Gauntlet 1.10 - Week 11

Gauntlet - Week 11

Genre: Sports / Drama

Executive Producer: Antoine Fuqua

Writer: Matt Parker

Cast : William Fichtner, Josh Duhamel, Trevor Jackson and Jimmy Tatro

Tim Collins (Josh Duhamel) watches from the sidelines, disappointed by his team's struggles on the field. Backup quarterback Chase Kearney (Jimmy Tatro) fumbles a snap, leading to an easy score for the Americans. Coach Ken Heath (William Fichtner) throws his headset down in disgust. Running back Jefferson Thomas (Trevor Jackson) is frustrated. He looks up at the scoreboard, showing that the Memphis Pharaohs are down by 10 to the New York Americans with four minutes left of the game.

Memphis gets the ball back. In the huddle, Kearney starts giving everyone the playcall, but Thomas tells him to shut up. He tells Kearney to get him the ball by any means necessary. If they're going to get back into the game, he's going to do it himself. On the first play, Kearney hands the ball off to Thomas on a counter that Thomas takes 16 yards for the first down. Coach Heath screams at Thomas to come over to him. Heath demands to know why the play was changed. Thomas looks Heath square in the eyes and tells him he wants the ball. Heath gives Thomas the playcall and sends him back to the huddle.

Jefferson Thomas leads the team down field, getting the ball on every single play. Even after the Americans have figured out that Thomas is going to get the ball every time, they are still having trouble stopping him. Thomas runs the ball in for a touchdown. Coach Heath decides to go four the two-point conversion so that if they get the ball back a field goal will win the game. The announcers are baffled by the move since if they simply took the PAT, a successful field goal would guarantee over time. Heath's assistants look at him and ask if he's sure about the call. Heath reminds everyone that they play football to win, not to tie. The two-point conversion is successful off of a direct snap to Thomas, who runs the ball in.

Down by two, the Pharaohs defense takes the field. Coach Heath tells them they need a stop. If New York gets a first down, the game is over, plain and simple. New York hands the ball off to their running back, who gains five yards. They hand it off again for another 3 yards. It is now 3rd and 2. On the team plane after the game, the Pharaohs sit in silence with their heads down, sullen. The New York Americans managed to get the first down and proceeded to run out the clock to a win.

The Memphis Pharaohs have two games to go with their record now sitting at 5-5. Their chances of making the playoffs are getting slimmer by the week. On the back of the plane, Coach Heath talks to Tim Collins telling him that he needs him to get ready to play as soon as possible. The Pharaohs have a short week, with them playing on Thursday night. Heath tells Collins that they're going to have to make the playoffs if either of them are going to have a job with the team next year.

Call My Agent 1.7 - Awards

Call My Agent - Awards

Genre : Drama / Comedy / Satire
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer : Dominic Wilkins
Cast: Lesley Manville, Caroline Dhavernas, Rainn Wilson, Brian d'Arcy James, Chris Colfer and Ava DuVernay

Plot:

Miranda Jones (Lesley Manville) walks into the Jones Agency offices with a newly found confidence and determination, thanks to her empowering pep talk with one Fredericka Mandelbaum (actually character actress Margo Martindale acting in character) over the weekend, as her employees look on, confused, having no idea about what chain of events that happened during the weekend with Miranda. Wilson (Brian d’Arcy James) knocks on her door and he asks her if everything is alright. Smiling from ear to ear and talking in a mellow voice, Miranda tells him that everything is going great. Wilson says that since they’re sharing good news, he has a one regarding the financial situation of the agency, but Miranda probably doesn’t care. To his surprise, she says that she cares! She claims that she has a newfound interest in the business and that she will be glad to hear about the news. Wilson makes her swear that she will not go back to her condescending and superior behavior as soon as she tells her and she swears. Somehow, someway, the agency has won an award and a bursary about their great work regarding gender equality in Hollywood and they want Miranda to accept it, as a way to finally present herself to Hollywood. Andrea (Caroline Dhavernas) and Bob (Rainn Wilson) who are calmly working on their computer in the adjacent room, are surprised when they hear Miranda scream of joy. She tells Wilson that he needs to come with her, they’re going dress shopping. Wilson refuses, saying that it’s not part of the job and she says that he won’t be missed, he’s got terrible fashion sense anyway. She orders him to call the young guy they send on movie sets to go with her, he’s fashionable and he’s going to be a great, innocent date for tonight.

Bob and Andrea wonder what they should do with the bursary. The reasonable solution would be to use it to reimburse the loan shark their previous boss loaned money from, but Bob thinks the good choice would be to give all the money to Andrea, for all the sacrifices she made when she had a family to feed. Wilson comes to sit next to them and Andrea signals Bob to stop talking about it, but much to her disappointment, Wilson asks the question she didn’t want to answer: what are we going to do with the money?

