Ryan’s Analysis: Survivor 45 Premiere

Survivor 45 Premiere "We Can Do Hard Things" Gameplay Analysis

"Sounds like a Leo, great."

-Kendra McQuarrie

I'm so excited to have Survivor back and it hit the ground running with an awesome premiere and what looks to be a disaster tribe.  It's been a minute since we've had one of these.  I'm hoping for Luzon or Matsing levels of disfunction.  In the meantime, we have to figure out who played well and who sucked, so let's take a closer look.

Who Played Well:

Let's start on the Belo tribe.  I really like that Katurah, Kellie, and Kendra all got into an alliance together.  Anything can be a basis to form an alliance, even just sharing the same birthday month.  They latched onto that and ran with it.  I also love that Katurah isn't telling people that she's a lawyer and that she was even asking Jake what it was like to be a lawyer.

Let's move over to the Lulu tribe.  I don't love that Kaleb and Sabiyah volunteered to go do Savvy or Sweat, but at least it bonded them together.  It seems like they have an alliance and are in a good position on the Lulu tribe.  If they end up pulling a Matsing, I'd bet they would be the last two standing.  Plus I think they and Sean did the right thing in agreeing to vote out Hannah instead of risking her quitting and going down to 4 tribe members.

Who Sucked:

Let's go over to Ratu.  The whole tribe will appear in this section.  Let's start with Brandon, who was probably the least bad of the tribe, but I hate that he volunteered for the Sweat Challenge.  That absolutely impacted his performance at the Immunity Challenge and was part of the reason his tribe lost.  I don't mind that he got the Hidden Immunity Idol, but he could have handled the situation with Maddy better.  Ultimately, I have to give him props for saving himself with the Idol, but the fact that he needed to play it so early shows some serious holes in his game.

Matthew also should never have volunteered to do the Sweat Challenge.  It's such a waste of energy.  Speaking of wasting energy, he had no business climbing that rock.  He injured himself and was very lucky he didn't get medically evacuated and that Bruce was, so he could sit out of the challenge.  He also put himself in the leadership role on the tribe, which hasn't hurt him yet, but it's still a bad idea.  Finally, he wasted his Shot in the Dark.

Unless you get yourself in a bad spot early on, you shouldn't want to go on the Adventure.  It just puts a target on your back.  Lauren rigged the rock draw to get sent on the Adventure.  It was a smart way to pull off a bad move.  While she did get the Bank a Vote Advantage, Claire exposed her lie to the rest of her tribe.  She easily could have been eliminated here and all because she sent herself on the Adventure.

Jaime came off as incredibly wishy-washy in this episode.  I would never align myself with her.  Plus she wasted her Shot in the Dark.

Finally, Kane ended up on the wrong side of the vote thanks to Brandon's Idol play.  Everyone else has plausible deniability.  And with Maddy gone, Kane is the only one left who voted for Brandon.

Finally, let's move over to Tika.  Carolyn blew the lead for her tribe in the opening challenge.  That and her awkward social game make her a likely early boot  from her tribe.

We really didn't get enough gameplay from Danny, Heidi, Josh, or Yam Yam for me to have an opinion.

As for Bruce, it sucks to see him evacuated so early.  You just can't let yourself get to excited about the adventure and being on Survivor that you hurt yourself and get removed from the game.  Had he been 1 second slower and a little calmer, he'd still be in the game.

And Maddy got tunnel vision on Brandon.  Sure, she doesn't have to trust Brandon, but gunning for him so hard so early made her a target.  It felt short-sighted.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Katurah Topps for forming an alliance with Kellie and Kendra and for hiding her occupation from her tribe.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Emily Flippen for being too aggressive and negative.  She's very lucky Hannah asked to be voted out.  Otherwise I think she'd be legendarily bad first boot.

I'm excited to see what the Lulu tribe does next.  I kinda hope Emily sticks around.  She has great villain potential, but I'd bet money she's the next one out.  Either way, it'll be fun.

I'm excited to see what happens next! If you liked this breakdown, check out my other write-ups at www.stacysbloggoingon.blogspot.com/.