Episode 42.6

Now that we’ve seen a good chunk of the shot in the dark, we can analyze its both failure and success rate thus far. In a way, everyone who has played it thus far was voted out when they played it. Thus, if it ever landed on safe, it would have saved this person. And, in some cases, it would have caused a bit of a scramble vote since no one would have had votes counted for them some of the times that it was used thus far. I do feel that it has worked better in its brief time in this season thus far, even if it has yet to do much of anything.

 

It does make me think about video games that I’ve played. In Skies of Arcadia, there is a healing thing that can revive a knocked out player only half of the time. The other half of the time, it does nothing. It is only of the most annoying revival spells in video games, if not the most annoying. It is already bad enough that in some games, like Final Fantasy IX, reviving a dead character gives them very little health. But to do nothing is a bigger problem. This Survivor twist instead gives a onetime use item that gives only a 1 in 6 chance of staying in the game if people otherwise voted you out both at the sacrifice of your own vote and at way less odds than the recovery spell I mentioned in Skies of Arcadia.

 

One of the things that I have mentioned thus far is that rolling a specific thing, if what was happening was a true roll, is like me actually rolling a Survivor episode on DVD from any season. This is why I just decide sometimes to watch episodes of Survivor from a large reserve of mine. It’s one of the many reasons why I invited this in the first place.

 

Let’s get to the one time challenges from the nineteenth season. It seems that there is a theme to it involving coconuts or nuts in the end. Some of them were interesting to see. I don’t know if all of them work in the end. But they are better than a lot of some season’s themes.

 

Bocce in a box (reward challenge from Hungry for a Win): In this challenge, the contestants basically play bocce ball. I will share a link explaining what that is for those of you who don’t know. It could easily be done while social distancing.

 

Bocce ball is basically a form of a sport where you roll out certain things and then try to roll your ball to a certain place while hoping that your opponent doesn’t do the same. Parts of it are similar to darts or shuffleboard. If you want to know more about it, here’s a link from Wikipedia.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocce

 

Canoe Dueling (immunity challenge from Houdini Magic): In this challenge, contestants would have to paddle out to get fish shaped puzzle pieces. People would then have to assemble the puzzle. If this were done individually, this could easily be done while social distancing.

 

Nut Cracker (immunity challenge from All Hell Breaks Loose): In this challenge, the men would compete against the men and women against the women to each win separate immunities. It would be a game like tee-ball with the playing field done in different sections and different point values. The people with the highest score would win immunity. This could easily be done while social distancing.

 

The name of Nutcracker is similar to the Christmas Russian ballet story and music done by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. I may not share any songs from that in the future (although I could share all of it), although I might wind up sharing the rock version of tunes from this done by The Trans-Siberian Orchestra as one of their well known tunes is called A Very Russian Christmas.

 

Coconut Code (reward challenge from Tastes Like Chicken): In this challenge, contestants would be split into two teams of five. Players would go out in pairs to get poles with black and white coconuts with the white coconuts arranged to form a four digital number that the remaining, blindfolded member would have to solve. Once they got their lock open, they would win. It is possible that parts of this could be done while social distancing.

 

Square Peg, Round Hole (immunity challenge from Tastes Like Chicken): In this challenge, contestants would have to use a grappling hook to get bags with wooden pegs. The first three to do this would move onto the final round. In the final round, players would have to use the pegs to release other ones which would then release more and more until the board is full, completing the puzzle and winning the challenge at hand. This could easily be done while social distancing. Aspects of this seem similar to what would be the final immunity challenge in South Pacific that I’ll get to so parts of this aren’t unique and were used again in other seasons.

 

Coco Plunk (reward challenge from Two Brains are Better than One): In this challenge, there would be a lot of coconuts suspended in the air by ropes in a frame. They must have gotten into trouble at school if they were suspended. Anyways, a castaway from each team would remove a rope and this would wind up releasing coconuts potentially. Only, you wouldn’t want coconuts to be released. If 100 coconuts or more would be released, your team would lose. This could easily be done while social distancing. This seems similar in some ways to Jenga or Operation.

 

Tentacle (penultimate immunity challenge from This Game Ain’t Over): In this challenge, contestants would have to race over a cargo net, over the top of a balance beam, untie puzzle pieces, and go back to the start with said pieces. Once they have all of them, they would take these pieces up a wall to solve a puzzle first to win immunity. This could be done while social distancing. I have no idea what the name of this challenge means at all.

