"Survivor: South Pacific" trades evil for crazy

(CBS) Is evil more interesting than crazy?

That's the question that Wednesday night's episode of "Survivor: South Pacific" raised as devilish Russell Hantz's nephew exhibited yet more unbalanced and paranoid behavior in his effort not to be like his uncle.

That little side drama threatened to hijack the whole episode, overshadowing such issues as who got voted out at Tribal Council and who won the Redemption Island duel. (SPOILER ALERT)

Pictures: "Survivor: South Pacific"

For the record, Christine beat Semhar in the Redemption Island challenge that involved balancing a tiki on an ever-lengthening rod. Semhar calmed herself beforehand with a wave of poetry recitation that had even the usually non-plussed host Jeff Probst rolling his eyes.

When Ozzie's Savaii tribe lost the reward/immunity challenge, it wasn't hard to figure out who was going home. Papa Bear (Mark Caruso) didn't need his NYPD detective skills to know he was the first choice, even though Ozzie told him Cochran was going home. And Cochran wasn't fooled when Ozzie told him that Papa Bear had been told that Cochran was the target.

He guessed correctly that the older man really was the target but he also guessed correctly that his head was next on the chopping block. Schemes, like Papa Bear pretending to find the immunity idol and Cochran refusing to look for one in an effort to build trust, aren't going to work here. It's 5 to 3 (now 5-2) and they simply don't have the numbers.

But far more entertaining Wednesday was the decision by Brandon Hantz to let the whole tribe know his dirty little secret. (So much for his vow to keep his shirt on throughout the game so no one would see the Hantz tattoos on his back and neck.) Even Coach was surprised by the move and later admitted to seeing a little of Russell in his nephew.

Then Mikayla pushed him even further by asking him why he disliked her. Brandon took it as an attack and drew the whole tribe into the debate. The exchange of glances said a lot; his tribe mates might as well have circled their middle fingers around the sides of the heads in the classic "cuckoo" gesture.

Judging by the previews, there is more paranoid behavior to come. Unfortunately, this may make Brandon's demise in the game a foregone conclusion, ending little side dramas like these.