RECAP: “Survivor 47” Episode 2
Two episodes into “Survivor” Season 47, a theme is materializing: maladjusted man babies, and how their social ineptitude puts them at odds with society. Given what we’re dealing with politically in this country, that’s a shockingly relevant narrative to be exploring! And it’s also making for some entertaining television, especially when the doofuses get their comeuppance.
The good news is, after Episode 2, there are only two castaways who I feel have yet to make any kind of impact: Genevieve and Sol, both on Lavo (the red tribe). I’m eager to learn more about them — especially that smokeshow Sol — but everyone else has at least pushed through enough for me to start making some early judgment calls.
Read on for my spoiler-filled thoughts on Episode 2 of “Survivor 47”!
LAVO (Red Tribe)
Overall Lavo appears to be the most functional tribe, but that could also be because it has yet to lose an immunity challenge. The cracks, however, are already quite apparent. One specific crack, Rome. I knew from the cast reveal that Rome was going to be exhausting, and he’s actually even more irritating, and with even less self-awareness, than I anticipated. I mean, congrats for beating expectations, I guess? Last episode we saw Rome alienate most of his tribe by blatantly engaging in an idol hunt. This time, he made what I think is understandable tactical decision — gain an ally by bringing them into his idol news. And I think he made a good pick in Teeny, whose social skills could be a great counter to his natural antisocial tendencies.
Where Rome went wrong was in the way he approached Teeny, in the literal dead of night, and by also not apparently doing a better job of assuring her discretion. Because the next thing we see, Teeny is bringing her No. 1 ally, Kishan, into the idol fold, even going so far as to bring Kishan TO the idol box…right when Rome is walking up to it. I experienced a full-body cringe in this moment, and that’s on Teeny, not Rome. Teeny just rolled with it and said that she was bringing Kishan in as their third — even though Teeny has no interest in actually playing with Rome — and for his part, Rome rightfully felt burned by the whole thing. Credit where it’s due, his impulse in this move was solid, but the execution was clumsy.
Which seems to sum up Rome’s approach to camp life in general. He seems like a perpetual attention-seeking machine, throwing out ridiculous statements (“I could have been an NBA star!…Except I quit playing in high school.” “I think I would make a great rapper!” proceeds to dribble out a total fart of a verse). It’s pretty clear that Lavo has an obvious first boot, but the fact that they know he has an idol — or at least potentially an idol — will make the situation far more precarious once they get to tribal council.
GATA (Yellow Tribe)
Meanwhile, Episode 1’s maladjusted man baby, Andy, continues to be both a liability and a boon on Gata. To make up for his paranoid delusions, the tribe is bending over backwards to make Andy feel like the coolest, strongest guy there is — this whole segment was…sad — and also assigning Andy babysitters so that he can’t spiral or go out idol hunting, as that could be a recipe for chaos.
And, of course, that is exactly what happens when Sam leaves Andy babysitting duty to take a leak, and Andy sets off to find an advantage. And, because the gods have a wicked sense of humor, he finds one. But in a rare moment of clarity, Andy decides to put the Beware Advantage back where he found it, until he can consider the pros and cons more. I actually don’t hate that move. If Andy was in a decent place with his tribe, I might even applaud the restraint. But he’s pretty clearly not. Even if he buys the insincere ego fluffing, he has to know on some level that the women of Gata — which now outnumber the men — must feel uneasy about him given his outbursts. He is in a dangerous place and he should have taken that advantage.
After Sam realizes that Andy has gone missing, he grabs Anika and the two go out looking for an advantage themselves, and THEY find the Beware Advantage Andy had put back. There’s a whole series of events here that reveals a few things: while Sam is cool with Anika, he is very tightly aligned with Sierra — we saw none of the genesis of that — and Sam is apparently not cool with Rachel, who he only brings into this idol hunt because if he doesn’t, and he lies to her, it’s going to get very bad for him very quickly.
