2.03 - The Third Betrayal

Once again we find ourselves in Switzerland and the next episode of The Mole. This time, we start with everyone eating breakfast and our unobservant (as usual) players chatting among themselves. Eventually, Cooper tells them they are overlooking something and points to a journal sitting in the middle of the table. An unnumbered journal. (They keep pulling these things over meals and the players are going to be getting sick every time food comes up.)

Al picks it up and opens it to read "Journal of the Mole. Do not read, this means you." He gets a bit nervous and Rob tells him not to read it. He puts it down and Dorothy picks it up. She proceeds to read aloud to the other players "Plans for today. Sabotage the pot. Pit them against one another. Send a shiver down their spines. Make them beg." The players are pondering what this means when Cooper decides to complicate their lives even more. "Pick a number between 1 and 11." They choose 4.

They are then asked to pass their personal journals down that many people. That person now has their original journal and they now have someone else's. These are their new journals from now on. (Hope they didn't have anything too personal written in them. Oops. Too late.)

Quite a few players are upset by this move. Patrick asks if he can switch journals back and is told no. Several players comment that Patrick had been keeping very extensive notes and is probably hurt by this. The players are flipping through their new journals when a waiter arrives and Cooper announces the start of the next game. (Off balance yet?)

The waiter has entered with a packet containing several photos of a location. (It looks like a square in front of a building.) Cooper asks them to pick someone trustworthy and they select Myra. He tells her that she has one hour to go to the location in the photograph where she will find a "weapon" the players can use. If she returns within the hour $10,000 will be added to the pot. She agrees and quickly leaves.

Finding the location in the photo turns out to be fairly simple. She asks someone in the lobby who points her in the right direction and several other people in the streets direct her the rest of the way there. She finds an Official Mole Envelope™ and returns to the others.

Cooper tells them that what Myra has brought them is a "Neutralizer". Myra can now choose any one player to Neutralize, meaning that the player Neutralized will not be allowed to gain an Exemption during this round of the game. Myra consults with the other players and says that she thinks the player Neutralized should be one of the three who have already gained an Exemption; Elavia, Lisa or Dorothy. After a brief discussion they decide to Neutralize Dorothy and the money is added to the pot.

The players go up to their rooms and look at their new journals. Katie and Elavia are talking and Elavia says she has heard from "someone" that Katie called "someone" a bitch in her journal and she wants to know if it was true. "Maybe..." responds Katie. (Hmmm... I wonder who Katie called a bitch? She wasn't real happy with Dorothy after last episode, but then why was Elavia so upset?) Katie admits in an interview that she was upset and let it out by writing in her journal.

Katie tells Elavia that she got Patrick's heavily written in journal and that Patrick had asked her not to read it. She says she isn't but starts flipping through it as soon as Elavia leaves the room. She doesn't want Elavia to know she's reading it. (Bitch. Oh, wait...)

Elavia, meanwhile, has Rob's original journal. She comments that there is almost nothing in it. In fact, he only has one name on his "Who is The Mole?" list; her! Myra has Bill's original journal and says that he has been writing it as a letter to his wife.

After discussing journals for a while the players meet Cooper by a nearby lake. Cooper asks them to pick a Matchmaker. No one seems to have any good ideas, so Al volunteers. They now learn that they will have a chance to win an Exemption. By being the Matchmaker, Al has already gained the chance. All the others have to do is cross a small footbridge without getting wet. There is, of course, a catch...

As Al put it, "I looked up and I saw this mountain walking towards me!". Cooper reminds them of the story of Robin Hood, where Robin had to cross a log which was being guarded by Little John and his quarterstaff. He introduces the players to Little John and his colleague, Little Jane (neither of which are very little). They are armed with padded quarterstaves.

The game is simple. They must cross the footbridge and Little John or Little Jane will try to stop them. If the player knocks Little John or Jane into the water and crosses the bridge, they will gain a chance at an Exemption. If the player is knocked into the water they are out for the round. Each player who crosses the bridge will add $5,000 to the pot.

It will be up to Al to determine if any given player will have to face Little John or Little Jane. The only catch is that at least three players must face Little John.

Lisa is up first and faces Little Jane. Jane goes into the water and Lisa is across.

