- The Tribes -
Zapatera is a tribe divided by Russell. As he states, you're either with him or against him. And from the looks of it, if you're with him, you'll get a negative edit, and if you're against him, you'll either be positive or mostly invisible. The tribe as a whole seems to work well together despite being divided. We've heard a decent amount from them considering they've yet to go to Tribal Council, but I'm still not quite sure where they leave us.
Ometepe is less divided on the outside, but still divided immensely. Here, we have a tribe that doesn't talk to each other and utilize everyone, as we saw Kristina get completely left out of the vote and Phillip left to run amok. On top of that we have two players who were completely blindsided in the end. Rob is running the tribe and is dictating how every chip falls, but a lot of is merciless and being portrayed rather negatively.
- The Characters -
The NPC's:
Julie: No edit as of yet. 2 episodes in a row does not bode well for her. She was shown talking with Ralph and the gang in terms of Russell, but that's it.
Steve: The guy is shown to occasionally communicate with the 'good' side on Zapatera, but otherwise he's never shown. Hasn't had a confessional yet. Where does he stand? Who is he with? Why is he not being shown at all? Just another NPC.
Krista: Despite getting with Russell, we little from her. Yes she was shown, but I believe it takes more than what we saw this episode on top of what she didn't get last episode to really place in her competition with those that are actually standing a fair chance. She's an extension to Russell, and that's been told to equal success to some degree, but I don't see any signs of that happening with her at the moment.
David: The guy was near invisible this episode despite having an 'okay' first episode. A lot of Russell opposition this episode but none of it was with David, leaving me to wonder where he disappeared to. His biggest contribution was sitting out at the challenge. I don't see him winning like this.
Sarita: We saw her talk with Mike, and we know she's not on good terms with Russell. If there's anything to her story over the last two episodes it's that she's helping to take down Russell and she's doing so via Mike. She's building on Mike's story, but has little of her own to show thus far.
The Subordinates:
Grant: The man got a confessional, but the problem I had with him was that he was connected to a rather vile and duplicitous scene with Rob. And all he did was agree with Rob. He may have a vote to lend but anything else beyond that seems to be rather minuscule in relation to the story being told.
Phillip: He's more or less just the comic relief of the season, and much like last episode he was always in the background of the actual outcome, never really being important. He has an individual story to tell about how he grows into a valorous man, and he certainly got that this episode. Stands no chance at winning, but could be beneficial to helping Rob in the mean time. I don't see him going too far, though he could possibly be meeting Francesca on Redemption Island soon (and losing).
Kristina: She had nothing to lend this episode except the fact that she was playing her idol. She had her story told in the season opener but it seems it's coming to a quick end now that her idol is gone and she has no one on her side.
Ashley: She as well had little to contribute in this episode. Her story continues as a limb to Rob's alliance, but we also know she's not his #1 choice. She had nothing to tell us this episode and she only showed up to help Rob concoct a plan to blindside Matt. Not liking what I saw here, especially building upon what little we saw of her last time.