Survivor 42 - Episode 2 thoughts
Alright, as usual, it’s very unlikely I’ll regularly write about Survivor all season long (I didn’t even do it last week), but as usual, I can’t help but write about it at least a little.
I’m loving this season so far.
First, I love the cast. It feels even more diverse than last season. Not only as far as ethnicities and identities are concerned, but also personalities and ways of life. We have a lot of very original and interesting people this season. And the first step to getting a good season is to have a good cast. We have this here. Nice.
Also, the edit is excellent so far. In the first episode, everybody got at least two confessionals. Quite a few people did in this episode too.
Camp life! We’re getting some camp life? Can you believe it? When is the last time this happened? I guess it helps that we now know how the new twists work, so production doesn’t feel that it needs to spend half the episode explaining.
All in all, I’m really happy so far.
OK, let’s see what I have to say about each contestant.
Ika tribe
By the way, I know names are supposed to have meanings in the local language, but in Japanese, ika means squid, and in my mind, it’s the squid tribe now. :-)
Drea Wheeler: I really like Drea so far, and not only because she’s a French speaker (how many French speakers ever were on the show? not sure - no native speakers, that’s for sure, but I think there were a few other bilingual ones before). She has a lot of what it takes to be a memorable Survivor player. I’m not too sure about her social game, though. She could be a bit bossy, and she may already be in trouble according to Swati’s and Tori’s conversation.
Rocksroy Bailey: I have trouble getting a good reading of him so far. You’d expect a stay-at-home dad to be a bit friendlier than he is. He’s also quite bossy and doesn’t seem to have a lot of social skills (or does he stay at home for that very reason? It’s also interesting that he’s the only contestant this season - and in long while - to have no social media). I don’t think he’ll go very far. People won’t target him right away because he’s strong and seems to be a provider, but when the social and strategical dimensions of the game will take precedence, I don’t think he’ll last long and be more than just a number.
Romeo Escobar: He almost seems to be the opposite of Rocksroy. Definitely not a strong guy, but I suspect that he has a very sharp mind and very very good social skills. One of the contestants we should follow closely, I believe.
Swati Goel: In terms of edit, I feel that we should have seen her more if she was to have a strong impact on the game. Then, the usual editing style of the show has changed quite a bit since last season. Swati could be under-edited like Erika was last season. I hope not. The editing seems to have taken notice of the criticisms of last season. So, Swati doesn’t seem very physical, but she’s definitely smart. I think she could go far.
Tori Meehan: She’s an interesting person. At first, she seems like your usual air hear blonde that more or less regularly gets on the show, only to be voted out very early and/or being completely bland and uninteresting. And while I’m still not sure of her longevity, her personality seems quite complex, almost all over the place. She could end up becoming a stand-out character, with a comic relief side (Angelina-style), this season’s villain, or anything really. I doubt she’ll win, her edit is already a little too negative for this. She may go far and become a big character, though.
Zach Wurtenberger (voted out last week): Oh no, Zach. I liked you and thought you could do great. Oh well…
Taku tribe
Tako is Japanese for octopus. There’s a pattern here. ;-) Actually, “Taku” is often a nickname for Takumi, so yeah, that tribe too, has a funny name for me. At least for one, I kinda remember the tribes’ names. At least for now.
Jackson Fox (“medicaved”): On the one hand, I’m so sad that he’s gone so early, he seemed like an amazing character. On the other hand, why was he even allowed to compete in the first place? Some people say because he’d be great TV even for one episode. Some other people say that production was willing to give it a try and see what happens, but the lawyers jumped in and considered that he was too much of a liability. I’m kinda assuming that because of Covid restrictions, there was no male alternate on-site (or he had been included in the cast replacing another person we’ll never hear from), and a tribe starting with only five members would have seemed “unfair” (a bit like on season 14 “Fiji” when Mellisa McNulty quit the night before shooting and it was too late to include the alternate?) No idea. It really is a shame, because if he hadn’t started this season, I’m sure he would have been included in a future season. Oh well.
