Reality Roundup: Oct. 13

Survivor 45 Episode Two

The first traditional vote out of the season occurred in the second episode of season 45, already marking a drastic improvement over the first episode.

Other than the tribal council, the biggest event of the episode was the boat trip that one member of each tribe had to take. The representatives for each tribe were Bruce Perreault (Belo), Drew Basile (Reba) and Brandon Donlon (Lulu).

Upon arrival, the three of them got some time to get to know each other and learn the dynamics of each of their different tribes before having an opportunity to play a matching and combination puzzle challenge to earn an advantage. Should they fail to complete the challenge in time, however, they would lose their vote.

Perreault decided to not play, believing his vote was too important and not worth risking to gain an advantage.

Donlon competed, and once again showed his complete ineptitude in challenges after failing a challenge he went into with confidence since it did not involve any physical capabilities.

Basile also chose to compete and was the only one of the three to earn the advantage that was up for grabs by solving the combination lock. He earned the Safety Without Power advantage.

Lulu once again lost the immunity challenge because of (surprise) Donlon’s complete uselessness, this time in the puzzle portion of a challenge. After being the second tribe to arrive at that portion, Donlon could not put a single piece of the puzzle together, leaving Sabiyah Broderick essentially on her own while the Belo and Reba tribes left Lulu in the dust and proceeded to win immunity.

Before the challenge, Broderick found her tribe’s beware advantage. Upon finding the idol, she learned that it was encased in wax that she would have to melt to get the idol. Due to her tribe not having flint, she knew that she would not have her vote for the tribal council.

Donlon also lost his vote after failing in the boat challenge, meaning only three of the five members of the Lulu tribe would vote in this tribal.

It was pretty common knowledge that the vote would be between Donlon and Emily Flippen, whose hostility in the first tribal council put a massive target on her back.

Flippen changed her style, becoming more focused on building trust and connecting with her tribemates rather than her analytical, strategic side. She makes a trust-building move by giving her shot in the dark to Broderick, which may have ended up saving her as the three Lulu members with a vote all voted for Donlon.

This episode was much more entertaining, with many more eventful moments occurring than in the premiere.

Despite Lulu going to another tribal, the other tribes were featured much more, allowing viewers to get a sense and opinions of the whole cast rather than focusing on just the dysfunctional Lulu tribe.

Finally, all Survivor fans rejoiced when production brought back the opening credits. It was a nostalgic moment and one that immediately made every episode feel like the stakes were higher. Hopefully, they continue to utilize the impactful opening credit scene in every episode. No one will be upset by that.

Player of the Week- Drew Basile, Reba Tribe. Basile being the only one out of the three castaways to get the boat advantage could play a huge factor in the rest of the season. While the move to tell his entire tribe about his advantage was questionable, it seems as if the tribe appreciated his honesty rather than viewing the guy with the advantage as a threat.

Flippen was also considered for the player of the week, but it was more Donlon’s incapabilities in challenges than her social gameplay that allowed her to survive another week. If Lulu loses yet another immunity challenge next week, Flippen will most likely be the one going home. - Alex Perez

The Kardashians Season 4 Episode 2 - “When Is Being Me Gonna Be Okay?”

This episode of "The Kardashians" is really something special and deeper than the starting episode of season four. Episode one had extremely surface-level issues that painted the Kardashians in their familiar stereotypical persona, however, episode two has shown that these girls are more intellectual and compassionate than anticipated.

This episode opens with the sounds of an ambulance, but this has no value to the episode. It creates a false sense of emergency which the editors should fix because that was a terrible start to this episode.

The real meaning of this episode starts with Khloe talking about Amari and Tristan Thompson and the medical care & construction they are dealing with. Amari is Tristan Thompson’s younger brother, who he has full caregiver rights of, and the beginning of this episode goes into detail about the medical history of Amari.

Honestly, since the whale debacle in episode one, it’s good that Khloe is beginning her redemption arc and showing us how deeply compassionate she is about her family. Even Kris Jenner says in her talking head interview that Khloe is the most compassionate of all the children!

We then diverge into looking into Kim Kardashian’s guest lecture speech at Harvard Business School. Kim iconically quotes "Legally Blonde," and honestly that’s the highlight of Kim’s career.

We also hear about Kim’s recent work with Kevin Keith and his wrongly accused life sentence in prison. This is a similar theme and occurrence that happened in season three, and it’s almost beautiful to watch this side of Kim’s passions blossom and grow toward helping these specific people and their stories.

The highlight of this episode and most memorable moment is Kris Jenner and Corey Gamble talking about all the “boinking” they’ve done. We get it Kris, you have a lot of children. - Grace Bowman

Alex Perez is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please emailapp5877@psu.edu.

Grace Bowman is a third-year majoring in biology and minoring in psychological sciences. To contact her, emailgab5585@psu.edu