SSAC Report: One World E04 All The Doughnuts in the World

Assembled deep in bowels of the interwebs is a group of Survivor fans, a gathering of bright and clever minds. Their mission is to analyze the story of Survivor better than ever before in the history of the universe. What follows is their most recent report. It represents that combination of their work. This project was commissioned by The Midside.

Due to technical difficulties, this week’s report will be truncated to three points. Each point will be explained below in one to four short paragraphs.

1. At the end of this first arc of the story, the tribes are all even.

2. The men's decision to go to Tribal Council was portrayed as emotional, but they ultimately chose the more logical boot candidate.

3. The net trade scene was the most important in the episode and made the women look bad.

1. Over the last few seasons an interesting trend has developed. The first four episodes of the season comprise a mini-arc. In Redemption Island, it was the story of the false Survivor god Russell. In South Pacific, it was the construction (or lack-there-of) of a solid core alliance. This season, it is the storm of the men’s dominance. Over the first three episodes, the women weathered that storm (as much as said in the Previously On for this episode). In this episode, they gathered snails and squashed their beef in the sun as the men went crazy. What’s important here is not to jump to the conclusion that the women are ahead of the men, as there was plenty of evidence in the episode that point to this being how Manono let Salani pull even.

First, it is impossible to ignore the result of the immunity challenge. Not only were the women dominated, but the editing emphasized it and the problems they had afterward. Probst mocked them throughout the challenge and after. During the challenge Jay, the nice guy, even told them they sucked. After the challenge the women’s dysfunction was re-introduced, as Alicia admitted her performance was embarrassing (yes, that theme was repeated) and the battle lines between her and Christina were drawn.

Second, the reward challenge and its aftermath foreshadowed the ending of the episode being an even game. After the challenge, Troyzan told his tribe “we have a tarp, they have a tarp,” literally concretizing that the challenge didn’t push the women ahead. Jonas then replied with the reality that Manono was still up a number. Well, after giving up immunity, the men are no longer up a number and what Jonas said is no longer true. They are even now.

Finally, the decision to give up immunity was portrayed as a big move that is possibly stupid, but was never endorsed as completely stupid. It was shown in a way that was similar to Ozzy’s decision to send himself to Redemption Island in South Pacific. It could be argued that Ozzy’s move saved Cochran which was ultimately Savaii’s undoing, so this thread is an important one to watch. However, that move was coupled with a storyline about Cochran’s mistreatment at the hands of Savaii. This season’s storyline is has shown the men as capable of surviving and able to overcome emotion and charm. Regardless, both tribes have lost two members and have had one completely absurd Tribal Council. That’s a tie game.

2.

As begun in episode three, Colton’s dislike of Bill and desire to vote him out was shown as mainly emotional. The two had a fiery disagreement and then an equally uncomfortable Tribal Council. The disagreement was edited as one of the main factors that caused the men to give up immunity, as immediately after it Colton went to Jonas and Troyzan with his suggestion. However, Colton’s emotion wasn’t the only one that spurred the decision. Tarzan’s anger at Leif was shown to be a major reason the men went to Tribal as well. As the group stood around and discussed the decision, Tarzan turned his anger on Leif, saying he needed to be voted out because what he did was bad. That was also the opening riff at Tribal itself.

Interestingly though, if the episode is taken as a whole, the men’s actual vote was the more logical of the two choices. Giving up immunity itself was emotional, there is no debating that. However, starting with the opening scene of the episode, we see a logical case for booting Bill that is consistent with the themes of the season. As Troyzan and Tarzan discussed who goes next, Tarzan says that Bill’s charm is an issue. Just like the repetition of embarrassment being bad for the women, the use of the word charm and Bill’s boot remind us that the men are beyond the charm—or at least Tarzan and Troyzan are. Likewise, Bill himself gave the logical reason for his boot at Tribal. You don’t want to go into a merge with numbers that aren’t on your side. Colton had even delivered that rational a few scenes earlier. So yes, this episode was dicey for the men, but they still made a correct decision in the end. It may turn out this episode’s story is a microcosm of the entire season.

3.

This scene features two opposing confessionals and interpretations.

Chelsea: “Isn't it funny? In the beginning it was us struggling and now the boys come by wanting everything that we win in challenges. It's just crazy how much the roles have reversed in 9 days.”

vs.

Troyzan: “The women are trying to be such hard noses. I just don't get that. I don't know if their emotions are turning them wacky or what, but they're just emotional creatures and they just can't seem to think straight… ‘Don't think I'm a bitch.’ Well, you just made a bitch move…It's a free offer. They're doing nothing. They can suntan on the beach while we go fish and bring them half of the food. Like, hello, us anybody home?”

So who is correct, Chelsea or Troyzan? Are the roles reversed or are the women’s emotions turning them wacky? There are three factors to consider for the answer. Internally to the episode we know that the roles aren’t reversed, just evened out. Internally to the season, this deal parallels the chicken deal. It would have benefited both tribes and created an air of compromise between them, but Chelsea denied because she saw the men as her enemy. Thus the rift between them grew, just as it did with her chicken deal. In reality, it is fairly obvious that what Troyzan said is correct. The decision should be a complete no-brainer for the women. They would literally do nothing and would still receive 50% of the haul. In what world do you not make that deal? Is the answer One World?