 

У випуску Time від 20 січня 2020 року розповідалося про Ненсі Пелосі у популярній статті випуску під назвою «Її азарт», яка розпочалася на сторінці 24. Частина статті була сумною в тому, як на сторінці 30 було зазначено, що «В межах За 72 години після [оголошення] розслідування про імпічмент кампанія Трампа залучила 15 мільйонів доларів у вигляді невеликих пожертв». Але на тій же сторінці вказується, що колишній хлопець у Білому домі мав «рейтинг схвалення [який] залишився... у низьких 40-х», що не є хорошим рейтингом. Справді, повстанець ніколи не мав позитивного рейтингу за весь час перебування в Білому домі, чого не може претендувати жоден інший президент. У якийсь момент більшість людей хотіли звільнення Трампа з посади.

 

Варто звернути увагу й на те, що, згідно з додатковою інформацією на сторінці 30, «Білий дім обмежив наявні докази своєю безпрецедентною забудовою». Пелосі розповідає про проблему, кажучи, що «те, що республіканці навіть заперечують фактичну основу того, що сталося, сумний для нашої країни». Справді, Трамп та інші скаржилися на ідею «демократів, які нічого не роблять», тоді як у статті вказується, що «Палата представників [демократичної більшості] прийняла майже 400 законопроектів, більшість із яких підтримала Республіканська партія». Очікувати, що сенат буде робити речі з похмурим женцем (а саме Мітчем Макконнелом) під контролем, було б дещо складно.

 

Що я маю на увазі? Що ж, Пелосі не передала статті про імпічмент одразу, тому що «вона наполягає на тому, щоб верхня палата спочатку узгодила правила судового розгляду» відповідно до сторінки 26. Ми не хотіли, щоб сенат просто швидко відхилив голосування про імпічмент. Їм навіть довелося домовитися про хештег для події, і вони обрали #ЗахистиНашуДемократію. Зрештою, демократи зробили все, що могли, щодо першого імпічменту Трампа.

 

In this old link from my Madam Secretary blog, I talk about how shows become misnomers. That wound up being the case with that show, but only in the final season when the character became president. I also talk about Jane the Virgin which also became a misnomer when the main character had sex. She was married at the time, but then her husband died, or so we were lead to believe. She ultimately had sex with four different men throughout the course of the show. I also mentioned issues with the TV tuner and how it related to poor recaps. I still have issues with that at times. The main issue is one of the recordings not playing back when I try to watch it. It is made worse because then I have to spend time deleting it in a way I normally wouldn’t otherwise.

 

https://adamdeckermadamsecretaryblog.blogspot.com/2017/01/episode-from-5-1-2016.html

 

Movie update: On Friday, I didn’t watch any movies since I was busy with other things. Nowadays, I have to spend more time getting caught up on shows that I recorded on my laptop sometimes so I will do that instead of watching movies at times. On Saturday, I watched The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I was still watching that to end out Sunday. I replaced it with The Pelican Brief. On Monday, I saw Blank Check. I replaced it with The Bourne Identity. On Tuesday, I was watching recorded shows on my laptop instead of seeing a movie.

 

Something that I’m wondering about relates to the advantage armlet. What if multiple ones are played at once? I’m guessing that it would work on the lowest level for any and all of them if played at once. And I’m pretty sure that this is more of a secret than the beware idols or some things like that. But I don’t think that it is just the three (whoever they are) that know of the armlet.

 

I will post another possibly meaningless update that more bad weather is supposed to come to the area when this Survivor episode is airing. Maybe this will affect my being able to watch the show or maybe it won’t. I’m just posting this update here in the event that it is delayed. Of course, it would likely wind up being delayed even more due to the Easter weekend. I can only hope that some shows would wind up being rebroadcast as I think that they are legally supposed to if storm coverage airs over it. I just won’t always know when or even if this will happen so I won’t know when to record it, if it even airs again at all. But enough of my ramblings.

 

In the first segment of the show, Chanelle is glad that she came out on top. Insert dirty joke here. She then admits to Mike that she’s the person who voted for him. Mike says that he will never trust Chanelle again, even though he does still trust his other two tribe members. Meanwhile, Rocksroy doesn’t want to talk to Tori and she doesn’t want to work with him. She knows about what could happen on the summit. Drea and Romeo hear their discussion. They want to get rid of Tori.

 

Meanwhile, Jeff walks us through the merge twist in advance of the challenge. He says that there will be some tweaks with this. And I already like some of the ways it sounds better than how it was done last time. But will it work out this time? I guess we’ll see. After this is talked about, teams are drawn. And that’s when we go to commercial.

 

In the second segment of the show, the tribes are decided, but it is hard to tell who is on what team as they go through this too fast and I can’t pause this to better keep track of it. I was able to tell that the sit outs are Lindsay and Rocksroy. The orange team, featuring none else but Jonathan, takes an early lead in the challenge. He is either going to do very well or get voted out due to his threat status. I don’t yet see the second one happening, but it could.

