“Survivor” Retrospective: Blood vs. Water

Writing these “‘Survivor’ Retrospectives” blogs may give me whiplash. While seasons are connected to one another in terms of history, very often two seasons will tell very different tales. Case in point: having “Survivor Blood vs. Water” come right after “Survivor Caramoan”. As I talked about in my previous blog, “Survivor Caramoan” was in many ways a season of retreads. We had previously used twists, a previously used location, and even previously used contestants, most of whom were disliked. With “Survivor Blood vs. Water”, we have a truly innovative twist, many new ideas being sprung on us at once, and a cast that is maybe no more original than “Survivor Caramoan”, holds up a whole lot better to scrutiny, for reasons that I’ll get into shortly. Point being, where “Survivor Caramoan” tread on sacred ground, “Survivor Blood vs. Water” dared to blaze a new train and explore heretofore unknown territory. Always a gamble, but did it pay off?

To find out, though, you must first sit through my spoiler warning. Be aware that I write this blog from the perspective of someone, having already seen the show, talking to a person equally in the know about the ins and outs of this season. The idea is to individually scrutinize each element that makes up a season, see what works and doesn’t for this season, and talk about how it all comes together and why it works or does not. Don’t worry if you’re just looking for a spoiler-free recommendation, though. If you scroll to the very bottom of this page, I have an “Abstract” section, which is just what you’re looking for. So, once you’ve decided what part or parts of this blog to read (“None.” is technically an acceptable answer, but you make me cry), let’s get into the blog itself.

CAST

Breaking from my usual format, I’m going to start off the “Cast” section by addressing a point from the “Overall” section. If “Survivor Blood vs. Water” could be described in once cliche, it would be “Jack of all trades, master of none.”. I don’t just mean that in the sense of “Every category is strong, but doesn’t stand out”, but within the categories themselves, things get a bit convoluted. Case in point, the cast. Usually in this section, I try and talk about the biggest, most breakout character to come out of the season, and work my way down from there. This is not to say that “Blood vs. Water” doesn’t have those breakout characters, but none really shines above the others. Thankfully, though, if I AM forced to quantify things, there are two big characters who stand out from this season, and both of them happen to be new faces to this series. We have Ciera Eastin and Vytas Baskauskas. Like I said before, I try and talk about people in descending order of breakout-ness (my word), but it’s really a pretty close tie between these two. Some might argue that, given how much she’s talked about today, Ciera is clearly the larger breakout of the two. However, I would counter that this is largely due to the existence of “Survivor Cambodia” at the time of this writing. SPOILER ALERT: Ciera lasts a long time on that season, while Vytas is the first one out. That could easily skew things in the minds of the viewing public. Let us not forget that Vytas was basically the heartbreaker of this season. He never quite reached Malcolm Freberg (“Survivor Philippines”) levels in this regard, but he was up there. Easy on the eyes, Vytas used his charm to snake his way through what of the game he could, even managing to pull a Chris Daugherty (“Survivor Vanuatu”) and survive a women’s alliance out for his blood. Granted, he got voted out shortly thereafter, but it was still an impressive number of votes survived. And this, as he himself admits, is largely due to his tragic backstory. Vytas, you see, is a former crack addict, even doing time for petty theft to feed his addiction. A sob story like this plays well on “Survivor” period, but it comes off in an even more pronounced way due to the twist of this season. I’ll be talking more about my thoughts on all this in the “Twist” section, naturally, but suffice to say that Vytas’ brother also competed on this season. If Vytas’ last name sounded familiar, it’s because his brother happens to be Aras Baskauskas, winner of “Survivor Exile Island”. While Aras is generally considered one of the more boring winners the show ever produced (which is not helped this season. Coincidentally, Aras will not be talked about in the “Cast” section on his own merits), he WAS considered a model of purity and goodness, peace-loving yoga instructor that he is. Vytas and Aras had similar personalities overall, but Vytas had a dark edge to him, while Aras was, again, purity and goodness. They played off each other, as pretty much no matter what, one of them would have something you liked. A proverbial “Betty and Veronica” choice, if you will. For my part, I did enjoy Vytas, and think he’s a good character. He had a good underdog story, and that aforementioned edge made him a more intriguing character than his brother. While his time in the game was overall too short, I did enjoy watching Vytas play, and dutifully voted for him to come back.

