Once you realize what will happen on Survivor: Samoa tonight, you'll probably think that everything that's been said and done over the past couple of weeks have been useless.  So much for Russell vowing that Foa Foa will come out stronger in the next few challenges.  So much for the Galu guys recruiting Shambo as tribal leader that will best serve their interests.

Foa Foa and Galu are no more: it's the merge.

Well, not exactly.  Galu still comes in with a huge advantage, being ahead eight members to four.  Foa Foa, on the other hand, comes off what Jeff eventually called one of the worst performances of any tribe in Survivor history.  It looks lopsided, right?  Will it be soon when the yellows get gobbled up by the purples?

Not really.  Bridges have been made before the merge--say, Shambo visiting Foa Foa twice and making friends there, or Russell forging an alliance with Laura.  Those connections have been dormant for the longest time, but now the merge is on, we must expect things to unravel pretty quickly.

Or should I say too quickly: in the words of Russell (and tonight's episode), "all hell breaks loose."  Suddenly Galu has to deal with a supposedly stronger tribe directly.  And Foa Foa has to deal with the tribe that easily stomped them directly.  To make things more tangled up, Foa Foa drafts up a strategy that'll enable them to make quick alliances with some of the Galu members.  To make it more tangled up, an unlikely manipulator emerges.  Sorry, Russell.  Not you, seems.

Survivor: Samoa returns tonight from 8pm on CBS.


- Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of CBS)