Horror On Television: Fear Itself 1.8 “Skin and Bones” (dir Larry Fessenden)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of Fear Itself, Doug Jones plays a rancher who disappears on one snowy night. After ten days, he returns but there’s something different about him. This episodes is a good example of rural horror. Don’t go hunting unless you’re sure you can get back.

This episode originally aired on July 31st, 2008. It was the last episode to air before Fear Itself went on hiatus for the Summer Olympics. The show never returned, though the remaining five episodes were subsequently released on DVD.

The TSL Horror Grindhouse: Point of Terror (dir by Alex Nicol)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the 1971 film Point of Terror, Peter Carpenter plays Tony Trelos. Tony is a hip, cool, swinging hep cat. He’s got a job singing at the Lobster House in Santa Monica, California. Everyone wants a piece of Tony because he has got the swagger of Sinatra and the voice of Tom Jones. When he meets Andrea (Dyanne Thorne), it’s lust at first sight. Andrea is married to Martin (Joel Hilliard), a wealthy and bitter record producer who is confined to a wheelchair. When Andrea murders Martin, it brings Martin’s daughter, Helayne (Lori Hansen), back to Santa Monica, and soon Tony is sleeping with her too. However, Tony has reason to be concerned because it appears that there might be another murderer stalking all of them. Or maybe there isn’t. The plot of this Crown International production is not always easy to follow.

Who was Peter Carpenter? I am honestly not sure, but this film appears to have been some sort of vanity production for him. He gets to sing several songs, and everyone he meets either wants to sleep with him or hang out with him. He gets a lot of big dramatic scenes, the majority of which he really didn’t have the acting ability to pull off. Tony is meant to be charismatic, mysterious, and a little bit dangerous, but as played by Peter Carpenter, he comes across as a second-rate lounge act who got lucky. Carpenter both co-produced the film and came up with the story. To be honest, you almost have to respect the amount of confidence in his own abilities that Carpenter apparently possessed. One can just imagine Carpenter turning to someone like Wayne Newton and telling him to scream, because there was only one actor/singer who was good enough to star in Point of Terror. Carpenter apparently died shortly after this film was released, and that is indeed a shame. Who knows how many ego-driven projects he could have given us?

Point of Terror is definitely a film of its time, which is to say that there’s a lot of polyester and a lot of nudity that was probably considered daring in 1971 but which is just kind of tame in 2026. The film does attempt to play around with the audience’s sense of perception and encourage them to wonder whether Tony is truly seeing what’s happening or if he’s just imagining things. For that reason, it sneaks across the line dividing psychological horror and neo-noir. It’s one of those films that’s probably more entertaining than it should be, just because it is such a film of its time. Someone could probably retitle this film 1971 and re-release it as a Paul Thomas Anderson-style satire.

Point of Terror was distributed by Crown International Pictures. Whenever I see the Crown International logo on an old movie, I know I’m in for a good time. Dyanne Thorne, it should be said, does a pretty good job as the femme fatale. That said, the true star of this film is definitely 1971.

Retro Television Review: Area 57

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! This Thursday, I will be reviewing Area 57, which was produced for NBC in 2007. The show can be found on YouTube!

Episode 1.1 “Pilot”

(Dir by Dean Parisot, filmed in 2007, never aired)

Col. Steven Isaac (Matthew Lillard) has been assigned to Area 57, a military base in the Nevada desert. Isaac is excited to read his orders and discover that Area 57 is home to an extraterrestrial. He arrives at the base. He meets by-the-book Lt. Irene Maloof (Jane Lynch). He meets the plain-spoken General Keller (Bruce McGill). He meets head scientist Dr. Annabelle Fermi (Kelly Hu). Finally, Isaac announces that he really wants to meet the alien.

Suddenly, Dr. Fermi emerges from her laboratory and says that the alien has died. General Keller announces that Area 57 is being shut down. All of the soldiers cheer. The general explains that the alien wasn’t always popular. Isaac still insists on seeing the body. With Dr. Fermi at his side, he gets his first look at the alien and accidentally spills his coffee on him. The alien (played by Paul Reubens) comes back to life. It turns out that he was just going through a sleep cycle. General Keller announces that Area 57 is not closing and no one is going home.