On to Ciera, here we have a character who took a little more time to blossom. Being on the bottom of early alliances gave her a bit of an underdog story, but she didn’t really come into her own until after the tribe swap. After that, she was allowed to be a part of the dominant alliance, and here she showed that she could hang with the best of them. She quickly became a major player in the alliance, helping to call a lot of the shots, and notably calling the bluff of the minority players this time around. For reasons I’ll get into shortly, Ciera often gets knocked as “Not that great a player”, but she had her moments. Don’t believe me? Go back and watch the scene where Katie Collins (who won’t be talked about beyond this paragraph) tries to bluff how she has an idol, and watch how Ciera completely turns the whole thing around on her. Masterful. And for a first time player, making it so deep against fairly stiff competition is nothing to sneeze at. But, to address her bad points, Ciera did make a gaffe in waiting an episode too long to flip on her alliance-mates, when she saw they would take her no further. An error, to be sure, but I don’t think it counteracts the good moves she made beforehand. And, after all, to ere is human. It may have been an error, but in my book, it makes her more compelling. The other counterargument is that her “signature move” of voting out her mother, Laura Morett (“Survivor Samoa”, was not as big a deal as the show made it out. To which I wholeheartedly agree. After all, “Survivor”, in all its glory, is also a very cheesy show. It wouldn’t be “Survivor” if it didn’t amp up the melodrama and blow things out of proportion. Still, I don’t think it takes away from the importance of the move as a whole. It was sacrificing a close ally to endear yourself to the power players. On most any other season, that would be hailed as a brilliant move! To have it not be for Ciera is a double standard for the season. As for myself, I think Ciera is a good addition to the show, since she’s such an unlikely mastermind. I’ll admit, I was prepared to dislike her for her fundamentalist beliefs, since I’m an atheist, but they didn’t really bleed into the show, so I can’t hold them against her. For what we got, the shock alone of seeing THIS character of all people become a breakout hit is pretty startling, and seeing her machinate and evolve as time went by was also a great joy.

And so, for our third and final good major hit, we come to our winner, Tyson Apostol (“Survivor Tocantins”). Coming off of a laughably ridiculous exit from “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” Tyson was something of an underdog. Even Jeff Probst thought he didn’t stand much of a chance. But Tyson is not to be underestimated. On both his previous appearances, his ego was his undoing, and Tyson learned from that fact, pretty well keeping himself in check the entire time. For my personal benefit (since I’m not a huge fan of his humor), he toned down the snark a great deal, though it’s still there. This is a double-edged sword, though, as it makes him more likable but less memorable. His strategic play and whats left of his snark do make him memorable enough, but compared to his other seasons, he just seems like an all-business version of himself. Even his win isn’t that exciting. It was pretty well-broadcast from early on, and while his strategic play was good, it was also mainly standard stuff we see most seasons executed superbly. Like I said, Ciera and Vytas were the real movers and shakers of the season, but Tyson still makes a good winner overall, just not the most interesting part of the season.

Note, though, the adjective “good” in that previous topic sentence. Yes, sadly, there is one breakout hit who must be discussed now. Get out the “Misogynist-Beater” Sticks, we’re talking Brad Culpepper. The former pro-Football player came out with the proverbial guns blazing, being the driving force of strategy for the first six episodes, and coming out with incredibly sexist and homophobic attitudes within the first hour of showtime. Never forget that is was Brad Culpepper who counted Caleb Bankston, the gay man of his tribe, as “One of the girls”. Let us also not forget that large swaths of the case, and pretty much all of the audience hated the guy’s guys. He always deferred to guys if he was going to be subservient, and was pretty much a jackass the whole way through. Sometimes that can be fun to watch, but Brad lacks the charm for that, and is also hindered by his sexism. Some have praised his appearance for inciting discussion of gender politics on “Survivor”, and that’s certainly true, but most people, myself included, would have preferred he just never showed up and gave us this unpleasantness in the first place. While it was fun to watch his alliance fall, Brad’s schtick, such as it is, got old within the first episode, and having to put up with such attitudes front, center, and arguably praised on the show was no fun. That said, I will give Brad credit for one of the funnies subtle arcs in the show’s history. It’s established early on that the TRUE enemy of Brad Culpepper is not the elements, his fellow competitors, or even Jeff Probst. No, Brad’s true enemy is FIRST GRADE MATH! When talking of forming his alliance, Brad incorrectly says that five is greater than four. He makes some other math goofs besides that, but that one scene gets the point across. Cut to Brad’s elimination episode, and what gets him evicted? Counting the numbers 1-100. Sweet poetic justice. Still doesn’t justify his place on the show, but funny nonetheless.