 

Drea does terribly at the challenge for blue with the orange team doing well. Maryanne ignores Jonathan’s advice in the meantime. Despite catching up some, it is the blue team that loses with the orange team winning. Lindsay is picked the join the winning team. Rocksroy is sent away and also given the power to change the game. Rocksroy thinks that he is being weakened more.

 

In the third segment of the show, Lindsay talks about winning the reward. This is despite her only being given it. Jonathan talks about how he might have wanted the power in the game. Tori is talking about all of her tribe’s problems. What about doctor patient confidentiality? Oh, wait. Jonathan eats a lot. Those who lost the challenge eat their meager rice. Drea is actually able to predict the twist. She then talks to Mike about his idol. They warn each other about players they can’t rust on their tribes. Mike says that he is not going home with an idol in his pocket. I feel like they want us to remember this line.

 

We then see the struggles of Rocksroy. He does get the hourglass and hammer, but there is nothing known about this yet. He thinks that one should always double the firewood that one might need. We also learn that Rocksroy has a vision problem that could or will lead to blindness. He is getting the type of exile that Janu got. He is actually enjoying this.

 

In the fourth segment of the show, the players sans Rocksroy all unite. People talk about the advantage amulet and they talk about working together instead of apart. We have more that unites us than divides us. I forget who said that, but I like that quote. Maryanne thinks that people have to work together. Mike and Jonathan bond. He thinks that someone is Karen about him. I didn’t think that Karens were nice in today’s world.

 

In the fifth segment of the show, Jonathan fishes and people talk about his awesomeness. We then get to Romeo talking to someone (I missed who) about both being LGBT. Omar learns that Chanelle had lost her vote, which means that he lost his vote and she didn’t tell him. He can’t even get revenge on her by voting her out this round. Would he want to wait?

 

In the sixth segment of the show, there are some quick things that happen such as buff shaming and it is hard to tell everything about what is going on. There seems to be a strategy going on. People already are throwing their own tribe members under the bus. I can’t summarize a lot of this stuff. Drea tells others about her extra vote when Omar reveals that he may not have one. Rocksroy is visited by Jeff. Jeff then tells Rocks about the decision at hand. He weighs his decision.

 

In the seventh segment of the show, the group of players gather at the immunity challenge and we learn that Rocksroy did smash the hourglass. There are a lot of setbacks in the challenge for nearly everyone. But Tori does well and wins the challenge. Lydia thinks that things will be chaos. I thought that Chaos was a short lived CBS show.

 

In the eighth segment of the show, Rocksroy talks about wanting to build alliances and how he is safe for now. Romeo wants Jonathan gone. Only five people can be voted against. Maryanne is brought up as a target due to her advantages. Jonathan realizes that he’s a target, but he’s not going down without a fight. Omar thinks that he could be quiet since he can’t vote. But he also wants to influence the vote for Lydia in a way. Or, at least, that’s what he is telling Maryanne. He tells Maryanne that she’s a target. But the vote seems to be largely heading towards Maryanne. Or is it?

 

In the ninth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Hai says that this is a defining vote. Aren’t all of them? Romeo says that people have BS conversations with him. Are you a driver or a passenger? A fearful game won’t get you everywhere. Jeff talks about being a different version of himself when he went to a new high school. Lydia talks about her confidence becoming real when she’s her true self. Jonathan thinks that everyone should do everything that they wanted to do.

 

Omar thinks that he can be okay saying that he’s worried. Rocksroy talks about his alliance and decision leading to tonight. We see that Maryanne is worried about being a target. A random beetle makes a cameo at tribal council. Was that Ringo Starr? Or Paul McCarthy? Anyways, the votes happen and no one plays an idol or advantage. Lydia is voted out of the game. This is confusing. This leads the rest of the players to be officially merged.

 

On the next Survivor, someone is creating chaos and a lot of names are brought up, or at least three of them are. What is going on? I’d like to know for sure, but won’t find out until later. I guess that I’ll have to wait until then to know for sure.

 

Total confessional count: Jonathan- 11, Omar- 17, Rocksroy- 11, Lindsay- 7, Romeo- 9, Hai- 14, Chanelle- 15, Tori- 8, Lydia- 9, Maryanne- 13, Mike- 15, Drea- 11.

 

New confessionals this episode: Drea- 3, Jonathan- 4, Omar- 4, Rocksroy- 5, Lindsay- 1, Romeo- 4, Hai- 5, Chanelle- 5, Tori- 2, Lydia- 4, Maryanne- 3, Mike- 3.

 

I’m not doing a schedule this time, but will have the one for August before the end of this season unless some major change happens. I know that I won’t do anything for September or later until I know what the schedule is for certain shows as in when they are returning. Note that any delayed posts that might happen for the rest of this season would not be on Thursdays but would be on Fridays at the very soonest. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.