"Becoming A Killer"
Posted by Grimme on 2003-11-21
“Saw way too much of Rupert on that,” Jeff Probst said when Rupert fell down the net and inadvertently exposed his ample rump at the Reward Challenge. The same words could also describe the almost saturation coverage of Rupert in tonight’s episode, almost always a sure tip-off on “Survivor” that the person is going home at the end of the show.
Rupert, although he didn’t know it, was marked for death last week and only his winning the Immunity Challenge saved him then. He is such a strong contender to win the million dollars--------he’s physically strong, good at strategizing, in a powerful triple alliance, feeds his tribe with fish, is probably one of the most likeable Survivors ever---that all of the other players should have regarded him as their biggest threat and aim to take him out.
Only Burton and Jon currently seem to regard “Survivor” as a game to be won, not a prize to be rewarded to the most popular and most likeable. Both men clearheadedly assessed the threat from Rupert and his two allies, Christa and Sandra, and took great pains to enlist the other three females into an effective anti-Rupert alliance.
When the three “worker bees” left camp----Rupert to fish and Christa and Sandra gathering lemons---Burton and Jon wooed the very willing Darrah and Tijuana into joining them and Lillian in a 5-way alliance. (Survivor Note: Proof, once again, that hard work doesn’t ensure your safety and that the lazy-neer-do-wells often come out ahead in the game as happened here….)
Lillian, with a much safer and much more powerful position than either Darrah or Tijuana, is much more difficult to keep in line by Burton and Jon who have to repeatedly deal with her emotions, scruples and guilt which she is constantly flaunting. “I’m such a bitch,” Lillian cried to Jon who probably thinks she is.
Rupert also considered Lillian as being firmly in his camp and, even after Sandra overheard Burton and Jon strategizing about Lillian, did not doubt her loyalty. Lillian is probably both an underestimated player by the others and considered trustsworthy since she is a Scout leader.
But Lillian has made herself an essential element to anyone else who wants to do well in the game and cannot be taken for granted as Rupert learned tonight as did Andrew and Ryan O. before him. The other players would do well to regard Lillian very warily.
The Reward Challenge involved ringing bells, untying knots and completing a skull-and-bones puzzle on a ship obstacle course. The prize was an afternoon of deep sea fishing with pizza and beer and was won by Burton and Lillian. Burton gave his spot up to Jon, instead of the expectant Rupert who began to wonder about his safety.
Jon and Lillian got drunk, didn’t catch any fish and didn’t bring anything back for their tribe.
The Immunity Challenge was a blow dart game in which the Survivors first had to “become a killer”, then eliminate the others. Burton won immunity while Sandra soundlessly uttered a very vulgar, unmistakable obscenity—no doubt at all that the word is contained in “firetruck”!
Even as especially unlikeable Jon is, he and Burton have the right attitude about “Survivor”. It is a game and the object is to defeat and eliminate your rivals. Burton did not “owe” Rupert what he won at the Reward Challenge and was right when he stated his reasons to not give it to him: to have Rupert as tired as possible coming into the Immunity Challenge.
And Jon was right, if politically incorrect, to equate the necessity of quickly breaking promises, in “Survivor”, with the same effect as a “fat woman” quickly demolishing “wicker furniture.” You eliminate your rivals and you do not go down with a sinking ship, promises or no promises.
But Rupert himself, despite the ratings bonanza he undoubtedly has been for CBS, made me very uneasy with the seriousness with which he was taking what is, after all, a game.
His night-time/thunder-and-lightning mutterings and talks with his (absent) wife and his after-vote comments were just this side of the insane Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in “Network” who said: “I want you to go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
I think it was time for Rupert to go.
Some observations: ……Did Jon “forget” to ring the bell on purpose in an attempt to prevent his teammate Rupert from winning the Reward Challenge?……Why was Rupert sleeping on a rock?….Why did Sandra vote for Jon when her alliance partners voted against Darrah?…Didn’t Lillian look like a Puritan Pilgrim wife with snake eyes lying beside Rupert?……I really felt the snake eating the iguana was overdone and didn’t have to be shown so long and in such graphic detail……Rupert, in the water with the shark, reawakened all my shark phobias…….
Please join our board and post your own viewpoints on our RTVP thread. AARRRR!!!!