Miranda meets with Desmond (Chris Colfer) and they go dress shopping together. She asks him for advice on various dresses and when they settle on one,  she surprises Desmond by buying him a matching tuxedo. He tries to get out of going to the evening with her, but she’s too insistent for him to be able to win the argument. He accepts, knowing full well that Bob and Wilson are going to mock him for it. At the register Miranda wants to pay the agency’s credit card, but she remembers her talk with Mandelbaum and she wants to act from now on. She puts the agency’s credit card back in her purse and she pays for it with her own money, just like any other reasonable person would do. She then apologizes to Desmond for treating him badly today. She’s trying to be a better person now and she’s starting with little things. Desmond appreciates the gesture and he to wiggle his way out of the ceremony, but Miranda says it’s unnegotiable.

Back at the agency, Andrea, Bob and Wilson are still arguing about they should do with the money. Wilson and Andrea are determined that the right thing to do is to pay back the loan to Mark, but Bob insists that Andrea should get the money despite her refusing it. He lets go that Andrea has a whole family to feed so she should have a salary. Wilson takes a step back and he realises that Andrea has kids, something he didn’t know. He then offers, out of compassion, to be the one who doesn’t receive a salary, since he’s the only one who doesn’t have kids. Since Bob betrayed her trust, Andrea decides to reveal to Wilson that Bob doesn’t have kids and in fact, lives alone. The three of them over one another until Wilson gets up on the desk, it’s an habit now. He says that all three of them have worked together for years now and they barely know one another, so they should try to know each other a little better. It helps get the mood a little better and they say the discussion is far from over, but besides, Andrea is closing in on her secret account that could bring a lot of money to the agency. They all head home to prepare for Miranda’s big evening.

The evening is hosted by director Ava DuVernay (Ava DuVernay) who welcomes us to a night celebrating equality and how each and everyone in this room has a made a difference in the industry in the past few months. She gets on her high horse and she reminds everyone that she is the first woman to win the best director award at Sundance, the first female black director to be nominated for a Golden Globe, the first black female director to see her film nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards and the female African-American to direct a blockbuster, so you get it, she’s more important than you. We see Miranda in the crowd saying to Desmond that she’s better than Ava. Ava presents the first award of the evening, rewarding the heroes behind the scenes, the agents. She presents the gender equality award to Ms. Miranda Jones of the Jones Agency and people start to cheer.

Miranda gets on stage and she thanks everyone. She’s still a little irritated about Ava’s claim to be better than everyone and she starts her speech by saying how amazing she is and listing accomplishments each and everyone dumber than the last, as she tries to upstage Ava, but failing spectacularly. Bob and Wilson are hiding their laughter, but they’re cringing, already imagining the repercussions of the disastrous speech. Andrea makes a sign to Miranda, the same quirk Fredericka Mandelbaum had and it reminds her that she’s trying to be a better person. Her speech does a complete 360 and she ends by thanking her employees for their hard work and that she is proud to be an agent of change in today’s Hollywood landscape, to applause. As she gets off the stage, she thanks Andrea for the gesture and the others congratulate her putting her ego aside… a little… for once. She opens the envelope and they see the amount of the monetary reward they received. It’s a huge amount and they celebrate together. Andrea’s cellphone rings. She managed to get that big contract. They’re going to save the agency!

Survivor: Last Resort - Cape Verde 1.11 - Episode 11

Survivor: Last Resort: Cape Verde - Episode 11



After Chase’s elimination, the feeling amongst camp is bittersweet. They feel bad that he went out like wounded horse but they knew the threat that he was. He could have won out the competitions and gained sympathy amongst the masculine-heavy jury. This being the first season of the Last Resort version of the show, no one is sure how they jury will base their votes.

While both sides knew they’d have to turn on each other once Chase and Laura were gone, the debate rages about whether to target Rajon first or use him as a pawn in their scheme. Rajon is still on his own, worn down by the 33 days in the wilderness and non-stop scheming. He is close to taking Chase’s approach of tuning out the game but he decides to keep his ears open if anyone wants to work with him.

The Final Five immunity arrives. Each castaway will work to solve three puzzles. Using a set of coordinates, each castaway will cross two ropes. Where the ropes intersect, a bag of puzzle pieces is buried in the sand. They must dig up the pieces, then race back to their respective answer boards to complete their puzzle. The puzzle will reveal the next set of coordinates. The first person to solve all three puzzles, with the third one reading "Safe From Vote," wins Immunity.