In a final interesting note on this scene, Troyzan has seemingly taken over Matt’s role as the rooster. After Chelsea denied the chicken deal, Matt’s confessional was shown as the men’s response. After Chelsea denied this net deal, Troyzan’s confessional was shown as the men’s response. Is there a difference between the two or is this scene meant to signal Troyzan’s downfall as the other did Matt’s? Well, we just established that in his confessional Troyzan was right. In contrast, Matt’s was wrong. Likewise, Matt’s was an emotional response (anger) that proves he wasn’t immune to the women’s charms. Troyzan, on the other hand detached himself from the moment and critique how the women were thinking, just as he has done all season, proving he is Beyond the Charm.

SSAC Report: One World E03 Cocky

Assembled deep in bowels of the interwebs is a group of Survivor fans, a gathering of bright and clever minds. Their mission is to analyze the story of Survivor better than ever before in the history of the universe. What follows is their most recent report. It represents that combination of their work. This project was commissioned by The Midside.

In regards to the third episode“One World is Out the Window"in the 24th season of Survivor "One World," The Midside's Survivor Story Analysis Commission has reached the following conclusions:

-An alternate thematic title for the episode would be "Cocky."

-The theme of this episode was "How much confidence do you need?"

-To demonstrate the answer, the women were shown looking for a little bit of confidence while Matt was shown having an abundance of it.

-A key scene in the episode was the Matt-Troyzan strategy/rooster discussion.

As is often the case, Jeff Probst explicitly laid out the theme of this episode in the Previously On segment. He described what has happened on Manono, "With confidence at an all-time high, Matt and his alliance of muscle thought they were running the show.” The key here is the two clauses and how they’re linked. The first clause is about “all-time high confidence.” Considering how confident Matt was shown to be even in episode one, the use of the superlative here is extreme. In fact, it’s the continuation of the overall theme of negative generation stereotypes, as cockiness is the extreme masculine gender stereotype. The first clause is all about that they “thought” they were running the show. This is a misperception, as the Misfit alliance of five actually had the power. So here Probst has linked “all-time high confidence” with misperceiving reality. Just as the women have been “punished” for being all talk, rah rah, and emotion, so too were the men in this episode.

The women, on the other tribe, were starting at an all-time low. No, they weren’t feeling emo while Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat serenaded them. The episode opened with them recovering from Tribal Council and looking ahead to the coming storm. After Alicia comforted Kat with a hug, Chelsea let us know the young girl was still on watch. Then she sat down and had a discussion with Kim, during which she gave a confessional that echoed the conversation we’ve been having in the SSAC, “Our next move is just to try to stay as positive as possible. If we just get the smallest glimmer of hope, it'll change the whole tribe. Just a little bit of confidence is all we need.” Like Probst’s two clause statement in the Previously on segment, here is the key is the linking of “glimmer of hope” and “little bit of confidence.” Every comeback story requires the underdog to find a glimmer of hope. This episode was certainly David beating Goliath; the women’s “little bit of confidence” contrasts greatly with the men’s abundance of it, especially as Colton and Jay come over to offer them shelter from the storm. The women don’t accept the invitation until the next morning. That’s when the men’s edit starts to get some diversification.

Before the reward challenge, the two opposing poles within the men are set up. As Chelsea looks for the sun (their glimmer of hope), a few of the men walk by. She calls to them and Troyzan comes over. After a brief exchange, Troyzan displays empathy by inviting the women to dry up by the fire at the camp, “Sure, go over there. Go right now. Go on right now.” Matt described it another way, “I get it, they had a rough night, and some of the guys are sensitive to that.” “Some of the guys” does not include Matt, so he is cocky and insensitive. It is what made him unable to deal with Colton in episode one, simply giving him commands to be a runner, that led to Colton not wanting to be his fifth (which led to the Misfit alliance and Jay flipping and etc etc). His personality contrasts greatly with Troyzan’s, who we find out is the leader of the opposing alliance in this episode. The other members of Manono fall in a spectrum between them when interacting with the women on this issue. First was the reward challenge though.

The most striking thing about the challenges for this episode was the lack of confessionals before and after them. Usually confessionals are used to narrate challenges and set up some sort of storyline, to put the challenge into the broader context of the season long arc. This was not the case this episode. Before each challenge, nothing is said. After each, there is one confessional from a woman and Matt gets a confessional after the immunity challenge. All three of these are very generic “this was unexpected” confessionals. Probst does talk about the challenges but likewise only afterward. In all likelihood, the actual way the women won doesn’t mean much (as opposed to South Pacific where the first IC was made out to be a metaphor for the entire game and this season when the first two ICs where made out to be a metaphor for what’s wrong with the women’s tribe).

