Survivor Gabon, Episode 3: Ace's High...for Now

It’s always fun to see how Survivor’s expert editors construct the narrative of each episode. Who are the “main characters”? What’s emphasized in terms of the “plot”? Naturally we never know what’s left on the cutting-room floor (except for any online bonus footage, which to me doesn’t qualify as the ‘text’ as the show), but there’s practically always a suspense plot on “Survivor” (who will get voted out?), and when they can find one, an emotional plot as well.

This week we had both, and despite the G.C./Randy sideshow over on the resurgent Fang, both major plot elements involved Kota.Our initial look at that tribe this week showed the Onion alliance (Corinne, Jen, Charlie, Marcus) fishing as Charlie narrates and explains the tribal dynamics. There’s the Onions, there’s Paloma/Kelly, there’s Ace/Sugar, and there’s Bob, who is seen as “wooable” to get a majority at Tribal Council if need be. Right away we see Paloma and Kelly complaining about Ace: “He’s like the king and everyone’s bowing down to him” mutters Paloma. And Sugar and Ace note the “conniving” Paloma and Kelly.

ace made a power play at the Reward Challenge by manipulating Paloma, clearly the tribe’s physically weakest member, into screwing up. He directed her to play a key role in a challenge, gave her bad advice about how to perform, then blamed her for the tribe’s loss and pushed for her to be voted out. “I think her lack of motivation…sort of crossed and dotted the t’s on her contract of death,” he told the camera (it’s the i that you dot, Ace, the i).

But Ace isn’t as good as he thinks he is, since practically everyone saw his ploy for what it was. More on that in a bit.

Note that Ace, who is quickly being framed as this season’s main villain, is paired with Sugar, who received a highly sympathetic portrait Thursday night even if she remains a touch naïve. Sugar, sent to Exile Island after the reward challenge, broke down while reflecting that she went on the show to try to recover from her father’s death. This tape of her getting emotional – seemingly recorded either before or after her trip to Exile Island, given her clothing – serves as a counterpoint to her search for the Hidden Immunity Idol. After nearly giving up at first – “I’m lost,” she cries just before the emotional recounting of her parent’s passing begins – Sugar finds a series of clues, traipses across what seems like a couple miles of jungle, plain and stream, and strikes gold in the form of the hidden idol. The editors purposely tug at our heartstrings. By juxtaposing this search with her tragic story, we’re led to clearly root for Sugar and cheer when she succeeds.

Too bad she’s paired with such an apparent jerk in Ace. We aren’t supposed to like him, and although the other tribe members discuss dumping him, they ultimately do vote out Paloma (note that the Onion alliance could have easily sided with her and voted out Ace, had they wanted to). Hello, audience displeasure.

But Paloma’s dismissal, for at least two reasons, makes sense: First, physical strength is what’s important now, and the last thing the Onions need is another trip to Tribal next week. Ace provides that. He also provides something else: future cannon fodder. They can get rid of him next time if they need to – just join up with whoever Ace is targeting and get rid of him on a 5-3 vote. Or, if they decide to oust Kelly or even Sugar at the next Tribal, they can just do him with their four-vote majority once seven people are left in the tribe.

However, a swap of tribe members seems to happen every season now and is likely inevitable. So that could work in Ace’s favor by spreading the Onioners – who frankly seem like they’ll last, but what do I know – across two tribes. But if there for some reason isn’t a swap, or the switching is minimal, then Ace could soon find himself in a hole.