If nothing else, this episode of “Survivor” should put to rest any doubts anyone has about the virulency and spread of COVID. Not only has it spread to every inhabited nation on earth, not only has it fundamentally changed our way of life, but it has even managed to reach Jeff Probst’s fountain of youth! The horror! Don’t misunderstand, the dude still looks WAY younger than he actually is, and some of this may be due to just not having seen him in a while, but the dude has visibly aged, in my opinion. Perhaps it’s the mullet. Cut that thing, Probst.
Readers, is is my DIVINE pleasure to welcome you back, once again, to “Idol Speculation”, my knee-jerk opinion that EVERYONE is entitled to. Yes, after a long, LONG dry spell we at last have new “Survivor” content to discuss. Let me just switch off from the “Nick Jr.” channel my cable seems to have started on for some weird reason, and we can begin…
Wait, you mean to tell me this whole “Probst talking to the audience like he’s in your living room” thing is a part of the show now? Yeah, it case the snark didn’t make it obvious, this first “twist” for want of a better word, doesn’t land well. It’s bad enough that Probst interrupts the flow of the action to give us an answer to a question we didn’t need (I maintain it’s more fun to play along with a hunt for an advantage/idol than it is to be told where one is), but he actually “talks” to us, tells us how much he missed us? Yeah, I don’t need that patronization, thanks. Show us your gratitude to be back on the air by giving us a fantastic, well-edited episode (which this one by and large is), and through your own in-universe enthusiasm, not by going full “Dora the Explorer”.
Oh, Probst also takes this opportunity to show us the tree in which he’s hiding the “Beware” advantage. What does it do? We don’t know! We have so many advantages now that we can’t even explain them all to you!
We then get our introduction to the players this season, with the first six interviews for the players. We hear about Evvie’s passion for the game, as well as Danny’s drive. Jairus (or JD, as he’s going by) give the first of 8,192 confessionals about being younger than the game itself. Tiffany talks about her joy at being selected for the game, complete with video of her reaction to being called. If that’s genuine video of the event (which I somewhat doubt), good for her! A fun reaction, and a pretty realistic one. If that’s staged, then man, show. I get that the “flashback” to stuff in real life worked on “Winners at War”. By and large, it works here too. But don’t force it if you don’t have the footage. David (or “Voce”) talks about how the stress of neurosurgery prepares him for “Survivor”, thereby getting our requisite “Link your job to the game” confessional out of the way early and relatively painlessly. Kudos. Finally, Shantel (or “Shan” as she is going by) rounds us out by telling us that being a pastor doesn’t mean she won’t play a cutthroat game. Decent enough, but Shan, that’s not what I’m worried about. You’re not on a super-religious tribe, and if you bring up religion too much, that, not your ability or inability to be cutthroat, will be your undoing. Still, a promising start.
After three rapid-fire confessionals to assure us that yes, COVID has been a major factor in these people’s lives, we get what I can only assume is the show’s answer to “Doing something new with the intro”, as advertised pre-season. We get some of the opening notes played over a slow-motion shot of that horrible logo, thus giving us time to linger on its horribleness, rather than do the smart thing and only show it briefly, keeping the focus on the colors and not the other, less-good design choices. Plus, this just makes me long for the old intro even more. Come on, show, you can spare one minute to give us that epic music and gorgeous shots of the players.
Getting back to the players, after some more brief introductions (making sure to get Naseer’s “I learned English by watching ‘Survivor’” story in there), we get to, you guessed it, EVEN MORE CRINGE! Probst talks about the changes that have been made to the show, highlighting in particular the diversity of the cast. Fair enough. Growth is important, and should be called out where applicable. Granted, the show still has a long way to go in a lot of areas, but still, steps in the right direction should be praised. The show praising itself is not what I would have gone for but hey, no harm done so far. Unfortunately, Probst decides to then go in the cringe-y direction by asking if his “Come on in, guys!” is too exclusionary, and should be gotten rid of. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad conversation in and of itself, and I’m not saying it should never happen. But, first, it should not happening in so public a format. By doing it this visibly, you A, put a lot of pressure on people to say that everything’s fine, and B, look like you’re trying to show people how “Woke” you are without actually putting in as much effort as you should. Second, and more important, while the show is improving in terms of inclusivity, this is NOT a step people were clamoring for, and is not a major step towards being more inclusive. Instead, it looks like you’re forgoing real change in favor of looking good. Trying to give the APPEARANCE of changing the system to be more just, rather than actually doing something SUBSTANTIAL to change the system. My fear is that the show won’t go through with things it ought to, and instead just have purely symbolic gestures towards change without actual development. Evvie speaks up, saying they feel that “guys” is inclusive enough to keep, and we, for the moment, move on.
