Survivor 49, Episode 4 "Go Kick Rocks, Bro" Gameplay Analysis

 "The ocean took my shoe."

-Sophi Balerdi

It was nice to get a tribe swap from three to two tribes.  It's been a minute since we've had one of those, so it was a nice change of pace.  Other than that, this is what I would describe as a perfectly average episode of Survivor.  We were presented with two people on the chopping block, given reasons for both of them to go, and then one of them was voted out.  It isn't flashy, but this is baseline Survivor, and even baseline Survivor is interesting enough.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

We'll start on the new Hina tribe.  Nate, Rizo, and Savannah all did a good job of making Sophi B feel secure with them and cleanly split the vote to take out a member of original Hina.  They might not have all agreed on who the primary target should have been, but it was really just splitting hairs and they got the job done.  I also like that Rizo told Sophi B about his Beware Advantage, which he turned into an Idol.  His entire tribe knew about the Advantage, so somebody was going to eventually tell Sophi B.  Might as well be the one to do it.  It could create a bond between the two of them.

Speaking of Sophi B, I think she did a great job of blending with original Uli.  They all really seem to like her.  I think this group could go far.

Moving over to Kele, we have two sides of the same coin with Kristina and Steven in regards to Shannon.  Kristina and Shannon bonded over their spirituality, which could benefit both of them going forward.  Steven on the other hand sees right through Shannon and how capable she really is.  He can definitely find a way to use that to his advantage.

It seems like Alex, MC, and Sophie S. are all doing fine with connections on their new tribe.  We didn't see too much of them, but I'll give them a slight positive.

Who Sucked:

Back on Hina, Jason was far too attached to his original tribe.  It's great that you love the people you were on a tribe on, but they can't help you now.  You have to embrace your current position and try to make the best of it.  Somebody, I think it was Jawan, but I don't remember for sure, made a good point.  Original Hina never even voted together.  Jason has no true idea where everyone's loyalties really laid.  He needed to embrace this tribe and strategies presented to him with enthusiasm, even if he doesn't mean it.  Fake it 'til you make it.  Also his Shot in the Dark strategy wasn't a good one.  They can just split the vote, dude.  Sure, you can play it, but telling the majority that's your plan isn't the right call.  Agree with whoever they tell you to vote for and then make a decision.  No need to make everyone wary of working with you.  I do like that he ended up voting for Matt. That was the right call, and could have saved his bacon in certain circumstances.  It worked for Alex back in Fiji.

Jawan is a strange one.  When Matt presented him with the idea of joining with Jason and Sophi B. to take out Nate, I thought for sure he would have considered it.  He told Matt he felt that he was on the bottom of original Uli, which, according to Savannah, he is.  Was Jawan lying about where he thinks he is in his tribe?  I don't necessarily mind that he voted out Matt and stuck with Uli.  It's possible that Sophi B was in too far with Nate, Savannah, and Rizo for Jamal to even be able to consider a flip, but it would have been nice to hear him consider it or at least talk us through his thought process.  He just laughed off Matt's idea, which may come back to bite him.

Over on Kele, I mentioned Shannon above.  She's bonding really well with some people over their faith.  Others are seeing right through her and Sage even called her performative.  While she does make some potential allies here, she also makes some potential enemies and a truly skilled social player would have been able to win everyone over without coming off as performative.

Finally, we have Sage.  Pro-tip: when you're introducing yourself to someone for the first time, don't lead with your collection of blackheads.  It doesn't make you an appealing person to work with.

As for Matt, I did like his pitch to Jawan, but he may have been better served in asking Jawan if there was someone from original Uli that he would have liked to take out instead of just pitching Nate's name.  It puts the ball in Jawan's court and I think it could have given Matt more insight into where Jawan was truly at and maybe he could have gotten some information to use against him.  Still, I thought his plan was decent, but the execution could have been better.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Rizo Velovic for telling Sophi B. about his Beware Advantage before anyone else could, getting the Idol and his vote back, and taking out an original Hina member.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Jason Treul for not being able to let go of original Hina, failing to embrace his new tribe, and telling people he was just going to play his Shot in the Dark.

A pretty straightforward episode overall, so here's hoping we get some fireworks in the next one!