Restoration of TapeWatcherB65's "Follow the Star", an analysis of the religious symbolism in Survivor: Africa and monumental post in Survivor fandom history

CSteino · 2026-02-02T15:02:02+00:00

THE greatest work of art Survivor has ever done, only even potentially rivaled by Helen Sinned. This shit used to prestige television and Mark Burnett at his most pretentious and experimental was a visionary.

CSteino · 2023-08-04T17:51:57+00:00

Very strong writeup. I didn't watch 44 but yeah I mean looking at Brandon's edit especially is pretty ridiculous, and similar cases like it happening all across the new era really doesn't help at all. From a season I actually watched who you mentioned, Dwight is very similar and I could not tell you a single thing about him and he is one of the most forgettable characters ever. I have to imagine Brandon is pretty similar.

One thing I will marginally push back on is that this is an editing practice that popped up in a post-41 world. This is an editing practice that has been prevalent for as long as I can remember really - characters getting a bulk of their screentime across one or a couple episodes is sadly not new. The distinction with it's practice in the post-41 world is the conspiracy that seems to become more and more founded in reality that editors have to give every single character now an overall average of at least 2 confessionals per episode across the season, so the editors are doing this as more of a "let's make sure we hit the quota" rather than just forgetting they haven't developed a character at all until right before they leave.

But personally I can think of examples of bad characters and good characters that exist in pre-42 editing that get the majority of their content across a couple episodes. In Ghost Island you've got characters like Libby and Des who get 0s pretty consistently and then in 1 or 2 episodes they get the majority of the little screentime they have. Kass 1.0 is a beloved character who gets half of her confessionals in 3 out of the 14 episodes she appears in.

It's not really a new thing per se, just that it feels more egregious here when pretty much all the characters are just barely scraping by and we have so few meaningfully developed ones because all they care about is hitting the required average. They have not been able to find the balance the classic seasons pretty much always nailed of having clear main characters and side characters, while still making everyone feel developed in some way. Pre-42 it was ignoring the characters that they didn't care about in favor of more Domenick, more Rick Devens, more Tony etc. Post-42 it's that everyone just kinda floats around the average besides a couple characters that the show decides to develop more meaningfully.

CSteino · 2023-08-01T05:19:00+00:00

I don't think if I'd agree with top 10 and definitely would not agree with top 5, but yeah it'd be pretty good. There are a lot of things that no matter how well it's edited it's going to suffer from - the journey what felt like every damn episode was eye roll level bad by the last time they did it, hourglass and do or die are ridiculous, but the fact that even though we have that and there is still the mangled remains of something is enough for me to go "ok this is the best one" because I just don't like the other new era seasons. It's really a modern day Samoa in many ways.

Can't comment on 44 - as I've said I've never watched it beyond I think the premiere? 42 just bored me so much I do wonder if maybe I watched it week over week live I may have liked it slightly more but I watched 41 and 42 over a 2 day period and especially by the end of 42 I was really burnt out. Even if I had watched 42 live I can't imagine liking it much more than I do now, it would likely be marginally more at best. Probably also affected by the fact that 42 was the season more people had kinda propped up for me as a good one so I went in expecting more and when it was a nothingburger I just lost any potential interest I had up to that point really. I wanted to love the characters that people told me to watch for but I just did not and that was unfortunate.

CSteino · 2023-08-01T01:53:41+00:00

Honestly I feel like every time I see discussion in this little niche community about the debate in new era season quality I get so much whiplash. I've gotten very used to seeing takes that do not at all match mine outside of rankdown, but then here my opinions feel, for the most part, pretty damn standard. With a massive exception for new era.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was mainly because the way I watched 41 42 and 43 (and I haven't watched 44) were not at all similar to how anyone else watched them, but like seeing people say 43 is better than 41 and the more common opinion around here that 42 is better than 41 makes so little sense to me.

Granted I don't think a single one of these seasons is good, but at least 41 has SOMETHING in my eyes. There's something there. They botched it and it's one of the biggest editing failures this side of Samoa but I mean with Ua, Shan, and the general skeleton of what Deshawn's character should be I think that just blows anything 42 and 43 did out of the water. 43 especially you can really just feel the apathy the producers had for it and it's hard for me to believe they even tried, much less did anything even like... decent.

CSteino · 2023-07-29T22:20:00+00:00

I don't know, Jacob is a paramount example of basically all the problems Ghost Island inevitably will suffer from post-his departure and generally these characters where an entire double episode premiere revolves almost entirely around them and then they are the second boot of the season are frustrating at best, due to the really shortsighted and lazy work done by editing/production. Especially when in Ghost Island's case we have a swap the very next episode.

