RECAP: “Survivor 47” Episode 3
Episode 3 of “Survivor” Season 47 left me concerned about the direction this season is heading. I maintain that there was a deliberate push from casting to focus on unstable young men who cannot function in a group setting. That’s been the focus of all three episodes. The issue is, two out of three of those episodes concluded with the man-children not only surviving tribal council, but seemingly ingratiating themselves even more deeply into their tribes. I cannot make an entire season of Andys and Romes being nightmare people and spared for whatever reason. I can’t do it. I don’t have it in me, not with the state of the world today.
The good news is, after Episode 3, the tribes are on a mostly even playing field. Each of the three tribes has gone to tribal council, and each has lost a castaway. I can’t think of the last time we had such balanced tribes, and I hope that it’ll make for an interesting and dynamic post-merge. Because right now, I’m not loving what I’m seeing of the pre-merge. There’s a lot of bumbling and bad strategy work — the number of unforced errors in social games is staggering. I’m already finding myself struggle to actually like many of these castaways, as several of them plummeted in my opinion this episode.
Read on for my spoiler-filled thoughts on Episode 3 of “Survivor 47”!
TUKU (Blue Tribe)
Following last week’s blindside of TK — and thank you, Tuku, for getting rid of at least one of the antisocial players this season — Kyle realized that he is very much on the outs of his tribe. He made an attempt to bond with Sue by making it look like Gabe was playing her and Caroline for chumps, but Sue was having absolutely none of it. Kyle wrote Sue’s name down at tribal, and she’s not going to forget it. That feels like a very old-school “Survivor” move to me. I think in more modern seasons, most players just accept that you’re going to get your name written down at some point. But Sue seemed to take it personally and reject the information that Kyle was offering up to build trust. (It’s not clear if Gabe actually did tell Kyle that Sue and Caroline are his goats, but I would not put it past him. That absolutely feels like a thing Gabe would say.)
For his part, Gabe explained that he played his idol in the last tribal specifically because he had seen five players go home with idols in their pockets on Season 46. I totally get that, I do. But to blow an idol he worked so hard to get, so early, when there was no discernible heat on him, feels wasteful and anticlimactic.
The only other major storyline on Tuku is that Tiyana is also being mentioned as a potential next boot. I feel like we’re missing context as to why that might be, although it could also strictly be a numbers game. Gabe has Sue and Caroline locked in, and seems to want to work with Kyle, who I think he sees as highly malleable. I’m not so sure Gabe is right about that. I have a feeling I’ll be saying that a lot this season. That whole comment from Gabe about Kyle dropping everything to be Gabe’s limo driver for a night was…gross. Why would anyone say that about someone else on national TV?
Kyle was chosen as the Tuku tribe member to go on this episode’s journey, where he quickly bonded with Anika from Gata and Rome from Lavo, both of whom are more unknowingly also on the outs with their respective tribes. They had to do a bullshit luck-of-the draw game that involved Kyle losing his vote at the next tribal council, but opting not to risk losing it AGAIN for a second tribal.
GATA (Yellow Tribe)
Tensions are rising at Gata, and surprisingly it has nothing to do with Andy. Anika and Sam cannot stand one another, and are seemingly doing a poor job of hiding it. Sam feels that Anika is overbearing and condescending; Anika feels that Sam is lazy or boorish. I have a feeling that both of them are probably right on this one. (Also, did Sam spontaneously develop a lisp?) I found myself exhausted by just about everyone on Gata except for Rachel this episode.
Andy takes notice of the dysfunction, and in one hilarious shot literally twirled his hair like a little girl as she watched Anika and Sam low-key shit on each other while putting up a clothesline. (BTW Anika was right, there’s no way that line would hold heavy, wet clothing; Sam was being a brat in that sequence.) Much to my chagrin, Andy seems to be burrowing deeper into his tribe, trying to lure Sierra in by offering her his shot in the dark to gain her trust. I mean, credit for playing the game, I guess, but Andy’s whole thing just feels so desperate. It’s challenging to root for him.
At the immunity challenge, I couldn’t help but laugh as Andy laid down what Jeff Probst himself referred to as a “disastrous” performance. Remember that time Gata spared Andy after a complete and total mental breakdown solely because Andy is “strong” and would be a benefit in challenges? He nearly singlehandedly cost his tribe this one, as he fumbled his way through the middle parts of the challenge and ate up a lot of time, especially on the balance beam.
