Villians, everyone is seeing him for the snake he is, though poor Coach seems to think he has some honor.

In watching Russell’s tactics, there is no way he would have been able to make it even this far had anyone he’s currently playing with actually seen his season. I’m not sure he could ever be successful again after this season plays out; especially if he does well again (he slithered out from under the knife more than once in his own season).

On the Heroes side, I’m going to have to agree with Tom about James. James’s competitive drive is so strong that he turns into a monster when faced with losing, and he has virtually no tact when talking to people. Tom turned it on a little harsh at Tribal Council with his own assessment of James, but the vitriol wasn’t entirely unearned.

I do feel bad for James, though, getting injured for the second time of his three seasons. He wasn’t medically evacuted, but that could still change. He lucked into a challenge for Immunity where he didn’t have to move around (and I give him credit for doing way better on that than I expected), but that’s not going to last. He’s either going to let his team down or aggravate whatever the hell is wrong with his knee.

Voting out a healthy and still strong Tom over James is a tactical error that no longer surprises me about the Heroes. Collectively, they’re all muscle … including inside their skulls. Once again, the puzzle proved too much for them, and once again they chose boneheaded alliances over the strength of the tribe.

I get that James is a mountain of a man, and he’s an incredible force in challenges, but how do you think he’d do with that knee on that sumo challenge? Or even in the pit for this week’s reward challenge? I agree with Tom that this decision will come back to haunt the Heroes tribe and that they’ll lose James for his injury one way or the other: medical evacuation or finally voting him out.

Down six to nine, you’d think they’d be focused on keeping what’s left of their tribe strong. If they keep losing like this, the producers might not even bother to merge, just let the Heroes waste away until the final person left on the tribe is absorbed by the Villains, the way it went down in already-eliminated Hero Stephenie’s first time out.

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Mar 12, 2010 @ 16:30 EST5EDT