Malakal, Night 20.  Returning from the ejection of Tracy, Erik remains the only "fan" left on his tribe.  He feels lucky but scared, figuring he’s the next to go.  Erik’s not the only one stressing, as Ozzy is uptight over being characterized as the "leader" at Tribal Council.  He just happens to have "good opinions and know-how."  Lying next to Amanda, Ozzy voice-overs that "there’s a giant target on my back."  Let’s see, Oz, you’re young, athletic, have the hidden Immunity Idol and a beauty queen sleeping in your arms.  Yeah, it must suck to be you.  As the credits become ever shorter thanks to the editing out of departed castaways, the Parvati cleavage money shot now comes in at the seven second mark.  I notice these things.

Malakal, Day 21.  In eerie pre-dawn, Ami and Cirie silently skulk through the bush.  Let me just say I don’t think it’s the first bush Ami has skulked through, but that’s another discussion.  They’re on the hunt for crab, and sure enough they find a "big ass one."  Ami runs it through with a machete, her signature prop for this episode.  "You guys are awesome," Amanda gushes as they prepare the crab for breakfast.  Ozzy eyes them warily.  He tells Ami he’s still smarting over being called the tribe’s leader.  Ami reassures Ozzy that Tracy tried to eject him but "I stopped anything crazy from happening."  Ozzy is still worried, but Ami swears, "You’re not in any danger."  Ozzy confides Ami’s reassurances are a little "too adamant" for his liking.

Airai, Day 21.  "I was dreaming about nachos last night," is Natalie’s one significant line of the episode.  That’s one more than Alexis gets.  The island’s rats are becoming more adventurous, scurrying around the camp fringes.  Jason grabs a spear and skewers one, to a collective "OH MY GOD!" from all the women.  He feels a little bad for killing a small animal, but they need the meat.  Jason’s pretty damn impressed with himself for reviving a Season 1 culinary tradition, but Parvati’s not exactly blown away by this show of machismo.  "I think he’s a loser," she sniffs.  Parvati and James lament how they miss their old Malakal pals and its calm lagoon.  Airai faces rough ocean.  "You can live on Malakal," says James.  "Over here is where they bring the criminals."  James is afraid Ami and Eliza will "scoop up" Alexis and Natalie after the merge.  Turns out it’s not Ami and Eliza he needs to worry about; it’s his foxy boxing gal pal.  Parvati powwows with Natalie, telling her she’s been playing in "stages."  The first stage was to make an alliance with fellow favorites to stay dominant.  Now as they get close to a merge, the new stage calls for a new alliance.  Parvati proposes Alexis and Natalie join with her and James.  Ozzy and James will be the first targeted, since they’re the biggest individual challenges.  Amanda will then be brought in to form a Final Four.  Natalie probably says something here, like it really matters.  Parvati so owns this game.  "Everyone else," she chortles, "they’re dead to me."  Rarely has a castaway pulled such a 180.  I really gave it to Parvati with both barrels when she was in the Cook Islands, but I’m seriously digging her this season.  She seems to have actually studied her last performance and is now plotting and scheming instead of just emptily flirting, planning several moves ahead without coming off like too much of an obvious game master.  It’s safe to say she’ll be Ozzy’s biggest threat after the merge.

Tree Mail arrives, instructing teams to choose a player from the rival squad to go to Exile Island and get Individual Immunity for tonight’s Tribal Council.  Eliza is less than thrilled, as they just had an Immunity Challenge and Tribal Council the day before.  Erik is hoping to either win the challenge or get the Individual Immunity, as he needs to survive tonight’s Tribal Council.

It’s raining as the tribes gather for the challenge.  The Airais have chosen Ozzy to go to Exile Island, while the Malakals originally chose James, but have crossed his name out and chosen Alexis for "balance" according to Ami.  That sure put the ever in what.  "Ready for today’s challenge?," asks Jeff.  "How ’bout what we’re playing for?," snarks Jason, sooo out of turn.  "How ’bout you give me the Immunity Idol back?," testily answers Jeff, once more having to put the little upstart in his place.  For Immunity, as well as pizza and beer, a pair of castaways from each tribe will have to negotiate an obstacle course and retrieve five flags while rival castaways swing weights at them.  Fast, physical, and not a puzzle piece in sight — what’s not to love?  Eliza and Jason run the course for Airai, while Amanda and Erik hustle for Malakal.  It’s a tight race, each side racking up their flags fairly quickly.  The swinging weights are really too slow to be effective.  One of the few times they connect, Amanda is able to shrug off the blow.  So it looks like we’re going to have an injury free challenge, right?  Ah, you know the answer if you saw one of the thousands of bloodthirsty promos CBS was running for this ep.  Rushing for Malakal’s last flag, Erik hurtles himself straight into a platform, ribcage meeting wood with a thump that shakes the trees.  Sucking up the pain, Erik continues after the flag, but it’s too late.  "Pizza and beer!," Jason triumphantly shouts as he brings in Airai’s fifth and final flag.  Airai wins it’s fourth straight Immunity while Malakal will have to vote off someone tonight, and it can’t be Exile-bound Ozzy.

Returning to camp, Ami asks Erik if he’s okay.  "It hurts like crazy," Erik groans as he takes off his shirt.  My mom just called.  She’s the sweetest, nicest person on the planet, and hates to see anyone get hurt.  But boy is she disappointed Erik’s lungs didn’t pop out his shoulder blades like the commercials promised.  "I think Erik is a genuine, good person," Ami tells us, but she doesn’t see how he can survive tonight’s council.

