Point/Counterpoint with Susan and Brian: The Enigma That Is Zoe

Point: Zoe made a shrewd move to skip out on the alliance and join the stronger force.

Counterpoint: Zoe was just trying to save her butt.

Susan: Brian, I have hitched my wagon to Zoe and intend to stay there (you can crucify me if you want since I also picked Team Guido to win).

Brian: Yes, I know you have put the cart before the horse yet again, but really, Susan, is Zoe really that viable of a candidate? Can you say that voting for John is really going to help her? They are viewing her in the same light as they did John regardless of who she voted for.

Susan: I was amazed as anyone else was that she voted for John, breaking up the Rotu-Rooter 4 alliance. But looking back at the other episodes, she was definitely unhappy with John. The look she gave him when he was skinny dipping was venomous.

Brian: Because she’d didn’t have that six pack of abs he did….

Susan: Yes, but she did have the biceps. Zoe is from Maine. Name another person, real or fictional, who comes from Maine. I think of Jessica Fletcher off the top of my head. Another shrewd cookie.

Brian: As did I, but did George Bush (the first, the one I have somewhat of a respect for although not much) come from Maine as well? Okay so maybe he just vacationed there, but there’s always Stephen King and all of his books are set around Bangor (and that is pronounced, for the record, ban-GORE, not BANG-oar… see, A&E can be fun and educational).

Susan: So I was wrong. There are famous Mainers after all. But that doesn’t negate the fact that Zoe woke up and smelled the coffee, and saw that John and Tammy were disliked, but she and the General weren’t. So she knew, or someone told her, that the voting would not be going down for Sean but for John. Her alliance was not going anywhere.

Brian: Not disagreeing with you here whatsoever. I’m sure she got wind of the fact that John was going down. Her choice was pretty clear if you ask me – join the new alliance or become a victim of it. Even if you join the alliance, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to give you a free ride to the finals. You have to earn your spot. She cut her ties to save her own butt. However, I think it was too little too late. I still don’t trust her more than I trust Tammy not to make a smarmy remark that makes her come across as cocky.

Susan: Tammy had or was in the process of alienating everyone. I want to do what Tammy does for a living when I grow up. I do part of it already. But her comment about “we should all be glad we all made it to the jury,” was horrid. It made me want to toss my cookies. She is counting her chickens before they are “Hatch”-ed, if you pardon the pun. Richard got away with being cocky because no one knew how to play the game except Richard, and in the very end, Kelly. All the Survivors this time around should know what they are getting into.

Brian: Of course they should know what they are getting into. I know it is a shock to agree with you as we are in point/counterpoint mode, but yeah, Tammy so needs to watch her mouth. It is going to cost her big time. Zoe is keeping her mouth shut, which may be a plan but Kathy is in a stronger position than she is, Sean is in a stronger position that she is, Vee is in a stronger position than she is… heck, PETER is in a stronger position than she is. What is going to keep her there?

Susan: Zoe wants to win. She wants the million.

Brian: I never said she was Gabe.

Susan: Staying with Tammy and John were going to cost her that. Robert, that hunky male from Queens, is so well liked he would do well with or without an alliance at this point.

Brian: But she was with John and Tammy far too long. She may have voted against the alliance in this one vote but that doesn’t make it a permanent thing nor does it mean that they don’t view her in the same light. Isn’t there something about a tiger and its stripes? Or was it a badly dressed Hollywood prima donna actress? As for Robert, we don’t really know how people feel about him. I think he did the right thing in hacking one of John’s vines before doing anyone else’s.

Susan: But Tammy and John were disliked. As far we know, everyone still likes Zoe.

Brian: Kathy doesn’t, or so we are led to believe. Maybe Sean as well.

Susan: If it came down to Zoe and Tammy, Zoe would get the votes of everyone but maybe Kathy. This way Zoe can pick off Tammy, and the tribe can cannibalize itself. Zoe aligning with Kathy and Neleh and Pascal was a smart thing. They won’t vote her off – not yet. Not until the time to cannibalize comes. And by then, if Zoe is catching fish- protein, she should be safe to make the final two.

Brian: Susan, you ignorant writer, Zoe doesn’t stand a chance in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks of making the final two, and if she does it will be a minor miracle. I think she has the chance to go far, but something tells me that the new alliance is going to hold her at arm’s length (and then some) just to be on the safe side.

Susan: Zoe is a smart lady.

Brian: And a terrible liar…

Susan: The fact that she has gotten hardly any camera time, must mean something.

Brian: The fact that she hasn’t said anything worth broadcasting must mean something as well.

Susan: Like I said, I have hitched my wagon to Zoe’s star – I hope this Rock Lobster does not disappoint.

Brian: Well, I sadly did as well in the last RNO Roundtable and I am really regretting it. Really. Ugh. What was I thinking?

C. Brian Devinney resides in New York City where he works as a human resources consultant. When he's not reporting on reality television, Brian can be found rooting on his New York Yankees and Rangers, playing chess in Central Park, or sitting sixth row center in a Broadway theatre. You can e-mail him at TheRealityFactor@aol.com. You can reach Susan at sschechter@earthlink.net.

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