Now, we move on to our second category, that being “Those who were big at the time, but have since fallen into relative obscurity”. I use the term “relative” in this case, because the more recent the season, the more people are talked about. Still, people live Vytas and Ciera still get mentioned a lot to this day, and while these next people are still talked about, it’s not NEARLY to the degree that the previous people are, and so we put them here. Paralleling our biggest characters, we start off with a pair of new-player strategists. First up, we have Hayden Moss, a former “Big Brother” winner and a favorite example of stunt casting. At this point, while “Big Brother” was a part of the “Big 3” of CBS reality television, and had crossed over with “The Amazing Race”, no one had really crossed over back to “Survivor”. So, the question was, how would he do? After all, it’s one thing to win “Big Brother”, but “Survivor” is generally considered the toughest of the “Big 3”, so would those skills transfer over? Surprisingly, yes. Hayden, while nothing particularly special, proved himself to be a halfway decent strategist, skillfully shifting between alliances at the swap, and ultimately organizing a counter-alliance against Tyson that, had the timing been better, might actually have succeeded in overthrowing him. Add onto that him helping to force the first rock draw since “Survivor Marquesas”, and you’ve definitely got a guy worth remembering. I think he’s forgotten mainly because his personality was just that of a generic, laid-back guy, and while he did try and make big moves, and they were well-thought-out, none of them were particularly successful. I think there are better characters to focus on, so I’m not TOO disappointed that Hayden isn’t talked about so much, but the guy deserves respect, and was a decent enough addition to the season.

Hayden would be nowhere without his successful partner in crime, though. Caleb Bankston, an Alabama farm boy, proved to be much more that the racist stereotype many thought he would be at the outset. Very laid-back, Caleb quickly endeared himself by having an obviously sweet nature, and earning the ire of Brad Culpepper (and thereby the love of the audience) for his sexual orientation. Satisfyingly, Caleb was one of the main driving forces behind the eviction of Brad, calling an audible shift at Tribal Council that succeeded on the revote. Arguably, this makes him more successful than Hayden, since while Hayden was generally more the lead role (Caleb taking on the role of lieutenant), Caleb actually has a victory to his name. So, why isn’t Caleb talked about nowadays, if he was a decent, likable strategist who helped get rid of a major asshole? Sure, he’s kind of generic, but not to the degree that Hayden is. Well, the trouble for Caleb is that a lot of talk and airtime centers around people the audience wants back on the show, and while the audience may indeed wish Caleb back on the show (certainly I do), Caleb can’t come back. Regrettably, Caleb was killed in a train accident about a year after the show had aired. It’s a tragic loss, both of a life and of a good character. May he rest in peace, and those who knew him well find solace in his legacy.

Moving on to our returnees here, the name of the game is “Underdog Story”. A bit odd to find returning players in this situation, but there you go. In fact, we got THREE such stories this season! First off, we have something of a duo in Laura Morett (“Survivor Samoa”) and Tina Wesson (“Survivor The Australian Outback”). I lump them together both because they worked together later on, and because their arcs both revolve around the same thing. I’ll be going into more detail in the “Twist” section, but suffice to say that the God-awful “Redemption Island” twist makes a return. Laura ended up here pre-merge, and fought her way back into the game. She managed to avoid being voted off IMMEDIATELY, but did fall again before too long, and fought her way to the final duel. Tina, meanwhile, had control wrested from her at the merge (when she’d been playing a solid game up to that point), and had to fight her way back against some of the most athletic competitors from this season. No small feat for either of them, particularly given that they’re considered “old” by the standards of “Survivor” (at the time of filming, Laura was 43 years old, and Tina 52). Tina was already well-liked, and Laura showed her softer side this time, particularly with her daughter Ciera, so both were likable enough as well. For my part, their story was enjoyable, and they made fun underdogs to root for, so why should they be forgotten? “Survivor” tending to underemphasize story arcs relating to women, particularly older women, is a factor, but I think the major one is just the fact that they were returnees. While the returnees once again ran the game this season, the real intrigue was with the new players, particularly having just come off of another season featuring returning players, and so Tina and Laura regretfully fall by the wayside.