With all my complaining, people are going to think I don’t like this episode. Nothing could be further from the truth! That said, be prepared for more snark incoming. You see, we finally get our tribe names. We have the blue “Luvu” tribe, which is in no way going to be confusing, given that we had a blue “Levu” tribe on “Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers”. See, this is what happens when you don’t vary up your locations. You’re stuck in the same linguistic groups, and have confusions like these. Our yellow tribe is “Yase”, noteworthy only that is pronounced “yeh-SAW” for some reason, making me feel like the “A” and “E” should be reversed. As for our green tribe, they are “Ua”, and they waste no time in leaning into the fact that their tribe name sounds like a war cry.
Probst then makes sure to inform the contestants about the shortened game and limited supplies before getting into the season opener. Despite starting on the ship, we thankfully avoid the “Scramble for Supplies” opener that had, until recently, been standard. While a fun way to start, it was getting played out. Instead, our tribes must race to find six oars, which they must then use to paddle a boat around a buoy and back to the main boat to grab a flint. First tribe to do so gets said flint, plus a machete and pot, with the other two tribes having to “earn” these later on. We’ll get to that.
Out of the gate, we get a sense for how well these tribes work together. Luvu and Ua are fairly even physically. Luvu gets a bit of a lead into the water, but forgets to unclip one part of their boat when rowing. As such, they tow an anchor, allowing Ua to take the lead. They may not be the swiftest, but so far, they work well together, and win reward for their troubles. As for Yase? they don’t even make it off the boat, missing one oar, though Tiffany does jump in the water to count and make sure.
So, how are our losing tribes to earn their meager supplies? Well, they have a choice in the matter, which is always a good thing, in my opinion. They can either work as a team to solve a “How many triangles are in this picture” puzzle, or race to have two people fill two buckets with ocean water along a set course in a set period of time (4 hours). Physical work or mental work? It’s a decent dilemma, and adds some good intrigue to the show, though I would say the triangle one is better overall. True, they do only get one guess, but you keep the whole team together, and don’t physically tax yourself when there’s still shelter building to be done. Voce wants to advocate for this option, for these reasons, though has a hard time arguing against the logic of “We couldn’t find an oar, so how can we find all these triangles?”. Even worse for him, he’s roped into doing the task, along with Xander. Luvu also chooses this option, though are more gung-ho about it, with Deshawn and Danny stating they will have no issues completing this particular task. Naseer, attempting to keep the tribe unified, says the four who are at camp won’t talk strategy while they’re gone.
This plan gets thrown out the window, however, when Danny and Deshawn start taking some time off to look for an idol or other advantage. Not bad if they think they have the time, but Naseer catches them at it, and notes the clock is ticking. Figuring this violates the spirit of “No strategizing”, he violates it as well, and talks to the women on his tribe (Erika, Sydney, and Heather) about voting one of the other two out. Solid, if predictable, strategy. Xander and Voce, not being as physically gifted as Deshawn and Danny, do not have this problem, Eric instead throwing Tiffany under the bus for jumping in the water, blaming, as he says “Anyone but himself” for the loss. This backfires, however, as Evvie and Liana have formed a tight bond, and the pair fear being next if Eric wants to start taking out those who are weak in challenges. As such, Evvie wants to align with Xander and Voce, a bit odd considering their hatred of “Mansplaining”, but I suppose Voce has been fairly subdued so far, compared to what his introductory materials indicated. To this end, they inform Tiffany of what’s happening, who is, of course, not happy about this course of events.
Ultimately, the time crunch may have been somewhat exaggerated, as both tribes complete the task with time to spare. This causes little fanfare over on Yase, but Luvu sees some intrigue, as Sydney spills Naseer’s strategizing to Deshawn and Danny, putting Naseer in their sights. Time will tell if this bears fruit.
Ua, with no tasks to do beyond building shelter, takes the time to pretty much all get a humanizing moment, complete with flashbacks. Sara talks about losing her grandmother, a fan of the show, to COVID-19. Ricard talks about leaving his husband and 22-month old daughter, while his husband is pregnant with their second child. Genie talks about marrying her wife, and her gratitude at her mother’s implicit acceptance of this by giving her a diamond ring to use in the ceremony. Brad… talks about working on a ranch. One of these things is not like the others.