With the entire base still angry with him, Isaac still insists on meeting the alien. The alien asks him about his education. Isaac says that he attended college through an endowment. The alien says that many of the soldiers like Dr. Fermi. Isaac agrees that she’s attractive. The alien then announces to Irene that Isaac was making crude comments about Fermi and bragging about how endowed he was.

Isaac realizes the truth. The alien is a jerk. He also learns that the alien has been at Area 57 for 40 years and that, so far, the government has learned nothing from him.

That’s the plot of Area 57. NBC thought enough of the idea to commission a pilot, but the network never aired it. It’s available on YouTube. Watching it, you can see what the problem was. The alien is established as such a jerk that it’s hard to imagine anything else that could have been done with the character. Paul Reubens plays the role under a good deal of makeup, and he’s more off-putting than intriguing. That said, Matthew Lillard was genuinely funny as the earnest and idealistic Col. Isaac. He was so excited about meeting an alien that it was impossible not to feel sorry for him when the alien turned out to be a jerk.

If we ever do meet aliens, I have a feeling that something like Area 57 might be seen as prophetic. There’s a tendency to assume that alien visitors will be interesting, erudite, and worth knowing. I think that if there are aliens out there, they’re just as likely to be as annoying as the average human.

Area 57. The truth is out there!

October On Lifetime: A Deadly Grudge (dir by Nigel Thomas)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yes, the movie has multiple titles.

In 2021’s A Deadly Grudge, Lindsey (Annika Foster) owns a restaurant with her fiancé Gavin (Jonathan Stoddard). (It’s a Lifetime film and, in the world of Lifetime, there’s nothing easier than owning your own restaurant or opening your own art gallery.) Her father, Jim (Patrick M.J. Finerty), is internet-famous for his cooking videos. And her mother… well, she’s dead. She dies while she’s out jogging and a car runs her over. What’s odd is that she doesn’t bother to get out of the way of the car despite having several minutes in which to do so. It’s always strange to me how people in Lifetime films always seem to end up jogging in the middle of the road. I start nearly every morning with a jog and I usually manage to stay on the sidewalk. It’s just safer that way.

At her mother’s funeral, Lindsey is shocked to see Jim hugging a younger woman. Lindsey immediately assumes that Jim is having an affair, because why else would you hug someone at a funeral? Jim explains that the younger woman is actually Sarah (Aubrey Reynolds). Sarah is not his mistress. Sarah is his daughter. It turns out that Lindsey never learned that she had a half-sister. Lindsey also didn’t know that her parents never actually got married. Instead, Jim was legally married to Sarah’s mother because Sarah’s family would have disowned her if she had a child out of wedlock. To be honest, not a single part of Jim’s story makes any sense, but somehow Lindsey accepts it.

To continue being honest, it’s pretty obvious that Sarah was the one who ran over Lindsey’s mother. If you’ve ever seen a Lifetime film, you know that Sarah’s guilty, because long-lost siblings are always guilty. In typical Lifetime fashion, Lindsey is immediately suspicious of Sarah, but everyone else loves her. Jim is especially happy when he discovers that Sarah knows how to bake. Whoops — Sarah put some cinnamon in one of her recipes! Lindsey is deathly allergic to cinnamon! It never ceases to amaze me how every Lifetime film seems to feature at least one person with a deadly food allergy. I always get the feeling that Lifetime studios must be full of discarded EpiPens.

The title refers to Sarah, who definitely does have a grudge against Lindsey. However, it could also refer to Lindsey, who takes an immediate dislike to her half-sister and who spends the entire movie getting mad about the fact that not everyone else seems to hate her as much as she does. More like Two Sisters’ Grudges, to be honest. (The film was also released as A Sister’s Grudge, which is closer, but still only counts one of them.) It actually gets kind of amusing after a little while. Every time someone says anything nice about Sarah, Lindsey scowls and dramatically rolls her eyes. Occasionally, she gasps in disbelief. She’s so vocal about her dislike of Sarah that you actually end up feeling a little bit sorry for Sarah. I mean, Sarah is the one who grew up with an unstable mom and the knowledge that her father had another family that he loved more than her.

Anyway, this is pretty much a standard Lifetime melodrama. Unfortunately, no one in the film is particularly sympathetic. Lindsey comes across like someone who would talk about you behind your back. Sarah comes across like she would try to poison you with cinnamon. I’ll let you decide which is worse.

