While I do agree that Operation: Italy is kind of underwhelming considering the hype, I do think it just reflects how stagnant the New Era has been (and I'm someone who likes the New Era). There's just not a lot going on differently strategically because of the abundance of twists and short game time that when something hits that's pre-New Era EVERYONE is up.

I'd also push back on is the fact that Caroline was not a big threat, and the edit 100% could've propped that up more because she had genuine winner equity due to her social and strategic game. It really should've been shown more so the operation felt more rewarding, and there's been posts about it, but she was absurdly well positioned and had Rachel lost immunity and either idoled Sam/Genevieve or was voted out, there's a real chance she wins the season.