Survivor: China Episode 7

In Survivor: China Episode 6, we saw yet another strong strategic play, this time by Todd, but the net result of it was just that James got himself a hidden immunity idol and a way to find the second one. However, despite the use of their brains by some people on that island that day, Courtney went completely braindead (not a big change, I know) and told her allies she didn’t trust them, then she voted against one of them. But it wasn’t enough to prevent Sherea from getting voted off. Not that I know why anybody would want to prevent something like that.

Courtney starts off episode 7 by saying she hates everybody. While I’ve heard that before in prior seasons, it normally comes from someone with the personality to make it amusing.

Peih-Gee tries to convince James she’ll be loyal to him. In her confessional, she backs this up, saying her gut instinct is to trust him. It’s one episode too late for that, but there will be some post-merge scrambling.

Since the second hidden idol is “hidden” in the same exact spot as the first one, James gets that one as well. Jaime notices something’s missing. What they grab, though, is the second one on the opposite side, the one that’s not actually an idol. Later, Jaime looks in his bag and finds the actual hidden idol. They find not one but two.

Courtney continues to whine. Todd asks whether they can patch things up, which doesn’t happen. He gets concerned, which he should be, that she’s going to vote against Jean-Robert every time, thereby creating problems after the merge. The way Jean-Robert’s been treated in general in itself has been blatantly problematic for quite some time.

James notices the piece of wood that looks like an idol is missing. He knows somebody took it, and he hopes it’s Jaime. This is the kind of thing we were hoping for when Yau Man made a fake immunity idol.

The tribes are now merged. They will go to Fei Long’s beach because they sucked less. As they head off to a feast and traditional Chinese entertainment, Jeff warns them: this game never stops.

Amanda comes right out with it, telling us it’s still two tribes.

Jean-Robert’s not smart enough to realize his tribe hates him, so he’s not even thinking about switching sides.

Jeff comes to the island and brings the immunity idol. As he warned, the game didn’t stop. The challenge is about events that happened during the feast and the celebration. James, Amanda, Courtney, and Peih-Gee are eliminated on the first question. Everybody gets the second question right. Todd (who had the correct answer but changed it), Jean-Robert, Denise, and Erik are eliminated on the next question. On the final question, Frosti wins immunity. I’m not so sure about this win. He probably wasn’t in any danger and may have painted something of a target on himself.

They want to get rid of Jaime, but they’re still concerned about Courtney. Jean-Robert, however, insists he wants to vote for Peih-Gee.

He then tells Todd if he gets screwed he’ll blame Todd, not Amanda, and says he’ll campaign harder than any juror ever has. Todd promises he’s watching his back, but he’s just playing him. Yeah, Jean-Robert’s definitely a big sore loser waiting to happen.

Peih-Gee thinks Jean-Robert is probably going to get votes, so that’s the way they’re going to go.

At tribal council, Jean-Robert says he doesn’t think Courtney will be considered a threat any time soon. James is concerned that Jean-Robert talks too much. Before Jeff reads the vote, Jaime pulls out the fake hidden immunity idol and asks if it is an idol, but Jeff tells her no. Darn. That was far less funny than I’d hoped.

Votes:
Jean-Robert
Jaime
Jaime
Jean-Robert
Jean-Robert
Jaime
Jaime
Jaime
Jaime

Jaime has been voted off. Not a surprising vote. It may take some time before we get some actual drama here. Though the previews for next week’s episode certainly do look interesting.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: China episode 8 High School Friend Contest, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Watch Survivor: China Online

Joss Whedon, Eliza Dushku Return with Dollhouse

Fox has picked up a 7 episode order of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse, Variety reports. Joss Whedon is best known for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, where Eliza Dushku starred as Faith. She has since starred in roles in Tru Calling and Bring It On. The show will center around Dushku’s character, Echo, and follows a top secret world of people programmed with different personalities, abilities, and memories depending on their mission.

“It was a mistake!” Whedon said. “I sat down with her to talk about her options, and acted all sage, saying things backwards like Yoda and laying out what I thought she should do. But in the course of doing it, I accidentally made one up. I told it to her, and she said, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do.'”

“It’s exciting to know that my voice and who I am as Eliza is going to be in this show every single week,” Dushku, who will also serve as a producer, said. “I’m ready to take control of the person I want to be in this business.”

