Survivor: Ghost Island Episode 1 Review: "Can You Reverse The Curse?"

Survivor gets spooky!

I divided my review into two parts.  First I'll talk about how everyone did in the first half of the episode, than I'll move on to the second.

Who Played Well:

Starting with the Malolo tribe in orange, four people impressed me.  Donathan, realizing he was on the chopping block, immediately threw Gonzalez under the bus back at camp.  And he wasn't TOO obvious about it either.  A good play from him.

Following up on Donathan's move was Jessica, who realized that she could use Donathan in the future, and she further turned everyone against Gonzalez.  I think this was a really strong move from her.

Laurel did well in the reward challenge.  It's not much, but I imagine that earned her some goodwill in the early days.

One other movie I liked was from James, who causally threw Jacob under the bus when he went off looking for an idol.  I always appreciate a subtle move to paint someone else as an outsider.

Over on Naviti, the purple tribe, I think three players did well.  Kellyn was the reason they won immunity due to her taking charge in the puzzle portion.

We didn't see much of Morgan, but she did something right and got the Legacy Advantage from Jacob.

Finally, I like Wendall.  I can tell he has some game savviness.  Just from his brief interactions with the other players, I think he will do well.

Who Sucked:

Jacob had a mixed first episode, but was mostly bad.  He made himself a target by looking for the idol.  He did manage to save himself by getting sent to Ghost Island, but than he bragged about this strategic play.  This made him look like a threat to the other tribe.  So I'll give him credit for saving himself, but he did it in the worst possible way.

Desiree failed at the initial puzzle, which won't be a big deal, but it could have been a factor if Naviti had lost the first challenge.  

Domenick was way to honest out the gate.  He should have kept his mouth shut and head down when dealing with Chris, and now he has Chris and Sebastian out to get him.  Good on him for forming the bond with Wendall though.  It led him to the information about Chris and Sebastian.

Sebastian doesn't seem like the brightest bulb.  He gave too much information to Wendall, and Domenick easily could have come gunning for him.  Sebastian got lucky and Domenick set his sights on Chris instead, but Sebastian needs to start being more careful.

Finally, we have Chris, who made some poor decisions in the first challenge, but I wouldn't have thought it would be anything to worry about.  But Domenick obviously thought different.  Chris should not have put himself in the leader position because this creates enemies.  He also put a bigger target on his back by going off the talk with Sebastian.  

We barely saw any of Brendan, Jenna, Libby, Angela, Bradley or Chelsea.  We saw some Michael, but he didn't do anything really.

Finally, we say goodbye to Gonzalez.  She came out as too big a threat during the episode.  Jessica saw an opportunity to capitalize on saving Donathan, and Gonzales is Gone-zalez.  I don't she was a train wreck of a player by any means, but she needed to keep her head down more.

Verdict:

It's time to present the "Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On Award": Which is given to the best player of the episode.

For Part 1 of this episode, Stephanie Johnson wins for realizing she could save Donathan and use him as a pawn and for organizing the vote against Gonzalez.

Now for the not-so-presegious award: the "Not The Player For Me Award".  This goes to the worst player of the episode, besides the person who was voted out.

Chris Noble wins for Part 1 of this episode.  He put himself in the leadership position and lost, making Domenick mad at him and further put a target on his back by going off with Sebastian to scheme.

Now let's move on to Part 2!

Who Played Well:

Brendan immediately saw through Jacob's lie about the Hidden Immunity Idol and helped organize the vote against him.  We saw he definitely has some strategic chops in putting a few votes on James.

Donathan had a mixed week, but I think it was net positive.  He did poorly at first in the challenge and it took a lot of convincing from his tribunates to go back in the water.  I thought he was dun-zo at this point.  But, when he freed the buoys we saw him in such a positive light that I think this will be forgotten.  Especially after he gets immunity by being sent to Ghost Island.  By taking him off the table, he almost gets a fresh start in the next episode.  But he needs to get some self-confidence if he wants to stay in the game.

Stephanie continued to have a great night.  She sees the game well and played Jacob perfectly.  My only concern is that she was so good that she made Brendan nervous.  But the fact that she stayed true to the plan true should do some good to reassure Brendan.

Domenick also had a mixed second half.  At first, I thought he was on a huge upswing.  He found and idol and tried to make piece with Chris.  It didn't go great, but I appreciate the effort.  But then he pulls some sort of elaborate play on Chris with showing him a fake idol and telling him it's real.  It's ballsy.  It could work.  It might not.  It's too soon to tell, but it was probably a bad call.

Speaking of Chris, he did a poor job with Domenick.  He should have been much warmer towards Domenick, even if he didn't mean it.  But he did see through Domenick's lie and he did great in the challenge.  I think it was a net positive for Chris as well, but we shall see.

Finally, we didn't see much of Desiree or Wendall, but they did great in the challenge.

Who Sucked:

I've only got one person who played terribly tonight, and that's James.  Not only did he blow the challenge for his team, but he threw himself under the bus by constantly reminding them that he sucked.  He was basically giving them the ok to vote him out.  Honorable, but bad Survivor play.  He needed to shut up and throw crosshairs to someone else.  He survived the night, but no thanks to him.

We didn't see Angela, Bradley, Chelsea, Kellyn, or Sebastian.  We saw Laurel, Libby, Jenna, Michael,  and Morgan, but they didn't do anything.

Finally, there is Jacob, who was an entertaining character, but not so great at Survivor.  He started this episode in a bad situation.  I appreciate his efforts to try and get himself out of the hole he dug, but I don't think there was much he could do.

Verdict:

And now for the second "Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On Award" of the night.  This one goes to StephanieJohnson again.  I was really impressed with her play tonight, and she played Jacob like a fiddle and now knows where the Legacy Advantage is.  I'm hoping she did enough to calm Brendan's paranoia, but I'm impressed enough to officially make Stephanie my winner pick.

As for the second "Not The Player For Me Award", I award it to James Lim.  He blew the challenge and threw himself under the bus.  Making your own mistake worse is no way to play Survivor.

So far, I'm liking the season, though I wish we had gotten to see more of the Naviti tribe.