Addressing some of Riddim's concerns:
- even with the loved one switch, redemption island is still stupid. it truly offers no strategic depth, just a gimmick to pad out episodes.
Normally, I agree with you. Here, this is not the case. As we saw, it has already suggested the strategy of voting someone out in order to get at their loved one to weaken the other team.
- the reason i say no strategic depth, as outlined in my last post, is that the swap is strategically stupid. you weaken your own social ties to your tribe by swapping out, and you doom your partner to starting from scratch in that tribe. in that sense, gervase was right to leave marisa hanging.
It could also be possible to send someone in as a trojan horse - like Colton, for example - whose mission would be to weaken the other tribe, by making Caleb sacrifice himself, and then Colton can sow discord, if he can get his stupid head together.
- that said, the preview for next week suggests that tyson takes the bait and swaps with rachel. i think these are just about perfect circumstances to take the bait - it's early in the game, so ties are still developing, tyson's tribe is dominating so the risk of rachel going first is low, rachel is reasonably strong for a female competitor in challenges, and colton is well hated on tyson's tribe. in just about any other week, it's a sucker's gamble.
It's all about timing.
- of course, that doesn't mean we won't see it more than once, since the name of the game is blood vs. water, and we're seeing a lot of heart over head decision-making. i'm giving credit for that to the concept, though, not "redemption island with a twist"
- sad to see rupert go so early, as I would have liked to see how his change in strategy might have played out.
Rupert, in a way, did a good thing. Yeah, he was first out, but he got to be the hero he sees himself as, he wasn't going to win anyway, and he did something nice for his wife. We are here at the 'heart' stage, the Kumbaya stage. Let's see what happens when it gets a bit more cut-throat.
- candace could be a force to reckon with on RI. Since only one person comes back, typically, it'll be a shame if tyson takes the switch, since only one of them will come back
Tyson will hate her so much, so if the two of them are on RI for a long time.. should be snarky confessional gold.
- what's there to say about colton? his shtick worked in one world because he had a bunch of newbs and a natural rivalry to exploit on the shared beach. the veterans tribe may have cracks, but they know the path to victory is in winning challenges in the first half.
He is playing like a buffoon. But, what if the mums see what is happening with the bro alliance and decide to sacrifice Colton, possibly weaponize him first, then save the daughter by throwing a challenge? Colton could well wreck more havoc with the noobs. But, really, he just needs to know when to hold 'em etc.
- i've always said the cure to survivor game playing is to close the circle - when someone tells you someone else said something, always circle back and confirm that with the alleged source. so the 5 veterans completely disarmed colton and left him with a choice to either slink away with his tail between his legs or try to escalate emotionally to keep the high ground. but the zen tribe laughed his machinations off. awesome.
- back to voting off rachel, the newbs tribe is so dysfunctional right now that they probably won't win another challenge. eliminating marisa and then rachel is the two strongest women, and they're prioritising their man alliance over tribe unity/challenge victories. Although the men are patting themselves on the back for their alliance, I would not be surprised if they didn't win another challenge right up to the merge (tribe swaps and other surprises, aside)
Yeah, this didnt work last year, it didnt work on Heroes vs Villains...it doesnt work this early. The alliance must be forged in the fires of victory and defeat,
- the other preview for next week, a colton melt down, raises some interesting possibilities. does he take his partner and leave? is it just a show for his tribe to try to re-gain sympathy? or does someone on the veterans tribe offer to swap loved one for loved one, and maybe try to give them the trojan horse of colton? (I doubt it's the latter, since that would have been previewed, but jeff has always said he loves when players bargain - I wonder how he would react to such an overture)
Great minds etc
- before this all started, I felt colton and rupert were the only two standouts from the returning players. sure, we remember tina and aras for winning (in unspectacular fashion), and gervase for his hopelessness in the water, but mostly they're a forgettable lot. So it's somewhat ironic to see the two big personalities disappear.
- that said, a bunch of returning players who were mid-game vote-offs is an interesting selection, since they have some game experience but are unproven in terms of their ability. personally, i didn't find it inspiring, but I think that's because the missed the most interesting angle about most of their returns - redemption (and not the isle kind)
anyway, all up an interesting season so far. after the last couple being amongst my least favourite, I'm cautiously optimistic this will surpass them.[/QUOTE]