As to our third, we have surprise challenge beast and self-proclaimed “nice person” Monica Culpepper (“Survivor One World”). Obviously the wife of Brad Culpepper, Monica had a big story going early on. Since Brad was the center of a large amount of controversy, it only seems fitting that she would be drawn in as well. As you’d expect, Monica was more than a little upset at hearing her husband talked about this way (bear in mind that the quote for the season is “Fuck you, Brad Culpepper!”), and so attempted to defend him at every turn. This controversy also led to her getting clues to the hidden immunity idol, due to a twist I’ll talk about in the “Twist” section, though little came of it, since she took to burning said clues in a convenient fire pit. However, she struggled through a rough tart, got into the enviable position of swing vote come the merge, and utterly DOMINATED the individual challenges. Hell, her efforts earned her second place overall. Hardly a bd showing, and while her occasional melodrama and her ties to Brad do drag her character down a bit, she’s still one of the better parts of the season, and it’s a shame she’s not as talked about now. She should be up there with the Colby’s (“Survivor The Australian Outback”) and the Ozzy’s (“Survivor Cook Islands”) of the show. I can only attribute her lack of popularity to a combination of the aforementioned Brad connection and “Survivor” not emphasizing her story as much.

Moving on to our rapid-fire section on people who maybe weren’t as big of a character on the show, but deserve mention for one reason or another, we have another returnee. Yes Candice Cody, formerly Candice Woodcock of “Survivor Cook Islands” comes in as a last-minute replacement for RC Saint-Armour from “Survivor Philippines”, and had a decent run on Redemption Island, since she was the first person sent there. For my part, I find her annoying, and place a lot of the blame for the ruination of “Survivor Heroes vs. Villains” on her, so I’m not sorry to see the back of her. Still, she did help incite a lot of the Brad bashing on the show (she uttered the aforementioned “Fuck you, Brad Culpepper!”), so there’s that. Also memorable in the quotes department was Kat Edorsson (“Survivor One World”), who would not bear mentioning were it not for the fact that upon being sent to Redemption Island she talked about how people who don’t make the merge are “Undateable”. This is just the kind of pathetic and shallow comment we expect from Kat, so it STILL wouldn’t be worth mentioning were it not for the fact that the term “dateable” has now become a part of “Survivor” fan parlance, meaning whether or not someone will make the merge, so she needs at least a passing mention.

And finally, we come to it. The sin that REALLY drags this season down! Yes, about as much as Brad Culpepper. Some IDIOT in casting thought it would be to get Colton Cumbie (“Survivor One World”) to come back for another season. You know, the guy who was a whiny, racist asshole and then either quit or got medevaced depending on your point of view? Yeah, another season of him is REALLY what we needed! True, his time was mercifully short, seeing him get verbally TRASHED by Probst was a nice touch, and he did give us Caleb, but that doesn’t excuse having to put up with him in the first place only for him to actually OUTRIGHT quit this time, making him effectively a wasted space. Sorry, sorry, I try to be nice to Colton, since Caleb obviously saw something in him and after losing Caleb, the guy’s been through enough, but there was really little to no point to having Colton back and he’s just unpleasant to watch! UGH!

Overall, though, the cast is very strong. The new players stand out just as much, if not better than, the returnees, strong gameplay abounds, and there are a lot of fun story arcs to follow, even if your favorite left early. A pretty strong cast for a pretty good season. It did have a few unpleasant people dragging it down, though, so I’ll knock off two points for that. One each for Brad and Colton. Seems fair.

Score: 8 out of 10.

