The first double boot episode of Survivor 50 has come and gone, and with 17 players left in the game at the (roughly) halfway mark, there is no way it can be the last.
The Next Time on Survivor showed that the tribes are merging next episode. I am sure there will be multiple rounds that serve as a sort of “mergatory” where they will be split into groups and several of these players will not make the jury, but putting all of the players together will hopefully show us a lot more about what’s really going on in Fiji. Currently, I have been having a bit of a tough time really deciphering how we are supposed to be interpreting some of the players.
All of the women who are not (essentially) invisible at this point all have varying degrees of negativity swirling around them except for perhaps Cirie and Stephenie. Even Christian who feels very much like the golden boy of this season could definitely be seen as a bit petulant over the past couple of episodes. Devens who felt like a major frontrunner in the first couple of episodes, once separated from Christian he has almost disappeared from the show. Ozzy has swung back and forth between being Ozzy and Oscar, which has come with bad strategy moments and temper tantrums. At the same time, some players who’s edits had nascent potential in the first episode or two seem to be slowly emerging from the background. I think I basically want to take a second to sort of partially reset and more seriously consider some new winner options, while still recognizing the strengths of some of the longstanding frontrunners.
First, though, let’s touch down upon our two eliminated players, Angelina and Charlie. First of all, the edit that Angelina received this season was seriously criminal. I’m not even sure how I would say she went with or against the themes of the season because we barely saw her at all in five episodes. I think you can basically chalk it up to her seeming fairly passive even while she was in other players’ crosshairs pretty much the entire time she was in the game. I just don’t understand how you can’t check in with her after Christian betrays the DvG trio. It’s just crazy.
As for Charlie, I think the narrative here is that he was seemingly clocked as playing a similar game to the one he played in Survivor 46, causing even his allies to become wary of him. On top of that, he allowed the baggage he carries about Maria not voting for him at Final Tribal Council to cloud his strategy. They portrayed him as someone stuck in his last season, which for Charlie, was an insurmountable hurdle.
Contenders
Christian - Ultimately, I’m leaving my top three contenders untouched because while some players are creeping their way up the ladder into relevance to the season, their edits have been solid thus far and no one below has done quite enough to topple them. So Christian remains on top. Perhaps this stretch on New Vatu will be his pre-merge danger in retrospect. A period of time that was emotional and challenging. A period of time where maybe the game almost pushed him to the brink. A period of time where people didn’t really trust him. I personally didn’t think he came off amazing when he didn’t understand why Ozzy was upset with him. That moment was definitely meant to be negative toward Ozzy, but it also did feel a little bit like Survivor 101… If you’re truly working together, it would make sense that he was mad. However, Ozzy confirms Christian’s approach was the right one if they really wanted to get Mike out. At the end of the day, Christian does what he needs to do to ensure his safety in the game. Next episode, he will be reunited with Devens and Cirie and it will probably become more clear whether he is truly destined to win this thing or be an over-exposed flame out.
Colby - More of the same MOR/UTR positive content from Colby. The editors are sure to make sure we are checking in with what’s going on with him every episode even though he has never been to a Tribal Council. I did think that his confessional explaining why he was sitting out of the challenge was interesting. I wasn’t sure why it was there. I could see it just showing that he’s going to struggle in some challenges soon, but could also foreshadow another medical evacuation. Not really sure either way at this point.
Genevieve - Zero confessionals and barely shown. Not great, but she is still mentioned. Her feud with Aubry keeps her name in peoples’ mouths this episode, so at least there is that. She was on the one tribe that did not go to Tribal Council, so she will have been one of a handful of players to have never been to Tribal Council before the merge. I’m holding space for her to become a lot more relevant again next episode, however, next episode may be make or break in terms of whether she may actually get overtaken by Aubry. She remains high on my list based on strength of previous content.
Cirie - I don’t feel 100% confident on this, but I think that Cirie has had a pretty favorable edit following her episode one challenge blunder. She continues to be talked up as one of the most dangerous players in the game, but at the same time, she continues to make her way into alliances and completely avoid danger. Upon the tribe swap Jonathan said something to the effect of if they allowed Cirie to get to the merge it’s going to be a tough road ahead for everyone else. Guess what’s coming next episode? The merge. However, it’s not all good. I would love to see a little bit more about how she was suddenly in with Kamilla and Dee and when exactly Rizo became “her boy.” Especially when right before the swap we saw her locking in with Christian, Emily, and Devens, despite saying even earlier than that that Ozzy was her #1. This closeness is something that Devens reiterates in this episode, essentially keeping her safe while they do not vote together. Another positive though is Cirie sharing the information of her Extra Vote with Rizo. I thought it was portrayed as a good thing, and it falls within the theme of “playing the game you need to play in that moment.” She says herself that it wouldn’t be her first instinct to share this information, but feels like she needs to to solidify this relationship. Even though she isn’t particularly out in front on this vote, she is in the majority and she had a good episode thematically.
Ozzy - Ozzy is back in the contender list. Partly because players like Devens are falling fast for me. However, I thought that this episode did a pretty good job of portraying the dichotomy of Ozzy vs. Oscar. He has a pretty classic Ozzy meltdown at the beginning of the episode after being left out of the vote, but he is able to go to Christian the next day and make nice. Although there is plenty of back and forth, we get a lot of insight into his strategic thought process and we eventually see Christian doing what Ozzy wants by giving him the Shot In The Dark, in return the group consensus votes out Angelina. Win-win for Ozzy.
Other Episode Winners
Rizo - This was a mixed episode for Rizo, but I think that it was a good episode for him. He gets the upper hand on Charlie and wins over a lot of his fellow tribe members, seemingly with longevity moving forward. He continues to come off as cocky and charming all at the same time, while also detailing a very good understanding of the game. I don’t really think he wins, but he’s floating around in my considerations at this point. I think something I’m not sure about is his pretty frequent reference to Survivor history and meta. Production obviously loves this. Would it be laid on so thick, though, if he wins? Something about it just feels a little weird. Regardless of whether he’s the winner or not, it does indeed seem like he will be cementing his legacy within that history with his game in Survivor 50.
Dee - Low key, but good episode for Dee. She is the facilitator of this new, seemingly significant alliance, between herself, Kamilla, Cirie, and Rizo. She previously wanted Cirie out, but somewhere behind the scenes she’s done a 180. Outside of that though, she sort of pulls the pieces together at the top of this episode, and let’s the chips fall where they may, allowing Rizo to be the strategic driver of the move. We continue to get good content from Dee, and I am feeling good about her chances of at least making a deep run on this season. I’m looking forward to this group linking back up with players like Tiffany and Ozzy.
Kamilla - Finally we get to see a bit more from Kamilla. I appreciated her trying to contain her eye roll at the reveal of the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol. She quickly clocks Rizo’s lie about Kyle, but decides to sit on it for later as she’s ultimately okay with taking the all male alliance on New Cila down a peg along with the other women and Rizo. I don’t think there’s any chance for her to win, but this was a good episode for Kamilla and I’m expecting her to become a little more prominent soon, especially if this becomes an alliance of relevance to the overall story.
Got Nothing For Ya
No one new here, but I seriously just want to pour one out for Tiffany because she was one of the players that I was most excited to see return. She seems like a solid player and I love her confessionals. Her technique to untie the bags during the challenge was crazy, and she pretty much single handedly saved New Kalo from going to Tribal Council. She is rewarded with her third zero confessional episode total, and second zero confessional episode in a row. It’s just a bummer. She has a confessional in the NTOS, so I’m expecting and hoping to see an uptick in her screen time now that we’ve hit the merge.