While I stand behind my statement that the first episode of this season was an excellent start, it should be said that it had a bit of an advantage. It had been over a YEAR since we had anything new in terms of US “Survivor” to discuss; of course we were going to lap it up. I maintain that even without that boost, it’s still a fantastic episode, but it cannot be denied that the advantage was there. Now, however, the blush is off the rose, and the episode has to stand on its own. While by no means the nadir of “Survivor”, this one is definitely a big step down, and seems to make all the wrong decisions, both in terms of production and in terms of game moves. But I get ahead of myself.
You would think, after such a contentious Tribal Council from Ua, that we would follow up with them immediately afterward. You know, get the fallout, maybe hear from Genie about the stray Ricard vote? Well, you would be correct in assuming we start at Ua, but you would be wrong in assuming we get immediate fallout from Tribal Council, or (much to my frustration) ANY word from Genie this episode. Man, someone I thought was going to be a fun but short-lived character is turning out to be nigh-on invisible. Good for her chances, bad for entertainment.
No, no, we do get some fallout, just not the overly contentious type I might have thought of. Specifically, Brad gets a wake-up call after receiving Sara’s stray vote, and seeing JD discuss things with Shan. Brad thought he and JD were tight, but now sees JD as unreliable. Thus, when JD and Ricard go off to get water from the well, Brad is suspicious, claiming you don’t need two people to get water. I would point out that we usually see multiple people getting water, both because water is heavy and because it makes the job of getting the water in the canteens easier (one pours water in the canteens, one holds the canteens steady), but ultimately, given how many conversation happen at the well, I can’t fault Brad too much.
Despite Brad having shifted to “New School” style gameplay by emulating Tony Vlachos (“Survivor Cagayan”), he does not have Tony’s foresight. No Spy Bunker, Nest, or even Shack is forthcoming, so Brad ends up hiding in a convenient bush. Again, can’t really fault him on this one; it does hide him well. Hell, I won’t even give JD and Ricard my usual flak for not doing a 360 before discussing strategy, as unless they had bothered to poke a stick in the specific bush that Brad was hiding in, I don’t think they’d have noticed him. Sure enough, Brad’s name does come up between them, as JD thinks Brad thinks he has an idol. Successful, Brad runs back to tell Shan, who saw him leave. Shan, however, takes this as a sign that Brad is playing harder than she thought, and thus puts him on her watch list. Ricard is also not happy with Brad, though as Ricard has no idea of Brad’s beach run, dismisses him as a poor player. Understandable given what Ricard has seen of Brad, but it comes across as REALLY mean-spirited, and making it harder and harder to like the guy by the episode.
To me, though, what’s most interesting about this is that as it’s presented, Brad DOES think JD has an idol, but only AFTER hearing the conversation where JD and Ricard discussed them thinking that Brad thinks JD has an idol. Probably just manipulative editing, but if not, talk about your self-fulfilling prophecies.
Luvu, having not lost their flint at the last challenge, is still struggling. Deshawn tells us that he did practice starting fire with flint prior to coming on the show (easy to do, as Deshawn is one of the few people we know for certain was slated to common the season prior to the pandemic recasting), but even with help from his family, it took 13 hours. Worse, that was with a kitchen knife, which is much different from a machete. Still, Deshawn takes his failure in good humor, and the worst he gets for it is Naseer saying (jokingly), that they’ll have to give Deshawn classes in how to make fire. A funny moment, but it should be noted that Deshawn’s specific joke is “Keep me around; you can beat me in Final Four Firemaking”. This, right here, is gold for the producers if Deshawn makes it that far. Assuming he is selected to do fire-making, you’ve either set up an extra-long joke, or you’ve set up a redemption arc (Deshawn starts off having trouble making fire, only to then use that skill to win in the end). More on that later, but bear this stuff in mind.
Naseer does make fire, and then finds some breadfruit, attributing his success to his upbringing in Sri Lanka, coupled with more footage of his childhood home. This leads Sydney to comment that, given the deprivation of supplies on this season, Naseer is more valuable, and no longer on the chopping block. We hope you enjoyed this strategic insight into Luvu, because it’s LITERALLY never going to come up again this episode. Congratulations, Luvu, you’ve managed to take every plausible target off the table! I hope you’re happy! I look forward to seeing you at Tribal Council never!