Patrick is up next and Al has him face Little John. With predictable results, Patrick splashes. (What had Patrick done to Al, I wonder? He certainly wasn't the most athletic remaining player. Why send him against Little John?)

The next player is Heather, who loses her balance and falls into the water. Little Jane never even touches her. One of the players comments that Heather had previously said she was a gymnast and her favorite event was the balance beam. (Hmmm...) Bill goes next and wins quickly.

Now, it's Dorothy's turn. Al comments that since she is Neutralized she can't win an Exemption anyway so he sends her up against Little John as a "sacrificial lamb". One of the players also comments that Dorothy can't see a thing without her glasses. The result is as expected and Dorothy is gasping at the cold water.

Rob goes up against Little Jane and lands in the water, as does Myra immediately after her. However, Little Jane hit Myra in the head, which was against the rules, so Myra is credited as getting across.

Bribs charges Little Jane and knocks her into the water. Elavia isn't so lucky and splashes.

Only Darwin and Katie are left and one of them has to face Little John. Al chooses to send Darwin against Little Jane and he makes it. This leaves Katie to face Little John.

Katie yells "You're going down!" but she is the one who winds up in the water. Five players have made it across.

We now find out that the five players must face each other and the final winner has to face Al. The final winner will gain an Exemption.

The battles start between Bribs and Darwin. Darwin wins. Al then has Darwin face Bill. Darwin swats Bill with his stick but Bill doesn't fall. Darwin later comments "I hit him hard and he didn't even budge an inch." Bill knocks Darwin into the water then does the same to both Lisa and Myra.

Now, Al has to face Bill himself. Bill has fought four opponents and is tired. Al isn't. Still, they both fall into the water on their first encounter. They climb back up and go at it again. This time only Bill enters the water and Al wins the Exemption.

At this point, Bill decides that Cooper is "Way too dry." The players surround Cooper, pick him up and throw him into the lake. Bill comments that he is upset because one part of Cooper's sleeve is still dry.

Back at the hotel, the players are hanging around the pool when Cooper informs them that Al has really won two Exemptions. One is for himself. He also gets to give one to another player. Suddenly, Al is very popular. Patrick almost immediately corners Al to ask for the Exemption.

The players now have several events to discuss. Some of them think the Little John/Little Jane game was unfair to the female players. (Tell that to Little Jane!) Several people talk about Coalitions and Bribs approaches Heather about one. Heather mentions that she is already in a Coalition herself. We also learn that Bill doesn't want the Exemption from Al, he wants to earn it on his own.

At the dinner, Al announces his decision. He thinks the game was unfair to the female players so he will give the exemption to one of them. Lisa and Myra had their chance by getting across so he rules them out. Elavia has already won an Exemption, so he rules her out too. Dorothy, of course, is Neutralized so he can't give it to her. That leaves Heather and Katie. Since he put Katie up against Little John as the "sacrificial lamb" he decides to give it to her. Katie is pleased but Al admits in an interview later that he considers Katie to be the weakest player.

With that out of the way, it is time for the Execution quiz...

Cooper reminds us that the player who gets the most questions wrong on the quiz will be Executed. This time there was a tie and so the player with the slowest time is eliminated. In this case, it is Lisa who gets the Red Screen o' Death. Lisa had earlier, in a bit of foreshadowing, mentioned that "yesterday was the last day I could get my job back." (Oops) Cooper escorts her to the car and she tells him to look her up if he is ever in Chicago. He agrees, "maybe we'll catch a game".

One game is still going on. Who is The Mole?

Rob tells everyone to not read the Mole's Journal.

Rob hasn't written that much in his journal.

Patrick has written lots in his journal and tells Katie not to read it.

Myra volunteers for the Neutralize Game and Neutralizes Dorothy.

Al volunteers to be the Matchmaker for the Little John/Little Jane Game and makes one or two questionable assignments.

Heather falls over without even being hit in the Little John/Little Jane Game.

Myra gets a free ride across the bridge when Little Jane hits her in the head, breaking the rules.

Patrick tries hard to get the Exemption from Al.

Bill says he doesn't want an Exemption.

Be seeing you...