Survivor Retrospective: Marquesas

 

Rating: 4.5/10

 

Featuring a dull cast, predictable voting, drab location and little originality, Marquesas was clearly the worst iteration of the first four seasons of Survivor. While the first three seasons were compelling for their charismatic combatants and exciting environments, Marquesas taught Mark Burnett & co. that innovation would be needed to keep the franchise out of the day old bread section. Nevertheless, Marquesas managed to entertain thanks to two enthralling castaways with contradictory styles.

The first half of the game was dominated by a young, raw, terrifying player named Rob Mariano. Boston Rob came roaring onto the scene with dark, scathing confessionals that made Richard Hatch look like Mother Teresa. “The Robfather” instantly identified brawny fighter pilot Hunter as Maraamu’s Alpha, but happily let him run the visible side of the show early. Air-headed, silicon-breasted Sarah quickly shacked up with Rob, but for once the young guy wasn’t swooned by the prospect of hooking up with a hot girl on television. Rather, Rob quickly came to view Sarah as a vote he could control. Maraamu lost their first three immunities, but Rob didn’t seem to mind. His chilling confessionals articulating treachery, fear and loyalty revealed the first Littlefingerian Survivor player – one who views chaos, dissatisfaction and animosity as a ladder towards Final Tribal. Instead of buckling down on strength after three straight losses, Rob executed the strongest and steadiest member of the tribe (Hunter). “That’s straight out of The Godfather,” he explained.

Though his talent was obvious and his creativity unrivalled, the Marquesas version of Boston Rob was a fatally flawed player. He was caustic, homophobic and lazy. His machinations were heavy-handed, particularly as the tribes swapped and condensed after Hunter’s elimination. Everyone knew Rob was a cunning asshole. They happily voted him out upon merging, one spot short of the Jury. Clearly though, Rob’s return to a future season (or five) was mandatory.

The next vote was the game’s most pivotal. Smarmy John had initiated a cocky four-player alliance within the larger group of seven original Rotus. Rob had discovered the alliance and outed it to anyone who might listen, but the cautious and inseparable duo of Neleh and Paschal were hesitant to break from their foundational tribe. The turning point came when the four-player alliance botched a favoritism challenge, cutting down everyone else’s coconuts – including Neleh and Paschal’s – before their own. Neleh and Paschal flipped and served John a satisfying dismissal, leaving him in tears. The remaining members of the four-player alliance were subsequently eliminated, leaving an awkward final five: 21 year-old Bible-beater Neleh, 56 year-old southern judge Paschal, militant, emotional and unpopular Sean, serene Bible-beater Vecepia, and the star of the second half of the season – Kathy.

After a rough start, Kathy emerged as arguably the best player to come out of Survivor’s first four seasons. She displayed intelligence, grit, empathy, strategy, malleability and tenacity – and displayed them to increasing degrees. Kathy was the only post-merge player unlocked into a dreary alliance. She had the most decisions to make and she was the only player capable of articulating those choices to the camera. Her first key decision came with five left, when she won immunity and had to choose between the dueling Neleh/Paschal and Sean/Vecepia monoliths. No matter which she chose, Kathy knew she’d find herself on the wrong side of an alliance once down to three players. Ultimately she decided to oust Sean, though it was unclear whether strategy or Sean’s abrasiveness determined Kathy’s vote.

Vecepia would be next to go, but the plot thickened when she won immunity. That challenge was trivia on the castaways, which happened to be Vecepia’s specialty. It was revealed that she’d brought a journal as her luxury item and had taken notes on all her adversaries throughout the game. “One of the goals that I had while I was here was to develop a relationship with everyone and know as much as I can about them,” Vecepia explained. Knowing Vecepia's immunity meant Neleh and Paschal had no choice but to vote for her, Kathy made a deal with Vecepia to go to final Tribal together. Vecepia elected to stand with Kathy, forcing a 2-2 tie. The final four were given two minutes to come to a unanimous decision, or the three players without immunity would draw rocks. They couldn't agree. Paschal, who never had his name written down all season, lost the rock draw.

The final immunity challenge was an endurance challenge requiring the beleaguered castaways to stand on small poles while touching a larger pole. Four and a half hours in, Neleh notified Kathy that her blouse was sliding down. While adjusting it, Kathy slipped off her pole. Vecepia instantly betrayed Kathy, offering Neleh immunity if she promised to take Vecepia to Final Tribal. Knowing Kathy would beat her in a final vote, Neleh quickly agreed.

Not only did Vecepia betray Kathy, but she appeared to betray the Christian values she'd espoused all season as her ethos. On the other hand, that betrayal distinguished Vecepia strategically from Neleh. It made for a challenging evaluation of two uninspiring finalists. Ultimately the jury sided with Vecepia in a razor-thin 4-3 final vote, with some of the votes undecided until pen hit parchment. Vecepia has not been invited back to play Survivor.

The prevailing theme of Marquesas was The End of Innocence. Rotu began as a joyful, cohesive tribe whose mascot, Gabriel, gleefully gushed he was "there for the experience, not to play the game." Gabriel was savagely eliminated in the season's fifth episode (titled "The End of Innocence" because he displayed too much kindness to opposing tribemembers. Within a week, Rotu was tearing itself to pieces. Survivor's fourth season dismantled a number of fledgling myths: that alliances should stick together through the end, that players should keep their word, that strong players should be preserved, that screen time had any correlation with winning the game. Its legacy is an inflection point that turned the game towards treachery.