CHALLENGES

The challenges this season are a mixed bag, leaning towards the side of being good. Part of what drags it down is due to the “Redemption Island” twist, since it means we’re only getting one full-scale challenge per episode. And then, we get a large number of repeat challenges from past season, which is more than a little annoying. When we DO get original challenges this season, though, they tend to be memorable and entertaining ones. Some of them even went on to become “Survivor” staples, like the barrel-rolling challenge. However, not every new idea is a hit. Bear in mind that THIS season brought us the popularization of skee-ball as a challenge element, which I maintain is a stupid challenge element.

That said, I have got to give this season credit in one major area: the balance of good challenges. Most of the time in this section I complain about the loss of scale for individual challenges, and how it drags this section down. This is not a complaint I can have about Blood vs. Water. While the individual challenges are a mixed bag, I remember as many if not more of them than the team challenges, and this season did a very good job making them tough and entertaining. The negatives I mentioned earlier do hurt this category a certain amount, but that’s a major feather in the cap of this category.

Score: 7 out of 10.

TWISTS

Hoo boy, this section is going to be a toughie. Blood vs. Water is nothing if not twist-happy, so we might be here a while. I suppose it’s best to start with the elephant in the room, that being the twist of “Blood vs. Water” itself. As I hinted at before, this season pitted returning players against their loved ones, adding a personal connection between the tribes never before seen on the show. It is, without question, the defining twist of the season, but is it any good? Well, regardless of the answer to that question, I can say that it was at least innovative. “Survivor” loves to boast about still having “firsts” many seasons in, but oftentimes these “firsts” are nothing more than marketing fabrication. Here, however, we have a legitimately new and interesting that can potentially have us watch a whole new game. That in and of itself is a plus, but the fact that the twist came off so well only adds fuel to the good fire here. As I wrote before this season began, this twist had the potential to go horribly wrong, to have a show now primarily about strategy spiral into personal arguments worthy of shows like “Jersey Shore” or “Real Housewives”. And, with all the Brad stuff we’d be getting into later, it seemed like the show might take that route. In the end, though, the presence of a personal dynamic enhanced, rather than hindered, strategy. People took revenge on tribe members they didn’t like through their loved ones, alliances were formed either to benefit couples or against the idea of couples. Ideas we’d never even thought of came to the forefront, giving us an innovative season like we hadn’t seen in a while! Sure, “Survivor Philippines” and “Survivor Caramoan” were both GOOD, there’s no doubts there, but they lacked a lot of innovation. Blood vs. Water brought that in spades. Ergo, good twist.

Talking about the other previously-mentioned twist, Redemption Island is back this season, working pretty much the same way it always has, and for those reasons, I still hate it. However, it’s worth noting that many say that this was actually a “good” incarnation of the twist, and it’s not hard to see why, given the one change that was made to Redemption Island this time around. We had three-person duels, which seem inherently less exciting than two-person duels, so the production came up with an incentive for first place. The outright winner of a duel won the right to assign someone still in the game a clue to the hidden immunity idol, a dynamic that got taken full advantage of, and used in revenge against the family members of people the winner happened to dislike. The logic was that having such an obvious idol clue made one a target, and therefore one got revenge on the person they hated. Why not give it to the hated one outright? Well, while making one a target, the idol clue does have the potential to give one great power, by finding a hidden immunity idol, and you don’t want your enemy to get that. Best risk vs. reward outcome here. The other major twist of Redemption Island was the opportunity to swap places with your loved one at any duel. they would take your place on your tribe, and you would fight for your life. This rarely came into play in that regard, since only one person (Rupert Boneham of “Survivor Pearl Islands”) was foolish enough to swap, but again, it did change the strategy of early votes, since now one would vote people off in the hopes of getting a strong competitor on the other side to swap in. Both excellent twists, and while I’ll talk about this more in the “Overall” section, I can’t deny that many of the more memorable moments on this season came as a result of this twist. Woe, then, that I must still point out that, while better than other incarnations, the Redemption Island twist is still a horrible idea, for all the reasons I’ve enumerated previously. It gets rid of challenges, it violates one of the few firm doctrines of “Survivor” (“Once the votes are read, the decision is final.”), and most damning, it moves what should be the climax of an episode right to the beginning, thereby lessing the impact of each episode overall. Granted, the good points I’ve mentioned are still there, and do make the twist more bearable, but it’s like being rewarded with a brownie after eating a shit sandwich. Yes, the brownie is delicious, but is it really worth eating an entire shit sandwich to get it?

