Survivor Canberra S2 Edgic - Episode 6

 Welcome to the merge episode edgic for Survivor Canberra Season 2! This episode was chaotic, messy and full of gameplay and personality moments - perfect for edgic. It was a massive episode as well so there's a lot to uncover, let's get into it!

Previously On Segment

A good way to determine what storyline is being pushed in recaps is to compare it to what we're shown in the episodes. Is the recap 'accurate' to what we saw ourselves? If not, it's likely there's been some manipulation to sway our opinion in a certain direction. The biggest one I noticed was the claim that Anna 'tried to save Hayley'. We didn't see that last episode, at least not in a noticeable way. Once again the previously on segment highlighted Anna protecting Hayley even though by all accounts Hayley was just as close to John and it was a group decision both rounds. This is particularly noteworthy because James would've then been Anna's target - and they were shown to be close this round, so why suggest that? It was then later contrasted with John's claim of Anna's plan so part of me wonders if this was a slip of the tongue. To be fair, Anna's edit has been weird since the start but I'll discuss that more later. One final note is that no one was given credit for Banfield leaving, but Mar was given a confessional reiterating she didn't believe Banfield was the hill they were willing to die on. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, it's just interesting they didn't show why Banfield left or who pushed it in the recap.

Middle of the Road

In an episode filled to the brim with strategy and development, Johanna remained on a similar level. She's the only MOR this episode and the only character who didn't get any new points added to their arc. Honestly, I don't think this is bad for her though. It's been unlikely from early on that Johanna will win and it was one of the more potent examples of a 'growth arc', and her not being overexposed could indicate she lasts a little while longer. Maybe she could even be a 3rd place losing finalist? Most of her confessionals this episode were recounting information given to her, some that aren't new info either. She had a humorous moment regarding cardio and wearing the wrong bra, and she otherwise faded into the background. It is quite funny that with 5 confessionals she is actually the least visible player. 

Over The Top

Oh boy, James. Some may be surprised by this, but this episode confirmed my worst fears about James' edit and dropped him off my contenders list. First of all, he joined the Winyu's in being upset with Anna - not nearly as hard as John or Mel but just as bad considering he then became strongly aligned with her and was criticised by her. The real issues for James started with his conversation with Sophie. In a game sense, he was correct in his assumption that Sophie had gotten an advantage at the sacrifice. However the edit went out of its way to portray James as the villainous, confrontational antagonist who was unfairly asking Sophie. You can even hear it in the music change, it wasn't jovial or even questioning it was straight up 'evil'. Sophie ended her confessional on him by calling him dumb as well, which was meant to be agreed by the audience. There's no question in my mind James was OTTN this episode, in a way that players like Simon were not. He isn't clueless so much as he is being dunked on by the edit and while this was partially set up for James' immunity win, he also had no chance to defend himself. These claims and terms such as 'reckless' and 'intense' were accepted as part of his personality without a confessional from James to explain those choices. He did get two quick confs about his challenge win before getting some strategy talk - mainly on a 'minority split vote' which was shut down relatively quickly. Anna's arc this episode also was used to undermine James, as if James needed more negative SPV. I really did like the idea of a villain winner, someone who talks a big game and actually backs it up but unfortunately James is probably not it. 

Complex Personalities

My edgic succeeds once more! I was reasonably confident John was not winning based on his pre-merge edit. He was playing by all accounts a strong game but the attention was going onto James, Hayley and Anna rather than him. This result justifies it, he wasn't an endgamer and his boot was hard to control. His confessionals in the opening Winyu segment honestly felt quite negative to me, it's hard to know for sure if the editors were attempting to make John and Mel look as petty as they were but John complained about Anna saying she went 'power crazy'. I didn't feel as though the edit particularly portrayed this, especially given the plan would've worked had John flipped his individual vote while he was the one who flipped against Anna- along with the fact he would've survived the episode if he went with that plan. I gave him a light N tone for this but he had plenty of positivity later on in the episode which accounted for his mixed tone overall. His elimination felt less like a mistake of his own and more of an unfortunate set of circumstances. He was undoubtedly complex this episode, and gets a CPM5, but overall I give John a simple MOR rating. He had some strong and weaker episodes which average out to middle of the road, and he didn't receive any tone until this episode so I felt it was fitting to leave him toneless. I think rather than his personality, John will be remembered for his gameplay and the unluckiness he had to have 7/10 people immune at his exit. 

Mel's edit is hanging on by a thread at the moment. Merge was a great chance for her to truly shine and elevate her narrative but instead she almost regressed back. The fallout from the Winyu tribal was a bad look for Mel, particularly emphasising calling Anna 'Amy' and doing it again later. It's understandable that she and Anna didn't get along in-game, however the editors definitely could've framed her frustration in a more reasonable way and instead Anna got a beautiful arc this episode while Mel was a pretty quiet presence. Her content was mainly revolving around John and Anna/Amy, and it wasn't nearly as in-depth as almost every player. I did go for a CP rating over MOR but it was close, and in terms of winner odds she's only 5th due to Johanna/Malcolm/James/Michael having weaker edits. If I start doing only 4 or 3 contenders I think Mel will fall off that list. I would assume Mel leaves in the next three-ish episodes, now that her super idol and John are gone she doesn't have many active storylines beyond Anna. 

