RECAP: “Survivor 47” Episode 12
First, sorry for the lack of an Episode 11 blog. I was traveling for Thanksgiving and didn’t have the time. Additionally, there wasn’t a ton to say. It was finally Kyle’s time to go, and while I think he seems like a great guy and serious challenge beast, I don’t know if he realistically had any shot to make Final Tribal. He did not appear to be engaging in strategy, making big moves, or building super strong alliances, which at this point what juries tend to reward in the end. He had a great challenge run, though!
On to Episode 12, in which people were making VERY big moves and using brilliant strategy. I absolutely LOVED this episode, and was so impressed by every member involved with Operation: Italy. I think this may go down as a legendary play, and could very well alter the course of the rest of this season.
Read on for my spoiler-filled thoughts on Episode 12 of “Survivor 47”!
Since we’re down to just 6 players, I’m going to go over my thoughts on each player — how I feel they’re doing in the game, how they did this episode, and how likely I think they could win it.
Andy: I’ve been harsh on Andy pretty much all game. I think he’s a legend in his own mind, who seems to be trying to play off his chaotic moves and antisocial behavior as strategy, when it sure feels like he’s just doing whatever seems convenient to last in the game. After this week, I have to reconsider that take. I’m not entirely sure how to divide up the credit for Operation: Italy between Andy, Genevieve, and Sam, but Andy was very clearly involved in the planning, and did a lot of heavy lifting in the execution. He had to convince the Leftover Alliance that they needed to split the votes between Sam and Genevieve or it wouldn’t have worked. That was especially tricky given Teeny’s massive hate boner for Sam, and Rachel correctly pointing out that even one safety vote on Genevieve would take away any idol risk. He also wisely realized he was on the bottom of the Leftover 5, and by swinging to Sam and Genevieve, was now at least in a comfortable 3 — good enough to get to Final Tribal. I can absolutely see a path to Andy winning this season now, and I never could before. But I do think that Andy’s unpredictable gameplay may ultimately backfire with the jury. Yes, he can argue that he did in fact Outlast, Outwit, and Outplay all of them, but he burned SO many people on that jury — and they know it. I believe Sol specifically said after this episode’s vote, “That’s Andy; he flipped again.” I can see a jury appreciating bold gameplay. I can’t see them rewarding repeated betrayals. Andy’s hands are soaked in blood and I don’t see Sierra, Caroline, or any of the remaining players voting for him in the end because of that. On a side note: island life has done wonders for Andy, as he is looking RIGHT these last few episodes.
Genevieve: I would argue that Gen has one of the most compelling arcs of any one-season Survivor player. Largely invisible for the early game, she emerged at the merge as a cunning and capable strategist and was pulling off big moves and directing votes for a good chunk of the game. That led to a real crisis of conscience and confidence after the Sol boot, and she is now openly playing to the jury about learning her lessons about turning off her emotions on this beach. Really good stuff. Everyone also knows that Genevieve is a huge threat, and she has been a target for at least the last three tribals — and yet she persists. And it’s not by luck. She is out there scrapping to get by, with Operation: Italy being the most spectacular indication of that. If she can hold on for the next few votes — and I think that’s possible, as Andy’s threat level just went through the roof, and Teeny at least still hates Sam’s guts. Her main obstacle is Rachel, who sees Genevieve as the threat she is. I would LOVE to see a Final Tribal with those two in it.
Rachel: Rachel is also playing a fantastic game. While the bulk of the Leftover alliance all seems to content to just let her weave her way to Final Tribal — a huge mistake, as none of them would have any shot against her for the $1 million — Andy, Genevieve, and Sam understand that she is the person playing the best game. And they don’t even know HOW well she’s playing. They don’t know about her infamous Shot in the Dark feint from episodes ago, nor that she has an immunity idol that she secured right under their noses, and until the reward this episode, they didn’t know about her Block a Vote power either. Rachel also has two individual immunity wins, and she played her way out from the very bottom at merge. That’s a great resume. If Rachel is making any mistake, it was trusting Andy — she should know better at this point — and going along with the split vote this episode, which was 1) unnecessary, and 2) crucial for the insurgent alliance to survive and get out one of the dominant alliance’s numbers. That said, I don’t think they’ll be able to pull anything over on Rachel going forward. She seemed furious at being made a fool of (again), and there are only two tribals left, where she can deploy her two powerful advantages. At this point Rachel is basically guaranteed F4. She is the most likely player to win right now. She has a great story for the jury, and relatively little damage to control with them. She’s so impressive.
