A stormy Survivor has started an exciting season

They say that two isn’t enough for a pattern, and while technically this season of Survivor has had only two episodes, it has been a total of three hours. So let’s call it three episodes and make a few assumptions. Three good episodes means we’re in for a good season. I’ve watched most seasons of Survivor, occasionally they can be a little boring; when you have two seasons filmed a year, it’s easy to be iffy on quality. So far this cycle of Survivor seems pretty interesting, and not for the regular reasons.

The show loves its gimmicks, and this time it’s (supposedly) all about Brawn, Brains and Beauty, which Jeff Probst contends (a bit incongruously) are the key traits to winning Survivor (Beauty isn’t really needed to do well in Survivor, although charisma and manipulation are certainly helpful). Admittedly, I was a bit fatigued by the two hour season opening, which dragged in the second half. It was, however, marvelous fun watching the Brains tribe fall apart; J’Tia’s terrible “Is she trying or trolling?” was a particular standout. I mean, she threw away the rice! That’s something that played into the latest episode, when she talked about wanting more rice to the astonishment of the others. That’s why I’m standing behind my troll theory. I don’t think she’s trying (for now), because she’s furious that the tribe doesn’t like her. In the water throwing challenge, it was almost shocking how terrible she was doing; though to be honest, Tasha wasn’t portrayed as doing so well either.

The truth is that casting this season has really been excellent. Sure, the brawn tribe is mostly dull, but we get the great bits of “Tony, Secret Cop and Survivor Spy!” This guy’s strategy includes pretending to not be a cop, revealing that he’s a cop, spying on others, finding the idol, and always staying super paranoid. When the tribe finally has to go to tribal council, it’ll be great to see him scramble for real. The Brains tribe still has a fascinating mix, with J’Tia the troll leading the charge of awful playing and Tasha the overly aggressive player right behind. Did you hear her say “Whatever I did was perfect?” And it wasn’t like she was subtle about threatening Spencer, “practice or you’ll be voted out!”

I have also found the production work and editing, as per usual, to be some of the best on TV. For example, whoever came up with the idea to play The Blue Danube Waltz while they were tossing water at each other deserves a raise. It was the funniest part of a very entertaining episode. It’s becoming evident that Kass and Spencer are the only actual “Brains” of the team, and seemed solely responsible for their immunity win. They also are thankfully the more balanced and low-key of the team, as watching a team entirely filled with personalities at odds would be annoying (cough cough). It’s almost shocking that J’Tia tossing the rice wouldn’t cause her to be voted out, but that didn’t take into account Garrett’s almost-worst-ever performances. That’s the sort of scene you love to see: the train wreck you never see coming. You feel bad as he’s inevitably voted out, because you wanted to see him further self-destruct.

That leaves us with the “Beauty” tribe, which does provide plenty of eye candy … not that the other tribes are necessarily hideous, of course. The producers take every opportunity to lech over Morgan, but hey, that’s what the show has been since the beginning: blurred bathing suits and amusing confessionals. There really aren’t any duds, entertainment-wise, on the Beauty tribe either. Jefra and Jeremiah are the least interesting. Jefra had some solid moments of empty-headedness, like her mentioning “strategies I ain’t never heard of before,” fascinating because the complete lack of historical Survivor knowledge it implies. Jeremiah is at least scheming around, much like everyone on that tribe, which was also a lot of fun to watch. Coming to that tribal council, I really wasn’t sure which way the wind was blowing (no pun intended).

The storm itself was fascinating in this latest episode in that it was such a non-event, at least not in any obvious way. Nobody quit, although LJ tried to see if anyone wanted to (a technique I don’t believe I’ve seen before). It certainly caused a serious drain on everyone’s capabilities. The teams seemed very close at the challenges, despite Jeff lovingly lambasting the Brains tribe as “bad as usual” before finally saying that they were “working together for the first time!” That it was Kass and Spencer working together certainly didn’t go unnoticed. But I wondered if they were the only team that had gotten such a well-written clue — is it possible they got it only to help them not lose so badly? Not that the practicing helped, considering how terrible they were seemingly doing. And yet, they were not that far behind, so are they the result of tricky or truthful editing? Hard to say.

At this point, LJ is playing the best, although it’s hard to tell in such an early part of the game. His thinking out loud and actually finding the idol seem to support that. Spencer and Kass are the most levelheaded on the Brains tribe, which might bode well if we see another Malcolm/Denise “forged in fire” thing (although in the case of this group they didn’t lose every time). Tony’s a tough call, because he seems to be playing a bit too hard. Making up stories about Cliff, lying and then going back on the lie, it’s a bit off kilter.

I’ll be watching, hoping this time it doesn’t disappoint. Looking good so far!