Review: Survivor, “Weaponized Honesty” | Season 51, Episode 2

When Myles asked me to come aboard and help review Season 51 of Survivor, I wondered how much I’d actually have to say. Covering Season 49 weekly was fun, but it mainly reinforced the same issues that had plagued the show since the dawn of the New Era. The sheer repetitiveness sometimes made that season difficult to write about, and I worried that covering Season 51 would be even more of a challenge. Was there any reason to believe the so-called “Open Era” would offer any real change to the formula? Jeff Probst describes the new direction thus: “anything that has ever happened at any time on the show can happen in any season at any time in any order without any warning.” But wasn’t that always the case?

Still, I’m happy to report that Season 51 does feel different from the ten seasons that precede it, in several key ways. That’s not to say watching these first two episodes felt like watching classic Survivor, even if the show keeps trying to convince us via meta confessionals and snippets of dialogue emphasizing the return of multiple “old-school” elements. It just isn’t possible with the current constraints in place: this is still a 26-day game, and it’s still filmed on the same beaches of Fiji, and Probst and Jesse Tennenbaum’s heavy-on-the-superfans casting philosophy is still in place. There are still gaps in editing, and a slight overemphasis on strategy at the expense of developing compelling characters and relationships.

But Probst’s defensive firemaking-challenge rant notwithstanding, the premiere felt like a breath of fresh air—and so does this week’s follow-up. The shift back to two tribes really makes a big difference, allowing for a bigger variety of character interactions and more wiggle room with strategy. The balance in general is just working right now, with a solid mix of social, strategic, and even survival content. A few characters remain basically invisible, especially Thien An, but that’s often the case early in a season, and I don’t mind a little flexibility in screen-time if the core relationships and overall narrative are comprehensible.