John Cochran: Free Agent

Well, folks. It's official. We could not have been blessed with a better player to be from Oakton in this season of "Survivor: South Pacific." Love him or hate him, he's been the center of attention — he would probably say unwanted attention — of this season's biggest episodes.

[SPOILER ALERT]

The episode started off with Savaii coming back from the Tribal Council that saw Ozzy volunteer himself to Redemption Island to give Savaii the best shot at having a player from their tribe return for the merge. Cochran was on top of the world. The rest of the tribe? Not so much.

I found it a little difficult to sympathize with Keith's lament, "It's easy to say you were willing to go, but to step and do it, to take control, is different." Cochran did not get Ozzy voted out alone. They all had to vote with him, including Ozzy himself.

Regardless, Ozzy had to face undefeated Christine in Redemption Island, which both tribes watched. After an unbelievable (and I mean that literally, not as praise) speech ranting against Cochran, Ozzy won. Then the tribes merged, and Savaii's plan for Cochran to become a double agent was in motion.

Upolu didn't buy it. Cochran started to complain to Coach about Savaii and his desire to declare loyalty to Upolu, and Coach called him and the other former Savaii members out: "I feel like you guys are trying to play us. You guys came up with a story, you guys sent Ozzy to Redemption, you've got an Idol in your pocket, and you knew Ozzy would win Redemption." Nailed it.

But then he went further: "I know what those kind of people think about people with intellect. ... I know what it feels like to be superior in one way to people, and they know it, so they find ways that you're inferior to cut you down." Nailed it again. Cochran began to think seriously about abandoning his former tribemates altogether. Unsure of what he would do, he continued to play both sides — and even returned the Immunity Idol to Ozzy as agreed upon before Ozzy left.

Cochran then approached Dawn, who said she would be OK with turning against the former Savaii members because of the way they had treated both of them, especially Cochran, over the last few weeks. She even broke down crying about how she wished she had stood up for Cochran more because he is a good kid.

I believed every second of what Dawn was saying. As emotional as she was at the time, it seemed as if she had been thinking all of her doubts in Savaii before speaking with Cochran. Cochran didn't do anything to persuade her. She just offered up the option of switching loyalty to the former Upolu tribe along with Cochran, which made me think she felt strongly about her decision.

I guess things change when you win immunity in a challenge, which she did along with Ozzy. Cochran, on the other hand, went out second after Edna on a challenge that had players balancing themselves on a rock while balancing a coconut between two ropes.

After the challenge, Dawn told Cochran, sans tears, she thought it was no longer a good idea to flip. She thought the people who have mistreated Cochran would get what's coming to them without them having to be disloyal to Savaii. But she did say she would keep Cochran's secret and that she understood he had to play his own game. Cochran's response: "I want to just take control for the first time of my game."

Because of Dawn, Cochran was unsure of what he would do heading into Tribal. He truly waffled the whole episode, acting as more of a free agent than the double agent Savaii wanted.

Discussion during Tribal Council was easy. Each tribe declared it would be a tie on both the original vote and revote and it would go to "rocks," meaning everyone except the people who got votes and immunity would have to draw a rock and whoever draws the black one is voted off the island.

First vote: Rick 6, Keith 6

Revote, in which Rick and Keith are ineligible to vote: Keith 6, Rick 4

Cochran did it! He switched! And he didn't put on a show after the votes came through. He immediately turned to Ozzy and said, "I swapped. I'll explain it."

Huge grins crossed the faces of former Upolu members. Shock on the faces of Savaii. Cochran became a triple agent. A now outed triple agent, but he was a triple agent for a whole five minutes. And it was awesome.

Jim called Cochran a coward twice, which Brandon overheard. "Don't talk to him like that," Lil Hantz said in Cochran's defense. "That's what you get for talking to people like that in the first place." As they walked out of Tribal Council, Lil Hantz whispered to Cochran to stay close to him. I think Cochran just found an ally. For now.

Keith was sent to Redemption Island (which I don't understand. Fans, please explain in our comments.)

From the previews for next week, it looks like Cochran is going to have to overcome a lot to not get voted off next week. Clips show Jim appealing to Albert and Sophie, Whitney yelling at him (has she been mad at all this season?), and Ozzy staring at a rainbow ... Should be interesting!