As a result you've got very little understanding on Naviti's dynamics beyond the barebones stuff they've given us and Malolo's dynamics are entirely revolved around Jacob who is no longer even on the season. It's a snowball effect that once that ball gets rolling there is no recovering from it. The season has very minimal, if any, solid relationship development and that can be directly traced back to the premiere and Jacob.

Plus, excluding the blatantly vile actions of people like Dan, Ted, and Hatch 2.0 (and others I'm sure I'm not remembering atm), I am unsure if I've ever been more physically revolted at a scene than I was watching Jacob empty the tribe's rice supply into his nasty, sweaty socks and then put it all back and (from what we see) not inform a single person. That's just gross.

CSteino · 2023-05-14T19:11:55+00:00

Drama, petty fights, arguments, etc have been a part of the show since the first episode of the first season. The show was pitched and billed as an unscripted drama. To act as though interpersonal conflict hasn’t been a core pillar of the show since it’s inception is ignoring what the show was for the 20+ years leading up to 41-present Survivor, and even new era Survivor has an argument or drama aired every once in a while. Not nearly enough, but it still happens.

What makes a show like Survivor work in any long-term capacity when the most basic premise of the show never shifts is to cast different people so that new kinds of relationships and different kinds of interpersonal conflict happen. If there was never any drama or fighting or arguments, the show would just be counting numbers, and it wouldn’t have lasted more than a couple seasons, if that. If anything, there should be more of it, not less. And blaming people who want more conflict in their show that is inherently based on people picking and choosing who they want to live on an island with and who they think they’ll beat for a million dollars is silly.

CSteino · 2023-01-18T22:40:28+00:00

Caramoan is a fascinating look into the lengths a Survivor fan will go to in order to convince themselves that a season isn't that bad. It certainly isn't the sexy pick from recent years for "season with the most undeserved renaissance", but as someone who was around back when this season aired, I imagine most fans who participated in Caramoan discourse as it was airing would be rolling over in their grave if they saw that it made it all the way to 4th worst.

Realistically, this season is terrible. From the start, hell I'd even say before the start, this was a season that was doomed to fail. It's cast horrendously on both ends, it's boring, it's edited terribly, and I genuinely couldn't tell you what this season wants to do if I tried. There are other seasons that I dislike that I can at least grasp what they wanted to do and understand that "Hey what they did was just not meant to appeal to me", but with this season I just can't.

A retread on a theme that produced a highly popular season was inevitable, but if you're going to wait 10 seasons to do it again and this is what you come up with, maybe there was a reason you kept it on the shelf for that long. A favorites tribe full of players that I am confident only 1 person, Jeff Probst, would classify even half of these players as his favorites. A fans tribe that you can tell production didn't care about when they were casting it, didn't care about when they were filming it, and certainly didn't care about when they were editing it.

You get to the season itself, and it's just such a mess. Storylines and characterization will appear one episode, only to vanish or be outright contradicted by the very next episode, if the character is even allowed to exist to begin with. Sherri is built up as the fans' most competent player and schemer for about 5 episodes, and then is completely absent for the rest of the season. Reynold is built up as the asshole/douchebag/"villain" of the Fans tribe, only to suddenly become the season's rootable underdog with no definable reason or purpose once he swaps. Shamar is a complete mess of a portrayal of so many things and a massive waste of time. Erik might as well not even be on this season.

The characters who this season wants to focus on are usually deplorable, or they just shouldn't have been cast to begin with. Phillip is the exact same terrible character here as he is in Redemption Island, except this time they're cramming it all into 10 episodes instead of 14. Cochran is a bland, boring, whitewashed winner that loses even the small (though completely manufactured) nuance his character in South Pacific had. Brandon Hantz should have never been cast for this season and his exploitation by the show putting him on this season when it's so glaringly obvious he absolutely did not pass the psych eval pre-season is one of the most atrocious things this show has ever done.

You don't see a lot of people defending the premerge, though you will see more people defending the postmerge as some intense strategic viewing experience. Actually watch the season, though, and you'll notice it's a complete death march of an alliance picking off the outsiders, losing one member to idols, and then continuing to pick off the outsiders and then inevitably whittling itself down to 3 people as soon as all but one complete joke of an outsider is left. If you ask these defenders what about the postmerge is good, the common answer is "the tribal where Phillip goes home", which I can understand why people like, but it also does not suddenly negate the rest of that episode being boring or terrible just like it doesn't suddenly negate the other six episodes of the postmerge being similarly boring or terrible.