The reward challenge contained something else that was interesting, the portrayal of Troyzan and Kat. It took Kat seven times to get the pattern right and beat Troyzan, yet this wasn’t played up as an epic struggle for Kat to prove herself. It was a quick montage over goofy music. Afterward, Troyzan was shown smiling about the entire thing, even at the end of the challenge when Probst said, “One thing has changed as a result of today's challenge. The women now know they can beat you at something.” Though this looks like a chink in the armor for the men (sorry, Jeremy Lin), it’s not meant to be taken seriously. If it were, it wouldn’t have been edited so whimsically and the cocky Matt would’ve been featured more rather than the goofy Troyzan.

Challenge finished, we finally got to see the rest of the men’s tribe. After Kat told us the win was a pick up for her tribe and once again failed to tend the fire, the women go over to the men’s camp to get some aid. The men have an array of reactions. Colton, Jonas, and Bill agree with Matt. Colton says he doesn’t believe in handouts (yet look how he got his idol). Jonas says, “If this was a life or death situation, I would help them...this is a fucking game.” It’s interesting to see him associated with the villain, but his comments are a little more tempered than Matt’s as he acknowledges the difference between game morals and real life morals. Bill states, “Oh, no boat? After everything that we've given to you? That's how it's gonna be? So when you want fire, when you want shelter, you use your womanly charms to take care of those situations, but when we ask for a boat, you say no? One World is out the window.” His use of the word “charms” sticks out, as that is how the women have been shown playing the game so far and the truth is that, though Matt and company seem to be beyond it, they actually aren’t. By being so harsh and dismissive of the women, just as Matt was with the chicken deal in episode one, they are subject to their charms as much as a man who is suckered by them. Their reaction is just negative instead of positive.

The other response some of the men give is to try and trade. Jay want to use the canoe and points out that the women have already received something, “Didn't you just walk away with fire a little ago?” He’s not focusing on the charm but only the actual things at stake. Likewise, Tarzan states, “Go back and talk about our deal...then come back with a consensus and then we'll settle it.” He said he was beyond the charm in episode one and proves it here. This isn’t about being intentionally nice or intentionally mean for him. It’s about striking a deal. All of these men are missing something important though.

Troyzan is once again the one to explain the motivation behind the women’s charming to the men. Still being negative, Matt says it makes them look piss poor. Colton, the supposed female on the tribe, doesn’t even understand why the women are acting as they are. Then, just as Troyzan was explaining the way the women were thinking in episode one, he did it again here saying, “Well, maybe that's the thing. We're men, they're women. Maybe we think different.” Those different ways of thinking have been called attention to by the editors in every episode this season and the men siding with Matt’s lack of understanding of the women’s charm hurt them in this episode allowing the women to get a foothold.

In preparation for the immunity challenge (editing wise), the women go out and catch some small fish. They return to the shore and the first person to greet them is Troyzan. Almost like a protective father, he is impressed they were able to catch them from the boat. He then gives a confessional that brings back the theme of the episode, “I think the girls are feeling more confident. You know, they've got their feet under them, and it's going to change the way we feel, the guys feel. We need to win again." The women have their little glimmer of hope, their bit of confidence, and it contrasts greatly with the men’s over-confidence. In a coy bit of editing, Matt is even shown congratulating the women right before we cut to the challenge. In reality it was about the fishing, but it was an editing double entendre, as that is the closest you will get to a concession speech on Survivor.

The immunity challenge is again played straight. The women come back and win but this isn’t epic or anything. Bill isn’t even made to look that dumb. (In fact, that only one who even criticizes him for it afterward is Colton.) Probst calls it a “huge comeback” (which it was). Sabrina says she feels like she just aged a bunch. There’s no contextualization to give this greater significance except Matt’s confessional directly following, “My mind was blown, I can't believe we lost...I'm looking forward to doing this. I've spent eight days out here creating some power, and I want to use it...tonight that's what's gonna happen.” This was about the men’s over-confidence causing them to fall to the women who got a little bit of confidence…and there isn’t any other man besides Matt who has really been shown that way, an observation brought to light by his rooster and chicken speech.

Chelsea framed the entire men’s strategy scene, “What's funny is you can tell the boys thought they had it in the bag because they were so far ahead. And so now they're probably just all running around like chickens with their heads cut off not knowing what to do.” The men lost because of overconfidence and she expects it to turn them into anarchical chickens just like it did with her tribe. It didn’t. All of the moves made here were simple, straight forward, and quick. In direct contrast to how the women dealt with Kat costing them the challenge last week, the men, most notably Troyzan, quickly forgive Bill (except for Colton, who starts to tell us how he hates him). It’s exactly how Sabrina said they would handle the situation. The Misfits then gather to discuss whether to vote for Bill or the “real danger” Matt. Jay comes over to join the discussion and after Tarzan invites him to join, he is (editing wise) in the alliance in a matter of minutes. Bing, bang, boom, these dominoes are falling quickly. There isn’t a lot of rah rah or emotions. It’s just quick moves.

