Survivor 42, Episode 2 "Good and Guilty" Gameplay Analysis

 "Here's Maryanne!"

-Maryanne Oketch

Another good episode of Survivor in the books.  While I wouldn't call the gameplay of this episode overly interesting, it was at least extremely funny thanks to the antics of Maryanne and Mike.  Even with the gameplay being in the shadow of the humor, we still have to figure out who played well and who sucked!

Who Played Well:

We'll start over on the Taku tribe.  Jonathan, Omar, Lindsay, and Maryanne all ended up on the right side of the vote in taking out Marya and they all seemed to really connect with at least one other person in the group.  Plus getting a unanimous vote will be great for tribe unity.  Of the Taku tribe, I think Jonathan was the best, even if he blew the Immunity Challenge, because he made connections with all of the other three and was the one who wanted Marya out the most, besides Maryanne.

Moving over to Vati, Daniel and Jenny both had a good enough social bond with Mike to learn about him finding the Beward Advantage and I really liked Daniel plotting with Chanelle in how to use Mike to their advantage.

Lydia led her tribe to an awesome comeback in the Immunity Challenge.  She went from worst to first and it was impressive.

Finally, I'll give Hai props for being able to eat the crab and take a break from his veganism to do what is best for his game.

Who Sucked:

I only have two players that are still in the game to talk about here.  First we have Drea, who did well in the Immunity Challenge and lead her team to victory, but revealed her Extra Vote to Swati and Tori who then talked about stabbing her in the back.  All they have to do is bring that info to Rocksroy and Romeo and Drea is done.  Keep your advantages secret unless you are at the bottom!

We also have Mike.  While I don't mind that he took the Beware Advantage because he hadn't seen season 41, it's what he did after that isn't great.  Him telling Jenny about it isn't that bad because she is his closest ally, but he put way too much trust in Daniel.  He also nearly lost his Idol.  If you're going to bury your Idol, make sure you can find it again.

As for Chanell, Romeo, Rocksroy, Tori, and Swati, we didn't really see enough of them either way.

In regards to Marya, we didn't really see much of her.  I like that she played her Shot in the Dark, but ultimately it seems like she went home simply because she didn't connect with Jonathan.  Connecting with the physical beast on your tribe is important because if they don't want you to go, you're much safer in the early game typically.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Jonathan Young for making relationships with Omar, Lindsaey, and Maryanne and for getting Marya voted out.  It seems like he has a really good social game.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Mike Turner for putting too much trust in Daniel and temporarily losing track of where he buried his Idol.

I hope Vati loses the next Immunity Challenge.  I really want to see what their tribe dynamic becomes when under the pressure of voting someone out.