Review: Survivor, “Act One of a Horror Film” | Season 49, Episode 1

Welcome to our coverage of Survivor's 49th season, with Ben Rosenstock stepping in for the fall. As always, this first review is free for all, but subsequent reviews will be exclusively for paid subscribers. Yearly subscriptions are 20% off until 9/30, so take advantage and ensure you're able to join the conversation for Season 50 in the spring.

In Survivor 49, the series finds itself in a strange position. With Season 50 coming up in the spring (it filmed immediately after 49), exec producer Jeff Probst and casting director Jesse Tannenbaum have no intentions of rocking the boat. Whether or not they’ll experiment with format changes or themed seasons in the 50s, it’s clear that for now we’re stuck with the same basic formula that the show has used since the 26-day game took over in 41. More than possibly any other season, nobody is going into this one expecting any huge surprises.

To be clear, I still really enjoy Survivor, no matter how much I’ve complained about the various aspects of the current production style that bother me: the superfan-heavy casting, the boring journeys and overexplained advantages, the prioritization of strategy over social in both the gameplay and the edit itself. Watching the premiere of Season 49, I found plenty to look forward to, especially when it comes to discussing and writing about the show. It’s just interesting to begin my weekly coverage of Survivor—my biggest obsession of the last five years, broadly speaking—with such an aggressively … ordinary season.

“My name’s Steven, I’m from Denver, Colorado, and I am excited to be here!” shouts one of the big early characters during a standard beach chat to kick things off. “This is not The Price Is Right,” Jeff shoots back. The truth is, though, Survivor is more like The Price Is Right than it used to be, and most of these contestants share that same boundless energy and borderline-dorky excitement. Like most of the other New Era casts, everyone in this one is very happy to be here. And while it’s often beneficial to see everyone happily bonding for a while at the beginning, I couldn’t help itching for the bloodshed to start throughout this slightly sluggish two-hour episode.

That’s probably why my immediate favorite contestant is Savannah, the former reporter who’s down to play along with the “feel-good tribe” as long as she can start planting seeds early. In a cast of happy campers, she’s hiding a real intensity and laser focus beneath her bright smile, and it’s exciting to watch her get to work.

“Act One of a Horror Film” builds out the Uli power structure efficiently. Savannah and her ally Shannon, who leads beach yoga sessions and describes herself as a blend of Donnie Wahlberg and Stevie Nicks, are in the best position. They’re already the heart of a fluctuating foursome with the other four unknowingly competing for the other two spots. Jawan establishes something with them early on and starts auditioning Sage, Nate, and Rizo to be the fourth alliance member; meanwhile, Savannah is already starting up something strong with Nate and considering pushing Jawan out to bring in Rizo. That’s a solid setup for a future tribal council, especially with Sage as a Carolyn Wiger-esque weirdo wild card.

It’s a fairly strong group of characters out the gate, especially that potential Savannah-Shannon-Nate core, though I’m not quite as endeared to Rizo (aka “Rizgod”) as I suspect many viewers will be. I don’t find the guy annoying or anything; I’ve just grown a bit weary of the winsome, self-aware young nerd character, and I find him a little too comfortable on camera, if that makes sense. At least he creates a fun enough outcome for an otherwise by-the-numbers one-on-one competition for tribe supplies. Watching him copy and ultimately best Alex despite taking such a long time on the puzzle is pretty satisfying.

There’s not as much to work with on the Hina tribe, so far starring Steven as the social butterfly. He’s really the only big character so far, and we’re mainly getting to know the others through him—like the ornithophobic city girl Kristina, his fellow “social nerd.” That’s not to say Steven is my favorite contestant on Hina. That would be Matt, the resident “old man” of the season (he’s 52), who brings a distinct energy to his interactions with Steven and the others. It’s not even quirkiness, necessarily, or the generation gap that all older players experience on Survivor. There’s a knowingness there, an intentionality about only stepping in to apply his Boy Scout skills when he’s needed. When Steven asks if he thinks anyone else is forming alliances, Matt immediately replies, “You know there is,” like it’s pointless to even ask.