Sam: Credit to Sam, who is playing super hard to get out of the bottom, and has been doing so for weeks now. The Leftover Alliance bitched significantly about his terrible strategy on who to take to the reward lunch, but Sam made the exact right move there. Had he not brought his existing ally (Genevieve) and the person most likely to flip (Andy) and used the time to concoct a masterful plan, Sam almost certainly would have gone last night. So he’s doing the best he can with the position he has, and I appreciate that. That said, I don’t think Sam is likely to win this game. I don’t think he has a great story to sell the jury — he’s been just trying to stay alive for most of the merge — and I actually don’t think he makes it to the Final Tribal. The Leftovers will want revenge against Andy, but boy they don’t like Sam either. (I do think we’ll have an all-woman final tribal.)
Sue: First, let’s discuss Sue being iconic for attempting to contour her face with dirt, showing up every frame looking absolutely insane. This is legend shit. Sue, I hope you really embrace this and launch your own Bare Minerals-inspired make-up line. You could end up on some “50 Under 50” list, since you’re only 45! But really, Sue is basically a nonentity in this game. She did nothing to save her close ally, despite knowing that her name was going to come up at the vote. She’s apparently not doing any real strategy work from what we can see. Yes, she has had an idol that nobody knows about (except Caroline) — but Sue is not a target, because Sue is not a threat. Even her initially impressive performance in challenges has fallen completely off. I think Sue will probably be dragged to final tribal, and she may get a few Tuku votes (Caroline, probably), but I don’t see this jury being impressed by “I’m old and I survived.” These are aggressive, sophisticated players, and you have to give us more than that.
Teeny: What an awful episode for Teeny. Like, wow. It started off poorly with that childish interaction with Genevieve, and got so much worse post-reward challenge when they went into a full-blown spiral ranting about Sam. This was unhinged. I actually laughed at Final Tribal when Teeny told Jeff that they were glad Sam didn’t pick them for the reward, because it gave them an opportunity to switch from an emotional state to a logical state. That was logical? That was strategic? I’ve seen 14-year-olds with more control of their emotions. Now that Teeny is firmly entrenched in the Leftovers Alliance, there’s a real smugness that is emerging, and it’s so offputting. I was rooting for Teeny at the beginning, but again and again they have shown themselves to be clueless as to how to play this game. So many unforced errors, going all the way back to showing Kishan Rome’s idol with Rome standing right there. Like, stunningly bad gameplay. I also don’t know what Teeny’s angle would be to the jury. How many votes has Teeny been on the wrong side of? How many successful boots has Teeny been a part of orchestrating? The social game has been solid — except when Teeny takes things super personally and then punishes someone, a la Sam or Genevieve — but I don’t see a path to a win here.
As for Caroline, I’m a little torn. On the one hand, I like her. I do think she was smart and capable. I think she had a fairly good grasp of what was going on in the game. I think her social game was strong. She seemed confident that had she made it to the final tribal, she would have won, and again: I don’t see it. She had no serious negatives, sure, but I’m also not sure what her positives were. She was very much part of a group for this entire game, and the only “move” I can think of was when she flipped to get Gabe out. Which was smart on her part, but I think a little too late, as Gabe would have taken credit for anything that happened up to that point. But ultimately I think her legacy on this show will be the person who got knocked out by a truly spectacular strategy play, potentially paving the way for a rebalance of power in the last lap of this game.
Next: it’s a two-part finale, split over the next two Wednesdays. Who do you think will win? Who do you WANT to win?
What do you think of Season 47 so far? What do you think of this cast? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
