BunkoSquad

We begin with a shaken Shane returning from the Tribal Council in which Courtney got the heave-ho. He's confused, he's mad, he's confused about who he should be mad at. A good combination, to be sure. We leave him spending the night trying to break the Da Vinci code of who voted for who, and skip right to the next morning for the Immunity Challenge.

Jeff hints early on that the reward is going to involve some face-time with the castaways' loved ones. It's hard to believe, and frankly I wish Jeff had brought them out before the challenge, since I'd be curious to see what superhuman feats of strength Shane might have been motivated to, with his son actually watching. But, no, it's a hodgepodge of any number of previous obstacle courses, and it doesn't exactly take the Oracle of Delphi to prophecy that Terry's gonna win.

Bring on the loved ones! Terry's wife Trish (looking exactly like the fit blonde wife of a fighter pilot), Aras' mom, Danielle's mom, Cirie's husband (thankfully sans Yankee hat), and then, finally, Shane's second cousin Roland.

Ha! Just kidding! It's the Golden Child, and Shane falls to his knees, sobbing tears of joy. Actually, it must be a little dusty on the beach, because everyone's gotten a little choked up, except for Jeff, who's an Audioanamatronic figure.

Terry has an interesting dilemma. Two Survivors get to spend a night with their loved ones at a Panamanian resort. One gets to bring their loved one back to Hellhole Beach for the night. One gets a big hug. And one gets to wave futilely for a minute, then gets sent to Exile Island.

Terry picks himself and (thank God) Shane for the luxury package. Cirie's husband gets to visit camp. Aras gets a hug. Danielle gets squat. This couldn't have anything to do with Danielle breaking her Alliance with Terry last week, could it?

Anyway, Cirie's husband H.B. treks with Cirie and Aras back to camp. He's blown away by how spartan things are there. Cirie and Aras show him how they build the fire, how they catch the fish, and how they collect firewood. Then they send him to do it. H.B. mumbles, but correctly realizes that he's fresh and fit, so he's able to do a little work. Aras never seems to indicate any awareness that he's very much a third wheel.

Terry, Trish, Shane and Boston arrive to find a stocked fridge, lots of bacon, alcohol and luxury beds. They make nice, but Shane interviews that he can't believe Trish is more competitive than Terry. I can't believe anyone on the planet is more competitive than Terry, but there you go. They turn in, and let's just be thankful that they don't have the nightvision cameras on, because, frankly, America's not ready to see Terry and Trish competing once the lights are out.

Danielle sulks on Exile Island.

The boat comes to pick up H.B., but not before both he and Cirie marvel at what's happened to her on the island. Cirie is beaming as she talks about how he was struggling with things she now takes for granted, and how she never felt challenged in her life until now, and how she's so much stronger now. You go, girl! Aras, meanwhile, still hangs around as if he's unfamiliar with the concept of alone-time.

But what's on Aras' mind is Terry. And when Terry and Shane come back, he stirs some serious crap up with Terry. See, Terry won, and Aras could accept that, but when they're reunited, Terry makes it a point to tell Aras that his (Terry's) bond with his (Terry's) wife is much stronger than Aras' bond with his (Aras') mother could ever possibly be. We get it, dude. But Terry's still pounding the hell out of this particular equine carcass, saying that he would pick his (Terry's) wife over his (Terry's) mother any day of the week, and that Aras, a bachelor, could never understand. WE. GET. IT. DUDE. Honestly, you'd think Terry would be a little less tense and irritating this morning. I guess Trish won.

This week's Terry Deitz Immunity Showcase has the Survivors standing on tiny little platforms, scooping and pouring water into a tiny little pipe to raise a tiny little flag high enough that they can grab it and hold it over their tiny little heads. Shane's an utter and complete non-factor, so he starts bellowing at Jeff and the heavens.

Danielle and Aras give it a tiny little run for their money, but Terry wins. At this point, I actually slammed my little notebook on the arm of my chair. To paraphrase what someone once said about the Yankees, rooting for Terry is like rooting for the house in blackjack. He's gone from "sympathetic hero" to "insufferable prick" faster than anyone since this past MLB offseason.

And the scheming begins, a little half-hearted. Shane's pretty sure he's got the numbers to oust Danielle. Cirie and Danielle are openly just trying to get into the final two with Mr. Popu-Terry-ty. Aras is leaning towards the Cirie camp. And Terry has no one to scheme with, since nobody wants to talk to him and have their Immunity Challenge failure analyzed to death.

The Jury of the Damned come out, looking the same as last week. Jeff starts asking the Survivors about trustworthiness. Danielle hems and haws (we get a great reaction shot from Courtney), but Shane says that he's the most trustworthy person on the island. And here's where light dawned on me. He's right. Shane's a complete and utter nutball, but he's a genuine nutball. Or to put it another way, he may not be wearing pants, but he wears his heart on his sleeve.

so he's genuinely and utterly shocked when he's voted out. Terry puts his hands over his face, realizing that everyone he's bringing to a reward winds up dead in a ditch right after. That will certainly help his popularity. Shane yells at everyone else that he'll be eating chocolate ice cream in a minute (I guess it will take him 58 seconds to massacre a cigarette first), and off he goes.

Next week, Aras and Terry come to fisticuffs. Unfortunately, it looks like it's part of a challenge, and thus supervised.