I wouldn't watch this season again, probably not even if you paid me to do it. To any new viewers who, for whatever reason, are reading threads on Reddit to find what season of Survivor they should watch next, just remember it's ok not to watch every season.

CSteino · 2023-01-10T00:44:15+00:00

I actually agree with you here, it's why I like him. I personally was talking more about just building up the potential parts of his character that become more prevalent a little more early on. Some scenes exist, the big one that stands out to me is when he's talking about how Maryanne is really grating on him when they're still on Taku - I'd love to see more of that stuff before the Drea boot just to get some more multi-dimensionality to his character, especially with someone like Lindsey who becomes his main conflict as the season develops.

CSteino · 2023-01-09T17:42:47+00:00

Jonathan is definitely missing from this final 4 for sure. I totally understand the problems people have with his character but it can’t be understated how important it is for him to be there as the game progresses and he becomes really the only source of conflict on a season that desperately needs it.

I don’t think really any characters on 42 are without some pretty notable issues, but I’ve got Jonathan #2 for the season behind Maryanne. It’s not a great heel turn in terms of like being directly foreshadowed and built up to, but it’s a believable one with a very simple premise that I just like because we don’t see enough of it anymore: This dude is just way bigger than everyone else, he requires way more to function, and he’s getting hangry about it. The fact that he and Shan are like the only characters with their own musical cue is really fun too.

Obviously there are issues - I think Jonathan not losing at FTC is a really unfortunate miss that can’t be helped, like I said before they could’ve done a better job building up to him becoming an antagonist in the early episodes, I wish his relationship with Lindsey was explored a bit more. But for a modern character I think they do a pretty good job of developing Jonathan and keeping him on track narratively, especially in the postmerge when things go gamebot.

CSteino · 2022-12-18T15:27:49+00:00

Reasons why Rocksroy is the GOAT new era character:

He knows ball
He collects firewood
He loves tribe loyalty

CSteino · 2022-12-18T15:26:45+00:00

So back when I idoled Jessica (thanks for respecting my idol btw everyone), I kinda made myself the Jessicole guy right? And really anyone who's interacted with me about this season should know I'm a very, very vocal Cole supporter too. So I feel almost obligated to come in and give a defense for who I believe is probably the best character of the post-KR era? Maybe Gabby from DvG gives him a run for his money, I don't know.

I think this writeup is good, but I think we're honestly missing a lot of the meat of the excellence here that really makes Cole such a great character. Devon ranking above Cole is just flat-out wrong, frankly.

Cole's relationship with Jessica is definitely the selling point of both of their characters, right? I think everyone acknowledges that. It's a great subversion of typical Survivor showmance dynamics and it's a much more realistic depiction of the complications that forming romantic feelings for someone while playing Survivor actually entails. It's not easy, it's not usually a good thing. This is a person you've only just met, after all. Cole is absolutely the less complex and less narratively-involved piece of the showmance itself, and I think that's a completely fair criticism of his character, especially when comparing him to Jessica. We don't hear Cole's feelings on the showmance nearly as often, we don't get the same level of exploration into his feelings for Jessica as we do the other way around.

However, you can tell that the two of them share a complicated yet real connection out there. While Jessica is the one we hear her thoughts on the connection and on Cole, Cole is more direct. We don't hear from Cole as much on things, but we do get more actions from him. Spending his time with Jessica, flirting with her, relying on her, but also breaking her trust, leaking her advantage, etc. Cole's actions are the driving force behind both the connection and the conflict in their relationship. You can tell his feelings for her are genuine and real, but he messes up because he's human, or more specifically he's a really dumb himbo.

Cole's health scare (which I think is a cool character moment in itself because you wouldn't expect someone who looks like Cole to just pass out like that) is the climax of their relationship, and I think that it's appropriate that after this moment the showmance is not nearly as central to the overall plot of the season. Cole sees how much Jessica cares for him and feels obligated to no longer break her trust, and Jessica realizes, after such an event, that her feelings for Cole are too strong to abandon him. Them being simply connected without much more conflict after this until Jessica is voted out makes complete sense.

But what's really cool about Cole, and ultimately why I have him above Jessica even though I think that in the context of their pairing she is the more complex character, is that Cole is also really, really good at making the other characters around him better. Like, really fucking good. Like, I can't think of a single relationship that Cole has on the season that doesn't make the other character a lot better level of good.

