Saturday, March 31, 2018

Survivor Ghost Island: Episodes 4 & 5


 This has been a poor season thus far. An uninspiring cast, habitual buff drops, and the elimination of some of the season's more charismatic castaways have all served as snooze buttons to the meat of this season, which will be post-merge. At that point, unburdened by boringly strong tribal alliances, we will see the mettle of this season's cast revealed. This is Survivor, a foolproof formula, and the season will eventually pay off with plenty of legitimate drama. Empathetic characters are starting to overcome the narcissists, in game power and screen time.  My power rankings of the remaining castaways are mostly based on how I believe they will perform in the eventual post-merge world, tempered with consideration for the small tribe they're currently with.


Player Power Rankings:

1. Laurel is a talented athletic and social player. She’s cruising, and she landed on a tribe that seems perfect for her.
2. Jenna was desperate for a tribe swap and got it. Now she’s on a super-athletic tribe that could go on a run of challenge wins. 
3. Wendell was a strange choice for #1 overall, but he’s outlived his brethren first rounders and sits amongst the points leaders.  
4. Kellyn is playing an excellent social game, displaying empathy for those she’s assassinating. This isn’t the strongest strategic crew, so she might be able to play an Axis of Evil game with Bradley if she chooses. Kellyn’s problem is that she’s scored negative one points so far. 
5. Michael garnered heroism points with his idol giveaway right before the swap appeared to bail him out. But he landed in another bad spot and immediately lost the immunity challenge. Now he’s next on the chopping block. He’s a strong, hungry player with a lot of game, but has to be docked for his position and that he has yet to score a point.
6. Bradley showed some humility by quickly admitting he underestimated Michael. “I was dead wrong,” he said. Cocky, yes. Egomaniac, no.
7. Dom got a lot of attention early in his feud with Chris, but has since been less involved. That’s for the best for him – he needs to lay low and make his move late.
8. Donathan is making emotional connections with players. There’s not really much reason to vote him out, so he could last quite a while. He’s off to a nice start in points.
9. Libby is a dangerous player, but her reputation is that she’s a dangerous player, making her less dangerous.
10. Sebastian isn't bright or aggressive, but he doesn't attract negative attention and landed on the athletic tribe. 
11. Angela is viewed as a maniac, especially by Kellyn, but seems misperceived by her fellow castaways. She generally seems pretty calm and rational.
12. Chris is an impressive athlete. If he’s brought along by smart players who know no jury will vote for him, he could pile up a huge total through challenges. He should also win Douche of the Season.
13. Desiree survived an immunity challenge choke, but doesn’t appear to have many strong connections going.
14. Chelsea isn’t distinguishing herself. That doesn’t mean she can’t hang around for a while, but Final Tribal seems unlikely.


Standings:

A to Z: 46 points
  • Stephanie (-4 pts)
  • Wendell (13 pts)
  • Libby (12 pts)
  • Laurel (13 pts)
  • Donathan (12 pts)
Michal & Ben: 31 points
  • Wendell (13 pts)
  • Jenna (3 pts)
  • Laurel (13 pts)
  • Sebastian (3 pts)
  • Desiree (-1 pts)
SuperDreg: 28 points
  • Chelsea (-1 pts)
  • Chris (5 pts)
  • Chelsea (-1 pts)
  • Chris (5 pts)
Phil: 25 points
  • Brendan (-5 pts)
  • Dom (13 pts)
  • Dom (13 pts)
  • Bradley (2 pts)
  • Bradley (2 pts)
Eric: 19 points
  • Michael (0 pts)
  • Michael (0 pts)
  • Angela (10 pts)
  • Angela (10 pts)
  • Desiree (-1 pts)
Doug & Bri: 17 points
  • Stephanie (-4 pts)
  • Sebastian (3 pts)
  • Donathan (12 pts)
  • Kellyn (-1 pts)
  • James (7 pts)
MoonBee: 16 points
  • Brendan (-5 pts)
  • Libby (12 pts)
  • Kellyn (-1 pts)
  • Jenna (3 pts)
  • James (7 pts)

4 comments:

Bag said...

I can't remember Episode 4 well enough for DoW, so I'll go Chris. For Episode 5, Desiree was insufferable during the challenge and therefore is my DoW.

Eric said...

Chris DOW twice in a row. It comes more naturally to him than Bradley, which is saying something.

I had to look up Laurel to remember who that is.

How official are these power rankings?

Doug said...

Good comments on this season being lackluster so far. It has been a bit boring despite all the idols that are in play. I find myself waiting for the merge so they can actually start playing.

I'm going to take the fact that 4 of the pool team's #1 picks being eliminated as a sign that we had all chosen a strong (and thus threatening player).

And then there is Wendell. I'm not seeing him as a top 3 player currently. I'd personally put him around 8th or 9th right now. I agree on most of the other power rankings.

I'll go Chris for DoW for both the last episodes. That guy starts sentences with "I" more times than anything else. He needs to learn to ask questions about other people and actually listen and let them talk. Horrible social strategy, and very worthy of the DoW award.

Phil said...

Chris gets DOW for not knowing what words are real and made up.
Bradley claims to be playing an amazing game, he better be right or my team is done.

With so many merges and new tribes it’s hard to know who will survive as there is such little consistency and continuity with the tribes. Once we get to the merge, there will be blood!

Lackluster so far but so much game remains...