I snark, I snark. Brad talks about losing his dad as well, which hits just as hard as the others. Shan is, admittedly, the only one who doesn’t get a flashback, but makes up for it with a fun editing moment. She talks about “evilly” making friends with pretty much everyone in the tribe, and talks about the soundtrack that plays in her head, complete with singing a few bars. Not one to miss such a BEAT (huh? huh? See what I did there), the editors, of course, turn this music into the score for this scene. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. A highlight for the episode. Less successful is JD. True, he does make fire, and gets a nice flashback of moments from previous seasons, as well as his life, when he talks about how much this means to him as a superfan and former “not cool guy”. No, JD’s problems come in his attempting to bond with people. On paper, he does what he’s supposed to. Talk with everyone, play nice, form bonds, try and get some sort of agreement going. JD’s problem is that, to paraphrase Malcolm from “Survivor Philippines”, he has all the social graces of a Mack Truck. He’s incredibly blunt about what he’s doing, and his volume is such that everyone knows he’s doing it. This is indicated at first just by a disapproving look from Ricard in the background, though Ricard eventually solidifies this into an “Anti-JD” alliance of, well, pretty much everyone except JD.
The following day, after some shots of Sydney trying to catch a crab, and talking about her travel experience, a boat comes up, asking each tribe to send off one player for an unknown purpose. Sydney is initially volunteered, but backs down. Danny tries to get rock-paper-scissors going, but when this fails, volunteers himself. A bit risky, given what he should know about his position in the tribe. Safer is Xander, whom the whole of Yase trusts, and sends by unanimous consent. Evvie comments that Xander will be honest when he gets back, which is fair, though in case he meets up with the other tribe, I would worry about him spilling your secrets. Ua, meanwhile, goes for the traditional rock draw, leading JD to go, thereby further piling on the “royally screwed”.
Sure enough, the three meet up at an island, and have a good chat, bonding over their shared sports backgrounds. Danny denies having played in the NFL, instead saying he runs teen football camps, though he does admit being good friends with Gary Hawkins, the landscaper from “Survivor Guatemala”. After posing epically at the top of a mountain, the three are told to go off and each make a separate decision. Danny tries to coordinate with the other two, but this fails.
The decision, as Xander and later Erika will point out, is basically the prisoner’s dilemma. Each individual must choose whether to protect their vote, or risk their vote. Protecting your vote ensures you will have a vote at the next Tribal Council, but you have no shot at an advantage. If you risk your vote, as long as someone else protects theirs, you get an extra vote to use down the line. If, however, EVERYONE risks their vote, all LOSE their vote at the next Tribal Council. What can I say, this is a twist that actually hits. Choice, as I said, always makes the show more dynamic, and the prisoner’s dilemma is a tried-and-true such choice. If I WERE to find fault, I would say they made the “Protect” option too appealing, as there was no negative consequence to everyone doing so, and on such small tribes, a vote is a bit thing to risk. Plus, if someone else DOES get the extra vote, you can try to leverage the “Hey, I sacrificed my chance for you” down the line It might not be great leverage, but it is leverage nonetheless.
In another good bit of editing, we actually only see Danny’s choice before the commercial break. Wisely, he chooses to protect his vote, then goes back and comes clean to his tribe about what he did. Makes sense. Even if you did risk your vote, there’s little reason to lie this early in the game over an extra vote, something that has historically not been all that helpful as an advantage. Even Xander, who DID end up risking his vote, as we see in a flashback, comes clean to his tribe. In both their cases, this engenders trust. The same cannot be said of JD, who largely tells the truth, but his delivery is way too stilted, and only engenders more mistrust in him from his tribe. We don’t see which option he picked, but based on his delivery, it seems pretty clear he risked his vote.
And now we head off to challenge time, but not before Ricard brings up the “Come on in, guys” thing again. He tells Probst that, having thought it over, he doesn’t think it’s ok to say “guys”, anymore, and it should just be shortened to “come on in”. Probst agrees, and defies anyone to call him on it by putting his twitter handle in the lower corner. Good on Ricard for standing up for what he thought was right, though again, I think the show focussing on it distracts from larger issues.
Speaking of potential issues, Probst tells us about a few new twists to the game. The first is that only the first tribe to finish wins immunity, sending the other two to Tribal Council. A reasonable shake-up that fits with the shortened game time. I can get behind this. He also mentions that there is now a penalty for losing, with the two tribes who come in last having to forfeit their flint until after the next Tribal Council. This seems a little needlessly cruel to me, and has the potential to devolve into the disastrous “Haves vs. Have-Nots” twist of “Survivor Fiji”. If they really do get flint following Tribal, though, it probably won’t be as much of a factor. Then, there’s the “shot in the dark”, the most confusing twist of the bunch. Each tribe is given a bag of six dice, one for each member. At any Tribal Council, instead of voting, any tribe member can forfeit their die for a 1/6 shot at safety. Basically another hidden immunity idol that you don’t have to hunt for, but has a strong chance of failure. It’s tough to say how I feel about this twist, as I need a few questions answered on how it works. Are the six pieces of parchment determining whether you’re safe or not for the entire game, or do they get restocked? If the latter, are they restocked after every individual votes, or after every Tribal Council. If the former, someone could game the system, depending on where they stand in the vote order (i.e., those going up to vote later potentially reducing their odds by having others use their shots to try and find the “Not Safe” parchments, giving them better chances at drawing the “Safe” one) If this is the case, then I fear production gaming the system by having those in danger further to the right, thus putting them later in the voting order to try and keep them safe.