The deprivation mentioned earlier is not only hitting Luvu, however. Yase is also having problems, as Tiffany comments on the harshness of the environment, and how it makes it harder for her to bring her social game to bear. And social is the order of the day, as we then cut over to Xander and Liana, noting with worry that everyone else has left the camp. Theorizing that this could mean conversations are happening against them, they both go off, nominally in search of the others, but in Xander’s case in search of advantages. Normally I’d be against this is you think you’re socially on the outs, but immediate situation aside, I don’t see Xander feeling that way, and if so, hey, might as well have another advantage in your pocket. Sure enough, after a decent search, Xander finds the hyped-up “Beware Advantage”, and after reading that he must either follow the instructions of the parchment or put it back unread, he decides to look at it. Understandable, given that Xander should be feeling secure right now, but what is this mysterious “Beware Advantage”?
A Hidden Immunity Idol. Whoopee.
Ok, ok, there’s a bit more to it than that. Basically this WILL work as any other idol would, but only after activation. Now, how does one activate it? Xander is informed of the fact that each other tribe has the same idol, and each comes with an “activation phrase” to be said at a challenge. Once all three phrases are said at the same challenge, the idols will activate, and can be played as normal. On paper, this is actually a great shakeup. It keeps idols in the game, but makes them harder to use, and requires some subtlety to activate. A good spy thriller trope, if the phrases are something that’s not incredibly obvious. Unfortunately, in one of many dumb decisions from this episode, the phrases are things that are incredibly weird, that you can maybe get away with saying ONCE without arousing suspicion. Xander probably gets off the easiest, having to say something along the lines of “Sometimes I think butterflies are dead relatives”. Odd, but there’s some poetry to it. The other two? Even more obvious. My pity to the tribe that has the idol where they have to compare the forest to broccoli. I get that the phrases need to be something distinct for the call and response, but make it something that could more naturally come out a player’s mouth. Maybe have it be that a player goes full Courtney Yates (“Survivor China”) and calls Jeff “Jeffrey” or something. I’m guessing other players with an idol will be keeping an ear out for that. Sure, it could lead to false positives if someone else says the phrase, but hey, that misdirection just adds to the fun!
“But so what?” I hear you thinking. “So Xander has to kind of give himself away to use his idol. What’s so wrong about that?” The problem, dear reader, is the consequence. You see, until all three phrases are said at the same time, not only is the idol inactive, but the holder CAN’T VOTE! Definitely a dire consequence, and in this case, I’d say the juice is not worth the squeeze. Consider, if you will, the possibility that someone is voted out before all three tribes find their idol, and give the activation phrase. Well, that person can’t say the phrase, now can they? You know what that means: Barring that the idol is hidden and found again, that person is screwed out of their vote FOR THE REST OF THE GAME! Yes, by picking up one advantage, one with only the bare minimum warning, someone might be screwed out of their vote for the entirety of their game life. Hardly fun to watch, and a real kick in the nuts for whoever picked it up. Look, I get the whole “risk vs. reward” thing. I get what they’re going for here. And it could work. But it could also go horribly wrong. The solution? Make the most dire consequences time-limited. Say that the idol never activates until such time as all three phrase are said, but have the “No vote” part stop at some arbitrary point in the future. Say, for instance, once you hit the merge you get your vote back, whether the phrases are said or not. You still have a consequence, and you still have to socially maneuver to get any benefit. You keep the risk vs. reward aspect, but it’s not game-stalling like this one has the potential to be.
Now, Xander losing his vote here has major ramifications for him. After all, while his tribe was united at the first vote, they’re still a fractured bunch overall, and every vote counts. Plus, his inability to vote affects his extra vote as well, so he’s really useless. He can’t keep this quiet (if nothing else, it will become self-evident the next time the tribe goes to Tribal Council), but spreading it around makes him an easy target: He has a lot of advantages and can’t fight back right now. A ripe target if ever there was one. Xander wisely decides to keep things among trusted allies Voce and Evvie, informing them of his idol find and its consequences. Unwisely, however, rather than just describing what it is, Xander instead just lets them read the rules. The problem with this is it gives too much information away. Your allies need to know your vote is gone and why, and how to get it back, but they don’t need to know the specific phrases. Sure, showing them the rules verifies your idol, and helps build trust, but you’re giving away information, aka power, in the game for no reason by being so detailed. Plus, you’d better be REALLY sure these people are on your side, because if not, you’ve just given an opposing alliance a LOT of ammunition against you.
