Ugh, this episode. It was an eventful tribal council, but I would have gone to bed giddy as a school girl and jumping up and down all morning if Shirin had outlasted just ONE of the Dan/Will/Rodney horror show.
The fact that Dan gets two votes is great, even greater because it was truly two other people besides Mike (Will, Tyler). What's not great is, as many folks here have said, this basically cements Mike an obvious winner...unless CBS has finally caught on to "maybe we dont have to give the winner a big edit, and be like LOL JK PSYCH SUCKAHs" and grants Tyler, Carolyn, or Rodney the W.
Mike will probably lure a double-voting Dan and Sierra to his side next tribal, and then use the idol, sending Ty, Caro, or Rodney home. I have no problem with Mike, I think he's a great player, but obviously folks want to see the King fall and want something more backstabbing/blindsided-filled goodness.
I'd love to see Tyler or Sierra start playing a masterful game from here, but I feel like their story arch falls short for sure, by maybe an episode or two (e.g. if the seeds of their plan were announced two episodes before last night's, we might give them more credit...alas it seems it's Mike's season to lose.)
Another note I wanted to bring up - Jeff had been quoted saying this season has a "Shakesperian" ending...which at first my reaction is, "oh yeah well Mike wins and beats down the bad guys, and Dan or Will gets roasted like a pork spit on an open flame as the goat at final tribal".
But then if you really think about what happens in a lot of Shakespeare...certainly not good endings? Does anyone give merit to us having a random, lackluster winner like Rodney potentially?
I don't think any F3 contains Will, to be perfectly honest...I think there's still too much Blue Collar to let him get there, since might as well keep Dan. I could easily see a Rodney/Dan/Sierra F3, or a Mike/Sierra/Dan. If Tyler brings Will AND Dan to F3, I would be horribly disappointed, but at what point does anyone see Carolyn and Tyler turn on each other?
At the end of the day, eliminating Will at 5th or 4th (or if the heavens of Survivor love us as fans, 7th please!) creates much more respect from the current jury, IMO (even though they don't want him at Ponderosa!)
I know if I was out there, someone like Will...granted we don't see or know everything, but I would do EVERYTHING in my power to make sure he doesn't get the 3rd place prize money. Bring the goat to pasture as long as you want, but pick someone just a little more likeable whose equally as a non-strategic entity for F3 (kind of Sierra, preferably Dan..)
Remaining Rank
1.) Tyler
2.) Mike
3.) Carolyn
4.) Sierra
5.) Rodney
6.) Dan
7.) Will