Jim and Fiona jump out to an early lead in the competition, with Megan not too far behind. Jose and Rajon struggle with their first puzzle, which sets them back. Upon completing the first puzzle, Jim struggles with finding his buried pieces and this puts sets him back with Jose and Rajon, who start gaining ground. However, Rajon makes quick work of the second puzzle and starts ascending up the leaderboard. By the time they get to the third puzzle, it is a race between him and Fiona. He actually finds his pieces first but she is not long after. Ultimately, Fiona is able to complete her puzzle first and wins her first individual immunity.

In confessional, Rajon admits that his performance in that challenge rejuvenated him in a way. He was honestly feeling in the dumps but now he is ready to go again, especially considering how close they are to the finals.

Things are quiet at first, as everyone seems to like each other pretty well. There is also a sense of nerves, knowing that any wrong move could be your downfall at this point. The first trio to meet are Rajon, Jim, and Jose.

After talking with Rajon, Jim and Jose meet together in private. They debate the benefits of taking out Rajon vs. Megan. Rajon almost assuredly has two jury votes in his pocket with his late allies, Chase and Laura. However, Jose points out that he doesn’t have much of a resume to gain more votes. Meanwhile, no one dislikes Megan - even the people she voted out. She is a special-ed teacher for Christ’s sake. While she may not have made any huge moves, she stayed in a loyal duo throughout and that type of loyalty could appeal to some. In confessional, Jim says that that conversation has him a bit nervous about whether or not he should target Jose right now as he’s clearly got his mind on jury votes and is probably already writing his final speech.

Jose sits down with Fiona and Megan and tells them that he has decided he wants to go to the final three with them. However, he thinks they should get rid of Jim the next vote - the final vote before the Final Tribal Council. Fiona and Megan are unsure about this at first, although they start to like it. It means that they will be viewed as “loyal” before doing what they must do when there is no one left to lose.

As they talk, Jim is meeting with Rajon. He tells him that they haven’t really played together much this game but he wants to go to the Finals with him. He wants to take out Megan and Fiona over the next two votes, which Rajon is down for obviously. He promises Jim that he will work with him until the end. In confessional, Jim admits that he is considering taking a big gamble. While taking out Jose is juicy endeavor and a huge move, he doesn’t think he can accomplish it this vote without a Hidden Immunity Idol (which he can’t find). Thus, Jim is prepared to take Jose with him to the Final 3 if it means finally defeating him fair and square. They have been quiet rivals all game and Jim is unsure if blindsiding him at the final 4 would feel as satisfying as gaining more jury votes than him.

After Jose leaves, Fiona and Megan debate Jim vs. Jose, even if it is to occur next week. They need to come out of that looking as good as possible, claiming it as their move. They tend to like Jose more as he voted with them at the first swapped Tribal Council. He was essentially alone and chose to side with them on the basis of his gut only. Fiona points out that there will also be a heavily-Brava majority which will favor them in a Final 3 with him. Megan is clearly nervous about all of this but Fiona calms her nerves and promises that one of them will win this.

At Tribal Council, they talk about Fiona’s surprising immunity win and Rajon’s close-but-no-cigar comeback attempt. This naturally leads to a discussion of the importance of immunity performance vs. strategizing. They discuss that there are some on the jury who probably prefer one over the other. But in the end, it is like having a college degree and an internship on your resume. They both provide a sense of value, helping elevate your overall resume. But is in the eye of the beholder on which will be more important in the end. Jeff wraps up Tribal Council and says that it is time to vote.

After everyone has voted, he asks if anyone has a Hidden Immunity Idol, now would be the final time to play it. No one does. He reads the votes…

First vote...Rajon

….Rajon

….Megan

…...Megan

Two votes Rajon, two votes Megan, one vote left…

…...The twelfth person voted off of Survivor: Last Resort and the sixth member of our jury...Megan. The tribe has spoken. Megan, Fiona, and the jury are all pretty surprised by this, with Fiona looking the most mad. Jose wants to deviously smile but holds himself back from doing so.

In her post-vote confessional, Megan says they shouldn’t have trusted Jose. She’s not sure what scenario would have gotten her out of this vote though - side Jim and Rajon? Push harder to get Jose to vote out Jim? Oh well, all the speculation is too late now.

In a finale preview, four castaways walk with their torches in the sunset. Jim Marshall. Fiona Robinson. Rajon Jackson. Jose Mendes. One of these four will be the first winner of Survivor: Last Resort. Tune in next week to find out who will gain the crown of Sole Survivor and one million dollars.

Additionally, a $100,000 prize will be awarded to who you all vote for Cape Verde’s Fan Favorite Award. Vote for your top three choices here (with the first question being your top choice): www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZH33BKF