Although
not a groundbreaking episode by any means, this episode weirdly has me a little
shook about my rankings and is making me second guess if I should flip this
whole thing on its head - a lot of moves had me completely bumpuzzled out there.
For now, I kept things fairly status quo and trying not overact, but maybe I
should have in honor of our fallen warrior.
15. Bhanu (Purple) – No Change
What is there to say about Bhanu that hasn’t already been said? Unfortunately for our friend, his game has spiraled so much at this point that the show’s editors couldn’t even justify pretending like anyone else was going home. Even Q, who has been desperate to get out Kenzie, was like yeah, I mean clearly I have to write down Bhanu’s name at this point (and I’m very worried about what’s next for my guy Q). The best thing that I can say about Bhanu is that he is too nice of a person to play survivor.
14. Tim (Green) – Down Two
Even
on a night where the Green tribe was actually getting some screen time, poor
Tim still couldn’t find his way into a confessional (maybe next episode, Tim). That
said, Tim’s name was still coming up plenty in this episode as he somehow
managed to become the prime suspect in the Beware Advantage ruse. That could
make him a target if Green ever goes to tribal or it could make him an easy
person to throw under the bus at the merge. Heck, I’m not even ready to rule
out the possibility that poor Tim may be next behind Randen on the medical evacuation
list after his legs completely buckled on that platform during the immunity challenge.
Platforms were kinda Tim’s nemesis if we are being honest.
13. Liz (Orange) – No Change
OK,
so if I took a step back and just looked high level at Liz’s game, I would say
that there is some stuff to like. She seems to be a potential swing vote in an
impending Tevin-Soda war, she has some smarts, some confidence and is well-spoken,
yet she is not someone that people are dying to vote out. However, there is one
consistent problem with Liz and that is that I don’t like her. And I think the
show is trying to make me not like her. Even today in a pretty bland episode
for Liz, they slipped in a line with her throwing the rings where someone was
trying to give her advice and she said something along the lines of “I’ve got
this” in kind of a snarky overconfident way which fits with how the show has
been painting her throughout these first four episodes. This poor woman who is
allergic to everything finally gets the chance to eat a dang fish, probably her
first real food in nine days, and I am sitting at home booing her off the screen.
That is a problem for your win equity.
12. Venus (Orange) – Up Two
So,
I think I am starting to get back in on Venus. I’ve always thought she had a
chance to make a deep run in this game for a variety of reasons (she’s cutthroat,
she’s looking out for numero uno, etc.), but those reasons didn’t seem to line
up with a path to victory. However, I’m starting to circle back to her a bit. I
am seeing a world where Venus, although she can be abrasive and potentially a
little backstabby, is sitting in the end with a couple vanilla people like Ben
or really anybody on Green and the jury decides to make the winner the person
who was playing an in your face type of hard. Because these other contestants
want to play hard, that’s pretty clear from what we’ve seen so far, and Venus could
get at least some begrudging respect. I’m monitoring this situation closely.
11. Q (Purple) – Down Three
Outlast: 1 pt
Loyal
readers know that I have been very much on the Q bandwagon this season, but I
am afraid that the Q Crew may be on its last night. With the loss of Bhanu, Purple
has officially eliminated all of the sloppiness from their tribe and there are
no signs of a tribe swap (boo!). From where I am sitting, if Purple loses again
Tiffany will be deciding who goes home between Q and Kenzie and I would not
want to be in a one-on-one social battle with Kenzie. Yes, Tiff has a strong
bond with Q, but she also has a strong bond with Kenzie. A bigger problem than
that may be the fact that Bhanu told everyone that Tiff and Q are close. She
may want to cut Q just to avoid looking like a strong pair going into the
merge. I am very scared for Q and just praying they can finally win an immunity
challenge and preserve their trio a bit longer.
10. Moriah (Green) – No Change
I
decided to give Mo the opportunity to jump as high as she could up the list
compared to last week and that is what she did.
9. Ben (Green) – Up Two
I
am trying to talk myself into Ben. The guy is seemingly getting a fairly nice
edit for himself out there. He is coming across as very kind and is definitely
team captain of the vibes out there. However, I cannot take him seriously. I am
just not seeing the strategic prowess that you are going to need to get to the
end. It’s possible he stumbles there and then is the most likable guy in an
unlikely and unlikeable final three, but I just pray that he has better rock
and roll related puns to pull from by the time he gets there.
8. Kenzie (Purple) – Up One
Outlast:
1 pt
Kenzie
gets a slight bump this week as she at least managed to survive a potentially
precarious situation within her tribe while Bhanu lingered around for Q to try
and use as leverage (although her survial was thanks to Bhanu sabotaging
himself more than anything Kenzie did). Now she just needs Tiff to side with
her over Q and she’ll likely be at the merge (or at the very least a tribe
swap) and then maybe, just maybe, she can manage to get herself under the radar
while Green and Orange fight each other and potentially even themselves. I’m
not ready to jump her all the way up the list because it’s still very possible
(likely even?) that she goes next week, but I am ready to push her back into
the contender’s circle if things break right.