Oh look, Evvie is rallying the women to vote off Xander for having too much power! Who could have seen this coming?
Off to our challenge, which is again an standard water obstacle course with a puzzle. Not much to talk about, though I like the sea turtle puzzle. It’s new and different. Here’s where we get some more missteps in the show this time. We’re only about 20 minutes in, and with two Tribal Councils, this seems like a reasonable amount of time to have a challenge, but unfortunately, this means we know for certain who wins. Yase has had a lot of strategy talk, and while Ua’s had less, they do have multiple targets established after Brad’s run. Luvu? All their targets, as stated earlier, were taken off the table. No way they lose. Probst corrects for this by revealing that two tribes win immunity, with the first tribe to finish also getting fishing gear. Ok, I’m HAPPY this leaves some mystery, as either Ua or Yase could plausibly lose in this challenge, and adding back to the mystery, but why, though? You’ve got a shortened season, so you need a few double-boots. Why not go ahead in this new direction, and speed up the game that way? I guess in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter too much. Perhaps I’m just bitter that we’ve got two copies of the idol again, instead of one idol that splits cleanly in two.
On top of all this, Probst reveals that Yase or Ua have to not finish last to get their flint back, meaning I have to rescind my seal of approval on the twist. Taking it away for a day, then guaranteeing it back, would create great consequences and drama. Making it harder for a tribe to win challenges, then FORCING them to win in order to get it back, hews dangerously close to the “Haves vs. Have-Nots” twist of “Survivor Fiji”, and that’s a well I would very much have us avoid.
While the challenge itself is pretty standard, there’s a couple of points I think bear mentioning. One is that the tribes have very much learned that what matters is the puzzle, as Shan is left far away from it for Ua after last episode (“Even though she and Sara did nothing wrong in terms of puzzle SOLVING!”, I grumble), and the swimming portion, in particular, is neglected. Only Yase puts their strongest swimmer on this portion, with Sydney going for Luvu, and Genie for Ua, both of whom are far behind Xander (though Sydney, to her credit, makes up ground on the diving portion, which Xander struggles with). I also want to call out Yase and Ua for being jerks. We clearly see Deshawn on Luvu help his swimming tribemates up the ladder. Good both from a social standpoint, and a “Win the challenge” standpoint. So why don’t Yase and Ua do the same? Clearly it’s allowed, if Deshawn is doing it. Finally, on the “Not relevant to the episode, but it bothers me” point, I want to say that this episode has one of the lamer balance beams I’ve seen on the show. How I long for the days of “Survivor Vanuatu”, when balance beams were boards maybe an inch thick, that took real skill to get across. These things are so wide, they should be pretty easy to navigate. Then again, only Liana is able to get across without scooching, so perhaps it’s harder than it looks. I will say, doing the balance beam after a swim is probably fairly tough.
The real story of the challenge, though, is Tiffany on Yase. She goes full Cirie circa “Survivor Game Changers”, struggling to get across the beam, talking again and again about how she can’t do it. Probst, sensing a moment he can force, keeps encouraging her. With the way everything slows down, and the music cuts out, I fear we’re going to get another Russell Swan (“Survivor Samoa”) situation. Thankfully, this is “Inspirational Breath” pause, not an “I’m Actually Dying” pause, and Tiffany gets across the balance beam. Combine this with Ua struggling on the puzzle, and Liana making good time across the beam, it’s actually presented as a decently tight race between Yase and Ua. Tiffany lost them just too much time, however, and Ua gets second place, Luvu having predictably beaten both tribes handily.
In addition to their fishing gear, Luvu now gets to send two people, one from Yase and one from either their tribe or Ua, for a meeting, Probst reassuring Yase that whoever is picked will return prior to Tribal Council. We don’t see much of Luvu’s strategizing as to who to pick, though both their choices are reasonable. They pick Evvie from Yase, and Deshawn volunteers from Luvu.
