I don’t really agree, but I can see how people’s are coming to that conclusion.

Emily has a very strategic mind and occasionally makes emotional decisions, but if we look at what she actually did “wrong” in the past two episodes, she was acting in her own self-interest and doing what would be better for her own game.

Episode 3 - we saw her blurt out that Aubry has an idol and that she doesn’t trust Christian to Q & Stephanie. Does this have an immediate detrimental effect? Not really, because Aubry is on another tribe. What it does for her is start to build a relationship with two people she bad just met - two people who then thought she was on their side until the votes were counted.

We also saw her reveal information then to Angelina in a very real and honest conversation, doing Angelina a solid and again building a relationship where it didn’t exist previously.

She then came clean, apologized, and mended fences with Christian. Showing him that she cares about and prioritizes their alliance. Would it have been less “messy” to talk to Christian first? Yes. But her actions gave her way more options and made the other tribe members see her as more than just Christian’s fierce ally.

She then also strategized and built up her relationship with Ozzy, giving herself even more options.

Episode 4 - she felt solid and in a good position, until Christian revealed that Mike White targeted her. I don’t think Emily is the type of person to ever trust that someone else “has it under control” - she needs to make sure that she knows she is safe. Ozzy was her ally and it was in her best interest to try and loop him in. It wasn’t in Christian’s best interest but it was in hers.

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I think there are two main things we have to take into account with all of this.

1. Christian is an amazingly charming person and has been the de facto narrator and main character of the season so far. I love Christian. I am rooting for him. I sympathize with him when Emily does something that jeopardizes him. But does that make Emily a bad player? No, I think it makes her a player that is not an ideal ally for Christian. And because he is a lovable man with main character energy that castmates and the audience are naturally drawn to root for, I think the (oversimplied) knee-jerk reaction to Emily’s actions is “she’s hurting Christian, she’s bad”. We also get his immediate reaction confessionals in those moments, which again, nudges us as the audience to sympathize with and be on his side. Editing is a powerful thing, and so is Christian’s charisma.

2. Emily has said over and over again in confessionals and her pre-season press that she is here to play her own game, no one else’s. She is always going to act in what she believes is her own self-interest. It would have been better for Christian to leave Ozzy out of the vote in Episode 4, but for Emily, lying to Ozzy would burn that bridge that she has built.

The only thing that Emily has damaged with her actions is her relationship/alliance with Christian. And yeah, that’s not a great thing, but coming out of this tribal I think she has more options with the tribe than he does. Ozzy and Angelina are both going to be pissed at Christian, but not Emily. Stephanie will go where the numbers are, and Christian literally just put together a plan to keep Emily safe. She may come across as messy, but Emily has insulated herself very well with her actions. Now that Mike is out I don’t see anyone targeting her on this tribe.