Survivor: Caramoan 1x13 "Don't Say Anything About My Mom"

Loved ones episode!

Probst cried thanks to Brenda.  It figures!  She's the ninja assassin.  I'd be perfectly happy to see her win.  She was happy to see her father, telling him how much of an inspiration he is to her.  Good stuff.  Probst only cried a little, though, for the record.

It's always awkward for loved ones to compete in a challenge.  Unless you're Amanda and you and your friend have a weird chirping language you share.    This time it's physical.  One time they made the loved ones do the Disgusting Food Challenge.  That was awful.  For everyone.

It only figures that even when his mom is there Cochran is still the one talking.  He never stops!  Even during the challenge he's talking with his mom!

Brenda and her dad win!  It only figures.  And she chooses Dawn to share the reward with.  That figures, too!

Another surprise!  A second set of loved ones!  And then Probst spoils everything by offering an impossible deal, and then we cut to commercial...

And Brenda is once again awesome.  Where this could seem calculated if it were just about anyone else, Brenda seems absolutely genuine.  It doesn't hurt that we've seen the bare minimum from her, so either she's just not that type of player, who will draw as much attention to themselves for (sometimes) all the wrong reasons (I'm looking at people with the last name "Hantz").

Anyway, of course it's Cochran with the comments about getting all this loved ones love.  And then he goes on about how his dad is exactly him in forty years.  And apparently not realizing how cocky he's becoming.  But not necessarily in a bad way.

Dawn is a little more upset about Brenda's decision, by the way.  But Brenda's there for her.  Again.

Another endurance challenge for immunity.  Cochran was the first one out.  Eddie didn't last too long.  Brenda and Dawn are still in it.  Dawn is being chatty.  And Dawn wins.  It's her first time winning immunity.

Now, hopefully they'll just get rid of Eddie already.  Did Brenda admit to letting Dawn win?  Is she becoming strategic?  Or is this the point where the edit reveals that she's the one going home tonight?

There's just a ton of Brenda in this episode.  Loving it.

Then Cochran mentions that it would be great to get rid of Brenda.  So you see what I mean?

Well, my powers of interpreting fairly obvious editing seem to be working.  She's not happy about leaving, especially after what she sees as their assuming she did what she did during this episode to manipulate them.  Some of the edit obviously attempted to cast doubt in the viewer's mind, which is interesting.  But one way or another, if you love Brenda, you had to love this episode (except the ending).

She really took that hard!