7. Jem (Green) – Down Two
I’m
of two minds on the whole Beware Advantage thing from Jem. From my perspective
(which was admittedly based on very little actual content), it seemed like Jem
wasn’t under much suspicion of having found the advantage. However, by planting
this thing she puts herself at risk of being discovered, being known as a liar
and sowing distrust amongst the good vibes tribe - all of those things seem
quite bad. She’s also now informed everyone of how the advantage works so hopefully
she doesn’t need to do any more digging (I guess that’s why she hid the box in
some bushes or whatever that was last episode?). On the other hand, it seems
like it worked and now the suspicion is on Tim and Ben (although the Angels
were probably just going to vote out Tim or Ben anyway, right?) and she did a
pretty good job lying as far as I could tell which is a favorable light to be
shown in. So maybe it’s a good move?
Right now, I lean toward bad move, but to be fair, it was probably just a bored move. You are on the most vanilla tribe in the game, nothing is happening because you keep winning and everyone likes each other? Why not throw some chaos in there, Jem? You’re on Survivor after all!
6. Soda (Orange) – Up One
5.
Tevin (Orange) – Down One
I
think my feelings on these two are sort of intertwined and so they end up getting
one section for the both of them. We were told by Tevin this episode that Soda
is playing too hard and that she needs to go, but I kind of felt like Tevin was
the one who was playing too hard. Throwing someone’s name out who trusts you as
their number one ally is a huge gamble and Liz has no incentive to keep that to
herself! At least he didn’t tell Venus, I guess, but dang Tevin chill out a
bit. Again, I think the boredom is striking. Way too early to be turning on an
ally like that.
As for Soda, I liked her social game positioning (for the most part) heading into this episode and I like that people think she has win equity, but I don’t love that she is already being called out as a threat for doing something as simple as trying to have good relationships with everyone. I’m worried about things blowing up for Tevin, but it’s also quite possible that Soda gets blindsided at some point soon if the troops are already starting to line-up against her.
It’s so early Soda and Tevin! Can’t you see you are going to be social shields for one another! Don’t do this!
4. Hunter (Orange) – Up Two
Outplay:
2 pt + 1
OK,
so I don’t love that I am moving Hunter up my rankings this week after
he once again established himself as a massive physical threat (he increases
his Outplay score to 3 pts after yet another impressive showing in a truly
random assortment of stuff). He is going to get clocked as a threat by everyone
else and he will get targeted and that makes his path to victory tricky. That
said, I do really feel like this cast seems concerned about the social players.
Kenzie, Soda, Tevin. Those are the people’s names that are coming up most as
the biggest threats that need to go. Have we heard that about Hunter? Not really
(of course, it is the pre-merge). Here’s the scenario that Hunter fans are
hoping for: Hunter hides within the Orange numbers and the social shields like
Tevin and/or Soda for as long as possible and then he wins like two or three well
timed immunities, makes a fire and makes an ultra-compelling case for the $1
million. I can honestly see it.
Side bar: what do we think about the scene where Tevin and Soda are doing all that singing and Hunter is kind of looking annoyed laying on the ground? Is that a pro-Hunter/anti-Tevin/Soda scene because the singing is annoying or is that an anti-Hunter scene because he should be having fun out there? Feels to me like it was meant to be a bad look for Tevin but I can’t tell if that is just because I am a wet blanket who finds the singing stuff way too much.
3. Charlie (Green) – No Change
Outlast:
1 pt
Not
much from Charlie this go round, but he’s still showing up in every episode
with confessionals / story arcs that make him look social and/or strategic. This
round he got a segment helping Moriah skip or step with authority or something like
that and I felt he also got a reasonably skeptical confessional/eyebrow raise
about the Beware Advantage (although Ben of all people seemed to clock the
situation the best as he said exactly what happened two different times). I’m
biased toward the guy, but I feel like the narrative of the show (and the
narrative of the pop culture word) is setting up for the Swifty.
2. Tiffany (Purple) – No Change
Outplay:
1 pt
Outlast
+ 1
As
someone who was lukewarm on Tiffany after Episode One, I have completely turned
around on her at this point in the season. I find almost everything she says entertaining,
perceptive or both, bro. Dead ass. And you have to admire the fact that she has
navigated a totally dysfunctional tribe without ever being targeted, while picking
up an idol and positioning herself as the swing vote in a looming three-person
tribal council. That deserves an outlast point as the social maneuvering here is
impressive. Don’t sleep on Tiff.
1. Maria (Green) – No Change
Outwit:
1 pt
Outlast:
1 pt
I
have never been very passionate about Maria as my #1, she just kinda holds down
the spot by default. For me, she was under real threat from Tiff this week, but
I still didn’t have enough evidence to knock her from her ranking. I mean we
still haven’t even seen her play the game. Even though she struggled in this episode
(she looked out of the loop on the Beware Advantage and was a negative in the reward
challenge), I still feel like she came off like a tough player and a
sympathetic character that you were supposed to root for. I’m still not sure if
I am rooting for her, but maybe that’s better for her long-term threat level
anyway. You don’t necessarily want to be a Mer-gon on Day Nine of Survivor.
By
the way, she’s still the only player who has an Outwit point. I’ve tried to
find others to give Outwit points to, but the ousting of Jelinsky, Jess and Bhanu
has not exactly required a genius level intellect. Here’s to hoping the game is
about to get interesting …
x
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