User blog:StrangerAtaru/No Pain, No Game - Where Eva Gets on (Nearly) Everyone's Last Nerve

-Sometimes I have to wonder how or why certain campers end up together even if they can't stand one another. I can get Gwen and even Bridgette avoiding Heather altogether and Lindsay still has a tiny smidgen of trust in her, but Leshawna? You'd expect Leshawna to go as far away from her as possible! I guess it's the old "Friends Close, Enemies Closer" adage...of coruse Leshawna had a lot of other complaints in this episode.

-Obviously the males did bond over their trip but you can't really see how this time. Sure there is "something" that will further show how in a later episode but for the moment all you hear them go on about is their weekend in luxury while the girls were stuck with Chris and Chef the whole time...and that can't be good for one's sanity.

-This is the first episode that brings in the little wrinkle of the series involving "a character who comes back at any time"...and in this case, it's two of them:
 * The return of Eva is strangely shocking considering the scenario she was kicked out with: Heather stole her MP3 player and she went psycho, throwing away all trust anyone had in her. It's weird honestly that of all the former Killer Bass she sided with, Bridgette would be the one who would take most of her wrath...but honestly you have to realize and remember the structure of the campers in the first three episodes.  Going back to then, Eva was one of three females who essentially had the closest in being the "leader of the pack", alongside Bridgette and Courtney. (not counting the males like Duncan and Geoff)  Of those three, Bridgette was the only female Bass still there...thus she got the wrath.  A shame really we never get her connecting with Courtney again...but I doubt we want to see those two go at it again.
 * And then there was Izzy...oh boy there was Izzy. Prior to her first elimination in "Up the Creek", Izzy seemed more sane: sure she had a few weird moments but she was more just a crazy goof.  But from the moment she shows up this time, swinging on vines, eating raw fish without cooking it and scratching herself like a dog, you know that she somehow lost a few screws she had keeping her together.  It's hard to say what happene: either she became more insane with her time away or she was always like this and attempted to show herself as more serious prior to the RCMP criminal part being discovered.

-Leave it to Eva to break down all barriers, whether it be Heather's little line or nearly breaking Bridgette's bed...look, she wasn't even the main factor of her leaving, and that went because of a bizarre twist!

-The challenge this time, being a game of taking insane pain or saying uncle, feels a bit like a challenge we're going to see later in the season, but with a few variations and more confusing this time around. Just like his idea of "no campers ever coming back" being shattered, Chris seemed to make the rules up as he went along...maybe he didn't but it did feel so with the stuff like "you can have someone else do the challenge and you're eliminated if they can" and the occasional "you can choose what they do"...which feels a bit like something that comes later. As for the challenges:
 * Duncan's game with the snapping turtles...well, it's the only one we see considering he gets eliminated later on and we don't see why honestly. It is stratnge though that all of a sudden Trent would apologize to Gwen the moment Duncan gets attacked...somehow he's starting to fear something and it's not just a hint back to "Phobia Factor".
 * Lindsay's so used to waxing that of course she wouldn't be hurt by a bit of marshmallow on her face. Besides, she liked it.  There is also her finally losing when threatened with a "bad haircut"...but unlike another phobia used in this challenge, this one actually builds on a character arc that won't be reaching it's finale for a while yet.
 * Bridgette seems to go through a bit with Eva nearly forcing her into the leeches...but she actually did alright with the bees on her own weirdly. Trent on the other hand...yeah, maybe leeches aren't something that is made for him.
 * Gwen is a peculiar case: she can make it through a lot of torture, including nosehair-picking, but not New Age Music...yeah, but then again most people of that generation can't get through the likes of Kenny G without cracking.
 * I don't see the problem with the skunks Trent had to traverse, they weren't that bad...stinky but cute.
 * And...we see DJ with...yet another snake. You'd expect after "Phobia Factor" and "Who Can You Trust?" that the snake bit would be played out already.
 * Owen has such an iron stomach that somehow him getting brain freeze is...inhuman!
 * Heather never actually got a challenge done this time...heck, she may actually be human being eliminated so quickly from this! But then again...the next few episodes may have something to say about that.
 * Izzy...as I said, she essentially has mutated into another person after her time away, to the point of actually wanting electric eel shock therapy and poison ivy spa treatment! Must be something the beavers gave her...
 * Eva for the most part had one of the big moments: standing up to Sasquatchanakwa. But then again the "Bigfoot"-like monster never seemed to catch a break in this series, does it?
 * And then there's Leshawna. The whole episode outside anything involving Eva seemed to focus strangely on Leshawna's jealousy in not getting the spa treatment last time.  Somehow it felt weird that it was more Lindsay and Heather who wanted the spa before and now Leshawna wants the trailer.  But hey, she stood up to a log-rolling bear, so the sister's got some tenacity.

-All these "animal-like humans" in this episode: you've got Eva like a monster, Izzy like a wolf and even Chef howling at the moon...I guess the longer you stay on the island, the more inhuman you get.

-The vote this time was for the most part obvious considering that Eva pretty much peeved the whole cast off all at once not to mention the past trauma she brought back. The only real wweird thoughts were about Heather: why would Eva want her gone considering how little she did this time? Heck, what about Duncan wanting her gone: Heather's done a whole lot of horrible things but for the most part she had nothing to do with Courtney in "Basic Straining". There are other episodes you can look into for Heather and Courtney hating each other...but Courtney's elimination was pure Harold.

-After Eva arrived, left, and came back, she would need restraints to go away...sadly once and for all. It's weird she never returned in either Action or World Tour but I guess the writers had a hard time making her fit.

-And in the end...the bear and Sasquatchanakwa pick up the pieces (of Geoff and Sadie) and move on with their lives...for the moment.