Both Vytas and Tina were sent to Redemption Island last week, leaving Katie sad and alone. She’s always been a little sad (see: her toenails), but the alone bit is new. There are eight Survivors left on the tribe this week, and seven of them are in an alliance against her.

When the tribe gets back to camp from the second of last week’s tribal councils, Katie gets hugs and condolences from the others who feel bad for voting out her mother. Where others would be annoyed by the empty gestures, Katie simply accepts them. By this point three of Katie’s allies have left the game in a row and she’s already accepted defeat. “I’m doomed,” she says.

READ MORE: 'Survivor: Blood vs. Water' Recap: Episode 9

The next day, Ciera and Laura take some time to celebrate being the last pair remaining. Their claim isn’t technically false, but it comes with a few lines of fine print. Aras, Vytas and Tina are at Redemption Island, so it could be said that there are still three pairs left. Also, Laura was already voted out once. Tina and Katie are the pair who were in the actual game the longest. 

But enough nitpicking. Both Ciera and Laura have had to fight tooth-and-nail to get themselves this far. Now that they’re in a slightly stronger position, it’s time for them to start looking forward. Ciera is convinced that she’s the better Survivor of the two and she’s probably right. We haven’t seen her make any big moves yet, but her demonstrable understanding of the game seems to have more in common with Cochran than with her mother. I’m guessing we’ll get confirmation one way or another soon enough.

At the Redemption Island Arena, the losers get ready to face off in their Duel. They’re tasked with using a grappling hook to retrieve three bags and then traversing a ball from one of the balls through a table maze. Tina is surprisingly good with a grappling hook and pulls out to an early lead. She’s the first to the maze and for a while it looks like a blowout, but she drops her ball through a hole and has to start over. Vytas seizes the opportunity and ekes out a win. Aras—who looks considerably less “Zen” than usual—barely manages to stay in it at all before he loses.

Jeff takes this as yet another opportunity to try to force a meaningful moment out of the Brothers Baskauskas. He fails.

The show has been hawking them as the most compelling pair since the beginning. It’s sibling rivalry! It’s two brothers torn apart by drugs! It’s a relationship on the mend! Unfortunately, it never quite worked. They kept saying how much they wanted to heal their fractured relationship, but for some reason it never seemed sincere (Maybe it’s because Vytas hasn’t been sincere about anything since Day Zero). Instead of whatever magical moment Jeff was fishing for, all he gets is a lot of words and a nice hug.

Vytas gives Katie the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol which, in attempts to save the last remnants of her shot in the game—and my sanity—she doesn’t burn. Even that, though, isn’t enough to make Katie into a viable threat. Tyson is already targeting someone else. He wants to vote out Laura, removing the risk posed by the last remaining pair in the game*.

(*not entirely true. See above)

Ciera already senses that her mother may prove to be a liability very soon. She knows that the only reason Laura has been a part of the alliance is because of their connection. The other men have no loyalty to her, so when it comes to choosing among themselves whom to vote out, Laura will be the first to go. She calmly and rationally explains that in no scenario would sticking her neck out for her mother give either of them a better chance of winning. If she doesn’t go with the flow, she could very well find herself voted out at the next Tribal Council.

Laura is struck by how mature and sensible her daughter is being, even as Ciera’s saying she’s going to vote her out. She doesn't agree with the things she’s being told, but she’s just proud that her daughter was able to approach her as equals. The moment she starts crying while singing her daughter’s praises, it becomes obvious that this is the most compelling pair of the season, Baskauskases be damned.

The tears are dried and the tribe moves on to the Immunity Challenge. The Survivors have to hold themselves above the water by a rope for as long as they can. It’s an endurance challenge that favors the smaller women, so the men are out quickly. Neither Katie nor Laura win the immunity they both could have used. It instead goes to Monica, who is very proud of her second victory, but is still on the outs with her alliance. She tries to make up for it by ceding her food reward to the others, but it seems doubtful that it had any effect on the others’ strategy.

Tyson, smartly trying to make sure he can both get rid of Laura and keep Ciera’s allegiance, lets Ciera in on the plan to blindside her mother. She puts on her game face and agrees to do what she has to do, but not without trying to come up with a way to save her first.
With some clever trickery, Ciera gets Katie to admit that she hasn’t found the Hidden Immunity Idol, and tries to use this as leverage to get the Tyson to vote her out over Laura. It’s not a bad plan, but Tyson sees right through it. The exact scenario Ciera was worried about is coming to pass: They now see that Ciera is a shrewd player, which only puts a target on her back and guarantees that Laura will be voted out.

Tribal Council is a battle of logic between Laura and Katie, each arguing why the last remaining pair* should or should not be kept around. Laura says that pairs mean you only have to convince one person in order to win two votes. Katie says that a pair will always protect each other first. Laura says that a pair in the game isn’t lobbying for votes on the jury. Katie says that a pair takes up two of three seats at the Final Tribal Council. Boy, Katie better hope Tina doesn’t come back from Redemption Island.

(*still not true)

The votes come out unanimously against Laura, with the final one reading “Laura (mom) :(” She gives Ciera a tearful hug goodbye before Jeff snuffs her torch for a second time.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Sad to see Aras go? Surprised by how good of a liar Ciera is? Was voting out her mom too cold-blooded?

 

Reach staff reporter Reid Nakamura here.