Moving to a more chronological structure, our first twist actually revolves around when the game starts. Rather than begin on “Day 1”, we were given a “Day 0”, which saw each couple being marooned together, though with each couple separated from the others. A chance to talk strategy alone, and really get to know these couples as couples before they’re inevitably split up? Wow! What a really great idea! If only they gave it time to develop. Yep, while we get a couple of cursory interviews during “Day 0”, the twist was really pointless, basically just giving the show a fancy way of opening the new season. It’s not that the twist is bad, but it ultimately has no impact on the show as a whole, and is just kind of pointless. It’s a shame, really, because I feel that this twist had a lot of potential to be really fun and bring out new aspects of “Survivor”. Instead, it was a glorified opening. I don’t count it AGAINST this section, but neither does it count FOR it, and I have to shake my head at the waste of potential.

Following this, we get our first fully reused twist, courtesy of “Survivor Tocantins”. After being divided into a tribe of returning players and a tribe of new players, each tribe is asked to vote out one person to be sent to Redemption Island. While a reused twist, this is one we hadn’t seen in a while, and the personal connection really makes this one work, since it’s our first example of voting someone out to get back at a potential threat. Bear in mind that the returnees had COLTON CUMBIE on their tribe, and yet the elected to vote out Candice. The new players vote out Laura Boneham, leading to the one instance of a loved one swapping out, with Rupert stepping in for his wife, after some coercion by Probst (the man went on and on about how big a hero Rupert is seen as, so there was no way he wasn’t stepping in. Granted, I think he’d have stepped in regardless, but the point still stands). Also, Aras voting for Gervase Peterson (“Survivor Borneo”), and giving the reason as “Hating the Philadelphia Eagles”? Hilarious. Thumbs up unequivocally for this one.

Now we get into the player twists, and how tribe dynamics develop. We don’t get much of Galang (the returnees), in the first couple episodes, other than some cursory talk about how Laura Boneham is the odd person out, and Colton whines a lot about the game being “too slow”, but we’ll have plenty to talk about later. Tadhana, however, is another story, as the guys form something of a “Boys Club”, and take control of the tribe. This also gives us our first instance of voting someone out in revenge. Gervase’s niece, Marissa Peterson, was voted out due to Gervase making an ass of himself at the immunity challenge, leading Tadhana to want revenge. These are the sort of new voting dynamics that make this season so innovative and good, so once again, thumbs up.
Episode 3 brought us two minor shake-ups. After trying unsuccessfully to get a “Survivor One World” alliance together, Monica decided to abandon the already on-the-outs Colton in favor of a stronger alliance, including Aras, Tina, Tyson, Gervase, and ostensibly Kat. Worth noting here is the emergence of “Coconut Bandits” Tyson and Gervase, so named when the pair snuck off and ate most of gallants coconuts. A minor moment, but a fun part of the season worth mentioning.

This perceived lack of strategizing (since no one would talk to him) led to Colton opting to quit the game. While it was nice that his time was mercifully short, and even with a nice berating from Probst on the way out, this was still a poor exit for Colton that did not justify his place on the show. Then, of course, there was the MAJOR shake-up of episode 3, where Brad started to realize that, by voting out one half of a couple, it incentivized the other half to get rid of couples. Add onto that the fact that Brad figured he had a guaranteed merge spot along with Monica, and Brad very suddenly changed tactics to voting off the remaining half of couples that he could. Since John had been given a hidden immunity idol clue early on, Brad became paranoid about it being used against him, and since his other half was effectively out of the game, guess who got voted out? However, this paranoia would prove to be Brad’s undoing next episode. In a crowning moment for Caleb, he quickly realized that this made him a potential target to Brad (Laura Boneham being untouchable on Galang at the moment), and so, after hearing Brad give a horrible answer at Tribal Council, called an audible and eliminated him, along with Vytas and the remaining ladies. This, for me, is the highlight of the pre-merge game. Getting rid of an unlikeable villain in a very blatant and unusual way? That’s good “Survivor” right there.