October True Crime: The Demon Murder Case (dir by William Hale)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In Brookfield, Connecticut, a 20-something man named Kenny Miller (played by a young Kevin Bacon) is on trial for murder. He stands accused of killing his landlord for no clear reason. While the media (represented by Cloris Leachman and Ken Kercheval) watch, Kenny’s attorney (Richard Masur) announces that Kenny did not actually commit the murder of his own free will. Instead, Kenny was possessed by a demon. The judge (Jack Davidson) is not impressed by the argument.

The film flashes back to the previous year. The family of Kenny’s girlfriend, Nancy Frazier (Liane Langland), has moved into a new house. Kenny notices that Nancy’s younger brother, Brian (Charles Fields), seems to spend a lot of time talking to himself. This concerns Kenny. What if Brian is talking to a demon that’s trying to possess him? It turns out that the Fraziers should have listened to Kenny because soon the house is shaking, the lights are blinking, and Brian is speaking in the voice of Harvey Fierstein.

The family gets in contact with occult investigators Guy (Andy Griffith) and Charlotte Harris (Beverlee McKinsey). Guy and Charlotte arrange for an exorcism. Actually, they arrange for several exorcisms. A total of six priests (one of whom is played by Eddie Albert) attempt to get the demon out of Brian. At one point, Kenny dares the demon to take him on personally. “Never do that!” Guy says before explaining that daring a demon to fight you is a great way to get possessed yourself. Kenny doesn’t seem to believe Guy, and I can kind of understand why. Watching this film, it was obvious that Andy Griffith was not actually Catholic, even if he did play a priest in Go Ask Alice. You can always tell these fake Catholics because they never make the sign of the cross correctly. They either use the wrong hand, or they start at the chest, or they confuse which shoulder to go to.

The Demon Murder Case was made for television in 1983 and, if the plot sounds familiar, that’s because it’s based on the same case that was dramatized in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Only the names have been changed. Ed and Lorraine Warren become Guy and Charlotte Harris and, needless to say, they’re a bit less glamorous in the made-for-television version. Surprisingly enough, the television version actually works pretty well. The low budget forces director William Hale to concentrate on atmosphere as opposed to special effects, and the cast is full of talented actors. Even though Griffith is not a convincing Catholic, he’s still likable in the role of the no-nonsense Guy, and Kevin Bacon does a pretty good job as the well-meaning but ultimately confused Kenny Miller. Earlier today, I complained that Bacon seemed miscast in Hollow Man. This film, however, makes good use of his down-to-earth persona. You watch this film and you think that, if Kevin Bacon could get possessed, it could happen to anyone.

As for the actual case, Arne Cheyenne Johnson (who was renamed Kenny Miller in this film) was convicted of manslaughter despite his defense that he had no control over his actions. He served five months in prison and married his girlfriend after he was released. He continues to insist that he was possessed.

Horror Film Review: Poppers (dir by José María Castellví)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“If you look for me, you will find me,” announces a billboard outside the apartment inhabited by a young man named Santos (Miguel Ortiz). The billboard also features a picture of a woman who appears to be beckoning whoever is viewing her. When Santos steps out of his apartment, he stares at the billboard. Later, under far different circumstances, he asks, “What was I supposed to find?”

Santos is an aspiring musician who lives in post-Franco Spain. At a performance, he sees another man flirting with his girlfriend. Suddenly, Santos finds himself standing in front of the man with blood on his hands. The man has been stabbed. There’s never any doubt that Santos killed the man, but the film leaves it ambiguous as to whether the murder was an act of impulse or calculation.

Santos spends two years in prison before he’s paroled. On his first night out, he meets a prostitute named Lola (Giannina Facio) and goes to a mansion with her. The next morning, he has breakfast with four old, rich men who tell Santos that they want to hunt him. If he can escape the grounds of the mansion, he will have a million dollars’ worth of gems to start a new life with. When Santos says that he’s not interested in being hunted, the men reply that he doesn’t really have a choice.

The thing that one notices is that Santos rarely shows any emotion. Whether he’s just killed a man or been informed that he’s going to be hunted, Santos is pretty much a blank. Even when he learns that one of the men who will be hunting him is also the father of the person he killed, Santos seems to shrug it off. Some of that was undoubtedly due to the acting limitations of Miguel Ortiz. But as the film progresses, it becomes obvious that Santos is as much of a hollow shell as the decadent men who are hunting him. If Santos seems empty, that’s because he is empty. The hunters, who obviously expected him to be easy prey, instead find themselves up against a sociopath who is just as determined as they are to get revenge. What began as just another rip-off of The Most Dangerous Game instead becomes a look into the world of absolute zero. There is no empathy, guilt, warmth, or mercy. The billboard invites the viewer to “find me,” but there is nothing to find.