Jonathan Young: I thought I was going to dislike him. I usually dislike big athletic guys on the show, but he actually seems to have a good social game and not just rely on his muscles to navigate the game. I’m keeping an eye on him, he’ll probably be interesting.
Lindsay Dolashewich: I don’t really have anything to say about her yet.
Marya Sherron voted out: From the little that we saw of her, she seemed quite passive and she seemed to be there more for her personal journey / recovery / something than to play this game. Oh well, I wish her the best with her life, but I don’t feel like she’s gone too early.
Maryanne Oketch: Well, well, well. I’m on the fence with Maryanne. Yes, she’s funny and endearing and all that. She also seems to never ever stop speaking. I usually have trouble being around such people. Honestly, I’m not sure how she can make it far. She’ll end up being annoying and just too much to deal with, I’m afraid. Also, does she have a filter? Can you be trusted on Survivor when you don’t have a filter? I’ll be very surprised if she makes it to the merge.
Omar Zaheer: I really like him so far. He seems to have a great personality, he seems to know the game well, his edit is already quite fleshed out. He’s one of the people we should keep a close eye on. He has winner potential.
Vati tribe
No, “Vati” doesn’t mean anything in Japanese. Actually, the sound “v” doesn’t exist in Japanese. :-)
Hai Giang: Interesting guy. I liked him a lot last week, although the fake blood thing was… weird… What did he think? He probably didn’t think, but it was risky to put so much fake blood on himself and not actually be injured. I guess the few people who noticed quickly forgot in all of the excitement of the beginning. Props to him today for realizing that being vegan only works in an urban / disconnected from nature lifestyle. Vegans on Survivor who want to hang to their beliefs are one of my pet peeves, I admit. So, good on him. He definitely seems smart and could go far.
Chanelle Howell: We haven’t seen a lot of her yet, but I have a good feeling about her too. I especially liked today her comment about the fact that she was out of her element on the island, but she may have to become the provider of the tribe anyway. This kind of adaptability is always a very positive trait on Survivor. Actually the fact that this bit was shown, and the same for Hai’s getting over his veganism can be hints that they’ll be major players this season.
Jenny Kim: Another contestant who is shown under a very positive light early on. Smart, making friends. Those are always very positive signs at the beginning of the season.
Lydia Meredith: I wish we saw more of her. She’s been mostly in the background so far, but she’s actually hilarious on Twitter. I hope we’ll see more of this side of her soon.
Daniel Strunk: Another very interesting guy from the beginning. I got scared at first when he got injured during the first minutes of the game (I’m sure he was too), but he’s also depicted as smart, likable, and strategical early on. Another of my early favorites.
Mike Turner: Too much of the stereotypical big guy with muscles who wants to take control, but is just not smart enough to do it. Most of what we saw of him so far was a bit on the negative side. I don’t think he’ll go far.
Overall, this tribe is giving me a very good feeling with a lot of players with complex personalities shown in a positive light. I think the main characters of the season may possibly come from that tribe. We’ll see.
Who’s voted out next week?
If Ika goes to tribal, it seems obvious that Drea is in trouble, but it seems too obvious. Tori and Swati may want to vote her out, but I doubt Rocksroy and Romeo will be on board with that. I don’t think they’ll go to tribal at all. But if they do, Rocksroy seems to be the one on the outs in my opinion.
If Taku goes, I think Maryanne is the obvious target. I don’t see the three others go against each other, and Maryanne’s extra vote can’t make a difference there. Unless… Someone finds the unactivated idol and loses their vote.
If Vati goes, it seems that Daniel and Chanelle are already laying the groundwork for ousting Mike who won’t be able to do much. Remember people, don’t tell everyone you have an idol from the get-go. And if you do, go find where you hid it before talking about it. And “omit” to talk about you being unable to vote at the moment. No really, don’t tell anyone about that shitty idol until it becomes a real one, or until you really have to (as in your inability to vote may put your alliance in trouble for the next vote).
Who’s going to win?
Right now, I have the feeling that the winner is one of these people:
Romeo
Omar
Hai
Chanelle
Jenny
Daniel
That’s a lot of people from Vati, I know.
What else?
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