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Survivor Recap: It’s Time to Break Up

Season 42 Episode 12 Editor’s Rating5 stars *****

Photo: Robert Voets/CBS

Last week, Maryanne talked about the blessing and the curse of not being perceived as a threat. On the one hand, not being considered a threat means you’re not on the radar, so you can sit back while the more prominent players cannibalize one another. On the other hand, however, if you make it to the end as a non-threat, it will be an uphill battle to convince a jury you deserve the million dollars. That’s the predicament Maryanne finds herself in at this late stage of the game; she knows she needs a big move on her résumé, but the timing has to be just right.

Heading into tonight’s tribal council, the timing is perfect. Several big targets are ripe for the picking. Challenge dominator Jonathan doesn’t have the immunity necklace. The likable Mike appears confident enough not to play his idol. And Omar — whose threat level has been exposed in the wake of Drea’s public callout last week — is without protection. There are more choices than a stocked fridge of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and each one looks tasty. If there is ever a time to make a statement, it’s right now. And boy, does Maryanne make herself heard — not just pulling off the move of the season but one of the most impressive plays in Survivor history.

But before we get there, let’s rewind a little. Coming off the back of last week’s chaotic Drea blindside, the remaining players begin setting in motion their endgame plans. For Omar, that involves separating Mike and Jonathan, just as he did previously with Mike and Hai. If he can drive a wedge between them and get them to target each other, it will position him in the middle, allowing him to decide who he wants to move forward with. Little does Omar know that Mike is already onto his schemes.

“Mike sees me as his savior,” says Omar. “I saved his life and saved his idol.” Omar’s maneuvering indeed helped Mike avoid potential catastrophe. But he’s wrong about Mike’s indebtedness toward him. If anything, Omar’s play last week just demonstrated how savvy of a player he is and what a threat he’d be to win at the end. “I have to cut Omar loose,” Mike surmises, taking his plan to Maryanne in the early hours of the morning. While Maryanne has had a close friendship with Omar since the beginning, she recognizes the danger of sitting at the end with him. “The jury saw Omar go from this caterpillar to a butterfly,” she says. “There’s no way I can beat him.”

Meanwhile, Lindsay remains hyperfocused on Jonathan. Still buzzing after escaping death in last week’s Do or Die twist, Lindsay is extra-motivated for the game’s final stretch. She has a strong social game, solid working relationships, and an amulet advantage that has become an immunity idol. The only thing standing in her way of ultimate success is Jonathan. The pair have been embroiled in a side game of one-upmanship throughout the merge, each being the other’s main challenge nemesis. As far as Lindsay is concerned, Jonathan needs to be gone so she can claim all the remaining immunity necklaces for herself.

Jonathan isn’t a complete dummy, though. He realizes that Lindsay and Omar have become a powerful strategic pair. He needs to strike at them before they strike at him. Sure, it’s great that the Taku Four made it to the final six intact, but Jonathan knows it can’t last forever. “It’s time to break up,” he laughs. There’s a fun scene where Jonathan and Lindsay are both at camp, knowingly telling each other lies to make the other more comfortable. Jonathan pretends to be open to voting out Mike, noting how clever it was for Omar to put Mike at ease by choosing him to go on the reward. In reality, Jonathan is onboard with Mike’s plot to blindside Omar at the next vote. The only thing they need to do is make sure Lindsay doesn’t win the next immunity challenge. If she does, she’ll be safe and can protect Omar with her idol.

In true Survivor fashion, Lindsay wins immunity in an intensely close back-and-forth with Jonathan. Who thought table mazes could make for such tense television? This blows up Mike and Jonathan’s plan to target Omar. There is too much risk involved now. If they vote Omar and then Lindsay plays her idol for him, the votes could easily bounce back on one of them. So plan B is to do the safe thing and put their votes on Romeo, the tribe’s perpetual scapegoat. With their two votes plus Maryanne and her extra vote, they could load up four votes on Romeo, counteracting Omar and Lindsay’s two votes on Jonathan. Easy, right?

Easy, sure, but not a game-winning move. And that’s what Maryanne needs right now. Taking out Romeo does nothing for Maryanne’s stock. Instead, she’d rather stick with the original plan of voting out Omar, and she has the tools to do it. Maryanne explains to Jonathan and Mike that they could put four votes on Omar — five if Romeo joins them. She pleads that now is the right time. But the boys remain hesitant, which is understandable; if an idol is played, one of them will end up on the wrong side of a split vote. However, Maryanne persists, putting forth an even more brilliant plan. Jonathan and Mike can still vote for Romeo, but she will put her two votes on Omar, as will Romeo, resulting in a 3-2-2 vote. Even if an idol is played, it will force a tie between Jonathan and Romeo with a chance to sway the votes onto Romeo in the revote.

“I’m ready to show I’m here to win,” Maryanne says in confessional. “I’m not just a goat to be herded.” She takes that fiery attitude to tribal, even as Jonathan and Mike continue to tell her “play it safe” and “pile the votes on Romeo.” During the pre-vote discussion, Jeff Probst asks Omar if he’s feeling confident about tonight’s vote. “I’m Survivor confident,” states Omar, “but every time you’re Survivor confident, you’re usually wrong. But I’m hoping that’s not the case.” Unfortunately for Omar, that very much is the case. Maryanne pulls off the spectacular 3-2-2 vote, sending a flabbergasted Omar to the jury. “You did that?” Omar asks his former ally. “I did,” Maryanne replies. Although the shock is etched on his face, you can tell the superfan in Omar has respect for Maryanne’s fantastic move.

And what a move it was. Seriously, this was an all-timer, the type of plurality vote that would make Cirie Fields and Rob Cesternino proud. Maryanne perfectly picked her moment. She correctly read the tribe dynamics and knew where all the votes were going. On top of that, she became the first player to properly and successfully use an extra vote. Obviously, there was a considerable risk involved, knowing that Omar could have played an idol. Part of me wonders if Maryanne knew that Lindsay didn’t intend to use it. We’d already seen Lindsay tell Omar she didn’t want to use the idol out of fear of it reentering circulation and ending up in someone else’s pocket — it’s not unreasonable to think that info got back to Maryanne somehow. Even so, the risk was worth it; at worst, Jonathan probably would have gone home. That would still have been a big threat taken off the board. At best, Maryanne has just set herself up with a winning move that could secure her those vital jury votes.

It’s the season finale next week, five players remain, and Maryanne now seems to be the favorite. Not only did she just pull off an incredible display in front of the jury, but she has an idol nobody knows about. That secures her a spot in the final four, which means she will at least be guaranteed a shot at making fire to earn a spot at the final tribal council. And she may still have more fancy moves up her sleeve before then. Let’s not forget, in this episode, Mike promised Maryanne that if she voted out Omar, he would play his idol for her at five. So if Mike sticks to his word, Maryanne could find herself in the final five with two idols and a lot of options.

This was a tremendously exciting penultimate episode to set us up for what promises to be a fun ride to the finish next week.

Idol Thoughts

• Even though he was voted out, Omar got to have a nice moment this episode when he surprised himself by winning the reward challenge. There was even a sweet message to his niece (and some more awkward Jeff fourth-wall-breaking).

• Maryanne being upset that Lindsay didn’t tell her about her amulet was perhaps a little hypocritical, seeing as Maryanne hasn’t told anyone about her idol. However, it could be that Maryanne was more upset that Lindsay had told Mike about it and not her.

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