Survivor: Last Resort 2.6 - New Zealand Episode 6

Survivor: Last Resort 2.5 - New Zealand Episode 5
Writer: Chad Taylor

The morning after Bobby’s shock elimination, Jeff gathers the Tasman and Maori tribes together on the beach. He tells them to drop their buffs - they are merging tribes. In confessional, Earl smiles and says “let the games begin”.

The tribe arrives at their new camp and get to know each other. Jill notes in confessional that it is not lost on her that they are evenly split between their previous tribal lines. Thus, it’s going to be an intense next few days. Naturally, the two Ricks start to bond (along with Earl, the other older man). The three of them have overlaps in life experience that they enjoy talking about. As a working class man, Rick does not mesh well with Karin - which unsurprisingly gains the approval of Rick Bradley. Surprisingly, one person Karin does bond with is Sage - the oldest and youngest tribemates and two true opposites.

As they start to build their camp, there is subtle gameplay that is already happening under the surface. As Jill had done earlier, almost everyone recognizes that there has to be a defector or else they will tie 5-5 and this will lead to a random draw for who is eliminated. As a result, people are sticking with their old tribemates (even if they don’t like them), while also trying to pull in one or two from the other side.

The ten of them convene with Jeff for the first individual immunity challenge. Jeff displays a series of symbols to the castaways; they have to then recreate the sequence from memory. If a castaway chooses an incorrect symbol, they would be eliminated. The last castaway remaining would win immunity. The order of elimination goes as follows: Bradley, Karin, Alexandra, Sage, Rick, Kenny, Jill, Earl. This leaves the final 2 between two good friends, Amanita and Vinolia. Amanita wins the last challenge, winning the first individual immunity!

Back at camp, the doors are blown wide open as multiple simultaneous chess moves are being made. Jill tells Alexandra that she is confident that the five of them will stick together, plus Bradley and Earl might be able to pull in Rick. In their own conversation, Bradley and Earl - who have never really been close allies - echo similar sentiments. As far as targets go, they are worried about the clear duo of Amanita and Vinolia, who just dominated that mental challenge. Thus, Vinolia is an easy target because her competition performance merits the targeting and doesn’t burn the bridges of potential allies down the line (outside of Amanita).

However, they have lost track of Karin, who is talking to the other side (Sage and Kenny, in particular). Sage tells Amanita and Vinolia that she thinks they can get Karin on their side if they vote for Bradley, someone she has apparently clashed with in the past. Amanita says that is very doable, especially since he seems like he could be a physical threat. They relay this information to Rick, who they are unaware has been having conversations with the other side. In confessional, Rick voices his displeasure with his former tribemates for the Bobby blindside. He debates whether he should tell Bradley and Earl about Amanita’s plans. He hums “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” and smiles.

They meet up with Jeff for the first post-merge Tribal Council. The first topic is how everyone is getting along with the other tribe and everyone says that they have meshed well. Getting to observe the tribal council earlier in the season gave good insight into who the others are. In talking about this, things soon turn to the way that the tribes have been split evenly 50/50. Sage says that this has caused the game to go pedal-to-the-metal as everyone knows someone needs to flip to get someone out this week. Alexandra agrees and says that no one wants a tie because they put their lives on the line as a result. Jeff asks how they are determining who to vote for and they say that it is hard to vote on gameplay since they don’t fully know each other yet. So a big aspect is challenge-ability.

Jeff tells them it is time to vote. After they have voted, he says that if anyone has a Hidden Immunity Idol, now would be the time to play it. Jill does not play hers. He’ll read the votes.

First vote...Vinolia

….Vinolia

….Bradley

…..Bradley

Two votes Vinolia, Two votes Bradley

….Vinolia

….Bradley

….Bradley

……..Vinolia

Four votes Vinolia, Four votes Bradley, Two votes left

…..Vinolia
……..Bradley

There is a tie. Jeff says that they will do another round of voting, without Bradley and Vinolia (those will be the two options). If they tie again, then they will draw rocks and the person who draws the purple rock will be going home. They vote again.

….Bradley

…..Vinolia

…..Bradley

…..Vinolia

….Bradley

…...Vinolia

…….The seventh person voted out of Survivor: Last Resort - New Zealand...Vinolia. The tribe has spoken. Everyone is looking around each other, trying to find out who voted how. Kenny looks disappointingly towards Karin.

In her post-show confessional, Vinolia is frustrated but says that the circumstances were against her. She performed well in the challenge but not well enough to win (not that she is mad that Amanita did). And losing in a tiebreaker situation also lessens the blow. She will be rooting for Amanita and Sage to win.

