I was so happy when the first edition dropped. Hopefully he can keep it up because I have not had much luck finding a good basketball podcast.

I often find myself wishing for episodes at least 50% longer. Of course, certain episodes would end up being very slow, but I generally feel like I want to see more strategy than we get.

I missed a lot due to the edit here too. I expected Alexis's tribe to lose given how much we saw of them before the challenge and then they won. I thought maybe Trish was going home, then worried that LJ would go home with an idol in his pocket. Maybe I'm just gullible…

I think this season is another one in favor of seasons with more than two tribes. The two tribe thing has been too ripe for Pagonging of late and the added dimension of a tangle of tribes really stirs things up and makes them interesting (see also Phillipines and Cook Islands).

It's also interesting because it seemed like Morgan was a stronger competitor in earlier challenges. There wasn't a lot of evidence to go on and nobody on this tribe seemed to feel that strongly about it, so maybe they are closer in ability than I thought.

Yeah, unlike Carrie, I thought we got more of the Brains plus tribe, so I thought they were going to lose, but once it went the other way I assumed the editing was building to a Trish boot.

This makes a lot of sense to me. The other possibility is that LJ told Tony he had the idol or Tony suspected it. If LJ plays the idol and Cliff goes home anyway, then next vote could be a 3-3 tie and Tony would flip then anyway. Might as well be the hero.

Nope. I rewatched and Sarah doesn't mention Woo in that confessional. She just says we, so she may have been referring to just herself and Trish.

Pulling up the items required coordination between the people doing the pulling and the person who is not blindfolded had the best opportunity to make that happen. Or they could have done what the Beauty tribe did and counted off each pull. J'Tia isn't blameless here, but I do think the Reward was mostly blown by…

While I disagree with Carrie on the entertainment level of this episode, I am glad she pointed out the part Tasha played in damaging the Brains tribe. Tasha's inability to help her tribe pull up the items and her inexcusable need to have J'Tia place the flag perfectly before pulling it up cost them that reward. Not…

I was kind of surprised that Carrie was so down on this one. Two close challenges, a dominant tribe almost throwing a challenge (and being unable to), and a legitimate debate about who to vote out - these all strike me as things to have in a solid Survivor episode.

Having recently watched Cook Islands, I had the same thought. Either a chain of choosing or captains.

I don't think Woo did throw this challenge. It seemed pretty clear to me that Sarah and Trish moved as slowly as they could both in untying the buoys and in retrieving Cliff's shots, while Woo seemed to be operating at something close to 100%. In the earlier discussions and confessionals, Woo expressed skepticism…

Off to a good start, but bummed to lose Brice so early. Guess I would have been better off sticking with Trish. Ah well.

The funny thing is (having recently watched All Stars) that Kathy actually voted for Rob, in spite of seeming like one of the most bitter people during final tribal. To me, Shii Ann was the shocker. Lex, Tom, and Alicia were clearly never going to vote for him (though I might have said the same about Kathy), but…

Your framing here is the most convincing case I've seen. I would quibble a bit with a couple of minor points (the Coach vote out probably got her to the final three as it convinced JT that there was a women's alliance and Parvati most definitely did not want Danielle to go), but it is incredible how much the people…

B for me. Maybe my expectations were too high after reading some hype on these boards.

I'm now imagining the series ending on this cliffhanger as well. Then there will be a comic book continuation that ends with the final panel being Coulson looking confused and saying "What happened to me after I died?"

I especially enjoyed Coulson constantly turning the wheel as the car kept going straight as an arrow.

I haven't thought about Lawhead in a long time either. Read and really enjoyed The Dragon King Trilogy, but I was 13 at the time, so I can't really vouch for them at this point.