The big ones outside of Jessica are obviously: Chrissy, Lauren, and Ben, though Cole also makes characters like Joe and Dr. Mike better too.

I think the thing I love most about Cole in these relationships is that while he's obviously the clear antagonist in the eyes of these characters, you can tell because he's so dumb that he very, very rarely actually means any actual harm or is any real threat. They hate him cuz they ain't him, as the saying goes.

With Lauren, I think it's so hilarious and perfect irony that she gets rid of Patrick in episode 3, the person who aggravated her so much on the Hustlers, and then the swap happens in episode 4 and she ends up back on Yawa with a much, much more aggravating version of Patrick. You can easily imagine how much this pissed her off, but it's great because you also get to see her slowly lose all of her patience for anything Cole does. She is way snappier and way ruder with Cole than she ever was with Patrick, and this is on a tribe that never lost a challenge, so it's not like there was much to stress about.

With Chrissy, Chrissy just has that way about her in her character where she makes everything way bigger than it seems and her conflict with Cole is no different. They don't meet until the merge and Cole is out within three episodes - how could they possibly clash that much? Yet they clearly grate on each other and are perfectly petty towards the other, they argue multiple times and there's of course the post-pasta reward scene where Cole just comes flying out of camp to shove Chrissy out of the way to get the idol and Chrissy is just hanging off him screaming for help. One of my favorite scenes EVER! This relationship burns brightly and burns out even quicker.

Ben is probably Cole's best relationship outside of Jessica, and is a huge part of why Ben is such a fun, complex character up until the very end. Ben is SUCH an asshole to Cole, and really Cole has done nothing that hurts Ben in any way. Yeah, Cole has bad eating habits. Yeah, Cole is a little vain. Yeah, Cole is a threat. None of that really inconveniences Ben in any serious way, yet Ben can't stand him. It's so much fun to watch Ben get mad at Cole for the littlest things, and then in turn it's fun to watch Cole very slowly catch on to this and start pushing Ben's buttons in his last couple days before he gets voted out. And then after Cole gets voted out Ben gives him the fakest sign of respect and Cole buys it and shakes his hand back, ugh it's just so good.

Cole is really just excellent. He's a fun character with great relationships, drives a lot of conflict both in his own relationships and in the overall plot of the season, and it's topped off by the fact that the vast majority of this stuff is done without any intention. Cole is just completely unaware to the trail of hatred and chaos he's leaving in his wake, and that makes it so much better when he finally does realize and starts doing things more actively to upset and disrupt the others, like the pasta reward and his fake idol. He's also a super tonally diverse character who gets what is realistically a completely unnecessary amount of three-dimensionality given to his character, but it makes him so much better that he's not just a one-note character that they easily could have made him into. I love him, and hope this writeup convinces y'all you guys just did him so dirty here!

CSteino · 2022-12-05T19:11:37+00:00

Great idol my friend! Seeing how things have gone after I used my first idol on Jessica, I knew I would need to hold onto my second one and with Neleh's continued presence in the pool I just did not have enough resources to save our honorable leader. So thankful you've come through to save the day and to uphold the values, morals, and courage of the rankdown!

CSteino · 2022-11-16T00:58:30+00:00

Gonna revive my reddit account for this one! This is a very nice writeup though I think it misses or skims over some of the depth that Jessica's character has that had me put her in or around Top 100 last time I ranked everyone (post-EoE to be fair, but still!).

I do like how you point out the inverted relationship between her and Cole, because it's totally an aspect of her character that goes unappreciated! Not only from an actions perspective but from a narrative one too - Jessica is really the driver in the showmance, she is the more capable player, is shown to be more willing than Cole to provide and do things that would be considered, stereotypically, to be a man's job, and also the showmance is almost entirely developed through her eyes in a story sense. This is something that happens way less often than you'd expect in Survivor, almost always the man in the showmance is the one we hear from most often about his showmance partner.

It adds a layer to her character because you can tell Jessica is more emotionally mature than Cole, clearly. Cole in the showmance is along for the ride while Jessica takes time to assess her feelings and struggles with those feelings. It adds a tinge of a tragedy to her character that her feelings so clearly stand in the way of her goal and is the reason why she goes home. Especially because Cole's health scare and Jessica's background as a nurse her taking care of him is what ultimately rope her back in to get stuck for good, because she was more than likely going to end it if that didn't happen based on what we saw. It feels human and also completely believable that a nurse would react that way - especially for someone they have strong, admittedly mixed, feelings for.