The Airais return in triumph, Jason proclaiming himself MVP.  He knows his position is precarious, but "luckily I hold the hidden Immunity Idol."  Oh, lord, I can hardly wait ’til that comes into play.  ‘Cause you just know Jeff is gonna milk it for all it’s worth when he tosses that useless thing into the fire.  Parvati says Eliza and Jason saved each other with their performance today, because they know they’re on the chopping block.  Four pizzas, garlic bread, and beer on ice arrive.  James bites the cap off his beer bottle because…well…because he can.  Just to show who’s still the big dog here, he bites the cap off Jason’s too.  Oh, James, if only there was a bit more game savvy to go with all that studliness, you’d be my favorite remaining castaway.  "Good day 21," Parvati comments as she enjoys her pizza.

On Exile Island, Ozzy plays dumb and helps Alexis search for the hidden idol.  His real motive, of course, is to see if anyone was rock stupid enough to take the fake one.  Sure enough, the bogus idol is gone.  "Aha!," he cries.  "Someone’s taken the bait!"  Like I said, it will be the best Tribal Council ever when that stupid thing finally comes into play.

Back at Malakal, Amanda and Cirie miserably stare out at the water.  "Oh, Amanda," Cirie sighs, "why can’t we win?"  They watch Erik swim by himself, commenting that the seemingly nice boy becomes a different person during challenges.  "I still remember when he dropped me on my freakin’ head," says Amanda.  Erik tells us "all the [other]fans are dead" so he has to pull out all the stops.  He approaches Amanda and Cirie, asking how much do they trust Ami?  He details Ami’s efforts to form an alliance with Chet and Tracy.  Carefully crafting his message, Erik stresses he likes Ami a lot but he has to tell the others about her true game.  Cirie confesses Ami can’t be trusted…while Ami is no more than ten yards away and watching the conversation.  Erik says they can take it or leave it, but there it is.  "My dilemma is who do I trust the least?," ponders Cirie as we go to a commercial warning us of Alvin and the Chipmunks coming to DVD, which of course is a preamble to the End of Days.

When we return, Ami tells Amanda and Cirie she’s not mad at Erik.  He’s just doing what he has to do to survive.  But she reminds the other gals she’s stood by them.  Cirie tells us she’s afraid Erik post-merge could team with the other "fans" and hook up with Eliza, but then again the other "favorites" could do the same with Alexis.  Ami says she’s never felt like she was really included with the other "favorites" and she really wants to be part of the team.  "No one ever said, ‘We want to fight with you.’"  Amanda quickly parrots the line back, and they laugh.  Amanda confides she knows Ami can’t be trusted, but better the devil you know.  Machete in hand, Ami approaches Erik and with more attitude than is necessary, tells him, "I owe you a favor."  She details how his talk with Amanda and Cirie ironically led to her bonding better with them.  Still holding that machete, she haughtily says, "So thank you."  I almost forgot how insufferable Ami gets when she thinks she’s on top, and from here on I want her gone.  Erik knows he’s screwed, so his plan is to appeal to Ozzy as soon as the non-leader returns.

Which thanks to the magic of editing is now.  Ozzy gets off the Exile boat, Erik telling him they lost the Immunity Challenge.  That bit of business out of the way, he gets right to it; "How well do you trust Ami?"  Erik once more spills about Ami’s overtures to the "fans" when they still had numbers.  But Ozzy just needs to know one thing; "Did Ami try to get me out?"  "Yes!," replies Erik, seeing the faintest glimmer of light at the end of a dark tunnel.  Ozzy tells us his game are simple; anyone who makes a move against him is out.  "I want Ami gone."  He tells this to Amanda.  "Ami was trying to get me out.  Ami’s a lying little…snot."  Amanda still argues they know Ami, but Erik’s still an unknown quantity.

The Malakals once again sit down to Tribal Council.  "Four times in a row," observes Jeff.  Cirie has no answer for why they keep losing.  Jeff reminds Erik (and everyone else) he’s the only "fan" left on his squad.  Erik knows his situation is bad.  "A week ago I was happy," he confesses.  Oh, Erik, it only gets worse as you get older.  Ozzy tells Jeff the original plan was for the "favorites" to band together and vote out the "fans" but "the game gets in the way" and "the favorites at the bottom start[ed] to play the fans."  Ami tears up, knowing Ozzy is talking about her.  Erik once more tells the tale of how Ami approached the "fans" for numbers.  Crying for the remainder of the council, Ami says she finally feels like she’s part of this tribe.  Ozzy wants to know when they made her not feel that way?  Ami swears she would never vote against Ozzy.  Asked how she’s determining her vote, Cirie answers, "You have to go with your gut."  Amanda says in measured tones, "Ami is a good person and I want to believe her."  And Ozzy, how does he feel?  "God, I want to really trust Ami."  Not so big without that machete, Ami bawls her eyes out, upset that Ozzy wouldn’t believe her.  Erik says he has no other option but to tell of Ami’s machinations.  "I have to tell the truth.  That’s all I have to give."  Ami swings for the bleachers, sobbing, "My heart is in this.  My heart is in this…  I know you know it."  All she wants is for the "favorites" to stick together, and she invokes James and Parvati like a martyr calling upon the saints.  "I swear I’ll give you everything I have!"  But Ami apparently has nothing they want, as she’s the eighth castaway voted out.

In the Penthouse

Erik, Malakal - Goes against some steep odds, using his powers of persuasion and fortuitous friendship with Ozzy to live and fight another day.  The others may soon regret this, however, as he has the makings of a tough individual competitor.

In the Doghouse

Ami, Malakal - I had a fair amount of sympathy for her until she "thanked" Erik with a machete cocked over her shoulder.  The poor kid weighs 110 pounds, thirty pounds of it hair.  Like what did she think he was gonna do?   

Next week:  MERGE!

‘Til then

 GARY SHERWOOD