It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to upset the apple cart on Survivor. But this week it helped. So, let’s see. I can sit back, keep the tie vote and stand a finite chance of drawing the black stone and being sent home, or I can change my vote, evict a strong player, and guarantee that I’ll be around to play another day. Hmmm.
The tribal councils the last three weeks have been great. First there was the Eric blindside, where he was so taken by surprise that you could see realization oozing out of his ears. Then there was the “no way he has another immunity idol” gaffe last week followed by the zoinks! when he produced it. And this week there was John’s decision. I thought it was a very gutsy move by Russell to keep the immunity idol, play for the draw and let the chips fall where they may.
Fringe was pretty awesome this week, too. The mythology expands a little bit to show us that there are multiple observers, and then one of them is humanized. Inklings of their interference in Walt’s early life, but most importantly the personal story that emerged when the observer went off the reservation, so to speak. In fact, all the characters had personal moments — Olivia with her niece, for example — and the only shame was that Walter didn’t figure out the missing ingredient in his ice cream recipe. A mystery for another week, perhaps.
And just when you were counting The Mentalist down and out they hit you in the gut. Even though I’d seen the previews, I wasn’t expecting the shooting scene, and I certainly didn’t expect the culprit to be who it was, nor was I expecting Sam’s fate. It was almost like the writers and Red John were in sync. We’ve introduced this complication and it’s derailing Jane from the investigation so we have to wipe the slate clean. I’m still not impressed with Robin Tunney’s acting skills, but it was a hell of an episode. Perhaps the best one yet.
Fast Forward, on the other hand, tread water more or less tread water this week. Brice’s story is vaguely interesting, but it’s so far afield from the main trajectory of the series that it felt like an unnecessary diversion. I want the mosaic team to go to Hong Kong, but now we have to wait two weeks to see how that plays out. And I want the Dominic Monaghan character to come clean. Ditto: two weeks.