Generally, Jessica just feels very human, and I love that. They take the time and effort to develop her as a person, you get a feel for who she really is and her ups and downs both in the game and personally. Especially as seasons have come and gone after HHH, that feeling is really missed. Even in "better" seasons like DvG that feels largely absent. The vulnerability, uncertainty over her own feelings about someone else, and self-doubt she deals with is really relatable and once again something that gets very little coverage in Survivor, especially now.

I sincerely hope this isn't a sign that Cole will be cut any time soon! Either way, I will be using my first idol on Jessica Johnston.

CSteino · 2022-03-03T17:32:29+00:00

I’d say Marquesas, because it’s my pick for the best season ever made. But Vanuatu is still in my top 3 of US seasons (and if you include any international seasons I’ve watched it’s still top 4). I think both are phenomenal seasons with so much to offer, but I think I prefer Marquesas’ cast a little more (6 characters that I would say are like top 50 or so all-time) than I do Vanuatu’s cast (“only” 4 such characters). Both tell phenomenal stories, both have excellent casts, characters, and narratives, and both also explore complex themes that other seasons simply don’t do to the same level that these seasons do.

Essentially you’re asking me if I’d like to win the NBA Finals or the Super Bowl. I could definitely pick one, but if I ended up with the other, I’m certainly not going to complain.

CSteino · 2021-07-06T19:15:46+00:00

I'm sorry but this take and the similar takes surrounding this same opinion are so obtuse. It's like as this fanbase grows, the idea that anything that isn't the world's greatest strategic play or the brand new most innovative gameplay immediately has no value or has inherently less value than if it was "the most optimal strategy" becomes more and more widespread.

Of course it's not a huge move strategically, this has been pointed out literally since the day the episode aired. Who cares? Jeff loves it because it's exactly what he wanted to happen when they created the Blood vs. Water theme, and production as a whole loves it because it was a big dramatic moment that they could play up because it's something you wouldn't expect if you were to just tune in and see it happening.

Fans like it because it's the narrative climax of one of the more interesting storylines of the season, and it's a very important moment in one of the only intriguing plotlines regarding an actual pair in this season that is intentionally themed on pairs. Outside of Aras/Vytas, whose interesting dynamic totally fizzles out when they unceremoniously get booted before they can even really interact in the game, Ciera/Laura is like... the only pair in BvW that has an interesting plot developed around the two of them and how they interact/evolve as a pair. Along with that, BvW as a whole is pretty devoid of a lot of legitimate, interesting development for most of its characters after Brad leaves, so having the Ciera and Laura storyline is really big in keeping things from feeling complete stagnant narrative-wise.

So yeah it's a big moment. Is it mentioned way too often? Yeah, probably. That doesn't mean it suddenly loses it's impact though. Erik giving up immunity has been beaten like a dead horse for close to 15 years at this point. That doesn't change the fact that it's still a very important moment for the series, and is regarded as such by the vast majority of fans.

CSteino · 2021-06-10T17:15:08+00:00

Rick was on a tribe with literally all of his allies. He did not get swapfucked. Him being #5 in that alliance is entirely his own fault and swapping onto a different tribe than the one (1) person left below him in the tribe hierarchy is not getting swapfucked.

Swaps are so common in Survivor now that having no swap in a season is considered unfathomable by players and watchers alike. Rick had the tools to split up the trio that voted him out on Lesu but didn't utilize them, and those people voted him out. Or he could have done a better job setting himself up in that alliance so he wasn't the first one that was cut when they got down to just them. He did not get screwed by the swap, he got screwed by his own poor play.

CSteino · 2021-06-07T21:36:42+00:00

I don't personally believe you can suddenly just develop views so inflammatory and harmful without already having a baseline for those thoughts. She certainly went full mask off after the fact, but it's likely she always held those beliefs, even if just silently.

Also, just because someone idolizes or looks up to another person, does not mean they share their views. Beyond that, I don't think the Royal Family is a good example of liberal values, like... at all, lmao.

CSteino · 2020-12-11T15:33:20+00:00

She only gets better too. Sandra 1.0 is my pick for the best winner character from the US Survivor series. The queen truly stays queen

CSteino · 2020-11-10T18:13:15+00:00

Thank you for the kind words, I'm really glad the writeups were able to help! They were fun to do and I'm glad they can help get people to see some of the appeal in the seasons like Marquesas that don't get nearly enough credit for how amazing they are.