The upshot of all of it is that Sam gets through the first box to find the one-tribal idol, and the option to risk it for a three-tribal idol…and he takes the one-tribal idol. To an extent I see the logic. The main risk with that idol was keeping it away from chaos agent Andy. That’s no longer a threat. But going through all that effort for a one-tribal idol, which everyone but Andy KNOWS he has…I don’t see it as that much of an advantage
For his part, Andy realized that someone else found the Beware Advantage, and began to spiral. He brought Sam into this — Sam lied about not knowing anything about it — and then immediately got Andy questioning the women. Smart gameplay on Sam’s part, but it’s crazy to me that he or anyone is actually thinking seriously about working with Andy. He seems physically incapable of remaining chill for more than a few seconds at a time.
Sidebar, Sam is really starting to feel his oats, between his comments about the Andy situation, the way he speaks in confessionals about any non-Sierra member of his tribe (he seems to have quite the disdain for everyone else, which is…problematic, let’s just say that), and that total bragging move at the end of the immunity challenge. So let’s add Sam to our maladjusted man-baby watch list.
TUKU (Blue Tribe)
Tuku got the lion’s share of the attention this time, largely because they lost the immunity challenge and had to go to tribal. Even before then, we got some additional clarity into tribal politics, which initially seemed split into a dude alliance of TK, Gabe, and Kyle, but which in reality was Gabe, Sue, and Caroline, with Tiyana floating between both alliances.
That became especially important after the immunity loss, as TK became irritated by Jeff’s comments that the tribe was “all smiles” despite having lost. He went back to camp and started ordering people around, and telling them what to think — especially Tiyana, who did not care for his attitude, and especially did not care for his disrespectful, condescending comments toward her specifically. Damn right, Tiyana.
This is where, for a little while, I thought my read on Gabe had been wrong. Last week I thought he was a buffoon given how clumsily he handled his idol search, but he showed a much defter approach to social game, locking in Caroline and Sue to his alliance (including showing Caroline that he had an immunity idol, which he told Sue about last episode), and pulling Tiyana in once he saw how frustrated she was by TK’s comments and behaviors. (It wasn’t all good; Gabe’s analogies of the women as his “wounded birds,” and him as the strong protector who would ride them to an easy win at Final Tribal — talk about delusions of adequacy, my god.) Going into Tribal, it became clear this would ultimately fall to Tiyana to decide which group he wanted to work with more, as the vote was between easy target Sue and blowhard TK.
At tribal, TK continued to play cock of the walk, insulting Sue and others to their faces, schooling them on how to play “Survivor.” I swear, the guys this season really are something. It seemed pretty clear to me based on answers where Tiyana was going, especially during voting when she said aloud to herself, “Trust your gut, it’s never wrong.” But you know whose gut is all KINDS of wrong? Gabe, who not only played his hidden immunity idol — which was good for 3 tribals! — but played it on HIMSELF, when he had no real reason to believe he was in any danger. If he had played it on Sue, I get it. Reduce the risk. But on himself? One of the worst idol plays in recent memory. Just a total flubbing of this advantage, which lest we forget, had already put him on his tribe’s radar as someone to not trust.
Of course, Gabe got no votes, and Tiyana voted with the girls and Sue, making TK the second blindside of the season. That was…delicious. It is always satisfying to watch these players who are so up their own asses get brought down to earth swiftly and brutally. To his credit, TK took the elimination in stride. I think this was the right decision for tribe dynamics, but 1) Kyle was completely in the dark about that vote, and could make him a serious risk once they make to merge; and 2) this is now probably the weakest physical tribal. TK might have been insufferable, but he was a beast in challenges. Is Kyle now their muscle? Because I do not see that for Gabe. Meanwhile, the other tribes have at least one buff guy (Sol on Lavo, both Sam and Andy on Gata). Right decision for the long game, but probably a bad one for the short term…
What do you think of Season 47 so far? What do you think of this cast? Drop your thoughts in the comments.