Released in 1984, Poppers is a Spanish film and, to understand it, it helps to know a little about Spanish history. General Francisco Franco was the head of the Spanish government from 1936 to 1975. (My grandmother was born in Spain and came to the United States shortly after World War II. Growing up, I was usually the only kid in class to have encyclopedic knowledge of General Franco.) Franco died in 1975, nine years before Poppers was released. After being ruled for nearly forty years by one man, Spain’s transition from Franco’s regime to a more democratic system was not always an easy or smooth one, especially with Franco himself having been such a controversial figure. In Poppers, the hunters are the type of older rich men who presumably did what they had to do to thrive under Franco’s regime. (At least two of the hunters are gay, which was illegal in Francoist Spain, leaving one to wonder what they did to remain free and rich while so many others were being imprisoned or exiled.) Santos and Lola represent the next generation, the one that grew up largely without Franco. When they go after the hunters, they can be seen to represent the youth sweeping away the remains of Franco’s Spain. However, since neither Santos nor Lola are motivated by any ideology beyond their own self-preservation, the message seems to be that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Santos and Lola are not class warriors and they’re not political dissidents. They’re two people who are as empty as the people they’re replacing.

Poppers is an interesting and always watchable film. At times, the film’s imagery borders on the surreal. Director José María Castellví had a good eye for decadence. Ultimately, though, it’s a film that leaves you feeling uneasy. The closest thing the film has to a hero is a sociopath who takes a bit too much joy in killing. (The fact that all of the people he kills are bad does not make his demented smile any less unsettling.) The billboard asks us to look, but all we see is a world defined by absolute zero.

Horror Film Review: Hollow Man (dir by Paul Verhoeven)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the 2000 film Hollow Man, Kevin Bacon stars as Sebastian Caine. Sebastian is a brilliant scientist who has created a serum that, when taken, will turn someone invisible. It’s quite an accomplishment, but you get the feeling that no one’s particularly happy about Sebastian being the one who discovered it. That’s because Sebastian is an arrogant narcissist who is not only a bit of a perv but who also listens to terrible prog rock whenever he’s driving around town. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned in the past, I am firmly of the opinion that progressive rock is the music of evil people, and no film makes that argument clearer than Hollow Man.

Having already successfully tested the serum on a gorilla, Sebastian decides to take the experiment a step further and take the serum himself. Soon, Sebastian is invisible. At first, Sebastian is content to play mean but ultimately harmless pranks on his colleagues, but soon his behavior grows worse and worse. Is the serum causing Sebastian to lose his mind, or has being invisible allowed Sebastian to reveal his true self? It’s not easy to say, because Sebastian was hardly a likable guy before he took the serum. He’s always been a jerk and, even before taking the serum, he was already obsessed with both his ex-girlfriend Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) and his next-door neighbor (Rhona Mitra). What is certain is that Sebastian soon becomes addicted to his invisibility. Whenever the serum wears off, he resents the tests that his colleagues put him through. The invisible man starts to stalk and kill his colleagues.

Oh, this film. Hollow Man is an update of The Invisible Man, but it doesn’t quite work. The first time that I saw this movie, I thought it seemed to be excessively mean-spirited, but I figured that, since it was a Paul Verhoeven film, there had to be some sort of satiric subtext to all of the blood and the sexual violence. But then I read an interview with Verhoeven where he said that Hollow Man was the most impersonal of his American films and that it was also a film that he felt any director could have made. Verhoeven said that making the film was such a discouraging experience for him that, despite the film’s box office success, it still inspired him to leave Hollywood and return to Europe.

The film is relentlessly cruel. The actors who play Sebastian’s colleagues — Shue, Josh Brolin, Joey Slotnick, Kim Dickens, Greg Grunberg, Mary Randle, and William Devane — are all likable, but they’re also stuck playing stock characters who have to do stupid things so that they can be in a position to die in the most gruesome ways possible. (The scene where Grunberg’s neck starts spurting blood is particularly grotesque.) With the exception of a scene where an invisible Sebastian drives around Los Angeles, there’s very little of Verhoeven’s trademark wit. Perhaps if this film were a low-budget grindhouse film, it would be more fun. As it is, the admittedly effective special effects just leave you wondering if any of that money could have been spent on a better script.