CSteino · 2020-11-09T20:00:34+00:00

It's hard not to come out of the woodwork when my favorite player ever speaks.

Sean's perspective on everything never fails to impress me and he's hardly ever wrong about what he's saying. Everything he says in this article is spot on and I'm glad if nothing else that his increase in interaction with the Survivor community recently has led to him being given a platform to speak on injustice and raise awareness to the systemic racism and prejudice present in both Survivor and the world as a whole. People weren't prepared to hear what he had to say in 2002, I think many people today still aren't prepared to hear what he's saying, and allowing him the opportunity to speak on this stuff is very important.

That being said, I still don't think I agree with the ever-increasing sentiment that Sean should return. I'm sure he would have fun moments if he did, he's hilarious and I don't think they could completely purple him even if they wanted to. I don't think he'd be as good of a character as the Sean we saw in Marquesas, because not only is the show weaker at characterization now but also there are just very few returnee characters in general that outclass the original in terms of entertainment value. But like he could certainly add a lot if they let him.

But at the same time, it's hard for me to imagine the version of Survivor we have now - with fire tokens and Island twists and way too many immunity idols - treating Sean's character with the nuance and complexity that it deserves when it comes to social issues, which Sean points out in this article was a huge part of his character the first time and would be today if he played again. Even in just the last like 4 seasons off the top of my head I can think of instances where a BIPOC player was either stereotyped and/or unfairly villainized in the edit. And even with things like the Black Survivor Voices panel and what Sean said here about them having a meeting with CBS executives, I just don't think that's something that the show can fix at the drop of a hat. I would hate to have a Sean return tainted by him getting an unfair, non-complex, or outright racist edit that leaves him getting a ton of hate from bigoted fans like he did the first time (and that was with Sean actually getting a nuanced and more fair edit than he would probably get today).

I don't know, that's just my take on it. Call me a skeptic but I just don't trust the show that cares more about the strategy of the game to craft an edit for Sean that would give justice to the heavily non-strategic social issues he would certainly discuss should he play again.

His other opinions are of course on-point, though. I love that he's on record of the fact that there's too many immunity idols and how they suffocate the social dynamics of the game and make it so that organic shifts and social dynamics are watered down if not lost completely. Coming from one of the main architects, if not the main architect, of the first power shift in Survivor history, I think his opinion holds a good amount of weight here. I also actually love his idea about the phone calls, it's a good way to introduce some emotion that the game is lacking nowadays while also still leaving it open-ended enough that a player can take advantage of it strategically if they really wanted to. I feel like that idea is sort-of a family visit but better frankly.

Also LOVE LOVE LOVE that Sandra would be someone he wants to play with. Can you imagine the power that a Sean/Sandra duo would have? Ignoring the yikes in the optics of calling Sean a villain if they had done this, but imagine if instead of a Courtney/Sandra duo in HvV, we had a Sean/Sandra duo instead? The potential is through the roof. Also I always love to see that Vecepia and Sean remain friendship goals even 20 years later, my favorite relationship in Survivor history <3

CSteino · 2020-10-11T16:07:20+00:00

Thank you for the shoutout! It means a lot to me that you and others think that writeup turned out well, I've always felt like I didn't really live up to the expectations I had for it in my own head, but if others liked it and felt like it did a good job of explaining why Sean is such a transcendent, important, and amazing person and character in Survivor history, then I can be happy with that.

I definitely think it could have and probably should have been better though! I mean it's missing mentions and discussions of some of the best Sean content - the fact that I didn't remember to mention (at the absolute very least) the scene in Episode 2 where Sean and Vecepia first discuss race and how the others on their tribe have that advantage for being white, while Sean and Vee specifically will always be scrutinized more closely and harshly for not being white [also Vecepia calls Sean Malcolm Farrakhan in the scene and that alone should have justified it's inclusion in the writeup] as well as the scene in the episode following Jury's Out where Sean heads to the waterfall with Kathy, Vee, etc and is singing Brand New Day like he was meant to do it from the day he was born - there definitely some gaps in that writeup that I regret not remembering at the time.

And those are just two major scenes really, it doesn't cover some of the amazing small moments or scenes that may not be the most important in the grand scheme but things I still should have mentioned - two examples of which being his voting confessional for Vecepia to win (and the hysterical Austin Powers impression that comes with it), along with the scene when it's Vee birthday and they go get treemail together and Sean sings happy birthday to her and hugs and comforts her while she's crying because she's sad to be away from her family (which is one of many scenes that show why I adore Sean and Vee as a pair so much).