Naturally, this leads us back to Yase camp, where Voce goes into full-on villain mode for the first time this season. He is naturally, unhappy with Tiffany’s performance in the challenge, which is understandable. Unlike Sara in the last episode, this is inherent in Tiffany’s current abilities (as opposed to a mistake anyone could make), and unlikely to get better without more food and water. Plus, given how close the challenge was made out to be, Tiffany’s performance may have cost them the win. Still, Voce goes too far for me, talking about how Tiffany sucks as a person, rather than her challenge performance. Look, criticize her performance all you want, but there’ no need to be mean-spirited about it. Xander agrees with him, though, and they pitch this to Liana, since without Xander’s vote (no one else found the idol, which Xander berates the other tribes for in confessional), they need her on board. Liana does a good job playing along, but admits privately that she’s going to go where Evvie goes, which is the correct response at this juncture.
Speaking of Evvie, they and Deshawn go to the same island where Danny, JD, and Xander were brought last episode. Deshawn takes this time to give us his backstory, talking about needing to work hard to get where he is with his medical degree, fighting to get ahead in an area in which a lot of African-Americans, such as himself, don’t, interspersed with pictures of himself in higher education, his family smiling behind him. It’s a touching piece, and this continued use of “flashbacks” to help us bond with the players this season remains one of the few saving graces of this episode. I loved it last time, and still love it now. Still this, combined with the stuff I said earlier about Deshawn commenting on fire-making, leads me to my first big prediction of the season: Deshawn is making the final episode at least. I’m admittedly a bit biased (Deshawn is in my draft team, and I need some big points after losing Sara last episode), but that fire-making comment seems like blatant foreshadowing to me, and now we’re asked to bond with his story, talking about determination? I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t make it deep.
Of course, getting the “flashbacks” means nothing in terms of longevity. After all, Sara got them last episode, and is she still around? Exactly. But then Evvie, I believe, spells out for us where the season will go. They admit that they don’t see Yase winning challenges, which is a reasonable conclusion to make based on the evidence, and as such can expect to go into the merge down in numbers. Thus, Evvie reasonably decides they need allies on the other teams, particularly Luvu, who show no signs of slowing down in terms of challenge victories, and thus have a good chance to go into the merge as a solid block. As such, Evvie wisely spills secrets, but only secrets that harm those outside her alliance. Specifically, they spill all the beans about Xander’s idol, save presumably where to find it (since Evvie, as far as we know, doesn’t know that information). Reasonable to do, and add onto that Evvie saying they’ll protect their vote if given the chance, and Deshawn openly admits he’s indebted to Evvie. Time will tell whether that means anything, but all smart playing on Evvie’s part. As I say, their conclusions about their tribe’s chances at winning, as well as the need for cross-tribe allies are all on the money. Add onto that Evvie needing to protect her vote regardless, given Xander’s lost vote? Might as well make a friend, if you’re going to give them an advantage. Really, the only thing I can fault Evvie for here is assuming there’s going to be a swap at some point, and really, it’s a reasonable assumption to make. it’s only we, the audience, who know this won’t happen, and I can’t fault Evvie for thinking otherwise.
Of course, I could also fault them for thinking the advantage and method of obtaining it are the same as last time. After all, why would this show, which so PRIDES itself on shaking things up, do basically the same thing twice in a row? Laziness, that’s why.
To be completely fair, if the show IS going to effectively add in one advantage every episode, I’m glad it’s an extra vote. “Worth playing for”, as they say, but not super-overpowered. Adds fun to the game, but doesn’t break the game. But shake up what needs to be done to obtain it. Apart from making it so the gamers in the cast can easily game the system, give us new dilemmas. The prisoner’s dilemma has been played out. Show us something new. Make the players think on their toes for goodness’ sake. As predicted, Evvie protects their vote, while Deshawn risks his, and we move on.
Back at camp, Evvie is quickly brought up to speed on the “Voce/Tiffany situation”, and predictably says that they’ll stick with the women. The proper choice here. If you’ve given up on winning challenges, better to have people loyal to you. Plus, as noted when discussing the “Beware Advantage”, by getting rid of Xander, you make it that much harder for the other tribe to have idols come the merge. Certainly a great help to a tribe expecting to come in low on numbers.