It’s also hard to watch Kevin Bacon play such an unlikable character. It’s not that Bacon can’t play villains. It’s just that he projects such a down-to-earth, blue-collar attitude that he feels miscast as a mad scientist. Sometimes, he seems to be trying too hard in the role. If there’s anything that we should have learned from Flatliners, it’s that Kiefer Sutherland should play the mad scientist while Kevin Bacon plays the guy who understands how dangerous an uncontrolled experiment can be. Bacon should have been the one saying, “You’re going to make yourself invisible? Are you stupid or something?”

Hollow Man is ultimately a hollow film.

Horror on the Lens: Night of the Ghouls (dir by Edward D. Wood, Jr.)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 1959’s Night of the Ghouls, con man Dr. Alcula (Kenne Duncan) moves into Bela Lugosi’s old mansion and pretends to talk to the dead. What Alcula doesn’t realize is that the house is actually haunted (by Tor Johnson’s Lobo, among others) and real ghosts don’t appreciate pretend ghosts.

What can you say about a film like of Night of the Ghouls? It’s an Ed Wood film, with all that suggests. However, how can you resist a film that starts with Criswell sitting up in his coffin and providing commentary?

The role of Dr. Alcula was originally written for Bela Lugosi. After Lugosi’s death, veteran actor and longtime Wood friend Kenne Duncan got the role instead. Also of note, Wood appears twice in this film. Not only does his picture appear on a wanted poster in the police station but Wood also plays one of the ghouls.

Lisa Marie Takes A Look At The Amazing Race 39.3 “This Is Sick and Twisted”

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“To be continued….”

Really, Amazing Race? We’re ending on a cliffhanger!?

Well, kind of. Watching last night’s episode, it seemed pretty obvious to me that this was going to be the first non-elimination leg of the season. When you’ve got a roadblock, a detour, and then an extra task that are all as difficult as the ones last night, it typically means that the leg is going to turn out to be a non-elimination leg. The first roadblock, for instance, was pretty much dependent on luck. (Jody and Jenn had some bad luck, and Jenn spent two hours smashing vases and searching for the next clue.) The detour involved either learning a difficult language or rolling a giant tiger through the desert. And then the extra task was designed to upset and frustrate the players. This was a leg designed to generate drama as opposed to an elimination.

I would also point out that the fourth leg also appears to take place exclusively in Morocco. So my feeling is that whenever Dylan and Doug or Jody and Jenn reach the Pit Stop, Phil will say, “You are the last team to arrive. However, you are still racing, and here is your next clue!”

Here’s where the teams stood at the end of the episode.

Ann-Marie and Riley, both of whom strike me as being a bit fake, are currently in first place. They used their Express Pass to get out of doing the fruit stacking.

Anuar and Andrea are in second, mostly because they used their Express Pass to get out of doing the detour.

Ali and Joanna are in third place, and they still have their Express Pass. They’re doing well, but it’s hard for me to root for anyone who took a knee during the National Anthem.

Connor and Garrett are in fourth place and still have their Express Pass. After struggling last week, they came on strong this week.

Cody and Jaime are in fifth place. They seem to be getting stronger as the race goes on.

Michelle and Matt went from second to sixth place. They seem to be a good, middle-of-the-road sort of team.

Dafina and Saran are in seventh place. Dafina and Saran have achieved some good karma by helping out some of the other teams. They also received the Roadside Assistance Advantage, which means that both of them can work together on a roadblock if it is used. (Usually, only one player is allowed to do the roadblock.)

Erin and Javi are in eighth place. It looks like their earlier first-place finish was pretty much entirely due to using their Express Pass, because they’ve been struggling ever since.

Daisha and Dalton are in 9th place. They really need to have a good leg to break their cycle of finishing in the back.

Finally, Dylan and Doug and Jody and Jenn are competing for 10th and 11th place. Dylan and Doug did surprisingly well at the Detour, but then, when they had to stack the fruit, Dylan seemed to be letting his frustration get the better of him. As for Jody and Jenn, I’m sure they spent this leg regretting that they wasted their Express Pass in Madrid.