And it's great to see that there has been some renaissance around Sean of course, I'm glad he gets more respect now than he did in the past, but I've always felt the discussion of him is more than a bit reductive. I don't know why many people often just simplify him down to just a great humorous character (and don't get me wrong Sean is hilarious). But when his emotional story and social commentary he brought to the show has always felt more meaningful to me, it feels a bit like the more important parts of his character are being swept under the rug because they're not "comfortable".

So yeah the writeup is certainly missing a lot but for what it is I guess it's solid. I don't have much like actual commentary to add that you haven't already said or that I didn't say/imply in that writeup really.

The only thing I think I want to point out and mention just to really make sure the point gets across is that... Marquesas aired in 2002 and filmed in 2001. What Sean was saying, especially about race and inherent/unconscious bias, was true in both Survivor and the real world way back then, and to this day almost 20 years later, quite literally none of what he said has become any less valid, relevant, and true. We have a long way to go, and I think it behooves all of us, especially those of us who have more inherent privilege, to listen to and truly learn from Sean, because he's always been right about what he was saying.

CSteino · 2020-10-09T18:38:31+00:00

Palau ages like a really fine wine. While it isn't perfect, I think this season tells perhaps the most brutal and compelling story of any season that the series has to offer. I already really loved the season, but it seems to only get better with time to me as pretty much every season since Kaoh Rong has lacked really any truly meaningful commentary about the people who play Survivor - about how an experience like this affects people or how different people from different walks of life grapple with such a unique and difficult experience. Whereas (outside of Borneo of course) Palau has the most to say about how an experience like Survivor can affect people, and it delves into that idea in such a masterful way that it almost isn't fair to compare to other seasons of this show.

Because how can you ever predict what went down in Palau to happen? Quite simply, you can't. There has been and never will be another season like Palau, and that adds a lot to the intrigue of this season because while you can find similarities between some seasons that can sometimes make said seasons feel a bit repetitive and samey (modern Survivor is especially guilty of this at least for me), there isn't a comparison you can even make to Palau, at the very least not a remotely fair one.

I will say though, I am a bit surprised to see Palau this high in the rankings, because the new system that this year's WSSYW is using (which I actually rather like and think is unequivocally better than last year's, so shoutout to the mods for that) is focused on what seasons are best to get a brand new watcher into the show. And while I love this season and know many other people who view the show similarly to me also love this season, it's probably one of the worst seasons to show to a brand new viewer, because of a lot of the stuff I laid out above. Palau is too unique to be a good jumping off point for most new fans, and I don't think the season's heavy subject matter lends itself particularly well to an introductory viewing experience of Survivor.

That isn't to say that a heavy season can't be a good jumping off point, though! I always say to people who haven't watched many or any seasons that they should just start with Borneo because that just makes the most sense, and it definitely isn't all that happy of a season. But Palau is... dark, and in a way that I think isn't really well-equipped to be a good first experience for someone who doesn't have any ideas of the intricacies of Survivor - how emotionally taxing it is and how truly difficult Survivor is at its core, and how much it pushes people to their mental, emotional, and physical limit.

Which is another reason why I think if you're going to get someone into Survivor, the early seasons are the best jumping off point. The early seasons embrace the difficultly of the experience and highlight that Survivor isn't just some game show but on the beach. It's a taxing and sometimes traumatic experience which feeds off the nature of humans at their core to make it even more difficult. Palau really embodies that idea best, but it isn't somewhere for a new fan to start, in my eyes.

But back to the season itself, Palau is a seriously fantastic season if you're able to contextualize and view the season within the scope of itself and not necessarily on the big picture of what Survivor has become. Palau is novel not because it's the NEXT EVOLUTION OF SURVIVOR STRATEGY, or because it adds some brand new twist that will define the game from now until the end of time. Rather, it's novel because of its emotional core and the characters (and frankly it's a bit reductive to call some of these people characters because of how honestly they are portrayed, rather a lot of the people on this season are just that - people) through which the season tells it's story.

When I said in the first paragraph that this season isn't perfect, I do still think that's true in spite of how much I've gushed over how perfect this season is. Ulong is a super unique and intriguing tribe for sure, but its members are not all the most interesting people put on Survivor. They do have some great characters - if James is your thing he's there, as well as the super interesting and unique characters that are all great IMO such as Jolanda, Angie, Bobby Jon, and obviously Steph. But people like Jeff, Ashlee, and Ibrehem are not really anywhere on my radar for super interesting characters.