Likewise, Matt does what he has to and pulls aside the leader of the other sect, Troyzan to give what will surely become his infamous chicken speech, “All of us are roosters, right? And we don't want any other roosters around. I just want a bunch of chickens with me so I'll be the only rooster. The chicken's they can't break up the roosters.” It remains to be seen how exactly this speech will resonate long term (is the key for a man to get a women’s alliance to carry him to the end? Are all the men roosters?) if at all, but the key for this episode is that Matt saw himself as a rooster, a cock, the over-confident king of the fowls on the farm, and it cost him the game. Troyzan placates him by pretending to be a rooster too, but tells us in a confessional, “Matt, basically, is a jury...it ain't Survivor unless you're lying.” The jury comment really sticks out as it has no place, but Troyzan has been playing both sides (men and women) all episode.

Colton’s framing of the vote right before Tribal Council brings into light what is at stake for the men here, “Right now the vote is between Bill and Matt. If I had my way it would be Bill just because he's annoying and I hate him...and Matt, on the other hand, he's like the head off the snake, and you gotta chop off the head of the snake for the rest of it to stop, whatever, wiggling.” Will they vote with emotion for Bill or logic and strategy for the real danger Matt? We know they choose the latter, and that Colton is basically negated in the process, but a few choice quotes from Tribal are important to note.

The men’s Tribal Council featured a discussion of femininity and how the men should portray themselves. After discussing how the alliances shook out, Probst turned to Colton and called him out for constantly being at the women’s camp. He echoed Kourtney’s comments from episode one, “Here's the thing. Women are more, like, nurturing and they pet you and they tell you it's going to be ok,” except she noted that the women would cut your throat as well. Yes, voting with Colton for Bill would be letting emotion into the decision, emotion that we were reminded Sabrina spoke out against at the last women’s Tribal in the Previously On, “Kat is very young and emotional, and that's a liability.” On the other hand, they could go with Tarzan’s straightforward and honest strategy.

As Matt tells us though, Tarzan may be straightforward now, but you can’t always tell when he’s being so, “Tarzan's always talking and everybody's always laughing at Tarzan. But the downside of that is you don't know how much of him you can take seriously. I'm more of a guy that when I speak, I want people to listen and take me seriously.” While true, the problem with Matt’s game was that he was taken too seriously because of his hyper-masculinity and seen as a “real danger,” so ultimately Troyzan’s alliance chose to do the logical and strategic thing and vote him about. But what about Matt’s dichotomy? It’s clearly not better to be taken seriously, but is it better to not be taken seriously? Everything we’ve seen so far with Tarzan would tell us no, as he has been made out to be a fool, even in this episode when asking to look at the concealed votes. Once again it seems as if the key is the balances of extremes, to find that middle ground between cocky and goofy.

In regards to the overall themes of the 24th season of Survivor “One World,” The Midside's Survivor Story Analysis Commission has reached the following conclusions:

-A thematic subtitle for the season would be “Beyond the Charm.”

-The men proved they were "Beyond the Charm" by choosing to vote with logic and strategy, not emotion (and the surrogate woman on their tribe).

-Though the women found a glimmer of hope, the story suggests their inability to survive on their own and the ultimate collapse of their alliance.

-Only one woman remains as a contender.

-One man has emerged as the strongest contender.

The most compelling piece of this episode for the Salani tribe wasn’t their two challenges victories and the accompanying positive symbolism. It was the return to the coping mechanisms they used in episode one when their backs were up against the wall. The women’s story this episode centered on a Samoan storm and their response to it. It progressed from anticipation to weathering to the aftermath. The last section, however, was the least detailed part.

After Probst summed up the women’s troubles in the Previously On (“At Tribal Council it was clear that Kat's alliance could do without her.”), Kim and Chelsea, the clear heroes of Salani, sit together and tell us the state of their tribe. Chelsea narrates, saying how they’re even looking at Kat as a possible boot and that they need a glimmer of hope, while Kim offers the tactical advice when the men come over. It’s the rolls they developed in episode two. Clearly they will continue for as long as the two stick around. The compelling thing is how so many of Kim’s comments seem to double as season long commentary. When Colton offers them a chance to join the men in their shelter, she says, “We'll see how bad it gets over here.” When Chelsea says, “Colton just came by out of nowhere,” she replies, “It’s going to be horrendous.” Are both of these comments one offs or are they meant as foreshadowing as well? The women already have a pattern to the men when they see it getting bad at their camp. Likewise, there has been plenty of foreshadowing of Colton being the women’s ultimate undoing in this game, most notably through the oracle Sabrina. And Sabrina has another scene topper here that really forces us to acknowledge the editing here, "Right now I feel like our whole shelter is about to blow down." Building the shelter is one of the major survival aspects Salani has struggled with.

