Survivor 45: Episode 9 "Sword of Damocles" Gameplay Analysis

 "Good things are good."

-Jake O'Kane

This ended up being a pretty straightforward and uneventful episode despite the best efforts of production.  I think even without the twists of the episode, Kendra probably would have been the person to go.  I always like it when production tries to force something crazy and it just doesn't happen.  Straightforward episodes are fine!  We don't need to take away a third of the players' votes to have an interesting episode.  Straightforward doesn't always mean boring.  Anyway, let's take a look at who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

We'll start with Bruce.  I like that he's doing some self-reflection in the wake of Kellie's elimination.  I don't know how much good it will do him, but it might help.  He won Immunity and saved his Idol for another day and was willing to turn on Kendra when the vote started turning that way.  I don't know if he can win, but if he keeps this up, he can at least get to the end.

Jake is in a very bad spot, but all he can do for now is be available for anyone who wants to use him as a number.  He was willing to turn on Kendra and is still alive in the game.

Katurah ended up losing her vote and wasn't able to get it back, but, more importantly, she completely jumped ship on the Belo alliance and moved over to Reba and is trying to get in with them and looking for a crack.  I think this could work for her and Belo is absolutely a lost cause.  Good for her for abandoning ship.

The Reba 4 stayed strong and took out Kendra.  I do think that Jake probably would have been the smarter move, but it doesn't matter too much.  I do think Dee pushed a little too hard for Kendra and that could come back to bite her, but for this episode, they stayed strong and kept control of the game.  Plus Austin managed to get his vote back and I liked that he lied about it.

Who Sucked:

Emily also lost her vote and wasn't able to get it back.  I think she pushed back a little too much on Drew when she was told that Kendra was the target.  I get that she would rather have had Jake be the target, but she doesn't have a vote.  It sucks that she doesn't really have any control, but with votes like this, you need to be willing to let go a little bit.  This criticism could also be leveled at Dee to a certain extent.  It doesn't really matter if it's Jake or Kendra.  This is the time to go-with-the-flow.

As for Kendra, it's clear she isn't very good at the strategic aspect of the game.  The fact that she never even considered that Katurah, Emily, or Austin could have been lying about losing their vote speaks volumes.  It doesn't seem like she was making connections until she needed to.  You gotta make those strategic and social connections before you need them.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Austin Li Coon for getting his vote back and for being go-with-the-flow in the move to take out Kendra.  I also like that he lied about getting his vote back to everyone that wasn't in his core alliance.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Emily Flippen for losing her vote and pushing too hard to take out Jake.  As a reminder, I don't give the eliminated player either Award as I think that can be boring and too easy.

I'm hoping the Reba 4 will turn on each other in the next episode.  If it happens, let's get some fireworks!