First vote:
Bradley: Amanita, Vinolia, Kenny, Sage, Karin
Vinolia: Jill, Alexandra, Bradley, Earl, Rick

Second vote:
Bradley: Amanita, Kenny, Sage
Vinolia: Jill, Alexandra, Earl, Rick, Karin

Gauntlet 2.7 - Hangover

Gauntlet : Hangover
Genre : Sports / Drama
Showrunner: Antoine Fuqua
Writer : Matt Parker

Cast: William Fichtner, Josh Duhamel, Trevor Jackson, Eric Roberts, Kat Graham, Jessie Buckley, Tom Wright and Jaimie Alexander

Plot: Jefferson Thomas (Trevor Jackson) wakes up on a couch. He looks around and finds Nikki (Kat Graham) asleep in her bed. He looks at his phone and notices several missed texts and phone calls from Gwendolyn. He sneaks out of Nikki's apartment, careful not wake her. Once he's outside he calls Gwendolyn (Jessie Buckley) back. She tells him she was worried since she expected him to come over after the game. He apologizes to her and says he went out with some teammates, but had forgotten his phone in the locker room after the game and just had to go to get it back. He says he can come over later on if she wants to spend some time together. She says that she'd like that. Thomas then begins walking toward the night club to get his car back.

Coach Ken Heath (William Fichtner) is sitting his kitchen alone eating breakfast and watching the news when he sees a story about Jefferson Thomas reportedly getting into a scuffle with security at a night club last night. Heath quickly finishes his breakfast and immediately heads to the team facility. When he gets there he sees there are already a couple of news vans outside. Reporter Natalie Cornish (Jaimie Alexander) is there and approaches Heath as he gets out of his car in the parking lot. She asks him if he's heard about Thomas' night club incident. Heath tells her that the team intends to investigate what exactly happened that night and they take the alleged incident seriously.

When Heath enters his office, his phone is already ringing. He unplugs the phone and puts his head down. Then his cell phone starts ringing. He answers it and on the other line team owner Leonard Palmer (Eric Roberts) immediately begins asking if he knows what happened. Heath says he doesn't know much yet, but is going to look into it. Palmer tells Heath to make the situation go away. Jefferson Thomas is the team's best player and they can't afford to lose him for any extended time.

Tim Collins (Josh Duhamel) pulls into the team facility parking lot and is surprised to see news vans there. He walks up to the door and Natalie Cornish asks if he heard about Jefferson Thomas' bar brawl. Collins tells her he hasn't heard anything about anything like that and that he's just there to look at some game tape. She then asks him how it feels to watch a win from the bench. Collins glares at her and says no comment. Collins finds the facility empty aside from Heath running on a treadmill. Heath invites Collins to work out with him. Collins spots Heath on the bench press. Heath says he's trying to burn off some stress with another fire around to put out. Collins asks what happened and Heath explains that video surfaced this morning of Jefferson Thomas getting into a drunken scuffle at a night club. Collins says that isn't good for the team.

Jefferson Thomas makes it back to the night club where he finds a few parking tickets on his car. He gets in and drives over to Gwendolyn's place. When he gets there he finds her furious that he would lie to her about last night. He's confused by what she means, and she shows her the night club video on her phone. He tells her he was with some teammates and there was just a misunderstanding with security, it wasn't a big deal. He didn't even know there was a video of it.

Heath receives a phone call from AFA Commissioner Vernon Wallace (Tom Wright). Wallace tells Heath that the league is going to conduct an investigation into Jefferson Thomas' night club incident and that if wrong-doing is found, he may face a suspension since the league takes any accusation of violence seriously. Heath tells Wallace he understands and is hoping to figure out what exactly happened himself.

Call My Agent 2.5 - Make-Belief

Call My Agent : Make-Belief

Genre : Comedy / Drama / Satire

Showrunner: Jason Reitman

Writer : Dominic Wilkins

Cast: Lesley Manville, Caroline Dhavernas, Rainn Wilson, Brian d'Arcy James, Bill Nighy, Michelle Yeoh, William Forsythe and Martin Freeman

Plot: Andrea (Caroline Dhavernas) is at home watching the news and she sees the interview between Miranda and Hao. She can’t believe it and she calls Bob (Rainn Wilson) and Wilson (Brian d’Arcy James) on videoconference so they can share their thoughts about it. Wilson said he was on the set during the interview and what François said not only sounded real, but he was sure it is real. She has been a jerk to him since he’s known her and she can be a little uptight, but let’s be honest, she can be really uptight. Andrea, on the other end, sticks with Miranda no matter what and she doesn’t think Miranda has that much meanness in her. Bob says Andrea is just sticking with her because they are women. Andrea says it’s not true and that’s sexist. Bob says she should calm down because he believes Miranda. During the press conference, when he pushed François off the stage, he placed him behind a tree and he saw him sneaking away with that journalist when it was all over. They are up to something and he wants to know what, so he stands by Miranda. Wilson says they should all meet at the agency and hopefully Miranda will be there to answer their questions.