Chelsea’s narration continues as she notes that they’ve been “crapped on since [they’ve] been there” and asks where the sun is. They still need a glimmer and she immediately greets the boys as they walk by causing Troyzan to come over. Is he that glimmer? Maybe, as he gives them permission to go to Manono’s shelter and dry up. We’re then shown some of the most interesting footage of the episode, as Kim and Chelsea are shown walking to the men’s shelter and then Kim gives an important confessional, “I was thankful last night that we stuck to our guns a little bit after Tribal and didn't run over and jump in the men's shelter, but going over there this morning I have no shame. I've never been so miserable. I couldn't get my tail over there to that fire fast enough. I hope this is a temporary pit stop at the men's camp. I don't think any of the girls want to stay over there. It's uncomfortable mooching off of them. They're all like, 'Excuse me, move, move.'” Her words echo three things thematically: girl power, the cross-gender alliance, and the men’s ultimate victory. First she’s glad they didn’t run over there during the storm, they wanted to prove they could weather it and survive on their own. Second she admitted that when it got bad enough, she was over there in a heartbeat, echoing that she isn’t really committed to the girl power thing as she said in her episode one confessional. Finally she pointed out they were essentially mooching off the men and there was no room for them there, reinforcing that the women aren’t surviving on their own and won’t find success with the men. Though they go on to win the reward challenge in the next scene, the oracle Sabrina once again punctuates with an interesting observation, saying it got so bad during the storm that she wanted to be punched to be knocked out. That’s not a very likable statement from the most visible and correct of the women.

After the reward challenge win, the negative forces in the women’s tribe come back into sight. Kat says the challenge win was huge for the women yet reinforces her major survival issues. As the firetender she says, “Come on ladies, all we gotta do is get this fire together and you know our life will change” and that they need to do that and fix their shelter "Because we're on the verge of a horrible storm right now." Yes, they might have won both challenges, but they still aren’t surviving because they’re using the same old coping tactics.

Kat’s solution to the fire issue is the same one that failed in episode one. She and Monica (an interesting turn of events for her, as she was so critical of Kat last episode) go to the guys to get an ember. The men try to cut a deal, but end up just giving it to them. Perhaps this could be read as the men giving the women the game, as the women win the immunity challenge soon after, but the amount of evidence against that is just too large, especially as this scene isn’t over.

Alicia, the vocal spokesperson for girl power and protector of Kat, still needs to have her say. As Jay tries to trade with them she says “I just don’t think your deals are fair.” Considering the women have been mooching off of the men, as Kim told us earlier, it comes across wrong and perhaps a little bit entitled and crazy. Alicia even follows up with, “Don't come at me like I'm crazy. We don't need to take it all that serious.” You don’t need to take survival that serious and we’re not supposed to look at you like you’re crazy? No, clearly we’re supposed to look at you like you’re crazy and your lack of seriousness as another reason girl power is being done in.

Chelsea even gets in on it here, talking to Monica about how the men using the canoe for the ember wasn’t discussed. Well, no, they gave you the ember, but that makes you a mooch. Hard to see her agreeing with Alicia that the deals are unfair, but she was shown reneging on the chicken deal in episode one. She is then shown as weak and emotional, something that Kim has never been shown as, when she says, “I'll give them all the fishing gear and the boat...I just want to sleep for one friggin' night. I'm losing it.” Chelsea is not handling the game very well, a fact that is driven home by Kat’s echoing of her comments with, “We're girls. We're just not meant to be beaten down this way.” That’s some great girl power there. It’s just not possible to say that these women have turned the corner, even if the universe does brighten for them in the next scene.

The sun comes up for little orphan Chelsea and the women’s story this episode basically ends in this scene. After two storms where they were unable to survive on their own, Kim, Chelsea, and Monica go out fishing and successfully catch a few small ones. It’s an important scene for Monica, as she was linked with Kat before. It’s also a small glimmer of hope as Kim tells us, “Things are starting to feel different. I actually feel like people get that they're here. I felt like before everybody was just like, 'Where am I? What am I doing?'” There seems to be a hint of the women finally adapting to the anarchy, but they’re still behind the men in major survival aspects, so was this small uptick in confidence and hope meant to explain why the women won both challenges in this episode or is it something more? With the repeated negativity the women have received, even in this episode where they won both challenges, and the fracturing of the girl power alliance editing wise, it’s hard to see a woman winning this game. Kat and Alicia just don’t seem suited for the game (Kat said so herself). Chelsea is somewhat like them. Meanwhile, Kim’s voice is starting to be heard (she was shown guiding Sabrina in the puzzle during the immunity challenge), but she still seems committed to the girl power thing. For all the negativity cockiness has gotten so far in the men’s edit, none of the men (except the surrogate female Colton) have been shown as unable to survive. Though the season seems to be about both genders moving to the middle on some level, any such compromise would seem to favor the men unless they let a woman mooch off of them to the end—and if that’s the case, why would the editors make their winner a moocher and which woman has been edited as a clever moocher so far? They wouldn’t and none have.

Players to Watch

Early Winner Pick – Troyzan

He has been subtly all over the edit the first three episodes, shown as a leader among men and the man who is best coping with the women. He has the confidence of a rooster, but the sensitivity of a chicken. The reward challenge could’ve made him look really bad but was instead played up to be goofy and inconsequential—inconsequential like both challenges seemed to be treated this episode.

Jay –

He is the biggest mover this week, as he was the man who looked the best strategically after Tarzan. He deftly moved himself from the failing alliance to the dominant alliance of five. Editing wise he’s also escape an association with Mike and Matt, more so than even Bill, and there has been foreshadowing of him working with the women.

