Survivor 41: Episode 5 "The Strategist or The Loyalist" Analysis

 "I consider myself to be a mermaid."

-Sydney Segal

After the amazing episode last week, Survivor is back up to its old tricks in episode 5.  I hate the Knowledge is Power Advantage with a burning passion.  I liked most of the rest of the episode just fine, but this overpowered and stupid Advantage left a terrible taste in my mouth that brought the episode down.  Survivor really needs to cool it with these advantages.  Was anyone asking for this?  If they were, they shouldn't have been.  Someone get Mike White to give Jeff a call and put a stop to this madness.  Either way, we still 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 Luvu tribe, where I only have one person, and that is Naseer.  He found the Beware Advantage and ended up with an fully powered Idol by the Immunity Challenge.  He had no idea that he would lose his vote by taking it, so I don't hold that against him.

Moving on to Ua, I really liked Ricard's smooth set up for Shan and Xander at the Immunity Challenge for them to say their secret codes.  It was well done.  I also liked how he plotted with both Genie and Shan, held onto the Extra Vote to have some insurance, and that he ultimately ended up getting rid of Genie.  He could have handled the discussion with Shan about the Extra Vote better, but it was still a solid episode for him.

Shan was a little more mixed but I'd say a net positive, but just barely.  I don't like that she took the Beware Advantage when she knew it would likely cost her her vote.  She gets it back thanks to Naseer, but still.  There was also no need for her to give Ricard the Extra Vote until after the Immunity Challenge.  That whole awkward discussion could have been avoided if Shan had been more patient.  On the flip side, she now has a solid relationship with Liana, did a good job of scheming with both Ricard and Genie, and made the right move in getting rid of Genie.  There were some rough patches along the way, but Shan is really well set up moving forward.

Finally, let's head over to Yase.  I like how Evvie is keeping Xander close.  Now that his Idol is powered up, I think Evvie is the least likely person to get knocked out of the game by it.

Liana had a great episode in forming a good relationship with Shan and getting her hands on the Knowledge is Power Advantage.  I hate that it's in the game, but good for Liana.

Who Sucked:

I literally only have one person left in the game to talk about here.  Danny, Deshawn, Erika, Heather, Sydney, and Tiffany didn't do enough for me to say either way.

Xander got caught in a lie by Tiffany, which makes her trust him even less.  He also left all of his Advantage stuff in his bag; a rookie mistake.  Granted, everyone on his tribe already knew about all of it, but still.

As for Genie, I don't know if she was really cut out for this game.  She didn't seem to have much game.  There also isn't much you can do when you are the person who should go home and the rest of the tribe is competent.  I would have liked to see her stick around, but I wasn't surprised to see her go.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Ricard Foyé for smoothly setting up Shan and Xander, plotting with both Genie and Shan, keeping the Extra Vote, and eliminating Genie.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Xander Hastings for getting caught in a lie and for keeping his Advantages in his bag.

This wasn't a great episode, but I am really excited to see what this "merge" twist is going to be.