“He’s got an unbelievably loyal following, and that’s an earned brand,” Peter Liguori, Fox Entertainment chairman, said. “So much of it is based on Joss’ love of what he does and the genius of how he does it.”

In the event of a strike, the series would not be written until after the strike’s over.

Kid Nation Episode 7

Kid Nation Episode 6 primarily centered around Taylor whining and whining some more, followed by DK stepping up, working hard, and getting the gold star thanks to Guylan talking him out of going home.

Divad opens a snack business with cheap prices so that anybody can afford it. Seemed like a good idea, but people complain that she’s selling food that she got from the kitchen that they could have gotten there for free. Jared’s opposed to her monopoly on the snack business and flips over her tables. Divad remains positive and says she’ll just make more snacks. He later apologizes, and they make up.

The journal discusses the lack of money, which some of them, particularly the laborers, are familiar with. They find out there’s gold. Laurel’s opposed to searching for gold because it will lead to greed, but the rest of the town council overrules her and says they need to at least check it out. After entering a cave with bats in it, the town council finds a treasure chest with 375 buffalo nickels, which is equal to every person’s pay. They come up with a plan to go to the store and buy things that will benefit the entire town, rather than distributing the money among the town itself. Despite the fear of problems this may cause, the town is pleased with the decision.

Sophia decides to have some fun with the situation. She fills a pot with a disgusting mess of food and puts 50 cents in the bottom. It’s not long before a bunch of grossed out kids dig through it for money.

Laurel’s concerned about Nathan, who she thinks is growing up too fast because he wants to work more than have fun. Greg decides to be a jerk and pick on him for trying to help them, but Nathan says he’s not going to go home just because of Greg.

Divad got splattered with oil when she was cooking, but she says it’s no big deal and that she’s the richest person in Bonanza because of her snack business. This is apparently the girl whose mom filed the (frivolous) complaint with the sheriff’s office about child endangerment and child labor, which sparked all sorts of controversy before the show even aired.

At the showdown, they must launch eggs across a field to people who must catch them on the other side without breaking them. Council leaders must guide their teams and come up with a strategy. Blue gets off to an early lead. Yellow does a decent job of figuring things out as well. They need 4 dozen total to win reward.

Blue: 38 eggs (upper class)
Yellow: 18 eggs (merchants)
Green: 6 eggs (cooks)
Red: 5 eggs (laborers)

More than enough to win reward, which is a choice between washers/dryers (20 cents a load) or brand new outfits for each of them plus (free) pioneer era washing machines. They decide to go with the free laundry.

Jared comes up with a better idea than destroying Divad’s business. He makes and sells necklaces. This turns out to be a great business idea, and he has no problem selling them in droves. Now he’s the richest kid in Bonanza.

Greg decides to apologize for being mean to Nathan and says he deserves the gold star. Divad comes up with the idea of campaigning for a gold star, and she makes signs and snacks for people. Sophia nominates Pharaoh, whose name’s been mentioned a few times this episode. Most of the town comes up with a name, but Divad just picks herself. They’re concerned that Pharaoh’s working hard specifically for the gold star, which is true, but they also feel he needs the money more.

The whole town approves of the job the council’s doing.

Laurel, speaking largely to Divad, says they don’t want to hear people talking about how much they’re working, since it sends a message they’re just looking for the gold star. Nathan wins the gold star.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Kid Nation episode 8 Starved for Entertainment, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Life Is Wild Episode 4

In Life Is Wild Episode 3, the lodge opened successfully for business (after a rough start), Katie got the lead in choir (a duet with Oliver), and Jesse got fired from the bar for being underaged.

It’s Halloween and Heritage Day. Everybody’s happy to celebrate. Except Art. Then again, Katie doesn’t seem much more chipper than Art does, at least not with family anyway, and she expresses no interest in a braai.

This is interrupted by Jesse having stuff stolen from him by a monkey. While chasing after the monkey, Katie finds out Jesse was invited to a party at Mara, a party she wasn’t invited to. Tumelo asks her to the township festival, and she accepts. Not long after, Oliver finally asks her to his party, and she accepts this, too. She goes to Jesse of all people for advice, and he calls her lame and says because of that, she’ll do the right thing and go with Tumelo.

At a Heritage Day speech, there’s mention of helping out oppressed South Africans. It’s already obvious Chase won’t need to be asked twice. He interprets this as meaning black South Africans in general and sees a girl and insists on treating her better and paying for her lunch. He follows this up by insisting on cleaning for Notatu, the new worker at the lodge. He eventually learns that he can’t fix everything himself but that all he has to do to help is be himself.