Jonas –

He is linked with Troyzan so he will likely go far with him but his agreement with Matt this week may be the beginnings of his thematic flaws, just as Albert’s hyper rationality early in South Pacific made him look bad.

Mike –

A strong contender over the first couple of episodes due to his diplomacy with the women, his constant association with Matt is an issue for his story. He will need to be shown overcoming and disassociating from Matt’s cockiness if he wins.

Kim –

If anyone from the women’s tribe wins, it’s her. She has been shown making all the smart tactical decisions for them and as the most balanced of their personalities, trying to make girl power work but also going to the men when need be. However, she has still been shown as being unable to survive on her own like the rest of her tribe.

SSAC Report: One World E02 Rah Rah Wrong

Assembled deep in bowels of the interwebs is a group of Survivor fans, a gathering of bright and clever minds. Their mission is to analyze the story of Survivor better than ever before in the history of the universe. What follows is their most recent report. It represents that combination of their work. This project was commissioned by The Midside.

In regards to the second episode“Total Dysfunction"in the 24th season of Survivor "One World," The Midside's Survivor Story Analysis Commission has reached the following conclusions:

×An alternate thematic title for the episode would be “Rah Rah Wrong”

×The theme of this episode was "What is the proper response to anarchy?"

×To explain how the women failed at the proper response, Nina was edited as a tragic victim and Kat was as edited as a spared fool.

×To build to that outcome, the women were once again shown as reliant on talking/communication, while the men were shown to be active, productive, and efficient.

"You're very much a rah rah girl and that's great and we need that but at the end of the day logic and strategy trumps rah rah," Sabrina to Kat following the Immunity Challenge

This episode began exactly where the last left off in both plot and theme. The women returned to camp from Tribal Council to be told by Mike that he had been tending their fire the entire time they were gone. He then states in a confessional that it was annoying Salani didn’t have to vote anyone off. Yes, the gender war is still on, and Kat takes exception to Mike’s fire tending. In confessional she claims that she could’ve got the fire going again if he hadn’t done anything—except a fly distracts her mid-sentence, so she stumbles all over words, beginning the downward spiral of her arc from dumb blonde to personification of the problem. Alicia likewise took a beating in this opening. As Christina tried to talk out (a theme that returns to hurt the women again) their problems, Alicia only laughed in a confessional about how well Tribal Council went. You see, she has her five and wouldn’t even save Christina’s life in a non-game situation. This is what’s called a villain edit.

While Alicia disappeared over much of the remainder of the episode, Kat did not. It made one thing clear. These two women are the symbols of girl power, the negative extreme of femininity. Kat is the rah rah girl. Alicia is the catty one. While Alicia was made out to be a big villain in episode one, Kat took a beating in this episode. She was shown being spared at the expense of the older wiser Nina, who, to get things kicked off, Alicia declared a bag of rocks.

After the truncated credits roll, the story returns to Salani immediately. To try and alleviate the problems anarchy has caused them, they do two things. First they hold a meeting. Yes, once again in response to an issue, they talk about it. They then take their second step and elect Sabrina leader, to which she responds in a confessional, “Hopefully with this new leadership role I can just come in there and be like shhh.” Even she realizes the talking needs to stop (something she stresses several more times throughout the episode). It makes it especially ironic when she is interrupted laying a ground rule: “Everyone has a right to be heard.” The scene isn’t completely negative though, as Sabrina’s second set of rules yields some results. She sets up jobs: water, food, and shelter. Monica takes water and is shown carrying and boiling it. Kim is one of the women who take shelter and is shown swinging an axe immediately after the shot of Monica working. These are quick shots, but at least they are doing something. It could bode well for them in the future. The problem is what happens with the women who selected food.

Rather than actually look for food, Alicia and Kat decide to talk about it. Kat gets more screentime here, goofing around talking about finding bananas and being critiqued by Nina in a confessional for it, “I just want her to shut up and work.” It is the start of Nina’s “right about Kat” episode arc. To drive home that the talking is detrimental, the editors even insert a shot of Jay and Tarzan carrying a large load of wood in the background. Yes, the men are hard at work while Girl Power talks away. Make no mistake about it, Alicia and Kat are the symbols of Girl Power in this game. Their fates are intertwined as the scene closes with them in the water talking and giggling together.

The Reward Challenge offered another opportunity for the editors to drive home the difference in the two tribes’ approaches. With no Jeff Probst to watch over the competition, they were in literal anarchy. In the middle, Bill even gave a confessional, “Everybody was in a little bit of a frenzy because we had to govern ourselves.” Both tribes certainly have been in a frenzy since day one. The difference is what they’ve done with that energy. Though the challenge seemed close for a while, the men pulled away when Christina gave a confessional about how they just attacked the knots in order to not lose momentum. Almost immediately following, a man (probably Jay) urges his tribe to proceed with caution, “Hold on, we don't want to get a bigger knot in it.” They slow down and win. Sabrina then says in a confessional, “No one ever remembers second place” making us wonder if she just told us the fate of Salani.

