Review: Survivor, "Open Wounds" | Season 50, Episode 5
A double elimination where only the worst tribe is safe? Rude.
“We’re all out here to right the wrongs of past mistakes.”
Much like so much of what Coach says, this is simply false. This is a diverse group of 24 former players, and they’re all out there for different reasons. Even if we discount winners like Dee and Kyle, who obviously didn’t make mistakes the first time they played, to frame their previous experiences as “mistakes” strikes me as incredibly limiting.
I was traveling for a conference this evening, so this will be a bit shorter than normal, but for me the story tonight was about how players related to their pasts. It may be too simple to say that everyone is righting wrongs, but everyone is playing in the shadow of their past self, and that has a strong psychological impact on how you approach the game.
This comes up primarily for Cila, where the battle between Charlie and Rizo comes to a head. Previously this had been one-sided, as Charlie stewed in the (false) narrative around Rizo’s vote for Savannah at Season 49's final tribal council. But Charlie lets that frustration bubble to the surface, spooking Rizo just as Dee decided she doesn’t want Jonathan and Charlie to dictate her game. The result is Operation Bad Blood, pitting Charlie’s conspicuous maneuvering against the specter of Rizo’s unseen season.