If she wasn’t interested in Jesse before, she is now. Oliver’s sister Emily hits on Jesse when he cuts class. He couldn’t care less, though, and blows her off to “work” (at a job he doesn’t have any more).

The couple staying at the lodge want to get married. William tells Jo he brought Lynn there to propose. Then his girlfriend tells Colin she’s tired of waiting and wants to leave him. Jo insists they need to meddle because that will set them apart from other lodges. They fill William in and say they’re setting something up on the game ride later in the day. He says it sounds perfect and is pleased… but then they see a monkey with a ring. Problem is Lynn doesn’t believe the monkey story, and they just get into a big fight when he tries to propose to her.

Colin wants to avoid all the work and instead would rather go to the township festival, starting a new family tradition. He reveals why Katie’s acting unusually bratty. She misses her mom, who made a big deal out of Heritage Day. He has a talk with her and invites her to the festival, but since Oliver won’t be there, she’s not interested. Then it’s time to break the news to Tumelo as well. She says she just needs a party like back in New York.

Jesse again tries to apologize to his old boss, this time with a necklace… a necklace that turns out to be an engagement necklace. She informs him he has to convince her boss, not her.

Jo’s got a plan to fix the fight with the couple at the lodge. Lock them in a room. While they’re in there, the kids come up with the ring, but it’s not needed since by the time they open the door, Lynn’s already accepted William’s proposal anyway.

Jesse doesn’t want to go to the festival, and it’s not long before his mom figures out it’s about a girl. She tells him to just tell her how he feels. With that, he decides to go, and he finds out the girl he’s been interested in is engaged. So I guess now the job doesn’t matter any more. With that, he gives Emily what she wants and makes out with her.

At the party, which she’s been enjoying, Katie starts to talk about her mom, and Lauren’s typical attitude problem gets her down, so she decides to leave and go to the township festival. She convinces Art to drive her there, but she can’t convince him to go celebrate.

Tumelo’s happy to see Katie made it, but it’s not long before Oliver shows up there as well. While they’re dancing, Katie and Oliver kiss, 5 feet away from Tumelo.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Life Is Wild episode 5, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on The CW.

The Bachelor 11 Episode 6

In The Bachelor 11 episode 5, Hillary and Kristy were eliminated, leaving us with a final four of DeAnna, Jenni, Sheena, and Bettina. Brad’s pickings seem a bit on the slim side here, but I think people will probably just be happy as long as he doesn’t end up with DeAnna.

Since it’s down to the final four, it’s time to go to the girls’ hometowns and meet their families.

We start in Wichita, KS with Jenni. Brad meets her at the Mary Jane Teall Theater, where she won her first dance competition, and where she decides to dance for Brad. He gets concerned that she may want to stay in Phoenix to continue dancing.

Then she brings him to the hair salon where her mom works, where her family is waiting for them. Her grandmother hears he’s a bar owner and asks if he drinks. She continues to grill him because she can. Her mother takes him back to wash his hair, with some questions on the side. Jenni says she feels like she’s falling in love with him. Her father says he will fit in with the family very well, and at dinner, he breaks the news that she made the team. Brad tells her he’s willing to compromise with her for the year apart.

Sheena meets Brad in Walnut Creek, CA for a day on the water. Sheena’s mom’s really into astrology, which she uses to determine that they’re a natural fit. She falls for him faster than Sheena did, and she starts planning the wedding. This whole conversation is just creepy. Regardless, it’s pretty obvious everybody likes him.

DeAnna meets Brad in Newnan, GA. Her father says he believes what they have could be real. DeAnna brings out a photo album so he can see her mom, who passed away when she was younger. She says she’ll be crushed if he doesn’t choose her. Then half a dozen additional people walk in the room. Brad gets over being the boring bar guy he told Jenni’s grandmother he is, as everybody starts doing shots and greek dances. But no broken plates. DeAnna says she’s completely falling for him.

Bettina meets Brad in Washington DC. She thinks her parents will absolutely love Brad. Oops. Her father, a professor, says it’s “a great disappointment” that Brad dropped out of college to become a millionaire. Her stepmother, similarly, doesn’t like the idea of her being with a guy who runs bars. They ask questions attempting to get him to squirm, which works. His father then tells us how her first husband was wonderful, and she will never find anybody who’s better. Her father asks her why she would do this, then Brad is told he’s just stringing everybody along. Her father keeps going on and on about his “lack of education” and successful business. In the middle of his conversation with her stepmom, she excuses herself to take the dog for a walk.