Minor note worth mentioning here: the immunity challenge from that episode also featured a minor twist. As you’d expect with a twist such as this, we got some good confrontations between loved ones in a “Sumo at Sea” challenge. Chief amongst these was the rivalry between Aras and Vytas coming to a nice head. And the dynamic was best on display when, having fought to a relative stalemate, Aras offered Vytas the chance to back off, get up, and start over. Vytas, having more of a dark side, used this as a cheap shot against Aras, though Aras still came back to win and the pair had a talk about their brotherly dynamic throughout their life. It’s scenes like these that really make the “Blood vs. Water” twist work: they add to the dynamics of the game, but don’t distract from them, and don’t delve into melodrama.

Things get further twisted in Episode 5, when galling actually consents to LOSE a challenge, meaning the returnees are now confronted with actually having to vote someone off. In a twist, original target Laura Boneham is turned down by Aras in favor of Laura Morett, as the latter had been trying to play him very blatantly, whereas Laura Boneham was an unobtrusive worker bee. A good shakeup overall, particularly since it led to Laura Morett’s underdog story I love so much.

Speaking of shake-ups, next episode gives us our tribe swap. It’s done in a very “Blah” way, but it does make things very uneven on the tribes. The only athletic younger male on the new Galang was Vytas, while the only real drag on the new Tadhana was Ciera. Not that Tadhana was a slouch in the strategy department by any stretch, though. Tyson used this as his opportunity to seize control away from Aras, convincing Hayden, Caleb, and Ciera to join forces with him to oust Aras. A good, adequately foreshadowed move that changed the course of the game, and kept it all interesting.

But, of course, due to losing a lot, the real story of intrigue is at the new Galang. We have essential the birth and death of an alliance over the course of two episodes. The women pretty much all band together to take out Vytas, only to have Vytas play a laid-back game and pull out the sympathy card, due to his addict past. Combine that with some of the women not being able to keep their mouths shut, and you’ve got Vytas surviving not one but TWO votes, as first Kat and then Laura Boneham get evicted. An engaging and unpredictable storyline if ever there was one, and definitely a worthy addition to the season.

Coming to the merge, we get some intrigue over which side Monica will fit in on (along with the start of Monica’s challenge beasting), ultimately leading to the dominance of Tyson’s alliance, adding Laura Morett to the ranks, since she’d come back from Redemption Island, and had a connection with Ciera as well as a grudge against Tyson. By and large, this is the end of the twists, since Tyson pretty well runs the table for the season, and yet there’s still a fair amount of intrigue. After a couple of predictable vote-offs, we get Laura Morett’s second elimination, which not only constitutes a shift in the alliance, but also Ciera’s aforementioned voting out of her mom. And oh, the melodrama. Many people hate this twist for being overblown, but I think it really works. There’s definitely an emotional component to it, but it’s still strategy at it’s core, and the intriguing debate of whether someone should vote off a loved one or not to better themselves in the game is a nice addition. Yeah. it’s not as big of a deal as the show made it out to be, but that doesn’t mean it has no merit.

With the second eviction of Laura Morett, we get one of the more interesting things to ever come out of Redemption Island: collusion. At this point, Laura was on Redemption Island with Tina and Vytas. Now, Vytas is tough competition, but so is Laura, and since puzzle challenges favored her, she won first place. Having solve the puzzle, though, she decided to influence things further, by advocating for Tina to win. She did this by basically telling Tina the solution to the puzzle, allowing her to edge out Vytas for the win. If I can say one good thing came out of Redemption Island, it’s definitely this. Collusion to this degree hadn’t really been seen before, and it added an intriguing dynamic to the game besides. Granted, it would be Laura’s undoing, since Tina ultimately beat her in the last duel, but that’s neither here nor there. For what it is, it’s still fun.

Around this time, we get two minor twists: Monica giving up a reward to give it to everyone else, and Ciera calling Katie’s idol bluff. The former is standard, and really has no impact, save to make us like Monica a bit more, but the latter really helped keep these later episodes interesting, showing that intrigue that could happen, even in a situation with one solid dominant alliance. It also did a good job of showcasing Ciera’s smarts, so kudos there.