Unfortunately, while this is the smart decision, it also sucks all the tension out of the episode. What could bring it back? Paranoia, that’s what! Tiffany fears that Xander may actually have an active idol, all but guaranteeing her elimination if it’s played. Liana, not having seen the note, does little to quell her fear, and now Tiffany wants Voce gone as a safe vote. Reasonable, given the information she has. What’s NOT reasonable is that, when Evvie tells her about the rules she saw, and verifies that Xander’s idol is inactive, Tiffany is still paranoid, and is insisting Evvie and Liana vote Voce. This, in turn, leads Evvie and Liana to wonder how stable Tiffany is, and they consider booting her. Tension is now back in the episode, but also by giving us an incredibly dumb choice. There were advantages to getting rid of both Xander and Tiffany. You lose Xander, you keep the women’s alliance strong, and you cripple the other tribes’ chances at an idol. You get rid of Tiffany, you vote out a challenge sink. But Voce? Your tribe is still likely to lose, and if Xander’s idol gets activated, your alliance is pretty well screwed! The women’s alliance is a valid strategy, and a smart on in this case. Don’t risk it by leaving a pissed-off young guy with now multiple advantages in the game. I mean, sure, you want Tiffany to be happy, but you’re still saving her. Worst case scenario, you force a 2-2-1 split (with Tiffany being the one vote for Voce), and vote out Xander on the re-vote. Tiffany may be slightly mad, but not alliance-breakingly mad, and where else is she going to go?
We get Probst talking directly to the audience again pre-Tribal Council, outlining the debate as “loyalty vs. strength”. Apart from being patronizing and awkward, this now eliminates any suspension of disbelief that Probst isn’t briefed on the ins and outs of the tribe. Thanks a lot, show!
Thankfully, Tribal Council itself is a much better affair. Entertaining, even! The harshness of the season takes center stage first, with Tiffany talking about how it cripples her social game. Voce chimes in as well, proving that he is the king of non-awkward links to his career. He notes that in his profession, mistakes need to be analyzed so they never reoccur, likening the challenge performance of his tribe to an artery gushing blood in the operating room. A bit gross, but apt. Talk then moves to the strategy, where the highlight is Tiffany defending herself. Rather than hide or defend her challenge performance, she notes that it isn’t everything, and rightly touts her social skills as what will keep her safe.
Time to vote, and while the voting itself is inconsequential, I do want to give credit to one design element. The voting urn for this season: I was not a fan initially. Not enough to complain about, but it’s basically just a bright red box. Fitting for flotsam but it does the job of standing out a bit TOO much, and just seemed to not gel with the rest of Tribal Council. Tonight, however, we saw one upside to the urn this season. A close up reveal that, printed just beneath the lid, is the phrase “Dangerous Contents”. Funny, given that the contents ARE dangerous to whoever ends up voted out. Nice little joke there, show.
Having been given two smart options for whom to vote out, and one stupid one, Yase naturally opts for the stupid one. Voce goes home, and I am sorry. To my surprise, apart from his brief treatment of Tiffany, he was never really a villain. Just a slightly intelligent, slightly likable player, whom Id have been interested to see navigate the later game. Perhaps it was how short-lived he was, but I found myself liking Voce in spite of myself, and thus, his boot hurts. Plus, the dude actually connected the show to his career without it being forced. That’s a rare talent. All that said, I suppose I can’t fault Evvie and Liana too much this move. They kept their alliance intact and happy, which is not nothing, though I maintain they could have done this with a Xander boot, and have much less risk down the line.
Perhaps this episode was always going to be a letdown after the premier, but this one just did not deliver overall. It was not an entirely bad episode by any means. There was good misdirection throughout, a decent mystery as to the boot, and I am still 100% on board for these “real life” flashbacks. That said, a lot of the decisions this episode seem to be the wrong ones, particularly on how production is handling various twists. Above all else, though the episode felt rushed. What we got was good, but as I say, Luvu got little development, and Yase was clearly the tribe to watch. I can’t blame the show too much for this. They have a lot to get through. But what it says to me is this style of storytelling, while good, needs more time to be great. A 2-hour episode each week is probably asking too much, but perhaps the show should consider going to 90-minute episodes on the regular? Give us a bit more time to develop with everyone, and give the story a chance to be told at its own pace. Sadly, naught but a dream…
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 