Survivor 51, Episode 2 "Weaponized Honesty" Gameplay Breakdown

 "I'm missing a quarter of my thumb."
-Brady Booker



A castaway literally cut off part of their thumb in this episode and that didn't even manage to be the craziest part of the episode.  Just...wow.  The hits keep on coming in Survivor 51 and I'm digging it.  This cast is a mess and I hope the implosions keep rolling.  Pure absurdity.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked.


Who Played Well:

Starting on Savu, there was a lot of eavesdropping going on, some more accurate than others.  Alexis learned that Ana was not someone she could trust and immediately threw her under the bus to Linnea and Sharonda.  They were all still willing to take out Eric to keep tribe unity, but then Linnea misunderstood Carter, but even though she didn't hear what she thought she heard, it led her into making the right move and I don't think they even know how good this move was.  The three of them took charge and led the vote against Ana, who they not only couldn't trust, but was in a trio with Carter and Rob and it didn't seem like they knew that.  I do think Linnea should get her hearing checked though.

Cristian and Kristen both managed to get on the right side of the vote as well, which is especially good for Kristen, who could have been an easy target due to her foot injury.

Eric continues to be annoying, but he had the right read in not trusting whatever Rob was doing.  He managed to survive and seemed to make some strategic connections along the way to eliminate Ana.


Moving over to Toka, we got a new alliance of 5 between Brady, Devin, Jelly, Mike, and Patt, which I could see being pretty successful as long as Brady and Devin don't cause too much chaos.  Jelly also managed to find a Hidden Immunity Idol, but I don't like that she told Patt about it.  She was smart not to tell Devin though.  And Brady may have cut part of his thumb off, but he's still in the game and in a better position than he was in, so net-positive for Brady.  1 and a half thumbs up!


Who Sucked:

Back on Savu, oh Rob.  Rob, Rob, Rob.  What a meltdown.  He started off not so strong when he got mad at Linnea for her performance in the Reward Challenge in front of the entire tribe.  Then he kept the ball rolling by seemingly trying to get himself knocked out of the game, failing to convince Eric to do anything, whispering to him at Tribal Council and causing needless paranoia, trying to vote for himself, not knowing that he wasn't allowed to do that, and ended up being on the wrong side of the vote.  Is this the worst single episode performance for a player who wasn't eliminated in said episode?  I'd love to hear some other contenders.

Carter and Ori both ended up on the wrong side of the vote.  Carter really needs to choose his words more carefully and be more aware that people are listening in on him.  Sure, Linnea was wrong, but the way Carter was talking about the crabs was odd.  "They're onto us."  You gotta say what you mean and mean what you say when you're playing a game rife with paranoia.


Back over on Toka, the only person I have here is Lewis.  He just didn't do a good enough job of getting the target of suspicion off of his back.  He told the truth, but maybe he should have emptied his bag out because now, at the very least, Kilby doesn't trust him.


We really didn't get enough from Kilby, Jenna, Maggie, or Thien An for me to say either way.


As for Ana, she was throwing out names too hard and too fast.  I get she wanted to create fractures, but creating fractures can very easily put you in danger if you get caught.  It was too early for that kind of thing.  Plus she threw her own name out as the backup vote.  She was too eager to toss out names and potential connections and that came back to bite her.  Plus her lie about talking about popcorn was simply godawful.


Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Alexis Levine for eavesdropping on Ana to learn she couldn't trust her and for being a key part of marshalling the votes against Ana.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Rob Antonson for getting openly mad at Linnea, seemingly wanting to quit, causing paranoia at Tribal Council, trying to vote for himself, and being on the wrong side of the vote.

I'm hyped for the next episode.  We have a lot of insanity happening on both tribes, which by itself would get me excited for an episode, but if we have the Mutiny back...  Please Jeff, let's do it!




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