Review: Survivor, "I Deserve All of This" | Season 50, Episode 9

The nature of Survivor is that knowledge is power, and the editors are the only ones who truly have it. By design, Survivor wants us to be in the dark so that it can construct moments like the end of last week’s tribal council: the belief that Chekhov’s Hidden Idol changed the result of the paired tribal council, saving Rick and Aubry and sending Chrissy and Coach home instead.

How true is this? What’s weird is that we still don’t know by the time the credits roll. Jonathan suggests to Rick in the aftermath that his song and dance wasn’t necessarily, since he had “told him what we were going to do,” but I don’t know that I trust that. But in the end, what becomes clear is that it doesn’t matter whether Rick and Aubry were actually in danger, because the end result is the same: Coach and Chrissy went home, and Rick painted a massive bullseye on his back that everyone on every side of this tribe of free agents is happy to aim at. And that’s why the editors are able to get away with obscuring the truth: ultimately, it’s good gameplay to just accept what happened and move on.

This is easier said than done, but it’s a good barometer for understanding how people approach the game. There’s no question that this moment is a complex one, as best evidenced by Cirie’s success at playing all sides, and it shows the danger of control. You want control over the game, and you want to believe that it’s possible to achieve it, but is this a situation that can actually be controlled? Stephenie wants to seek revenge for the decimation of her alliance, but she puts on a smile because that’s what the moment requires. And most of the other players realize that Rick is the bigger threat and angle themselves accordingly, like Aubry telling Jonathan that she does not want to be associated with him. And then of course you have Cirie, who just gets to sit back and watch all her loose ties blossom.

But then you have Christian.