Survivor Millennials Vs. Gen X Episode Two Recap: Splitting The Power Couple

By Mickie McLeod
CBS 62/CW50 Intern

Another week of Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen. X!  As a millennial myself, I have to root for my Millennial tribe.  Last week, I thought of them as a bit clownish.  This week, I still wasn't impressed.  I want to know, do you think each tribe represents their generations well?

Gen X. Tribe

This week on the Gen. X Tribe we notice more strength among tribe members since last week's Tribal Council.   On this episode, Mr. Paranoid, (Dave) shows off and succeeds to impress his tribe as he is the only member to start up the camp's fire.  Feeling confident and almighty, Mr. Paranoia runs into the wild and goes on a hunt for a hidden Immunity Idol.  As viewers, we know that each season of Survivor has one hidden "Immunity Idol" in each camp.  Dave is having a great day, as he finds himself the camp's one and only hidden Immunity Idol in a weird, tattooed, coconut.

Meanwhile, this week we see more of Ken. Ken is the good looking, young model that somehow happens to be old enough to be part of the Gen. X Tribe.  Ken swims through the ocean and spears an octopus for his tribe.  Ken brings back the octopus to camp and claims to the cameras and for only us viewers at home that he feels like an underdog, just like Dave.  He then pairs up with Dave and they share their mutual feeling of being on the bottom of the tribe.  Dave feels like Ken is now "a brother" to him I guess, as he shares his brotherly bond and trust, as he only reveals to him about his found Immunity Idol.

During this episode at the Gen. X camp, we find out who the "Alpha Male" may be.  The oldest member of the tribe, Paul, says he wants to be in control of the game.  He has this big ego and most of the tribe members notice this about him, including the two underdog bro's, Dave and Ken.  During this time of hyping up Paul's image, Paul suddenly feels ill.  He lies down and producers are brought into the scene after he claims that he couldn't feel his hands.  Dramatically, we as viewers think he may be having a heart attack and will be pulled from the game.  This goes for a few minutes, just to be brought to our attention that Paul is not having a heart attack and he is just fine.

So, Mr. Paranoid is making a comeback, Ken the hot, young but old enough, model feels like he's on the bottom, and Paul is not having a heart attack but still has a big ego.

Millennials Tribe

Ah, the Millennials. You know, last week I wasn't very impressed.  This tribe made themselves out to be a bunch of circus characters.  This week, I still somewhat feel the same way.  The tribe is struggling with survival, and they claim Survivor looks easier, "watching it on TV."  At one point, some dude gives up and says, "let's just make a surfboard." Ye ey ey.

In the meantime, we see a "couple" forming as the two love birds are snuggled up at night.  It's between the frat-boy surfer dude, Taylor, and Figgy, the flirty, pretty, bartender.  I was personally grossed out by it and so was tribe member, Michaela.  She describes the situation to the cameras and for us viewers as home:

"You stink, your mouth is nasty, you got sand in your drawers' and you're kissing somebody? That's disgusting."

RIGHT.  This is Survivor.  Where there are no showers, no mouthwash, and the purpose of the game is to be the soul-survivor, not to find a husband. I suppose they must have forgotten what show they're on. The causality of the two love birds is not going well with some tribe members.  Some members are concerned that they could possibly turn into a "power couple" as the game goes on. Some members also think they won't last in the game.  There is tension. 

Immunity & Combined Reward Challenge

This week there is a Reward Challenge within the Immunity.  That meant whoever wins this challenge, not only is safe from Tribal Council but is rewarded with a prize of a tarp for the entire winning tribe.

As usual, the two tribes are up for a physical challenge.  This challenge was in the water, where each tribe had to individually make it through a series of obstacles.  Among the entire challenge, the Millennials were mostly in the lead.   It wasn't until the last obstacle as a group, where the Gen. X tribe began catching up.

At the end of the challenge, the two tribes had retrieved a set of giant rings. On each tribe, one member had to throw the rings onto a set of posts.  It was between model Ken from the Gen. X tribe, and some guy who looks like he'd be a member of One Direction, on the Millennial tribe.  Ken and One Direction member were competitively throwing the rings for their tribe when it was Ken who won it for Gen. X.  This meant that the Millennials are heading to their first Tribal Council.

Tribal Council

It was the first Tribal Council for the Millennials, and boy, was it interesting.  Leading up to the council, we as viewers at home noticed that Figgy is on the chopping block.  About more than half of the tribe does not like how Figgy "runs the show."  It was Michelle who began convincing members that Figgy needed to stay.

At Tribal, host Jeff Probst asked the tribe how they are feeling these past days among each other.  Michaela shows tension towards Figgy, Figgy shows some sassy attitude, and Zeke and a few others are just fangirling about physically being at Tribal Council instead of watching it on their T.V.

As conversations are happening, Hannah, the cute nerdy girl who was part of voting off Figgy, is somehow being convinced by Michelle to not vote Figgy off.  This conversation is happening off to the side and somewhat privately.

In the end, it was Hannah and surprisingly, Michaela who flipped their vote and did not vote off Figgy.  This meant that Figgy was not voted off, and Mari, the cool professional video game player, was the first member voted off the Millennials tribe.

Do you think the Millennials made the right move?  I personally do not think they did.  They should have voted off the strong player Figgy, and split this potential, "power couple" apart.  My generation of the Millennials tribe is letting me down.  How are you feeling about your generation's tribe?

You can watch this season of Survivor, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Look for my recaps every Thursday morning right here on CBSDetroit.com.

Mickie McLeod is a Livonia, MI native.  She's majoring in Communication Studies at Wayne State University.  Mickie has been a Survivor fan since 2000.  Follow her @mick_cloudy for live tweeting about Survivor and look for her recaps every Thursday morning.