“The last team to arrive may be eliminated!” Phil said, but I don’t think that’s going to happen to either Dylan and Doug or Jody and Jenn, at least not at this Pit Stop. The fourth leg, though, will be a whole different story.

We’ll find out next week!

For the record, here are the three teams who still have Express Passes: Ali and Joanna, Connor and Garrett, and Michelle and Matt. They’ve only got two more legs left before they expire.

The Agony of Rob: Lisa Marie Takes A Look At Survivor 51

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Throughout the history of Survivor, there have been plenty of people who had to leave the show because they had a genuine medical emergency. They’ve either seriously injured themselves while competing, fallen victim to malnutrition, or developed an infection of some sort while living on the beach. It’s never enjoyable to see someone eliminated for that sort of reason, though we are all glad that the show has a medical team on hand to look after the players.

Then there are the players who pretend to be ill to get off the show so they won’t be voted out. The prime example of this was Colton, who Jeff Probst has always claimed faked having appendicitis to get out of One World. (Colton, for the record, swears that he actually had a severe bacterial infection that felt like appendicitis.) This week, we got the most blatant example yet of a player faking an injury when Rob announced that he had to quit the game because his foot hurt.

The medical team was brought in to look at his foot. We were given a close-up of his foot while it was being examined, and I can say that it did not appear to be injured in any way. There were no bruises. There was no swelling. As a former dancer, I know a little bit about ankle and toe injuries, and Rob… well, I don’t want to call him a liar. If he was in pain, it was probably due to stress. Considering that Brady competed in an immunity challenge after chopping off a piece of his thumb and Kristen has a broken foot, it was hard to have much sympathy for Rob’s declaration that his foot pain made it impossible for him to continue in the game.

Rob, who started out so gung-ho and so determined to run the game, left the Savu tribe at the beginning of this episode. Most of the Savu Tribe suspected that he left not because of his foot but because he was on the wrong side of the cote at Tribal and his bizarre mid-council conversation with Eric didn’t work out the way that he thought it would. Rob left his immunity idol to Carter, who started this episode at the bottom of the totem pole with his tribe. However, Carter then left the Savu tribe when he was given an opportunity to visit the Toka tribe, search for a hidden advantage at their camp, and join their tribe if he felt like it. Carter didn’t find the hidden advantage, largely because the Savu tribe went through his bag and found the information about the hidden advantage while Carter was having a one-on-one conversation with Mike. Brady and Maggie were the ones who found the advantage, which turned out to be an extra vote at tribal. Carter, however, still decided to mutiny and join the Toka tribe.

Meanwhile, Devin volunteered to visit the Savu tribe. Devin did not mutiny because he felt that their shelter was not up to his standards. He did reconnect with Sharonda and Ori, with whom he made an alliance during the initial helicopter ride to the island. With Sharonda’s help, Devin found the hidden advantage. He also told everyone at the Savu tribe that Kilby could not be trusted.

Toka entered the immunity challenge with 11 members. Savu only had seven, but Savu still managed to win not just immunity but also four hens. The main reason Toka lost was because Savu had to sit out four people and Devin took it upon himself to tell Kilby that he wasn’t allowed to play, despite the fact that Kilby solves puzzles for a living.

At tribal, Devin, Brady, Patt, Jelly, and Mike were all determined to vote out Kilby. Devin felt he couldn’t trust Kilby. Brady was mad because he felt Kilby had insinuated that he was stupid. Kilby, however, was able to convince his allies — Jenna, Maggie, and Thien Ann — to join him in voting for Patt. Lewis and Carter, the two new members of the tribe, decided to join with Kilby, and Patt was voted out by a vote of 6-5.

I actually liked Patt. She reminded me of my best friend. But Brady and Devin have both been so smug that it was nice seeing them get blindsided. Devin, in particular, needs to get a grip and stop being so cocky. Brady can be a jerk, but he’s important to have around if you want to win challenges. I’m not sure what Devin really brings to the tribe beyond his own attitude.

For those keeping track of advantages: Carter has an immunity idol. Jelly has an immunity idol. Maggie has an extra vote. Devin has an extra vote. And there’s still an immunity idol sitting on Exile Island.

Next week — could it already be time for a merge? Or are they reshuffling the tribes? We’ll find out!