Manono marches into their camp victorious under heroic music and Ethan’s star over their flag. They unfurl their new tarp and Troyzan declares “Let’s Rock and Roll,” launching them into a montage of productivity and efficient action that contrasts starkly with the women’s talking to start the episode. Thus far there’s been Salani talking, a Reward Challenge, and Manono taking action. It is an edit of extremes emphasized by Mike’s confessional, “The Manano tribe, we're going to have the best camp probably in history." That’s the second superlative hinting at a high place in Survivor history for the men, as Troyzan declared in the Previously On segment, “I just want to be the greatest Survivor of all time.” It’s something to remember when the women go to Tribal Council.

Well before Tribal, however, the women seem to be trying to work, putting a roof on their shelter. It is the second glimmer of hope for them. However, they are interrupted by the a member of the men’s tribe, the woman on it, Colton. Sabrina, the woman who gave him the HII an episode ago, is the first to try and shake him. She fails by telling him they need to have girl talk (look, talking as a solution again!) and declares him a virus in a confessional. Kim then has a go, explaining to him: “Here's the thing from our end, it's not we don't love you and want you around, but you can understand, we are two tribes, you're from the other tribe, in our camp, hearing everything we're doing. That would be a really dumb, dumb move on our part.” The line in the sand is still drawn and even though Colton thinks he’s a woman, he’s being treated like a man. He takes it personally, but Sabrina puts a finer point on it in a confessional: “This is our tribe, and we have to start owning our tribe, owning our thoughts, owning our actions, and owning the vision of what we want to look like later on down the road without having a guy who acts like a girl involved. If he's running the show and we lose this damn game, I'm just going to slit my wrists.” The end seems like foreshadowing—and Sabrina is developing an oracle role here because of comments like this—but this scene is the best the women have looked so far. Even if it is only a minor step as they are still talking, they are asserting what they want and owning their camp. Interestingly the scene features Sabrina and Kim heavily, two of the women who came off the best in the first episode, and no Kat or Alicia.

The men’s upward edit comes back as Colton hears the women’s advice and takes a different approach to his tribe. He shows the “misfits” (Troyzan, Jonas, and Leif) his HII. In a confessional, Troyzan quickly surmises: “Holy cow I just found some stuff out tonight and it's like my heart's pounding and I found out that Colton has an idol and we gotta get rid of the muscle--meaning Mike and Matt” harkening back to the first episode theme that traditional Survivor play will not work this season (and the logical implication that the original alliances will fail). Leif interjects into the conversation: “Guys, there's no more talk about this, we're set, ok, we're set?” No more talk, huh? Jonas gives a confessional about Colton who then gives a confessional that echoes Alicia’s cattiness, mocking the misfits and saying this is “Survivor Colton’s World.” In summary, the scene plays like this: information (Colton has the HII), decision (vote out the muscle), no more talking, short reaction, cattiness (from the woman on the men’s tribe). There’s no rah rah. It’s a quick efficient productive scene and we’re off to the Immunity Challenge.

The results of the Challenge are best summed by Nina at the end, “It's just the way it's been going for us this whole last five days. No communication. No team work. Same old story.” That story, as we saw in the first episode and see in the remainder of this episode, is the women being unable to cope with the lack of rules and taking a beating in the editing. As Kat tries to maneuver around the other women on the balance beam she says, “She's got these big ole boobs. I can't get past.” Chelsea echoes the statement at the challenge’s conclusion, “It's definitely the boobs are hard.” A physical symbol of womanhood is associated with why they lost. So is Kat’s lack of intelligence. During the challenge the bag of rocks ironically calls her dumb as a rocks. After the challenge Monica caps off the scene by explaining what happened, “Kat jumped in when she didn't even need to jump in, not once, twice. I'm sad. I'm sad for women. This isn't the way women are. Frankly I'm so embarrassed.” That sentiment leads to Nina eventually seeming a Hunter Ellis-esque tragic victim.

The crushing loss doesn’t lead the women to a different solution. They once again stand around and try to talk it out. Kat attempts to apologize for having “horrible communication skills,” as if that was the issue in the challenge and nothing else. Kim and Sabrina try to dance around the issue, basically forgiving her. Here is when Sabrina puts the issue explicitly on the table, “You're very much of a rah rah girl and that's great and we need that but at the end of the day logic and strategy trumps rah rah.” The women didn’t have a strategy for the challenge until Monica made her way across the beam. Before then it was just Kat attempting to get around each woman. Like the Reward Challenge, she just went at it, rah rah, rather than slowing down a bit to make sure she didn’t get into a bigger knot. It’s why Nina called her dumb as a rock.