Inconsistent. That's Michael's edit in one word. He has begun getting content more often but what he gets can feel disjointed and without clear threads. Banfield is a big example which was commented on again as Michael said Banfield was 'always the plan' - which we most certainly didn't see. It was Johanna and then was switched seemingly by Michael, so why did he say that? There's also his connection to Nic which we haven't seen a lot of at all. While it paid off this episode, it really could've been spoken about any time in the pre-merge to establish this as an important duo, like the Nic/Mar/Sophie alliance was. Once the merge hit Michael fell into his typical narration role where he talks about other players and their games rather than his own. Aside from a target on James (which was not unique) he also tried and failed to protect John, which is another dead storyline. He was a target to leave this episode, however us as the audience knew he was almost certainly safe due to his legacy idol so there wasn't much suspense as to if he'd go this round. Potentially this gives future players justification to target him in subsequent rounds? It was tight between CP & MOR, his confessionals were pretty mid and he only got CP due to his good camp scenes that gave a little more context to his thought process. Regardless, I don't see Michael near the top 3 so he's a likely boot option when Kubbadang self-destructs, it's just biding time until that happens. 

This was a bizarre merge episode for Sophie. She has, and still does have, one of the best edits in the game. Plenty of positive SPV, clear relationships with everyone on her tribe, seemingly in no danger. Her biggest issue was the premiere, and the merge episode would've been a great way to rectify that by giving her more content at this pivot point. Instead, she got a lower level of content that primarily revolved around a rivalry with James. James was definitely seen as 'in the wrong' in this interaction so i didn't give a negative tone to Sophie, but it's not often winners storylines are based around a conflict because it can feel seperated from the game. This would be fine if she had other new connections and plans announced, unfortunately she didn't really and her final conf was just repeating the information regarding idol speculation and John being a target. There's a chance this just wasn't the round where Sophie could shine, and perhaps the next couple of episodes will have strong boosts in her complexity, but in the meantime she's a definite third behind Nic and Mar as far as winner possibilities go.

Even though Mar remains my #1 winner contender, Nic is probably a more 'typical' winners edit.  He gets serviceable content and a light positive tone without being overexposed. The snoring moment is a good example of a personality moment rather than the constant strategy that other players focus on. I noticed in this ep that he also gets shown more often than you'd notice on a first watch. He didn't necessarily have many new storylines beyond Michael, but he still got to comment on game events, get praised and even had a completely unneeded 'flashback' to his legacy idol find. I'd say the future looks good for Nic, he either seems like the winner or a 4th/5th place finisher.

Malcolm's narrative took a vastly different direction than I anticipated! Malcolm never stood out as an important character on Kubbadang and this is potentially why, he was torn between flipping on his tribe during the episode and will most likely continue to have that dilemma in upcoming episodes. Throughout this episode and previous there was a bit of talk that Malcolm would be too difficult to beat at the end, which more-so felt like justification for his elimination rather than foreshadowing a win. There was one confessional where he said he would beat Nic/Mar/Sophie so they wouldn't take him. It was mostly presented straight without any indication it wasn't true but as an audience we've seen Nic, Mar and Sophie play well and be likeable so Malcolm's claim that he would be the most likeable out of that four could be a subtle undermining of his perception? His alliance with those 3 has been a crucial plot point from the start and the fact that he unsuccessfully appeared to flip against them this round suggests to me he's in danger. Based on the both game and edit logic, I think Johanna and Michael may replace him in their alliance so to speak and we could see Malcolm out quite soon. If he does make it far, I don't think it's that far-fetched he could be a final tribal council loser but I would be stunned if he actually won based on the edit so far. 

I was incredibly impressed with Anna's episode 6 edit. It truly made me reconsider her as a winner option, even over people I've had above the entire time. Anna got a beautiful balance of personal and strategy-based content, with an overarching theme that tied back to her initial confessional (being underestimated but playing a strong game). Anna has always had complexity and consistency but it didn't really strike me as particularly winner-esque until this time where she was shown to be playing for herself rather than letting other people dictate her game. Some will definitely disagree with me giving Anna positive tone rather than mixed but I did feel as though the opening Winyu section where Mel & John complained about her didn't reflect badly on her because we didn't see what they're describing. This season has utilised flashbacks to help remind the audience of moments that happened last episode, so if the intent was to actually make Anna look bad we could've seen a clip that displayed that. Instead it helped fuel Anna's arc of playing individually and slide into the James/Anna conversation. This was a big one, i didn't mention it much in James' section due to it being much more about Anna than James. We didn't hear James' opinion beyond his leaving comment 'super super frustrating', but we got two confessionals from Anna where she said she disliked being told what to do, and outlined that she believed it wasn't smart to cause chaos while in the minority - which we saw all episode from James and nearly sent him home. It's this extra push that made me put her up to #4 on my contenders list, even if I think she's definitely below the top 3 still. For players like Michael or Malcolm, their winning story doesn't make a lot of sense, however for Anna she told us her strategy in the very first episode and is now putting it into effect. Watch her go next episode now that I've typed this all out. 

Perhaps Mar should just be the final player every time I do this. She'll always be CP, and always be a focal point of the episode. It's hard to differentiate this one from the other 5 because it's almost the same as the rest, she's never 'dipped' like everyone else. She would be an incredibly obvious winner at this stage of the game, the edit isn't trying to hide how well she's playing the game. The issue with this is, would they really make the winner so blatant? While most players in the game display strategy often, if you asked the majority of the audience which one player was playing the strongest they'd say Mar. Last season there was more of a question mark regarding Brad and Ben's solid edits, and Jeremy didn't go above and beyond the way Mar has. Part of me does fear she is a decoy and Nic's edit is the true winner one, but for now she remains #1. Crazy that she hasn't once dipped from my top 2, and she might even stay there the entire time as well. 

Another one in the can! Let's hope no Melbourne trips get in the way of me making these early! Here's this weeks charts:

I'll see y'all in less than a week! Until then, enjoy the next episode (coming out very soon).