Miranda (Lesley Manville) is pacing in her office. One might say this is the first time she is nervous in her entire life. She opens the door to Martin Freeman (Martin Freeman) and he asks if he’s at the right place. Miranda says he is and she asks if she’s talking to David “Pudd’nhead” Wilson. Martin says he’s not really sure what she means by that and Miranda holds a picture of Martin Freeman in his role of Pudd’nhead Wilson next to him and she asks him if he’s a Golden Reel nominee for Pudd’nhead Wilson. Freeman says he’s proud to say yes. Miranda says it’s good. He was nominated for something, so he must be a good lawyer. Freeman says he isn’t really a lawyer, but Miranda grabs him by the shoulders and she says them Brits are funny, of course he’s a lawyer, he was up for a Golden Reel for god’s sake and they don’t give that to anyone. Martin Freeman thinks this is some kind of joke they are trying to do on him so he plays along. He gets into character and he speaks and acts like Pudd’nhead Wilson. He offers her to go inside her office so they have more privacy and they can really get into the crunchy details.

Andrea, Bob and Wilson regroup in front of the agency and they are surprised to see Miranda is here. They discuss a strategy to talk to her about what happened yesterday. They argue a little but they figure out they should just head in and talk to her, so she can explain herself. They open the door and are stunned to see Martin Freeman in historical clothing sitting in Miranda’s office, as everyone would be, given that it’s the 21^st century. They say they want to talk about what happened yesterday and she says she was set up and will pursue legal actions, as she points at Martin Freeman who decided to play along after she gave him a check, as a salary. Wilson doesn’t think it’s great use of company money, but Miranda says he’s a really good lawyer, he knows the laws. She asks her employees if they knew it was illegal for a mother to give her daughter a perm without a state license in Nebraska? She didn’t grow him in Nebraska but it would’ve been a game changer if she knew that when she was younger. Andrea and Bob look at Freeman who points the Huffington Post article giving details about said law. He says he doesn’t care about lying to her, she gave him such a large amount of money, he doesn’t care anymore. Bob takes a look at the check she gave Martin and it’s about half what he loaned from Mark. It’s true what they say, she is an incompetent manager. He storms out of the office. Andrea who was distracted by Bob’s exit, picks up on the three-way conversation between Miranda, Martin and Wilson and she can only hear Wilson screaming “But the laws have changed!” Freeman says they’ll hold a mock trial to see if he’s really as bad as Wilson seems to think. Miranda begs Andrea to be the judge and she doesn’t really feel like she has the option to say no.

Andrea is the almighty judge, Martin Freeman, or should we say Pudd’nhead Wilson is defending Miranda Jones and Wilson Johnson is the opposing counsel. The mock trial is well under-way but it is strictly impossible to hear anything as Pudd’nhead and Wilson try to speak louder than one another. Andrea wrecks havoc on her desk with her gavel, finally snapping. The argument ends with Wilson screaming “BUT THE LAWS HAVE CHANGED!” Andrea points out that their shenanigans must come to an end, they have a visitor. She points to the door and here is Mark (Bill Nighy), their loan shark, presumably coming for the rest of his money. Martin Freeman says he’s got this. Miranda pushes him out of the way, making him fall on the floor. She says it’s true, the laws have changed, they’re on her turf now. She quickly notices the bandage on Mark’s hand.  She asks him if he disinfected to much that his skin cracked and he says that as a matter of fact, yes, that’s what happens. Mark says he’s here to talk to Bob, the alcoholic son of a b, they need to talk. Wilson says Bob hasn’t been here all day and Miranda stops him again, she has this covered. She grabs Mark by the shoulders, turns him around and pushes him out of the office. She won’t let him walk all over her and disrespects her employees like that. She’s a strong woman and he’ll need be better than that to intimidate her. Mark says they’re making a huge mistake, especially Bob. Wilson opens the window and spits on Mark and disgusted, he walks away. Miranda and Andrea reprimand him, thinking he has gone too far. Wilson says he was just in the heat of the woman. Andrea congratulates Miranda for her speech and Miranda says she always knew she had it in her. Mark just pocked the peacock. Wilson says it’s not really the saying, but Miranda says she doesn’t care. Peacocks are majestic, she’s majestic, bottom line, Mark poked the peacock. She’s right, he’s wrong. As Miranda power walks her way out, Wilson is trying to convince Andrea that he’s right, but she’s no having it. She likes this new confident version of Miranda.

Bob pulls over to Mark’s house. Melissa Hao (Michelle Yeoh), who’s been following him all day, also pulls over in the street and uses her camera to get a closer look. Bob is surprised to see someone is already at Mark’s house. Boris Shelkovina (William Forsythe) came in to warn Mark once again. Bob asks him who is and Boris, thinking he was alone, throws a rock towards Bob who jukes it and it breaks a window. Melissa has everything on camera.