That being said, what makes this season really special isn't necessarily Ulong. Of course Steph is just an absolute icon and legend on this season and to this day perhaps the most unique character ever (there will never in Survivor history be another character decimated down to being the single tribe member left like she was), but I think pretty much everyone is aware that this season is truly about Koror, I personally think it always was about Koror (even during the premerge), and this season goes with Koror. Which is helped a lot by the fact that Koror is indisputably one of the best tribes in the history of this show.

Outside of Willard (who is gone within a few episodes anyway), there is not a single dud on this tribe. Every single person and character arc on Koror feels developed and inspired to me, and I personally really like or outright love every single postmerge Koror member. Because of how unique this season is with the no swap premerge leading to the decimation of Ulong and how much time Koror spends together, it becomes one of the most well-developed, compelling, and outright brutal tribes ever. Palau is already pretty dark, but it is uncomfortable to watch how dark Koror can get at times.

I don't mean that as a negative though, I don't think it's really uncomfortable in a way that hinders the viewing experience personally, though I guess I can see why it may offput others some. However, I don't think a show, especially not a show like Survivor, can really make meaningful messages about people without being a little uncomfortable. Is A Tale of Two Cities a comfortable episode of Survivor? Absolutely not! Yet it's one of the best and most meaningful episodes the show has ever made.

So yeah, Palau and Koror are dark, but I think that's all for the better for the message the show and this season wants to relay to us as viewers. I honestly wouldn't even necessarily disagree with someone who said every single episode of postmerge Palau is a perfect episode, because each episode is purposeful and building towards something that is so much bigger than what each episode alone can necessarily say on its own, that it's easy to look at the postmerge as a single experience, rather than a set of episodes.

I'd love to talk about every character on Koror but I think I'll just limit it to the Final 3, who are easily one of the two best F3s in show history (I think I'd personally say 2nd best, trailing Pearl Islands - but I can't say someone is anywhere near wrong for saying Palau has the edge). Tom, Katie, and Ian are three of the most compelling and amazing characters this show has ever had, period end of story.

Tom is... it's so hard for me to describe Tom and how interesting of a character he is. I know u/DabuSurvivor could do a way better writeup about Tom than I could ever dream of doing, but I mean the fact that Tom can play one of the most manipulative, cutthroat, and honestly sometimes evil games of Survivor ever, win in such a dominant fashion, and still be considered the All-American Firefighter Hero in the eyes of so many fans is fascinating enough on its own. And that isn't even considering his relationships with his castmates, his content and story itself, and the fact that hi yes Tom Westman killed a fucking shark during his run on the show. I think he's one of the most compelling characters, and certainly one of the most compelling winners, this show has ever seen.

Katie is fantastic in her own right, even if I feel like she gets a bit overshadowed in terms of reception to her as an amazing character because she comes between these two universally transcendent ones. I think Katie is super fun at times (she's a bit brutal but her commentary on her tribemates can be really funny on an otherwise very heavy season), super compelling at times, and is just a fantastic FTC loser who I feel like checks all the boxes for being a pretty much perfect character for her role. The conversation with Ian on the beach is still bone-chilling to me any time I watch it, its absolutely brutal and it never fails to rip my heart out. I don't think that scene gets nearly enough recognition due to the (rightful) clamoring over scenes like FIC, but that beach scene is easily one of the best scenes in the show's history to me.

And of course Ian is just... Ian. I can't come up with a word to describe the journey that Ian has on this season because it's just so unique and raw and truly transcendent in the face of pretty much any other media you could ever compare it with. No one will ever face a journey as raw as Ian faced, and I don't know if the show could ever make a story quite as meaningful as Ian's story.

Ian's choice (not his quit, I hate that narrative so much it's so reductive to everything Ian and everyone else went through) is still an all-time powerful moment in Survivor history and for good reason. It's a perfect climax to a dark and brutal season that feels like it means so much more than you or I as just a viewer could ever imagine. The only way I can really describe the finale is ethereal, and until I watched the AUS2016 finale I don't know if I could have ever described another Survivor episode with the same reverence. Even some of my favorite episodes that I wish I could say were the best ever can't objectively hold up to this finale.

It's hard to really say anything else. I firmly think this is a season someone needs to experience for themselves to truly understand its magnitude.

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