Survivor 43, Episode 7 "Bull in a China Shop" Gameplay Analysis

 "That sucked!"

-Noelle Lambert

I didn't love this episode of Survivor.  While I liked the format for the Immunity challenge, we spent too much of the episode there and Jeff trying to make a big moment out of the castaways helping Noelle and Jeanine out of the net rang hollow.  Plus it gave us the return of the Knowledge is Power Advantage, which always takes the wind out of my sails when I'm watching this show.  Anyway, let's take a look at who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

Let's start with the Baka boys.  I have some questions about Gabler and Owen.  Were they in on the Dwight vote and just throwing votes on Ryan in case of Shot in the Dark?  Or were they out of the loop?  I don't know.  I'm not going to factor the vote in for them either way at this point and I could change my mind if I get more information.  Sami at least was for sure in on the vote and it was a good move for him.  Gabler at least won Immunity and Owen had a good enough connection with Noelle for her to give him the Vote Steal to hold on to.  A lot of questions here, but there was good stuff for all three of them.

James was in danger in this episode whether he knew it or not.  I like that he went for the Advantage and got himself the Knowledge is Power.  I don't love that he told people about it though.  I feel like this Tribal Council left a lot of blank spaces, so I'm going to give James the benefit of the doubt.  I think he should have been voted out in this episode, but he wasn't.  I'm hoping he did some more stuff that we didn't see to ensure that he was not the target.

Finally, Ryan, Cassidy, and Karla were all in on the plan to take out Dwight.  That's great for the Coco tribe.  They kept their numbers and let Vesi eat one of their own.

Who Sucked:

After the merge, players should keep their heads down as much as they can and prevent themselves from being a target.  Noelle seemed to be the person who was most vocal about taking out James.  This made her seem like a threat to Jesse.  She was the initial target and while she survived, she lost her closest ally.  She got too vocal too early.

Speaking of Jesse, I hate that he and Cody turned on their Vesi tribe-mates.  It was way too soon for them to go after Noelle or Dwight.  Now Vesi is fractured and they've made an enemy out of Noelle.  I won't be shocked to see this come back to haunt them.  It's especially bad for Cody, who should have insisted on taking James out.  Cody has an Idol.  James has the Knowledge is Power Advantage.  1 + 1 = taking James out of the game before he can use the Knowledge is Power against your Idol.

Finally, we have Jeanine, who did a solid job in pulling herself together after losing Elie.  However, she had a bad read on how the vote was shaking out.  She ended up on the wrong side of the vote and gave her Idol for Dwight to hold onto only for him to take the Idol with him on his way out the door.  She lost another ally and an Idol in one fell swoop.

As for Dwight, he should not have been the target here.  It really should have been James.  Maybe if Dwight had worked a little more at reconnecting with Jesse after the Justine vote, he wouldn't be out here, but this is more of an overly-aggressive move from Jesse and Cody than it is anything Dwight did.

Verdict:

I don't feel strongly about Best Player of the Episode and it wouldn't take much for me to change my mind.  I'm going to give it to James Jones because he was in danger and he took action to mix things up.  He got the Knowledge is Power and survived the vote.  

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Cody Assenmacher for turning on Dwight too early when he had a clear shot at James and the Knowledge is Power.

I like James, but I'm hoping he gets taken out next so Knowledge is Power leaves the game for good and we never see that stupid thing again.  Fingers crossed!