Our next actual threat comes from within, as Hayden and Caleb start to realize “Hey, why are we letting TYSON control our fates?” Banding together with Katie, the three try to get a “Loved ones” alliance going, attempting to draw in Ciera as a swing vote against Tyson, Gervase, and Monica. Ciera, however, believes her chances are better with the latter group, and helps in voting out Caleb. This is the main mark against Ciera’s strategic cred, since she passed up an opportunity that could very easily have lead to her victory. And yeah, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t disappointing to see, but it did lead to the next fun moment of the season: the rock draw. Thankfully, Ciera did come to her senses, just one episode too late. Because of this, she forced a tie between Monica and Hayden, forcing herself, Tyson, and Katie to draw rocks (Gervase having individual immunity this time around). It all comes to naught, as Katie goes home, but while elimination by rock is always a dissatisfying exit, losing Katie was that that big of a loss game-wise, and it was a major moment to see a rock-draw after 23 seasons. Plus, it led to a really sweet moment where Tina offered to throw the duel for Katie in the next episode.

Ultimately Tina comes back and while she is eliminated, it’s not right away. In one last twist, the old alliance turns on Ciera, believing her to be too big of a jury threat, and she’s evicted. Pretty cool, but I wish the rest of the season wasn’t then a slog towards an obvious Tyson victory.

Innovation is always a scary thing to have in a show, since it can backfire horribly, but here, in addition to some really good player strategy, nearly every twist hit home. It added new dynamics that made the show feel fresh again, and breathed new life into the fanbase. It wasn’t perfect, of course. The presence of Redemption Island and the flatness of a few of the ideas drop this section a couple points, but overall, this was a good season for twists.

Score: 8 out of 10.

OVERALL

In terms of aesthetics, gong back to the Philippines could have been disastrous. While they did use a different AREA of the Philippines, you wouldn’t be able to tell that for certain unless you read up pre-season. Still, while I wouldn’t say the season stands out in terms of aesthetics, neither does it blend in, striking a balance between distinctiveness and anonymity. I won’t be winning any awards in this area, but I would say that it does its job adequately.

Of course, the real theme of the season is right there in the title. Blood vs. Water. How far will you go in the game of “Survivor” to win? The cost of a loved one? The answer, obviously, is yes, one will do that, but more often than not, the dynamics and scenes resulting from this came off very well, and not in a melodramatic fashion. As I said earlier, the twist helped give this season a fresh feeling and added some stuff we legitimately hadn’t seen before, and that really elevates this season in my eyes. It was a big risk. After all, it could have descended into highly personal bickering and revenge plots, which can be hard to watch in large quantities. Thankfully, we avoided this, showing that not only could such twists and themes be handled with class but that it could even enhance the game we have come to know and love.

With all that said, though, this category turns out to be the worst for me. True, this season has good elements, and you’ll never hear me say this was a BAD season by any stretch, but I don’t think it deserves as much love as others give it. Partly that’s because I’m not a fan of the Redemption Island twist, and have a hard time forgiving this season for it, but that alone cannot account for what I consider to be just a slightly-above-average season. Looking at each element individually, they work. When they come together, though, I think they tend to blend in. I said that this season could be described as a “Jack of all trades, master of none.” While it does all the elements well, it doesn’t really have that one element that stands out above the rest, and this is something I think might be necessary for a good season. In essence, this season might have done too well at everything. By making it all good, there was no contrast to shine above the rest, and that, in a sense, drags it down.

Again, please don’t misunderstand me. This season is great in almost every element. But when I think about it, there aren’t moments from this season that stand out within the context of the whole of “Survivor” history here, and what few moments there are are overshadowed by similar moments in other seasons. Still, this season always comes fairly high in my rankings, and with regards to my “Jack of all trades…” comment, I think the season can actually be BEST summed up by the full quote of that saying: “Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than master of one.”

Score: 30 out of 40.

ABSTRACT

If you find yourself getting into a “Survivor” rut, wherein you feel that you’re getting similar plot points each season, then “Survivor Blood vs. Water” is the season to watch. It shakes up a lot of “Survivor” conventions in a good way, and gives you brand new dynamics to get invested in. It comes with the warning that it does have returning players, which can makes things confusing, so this might not be a good early season to watch. If, however, you’re a seasoned veteran looking for something different in a good way, then this season gets a very high recommendation from me.