That said, based on what we do know, I see some obvious pros and cons to this twist. On the con side, this is making yet more people safe, and while I presume the limit is one per Tribal Council, this is bringing us dangerous close to possible “Advantagegeddon” territory again, thus reinforcing my stance that the only thing that should grant full immunity are idols, won in challenges or hidden. If there are still hidden immunity idols in the game (which, admittedly, has not yet been confirmed), then it feels like too much. It’s also very luck based, which has the upside of being unpredictable, but not as exciting from a strategy side. On the pro side, unlike hidden immunity idols, there’s no potential gender bias in the way idols are hidden, and everyone has equal access to it, at least in theory. One intriguing possibility I see is bequeathing your die to someone, either as collateral, or a way to buy them into your alliance. Sort of taking the good part of fire tokens (using them for strategic politicking), while eliminating how much time they bog down, and any value outside of use in this way. this could lead to a savvy player having multiple opportunities to use the shot, assuming dice are transferrable. And, if nothing else, players now have access to a game of Yahtzee to fill their downtime! I’ll hold off on a final pronouncement on this twist until we know more details.
We also get the reveal of our tribal Immunity Idol, and the reveal that once again, the show has been robbing my home, as this is once again clearly that cheap beach tiki I bought for use in audition videos years ago. Seriously, art department? This season looks gorgeous overall. Couldn’t you at least have put a BIT of effort into the idol? Our challenge itself is solid, but nothing to write home about. After going over a net and through some dirt, tribes must load bags of puzzle pieces on a platform, then remove sandbags from the platform’s path onto a designated spot, before then hauling said pieces up a ramp to solve a puzzle, the first tribe to do so winning immunity and keeping their flint. Pretty standard first challenge fare. Kind of a combination of the first immunity challenge from “Survivor Samoa” with that challenge where they went through mud and hay on “Survivor Nicaragua”. Not the best seasons to draw from in general, but both those challenges were solid, so it doesn’t bother me.
What does bother me is the editing. Up to this point, the editing has been solid, with all tribes getting some backstory, and some strategy. Some characters are highlighted more than others, of course, but this season feels more even than some recent ones. The one exception is in number of targets, and this is where the “Only one tribe wins immunity” thing becomes a problem. Ua has only had one target, JD, noted, while both Luvu and Yase had multiple (Deshawn/Danny and Naseer; Tiffany and Eric respectively). If two tribes got immunity, it wouldn’t matter if Ua was all but guaranteed a win between the editing and not having to do the water-hauling task. There would still be tension for second between Luvu and Yase. Having Ua all but guaranteed a win sinks that tension.
Those were my thoughts prior to the challenge playing out. That said, if you’ve seen the episode, you know that the editors, once again, got me, and it’s easy to see why. Ua does indeed have a lead on the puzzle, but a piece not falling out of the bag, and their inability to move forward without it, lets Luvu gain a lead and ultimately win. All the more impressive given that Deshawn had forced the tribe to redo part of the challenge, as one of his sandbags slipped off the designated spot. Seemed a bit nitpicky to me, but hey, I don’t make the rules for these challenges. We will eventually see that the editors had good reason for only giving us one target at Ua so far.
First, though, we see the dynamic play out at Yase. Really, there’s not much to note here. It’s the same “Tiffany vs. Eric” debate we had earlier, with the only interesting bit being Tiffany going to look for an idol or advantage in the woods, stumbling near the well-hidden “Beware” advantage, though not finding it. It was kind of fun knowing where the advantage was, though the same effect could have been accomplished with the light flash they gave us, rather than the cringey Probst opener.