But Jason is basically just your standard video game nerd so far, and MC and Sophie are both almost totally anonymous despite getting a few confessionals. Their general personalities are unclear, and so are their places in the tribe both socially and strategically.

Look, I don’t need a premiere to establish every character, really, though I do think Season 48 did a good job of that. (Too bad everything went downhill afterward.) But it is unfortunate when the episode expends so much time on camp life, returning to each tribe several times in the long, long stretch between the marooning challenge and the immunity challenge. We’re getting lots of the usual material speculating about the feeling of playing the game—Steven has a confessional almost identical to Savannah’s about knowing the good vibes will end at some point—but not a ton of valuable characterization yet.

Of course, Kele is the tribe to lose the immunity challenge, a somewhat standard course involving a rope tunnel, a mud pit, a giant snake, and a puzzle moving a ball around a track. That leaves these six contestants with the most screen time. And like with Uli, the episode does a solid job laying out the basic dynamics: Jake and Alex are a tight bro-y pair with Sophi as the jealous third who brings along Jeremiah to have as her own number-one. That leaves Nicole and Annie, whose miscommunication on the puzzle leads most directly to the immunity loss. It’s almost a no-brainer whom to target first, at least as this episode presents it.

That makes for a pretty straightforward tribal council, and I at least appreciate that this overlong episode didn’t waste any time belaboring the point in its final half-hour. I can’t say I’m completely heartbroken by Nicole’s elimination, but I also took no joy in it; she has a bluntness that made her an engaging presence in this episode, especially when she responds to Sophi’s fake reassurance with, “Dude, I don’t know you. We just met.”

It does make me wonder where exactly the Kele story can go from here, though, with Annie as such an obvious next vote. I wouldn’t rule out an early break in the dominant four, and the episode does introduce a quasi-mother-son bond between Alex and Annie. But it just makes sense for the four to work together now. Some of these characters are engaging; Sophi is funny and makes for a particularly good narrator. Alex seems like the kind of nice enough guy whose straight-outta-DC ass-kissing could make him a capable secondary villain, a la Gabe from Season 47.

Jake is a bigger question-mark for me so far; the episode peppers in lots of personal details, from his dad’s glaucoma to his upcoming baby, indicating that he’ll be a big and possibly heroic character. But he has that bro edge and a nonsensical chaotic streak (“the Shoe Bandit”) that make him a potential villain down the line, or at least a Jonathan-from-Season-42 type token meat shield. I just can’t decide if I like watching him on my screen yet or not.

When it comes down to it, “Act One of a Horror Film” is like other recent New Era premieres: a bit bloated, but mostly successful in establishing the early dynamics and plans for alliances. It dragged for me at times, but my biggest questions are about the next few episodes. At this point, it’s just too early to say how much potential Season 49 has when it comes to gameplay and actual interpersonal conflict. I’m not expecting something as enthralling as Survivor 50 will (hopefully) be, or as Australia v the World recently was. I just don’t want another 48.

Stray observations

• Thanks to Myles for letting me step in as your new reviewer! Happy to be here, no matter how cynical I might come across. I promise I won’t be whining the whole season … probably.
• I wish we got to see where Alex’s ship wheel was hidden in the sand and how close he was to finding it. Missed opportunity there.
• Oh yeah, Steven, your impostor syndrome makes you worried that people won’t like you and that you’ll get voted out? What a unique fear. (Sorry.)
• Sophi refers to Jake as “the mother of all meat shields—a filet mignon at a Michelin-star steakhouse.”
• “You want a picnic? Go to a park.” Not Jeff’s best work, but go off.
• Nicole also contributed three memorable visual moments: falling on the ground, spitting water into Jeremiah’s eyes, and vomiting abruptly. Nice.
• Any winner picks yet? I’m going Shannon.
• Part of the potential predictability of this season comes from the fact that many of us already know the two players who will come back for Season 50, thanks to early leaks that rendered moot any delay in the official announcement. It’s safe to say both of those players will make it to merge, and I expect at least one of them to make the finale. Is that affecting anyone else’s experience watching this season? (It also seems notable that the two of them are on the same tribe and already set up to potentially work together.)