5 pages for this episode is telling ...

Chris is a strong player, he's so arrogant, I can't see him making it too much further.
"I used to sling the rock in my prime ..."

And his bonding with Donathan was just him telling him about how he took care of his mom, not much listening to Donathan. (could be editing)

And why would you not get rid of Michael, a strong player, at this point? Surely they suspect merge is right around the corner? Michael sure did, he was just trying to make it past one or two more TC.