‘Survivor: Worlds Apart’ episode 12 review: Happy Birthday to Rodney

Rodney -Tonight, “Survivor: Worlds Apart” actually had a pretty difficult challenge in trying to turn what was on the surface a pretty predictable episode into something rather surprising. Did they success? Maybe a little, thanks to Rodney’s epic birthday meltdown.

Let’s be clear: We’ve had bad birthdays, as well, but we’re not sure we would ever be upset about having one while playing this game … even if we were miserable and not going on any rewards. Rodney at least made some great television thanks to both this and his hilarious plan to act like he wanted to quit, thinking that this would somehow trigger Mike not playing his idol. Basically, this was the worst idea ever. Mike saw right through it, and it had no bearing on anything.

The real unfortunate part of Mike’s game tonight was mostly that he lost immunity, which means that we now have a situation where he has to win next week or risk being voted out. The moment that he does find himself in trouble, it seems almost like a given that he will be gone. Why keep a guy who is a huge jury threat, super-likable, and capable of winning challenges? Tonight, his fun was just sitting and enjoying the show … which included a very good player in Tyler going home.

There’s not really a single mistake that Tyler made other than potentially keeping around people who just want to take the worst players to the end. Maybe he would have benefited from keeping Joe around, but that would have taken a ton of votes. Yes, Dan has that dangerous advantage, but he’s also Dan. Other than maybe Will, who is Dan going to beat in the end? The answer is nobody. You keep him around, and while Carolyn and Tyler are close, she probably was aware that he is not the sort of person to be overly bitter on the jury.

In the end, this episode will probably be remembered more for the season 31 casting after the episode than the actual hour itself. The reward had some sweet moments with Mike, Sierra, and Carolyn off providing supplies for the children, but other than that and Rodney’s birthday pity party, there was not too much to see here. Grade: B-.

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