After all this brainwashing, Bettina begins to question Brad, too. Wow. Brad’s lucky. He can just drop this chick. She’s the one I really feel sorry for, since she’s stuck with this judgmental, pretentious family. He says he might not have a lot of education, but he’s intelligent enough not to judge anybody.

Roses:
DeAnna
Jenni
Bettina

Are you kidding me? Someone show me the logic in this. Bettina’s family will never treat Brad as a human being, much less accept him. No need to drag her along any further, regardless of how pretty she may be. He says he got rid of Sheena due to lack of chemistry. So I guess now that means I have to root for Jenni. Sheena tells us she’s never had her heart broken like this before.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Bachelor 11 episode 7, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

Watch The Bachelor 11 Online

Reaper Episode 6

In Reaper Episode 5, Sam made plans to meet Andi, but not surprisingly, he was unable to keep those plans, so she just thought he was a bigger liar than she already thought to begin with. He then returned to hating the Devil, who eventually warned him he can’t tell Andi the truth because it will be very bad for her.

This is different. They capture a soul in a snow globe at the beginning of the episode. They bring the vessel to the DMV, but Gladys is on vacation, so they’re forced to hold on to it. Sock wants to use the demon-holding vessel to play pranks, but Sam refuses.

It’s Halloween on Reaper. Ted’s dressed up as a pirate and wants to celebrate the holiday. All Andi wants to do is avoid Sam, and she says she doesn’t know how to be friends with him any more.

Sam finds out the Devil hates Halloween because nobody fears him on that day. Death and destruction are fine as long as they’re not commercialized. Then he informs Sam “the butcher, who gathered together and killed defenseless victims in the 1940s, is on the loose.

Sock didn’t listen to Sam. He took Leon, the soul in the snow globe, to a bar the night before because he buys the explanation that he’s not an angry killer any more due to therapy (despite the fact that he shot at them when they were capturing him).

The vessel for the butcher is a meat thermometer. The Devil was actually helpful this time, giving Sam enough information to go on, and they locate a man named Kirkwood who is believed to have fed his victims’ bodies to his dogs. They show up to find the butcher and are greeted by a demon with razor sharp claws, which they of course can’t get close enough to.

Since they’re not going to get close to the butcher, Sock decides that Leon should be allowed to help them. Sam still wants him to go to Hell. The DMV won’t take him, and the Devil doesn’t want him either because nobody can take him until Halloween’s over. Then more cheering Sam up. The Devil tells him that betrayal is the defining trait of humans, which makes them the most untrustworthy, unreliable species… except for bears. He says that’s why he’s having so much trouble because he’s finding out the truth.

Andi makes up new rules. Work talk only. Sock’s not helping him out either, as he’s decided to release Leon, who says he’s there to help.

Leon suggests capturing the soul during the day when he’s probably sleeping since he attacks mainly at night. Sam allows him to come along, barring any stupid moves. While taking Leon to get ideas (at a Chinese restaurant, strip club, and massage parlour), Sam and Sock start discussing what they hate about each other. After all that driving, Leon just leads them right back to where they started. Then he makes them to hand over the vessel at gunpoint and forces Sam underground with Kirkwood. Sock tells Leon if Sam goes, he goes, too, to which Leon readily agrees. As he’s hugging Sam, Sock finds the snow globe. They decide to toss it at Kirkwood. It doesn’t work, but does create enough of a blast to free them. On the surface, they grab the meat thermometer and avoid being killed by the dogmonster.

Leon’s pretty easy to find. He’s getting therapy as usual. They head to the doctor’s office. Leon threatens to shoot Sock, but Sam knows he can’t. After he puts down the gun, they capture him and send him to Hell, and on the way, he talks about continuing his therapy while there.

Sam tells Andi she can’t just throw everything away over one mistake (or a series of lies and/or mistakes). She’s impressed he took a stand, and she didn’t like fighting with him anyway. He invites her out after work. Hopefully he at least shows up this time. Then he gives the Devil a lecture about not being so negative.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Reaper Episode 7 Love, Bullets, and Blacktop, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on The CW.