As for Ua, up until the challenge there only was one target, in JD. Sara, however, is blamed for losing the tribe the challenge, given their lead (Shan is as well, though it’s Sara’s name that is brought up), and is thus now on the chopping block. Brad in particular is on the warpath for her, even going so far as to tell her straight to her face that she should go. As Sara rightly says, this is some “Survivor Borneo” level play here, and not the Richard Hatch kind. Shan is scared about what a Sara boot means to her, and Ricard is still on the warpath against JD. Meanwhile, Brad spills to JD that his name is being brought up, and Genie… Well, we don’t hear from Genie that much, but she seems awesome so far, at least. This turn of events means that JD and Sara, two of the four I have in a fantasy draft with friends, are likely targets tonight, which only slightly influences me when I say that between JD and Sara, the correct answer is Brad. Sara definitely should not go for that challenge mistake. It’s an easy thing to do that anyone could have made, and doesn’t say much of anything about her challenge ability as a whole. I’ll admit, there’s more of a case for JD to go. He’s an unsubtle player and unsubtle liar, possibly with an advantage to use against the tribe, based on his description of the summit. That said, he can at least play, and if allied with him could probably be trusted to not outright reveal secrets. Brad, though? He just showed his gameplay is too chaotic to be a reliable ally long-term, and therefore the best choice to go from the tribe. Sadly, we never hear is name brought up, apart from Sara’s frustration at his lack of subtlety, so we had off to Tribal Council with it still being the Sara vs. JD debates.
Our first Tribal Council is with Yase, presumably because they were furthest behind in the challenge, which is reasonable. Yase is really a two-man show, between Eric and Tiffany, each advocating for the other to go. True to their natures, Tiffany uses many words and talks about the social bonds she’s made with the tribe, while Eric leans on his challenge prowess, which he says speaks for itself, though saying little overall. In the end, as it so often is in “Survivor”, social prowess wins out, and Eric goes. Probably the smart move for swing votes Evvie and Liana, since they’d likely be next if Eric got his way. Not overly sorry to see Eric go. Nothing bad about the guy, but kind of a standard “Survivor” character we’ve seen a lot before. Tiffany is more dynamic, and has a fun energy I’m happy to see continue on our screens. That said, I do wish we’d heard Eric’s last words. That’s a level of respect every player should get, no matter how early they’re voted out.
Ua is much more of an ensemble piece, and starts off with a bit of humor, Brad offering to give back their reward supplies in exchange for immunity, which Probst understandably shuts down. Angelina (“Survivor Dayid vs. Goliath”) Brad is not. Sadly, when everyone calls out everyone else for scheming, we quickly devolve into whispering, though at least subtitled whispering, to make it slightly more bearable. We get some good debates, Sara and JD both considering using their shots in the dark, with Ricard and Shan having to talk Sara down from this. Worried about JD, they NOW discuss voting Brad. Yes, somewhat non-foreshadowed which I’ve complained about in the past, but at least they showed us WHY he would be targeted, and give us the Tribal discussion subtitled so we can follow what’s going on. Shan tries to pitch the Brad vote to JD, who’s not super happy with it, though he says he’ll vote with Shan. If I were Brad and Genie, I’d be more concerned at being left out of the whispering, but they just kind of sit there.
We go to vote, and shock horror, JD risked his vote, and so gets his extra vote. This would have been really clever editing if JD were a better liar. It is, perhaps, the threat of this extra vote that leads to Ricard and Shan turning on Sara, leading her to be the second boot of the episode. I am sorry to see her go, and not just because I had her in my draft. No, her confessionals about her grandmother were truly heartwarming, and apart from not shaking one puzzle bag thoroughly, I really can’t say she made much of a mistake. Ricard and Shan, on the other hand? I get wanting to vote with a solid majority, especially with the threat of shots in the dark and extra votes making them gun-shy. But after such open politicking at Tribal Council, do they not think that Genie, Brad, and JD will team up against them? They’ll need to do some serious maneuvering to save themselves, especially when they could have had a majority, though I suppose they couldn’t have predicted Genie’s rogue vote for Ricard. Speaking of which, I’m still not sure what Genie’s plan was there. Was she genuinely confused? Throwing a safety vote? The possibilities are open, and I look forward to hearing her logic in the future.
Despite my snark at the beginning, this is a FANTASTIC start to the season, and a great return of the show we all know and love! Once we got past the cringe of the opening, we had an episode with good mystery, a likable and engaging cast, and overall excellent editing. I quite enjoyed the “flashbacks”, even the ones that seem staged, as they make it feel like we’re getting to know the players more intimately than on previous season, always a good thing. I didn’t ouch on it, but production is now less afraid of showing behind the scenes stuff, as in having cameras and boats in shots, which again, I’m all for. Help us feel like a part of the show by showing its edges and spots, not trying to hide them. Yes, Probst had some cringe moments, but in the overall product, they get lost, and the greatness outshines them for a rocking start. Let us hope the pattern continues!
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 