Ultimately Gata did end up winning the immunity challenge, which also got them a nice reward of hammocks and tarps, which will come in handy for their apparently awful shelter that Sam seems to avoid fixing. Maybe he’ll have more time after Anika blew up his suspiciously close relationship to Sierra, which should be worrying to every other member of this tribe.
LAVO (Red Tribe)
Lavo got the lion’s share of the attention this episode, and very little of it was good. From the jump we got more footage of Rome continuing to be exasperating at camp, including peacocking in his role of “provider” by using the fishing gear to catch sea life so small it could believably be found in my dentist’s aquarium. This episode really underscored just how irritating Rome is, and by the end of it I was thoroughly frustrated because we are clearly not getting rid of this guy anytime soon.
Because not only did he have his hidden immunity idol, which was only good for his first tribal, but he also went on that journey and was the ONLY one of the three players to get an advantage. I believe it was a Steal a Vote. Actual footage of me seeing Rome pull that out of the bag:
Literally anyone else getting an advantage in this game would be fine, but this guy. This guy. Please god, no. He is cocky. He is immature. He is disrespectful. Some people command attention, but Rome demands it with his constant playing to the cameras. That scene at the immunity challenge where he threw a hissy fit just so he could look cool and go first for the tribe — an avalanche of cringe. Rome is one of the most aggravating tribe members I’ve seen on this show in a long time. Yes, even more aggravating than Bhanu, because at least Bhanu was being punished for his awfulness by The Universe. Rome is, by all appearances, thriving in this game. Haven’t we suffered enough?
But the thing is, it’s not just his advantages. Rome also seems very well positioned in this tribe, despite the fact that he drives most of them completely nuts. How is this possible? He and Genevieve are apparently a crazy intense pair. When did that happen? I feel like Episode 1 we got a brief scene where the two of them said they wanted to work together, but nothing since. Genevieve has barely appeared on screen. Have we gotten any talking heads with her? Have we gotten any conversations between her and Rome since Episode 1? This is a very strange dynamic and I need some additional context, because I have gay questions and I want gay answers.
Meanwhile, Rome has his alliance with Teeny and Kishan, both of whom lost my faith this episode. I was very excited for both of them pre-season, but I don’t know what Teeny is doing here. She’s willingly aligning herself with someone she sure seems to understand is a jackass. And then Kishan completely flopped in the challenge — was there any discussion of that at all as a tribe? — and then made a huge mistake at tribal council, talking about being loyal to the “Core Four,” which told Sol and Aysha exactly where they stood with the tribe. (Mind you, they already seemed to know.)
I do not understand why that tribe was focused initially on taking out Sol. He is basically their ONLY muscle (and he has a lot of it!). I can see why Rome doesn’t like him, as Sol seemingly has no patience for Rome whatsoever. Same, my dude. But I think they absolutely would have iced Sol at this tribal had Aysha not wholesale refused to work with Tini and Kishan. It took serious stones for Aysha to refuse to flip on her main alliance, and instead suggest another name — Genevieve — who is apparently core in the opposing alliance, although we have no idea why.
At tribal, we had one of the more uncomfortable discussions I’ve watched in a while. There were multiple gaslightings going on here, and none of it felt good to watch. Kishan and Teeny bordered on smug — Kishan especially — as they more or less signaled that the person they were voting for would be going home. Genevieve continued to be largely a nonentity. Sol was stoic. Aysha made one last, desperate attempt to telegraph to her supposed alliances to vote with her — didn’t work, she and Sol weren’t even on the same page in that vote — and Rome made a big production of playing his idol on himself, and that was AFTER he lied to everyone telling them he lost his vote on the journey. He does realize they are recording all of this, right? Watching him, I get the very strong sense that Rome thinks he is smarter and more clever than anyone else he is playing against, and simultaneously seems to have exactly zero self awareness. That moment on the beach where Sol called him out for feeding him wrong information was priceless.
And so Aysha was our first Lavo member snuffed, making three pre-season favorites our first boots. That’s not encouraging. Not in the least.
What do you think of Season 47 so far? What do you think of this cast? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