From this point on Nina launches a full blown assault on Kat that is meant to be taken as true as the stronger more intelligent women of Salani agree with her. First she says to Monica, “We are in a tribe of the witless. Outwit, outlast, outplay, we are a witless tribe and we are being led by 20 something year old women...it's embarrassing,” to which Monica asserts, “(Kat) should be going tonight.” Monica’s positive edit this episode forces us to acknowledge their state discussion is true, especially when it’s corroborated in a discussion between Nina and one of the members of the Girl Power alliance next. She explains to Chelsea, “I know (Kat's) fun, but she's ruining this tribe...we can actually redeem ourself as a tribe and not look so stupid. Cause right now we look like idiots.” Just like Monica, Chelsea agrees: “Trust me I've been embarrassed since I've been here.” Nina then puts what’s at stake with the vote on the table, “Then let's fix it.” This is about correcting the total dysfunction that Girl Power has brought about.

The only members of the alliance we see discussing the strategic implications of the vote going into Tribal Council are Chelsea and Kim. It drives home the point that Nina is right:

Chelsea: “I just talked to Nina. I mean, she's really right about Kat. Kat makes us all out to be freakin' idiots...it kills me to talk to Nina because I understand everything she's saying.”

Kim: “I do too. And I know Kat blew the challenge today. I'm totally with you on that.”

Chelsea: “I just feel like Nina deserves to be here more than Kat.”

Kim: “I'm with you, so I'm respecting you and listening to you. I just think we need these girls to trust us.”

Tribal Council does nothing to push us away from the anti-Kat assessment either as the women seem to reluctantly keep her around. Probst opens with a superlative that contrasts nicely with the two the men have used this episode, “You're off to one of the worst starts ever in this game because of the absolute and total dysfunction in this group.” Yes, this is a futility not seen since Ulong (and perhaps Maraamu before that). It doesn’t deter the women from skipping to their script however. There’s talk of voices and communication. Nina notes how information doesn’t get out, such as who has what life experience, because the tribe is divided 5-3. They’re not even talking well. Nina presents a three point argument as to how Kat isn’t a successful athlete. Kim dismisses it with more empty talking, “I mean does Kat bring life experience to the table in our tribe? No. But I do think Kat is a good athlete. Do I think Nina has life experience? Absolutely, but she's bringing different things to the table than Kat is and that's kind of the decision we're weighing out here tonight.” Probst then gets Chelsea and Sabrina to admit that they would make the alliances differently if they did them again and, in the most rhetorically powerful moment of the episode, Alicia, the creator of the alliance, to admit there is no Girl Power going on. If even Alicia sees what’s wrong—Alicia who has been edited as catty, cruel, and callous—then it’s wrong. Kat pleads her case anyway. They keep her and vote out The Walking Dead Nina.

As a bonus, Nina’s final words sound like a less bitter Hunter Ellis from Marquesas as she drives home one more time that Kat is destroying the tribe and should've gone home instead. She then closes with, “I wish the gals a lot of luck but I think they're in deep trouble. I think the guys are gonna take them apart piece by piece.” Hunter made no such concrete game predictions, just stated his tribe wouldn’t survive without him. Will Nina’s prognostication come true? We’ll find out, but that is certainly the sentiment we’re supposed to take away from the story so far. And as we’ll see in the season theme analysis, much of the answer hinges on the still unproven Kat.

In regards to the overall themes of the 24th season of Survivor “One World,” The Midside's Survivor Story Analysis Commission has reached the following conclusions:

×A thematic subtitle for the season would be “Beyond the Charm.”

× If this is an epic underdog comeback story, the ladies or a lady will have to be shown proving they can play the non-traditional game and survive on the island, and much of that thematic responsibility now rests with Kat.

× In this episode, the women did not prove themselves, as they chose to keep Kat over Nina. In other words, they are not yet "beyond the charm" as they chose "rah rah" over "logic and strategy"--they continued to play the "traditional game."

× However, gradients are emerging in Salani, benefitting three women.

× On Manono, Troyzan, Jonas, and Leif are receiving extremely crafted edits that are in line with the theme of gender extremes being detrimental, whereas Colton seems to be taking the idea of being the woman on the men's tribe to the extreme.

Upset they weren’t being given a chance in to finish the first Immunity Challenge of the season, the women voiced their complaints to the men. Troyzan, the interesting spokesman of the men, told them they’d have plenty of chances to prove themselves over the season. The choice between Nina and Kat was the first such chance. All of the women acknowledged there was a problem with the way the tribe was divided and how they were approaching the game. They took two concrete measures to address that: appointing Sabrina leader and keeping Kat in the game over Nina. The latter was the focus of the “proving themselves” theme due to two quotes. First there was the Nina and Chelsea exchange. In it Nina uses the words redeem and fix: “I know (Kat's) fun, but she's ruining this tribe...we can actually redeem ourself as a tribe and not look so stupid. Cause right now we look like idiots…let’s fix it.” As Nina was established as a reliable and correct voice, clearly this vote was a failed attempt to prove themselves. However their chances still remain. They’ve just been transferred it to Kat as heard in her plea at Tribal Council: “I thought I could do it. I thought I could bring it home. What I can only hope is that my tribe believes in me the way that I believe in myself and they'll keep me around so I can show them that I'm learning.” They did kept around so she has to prove that she is learning. In short, Kat’s plea is the entire tribe of Salani generally, and the Girl Power alliance in specific.

As we noted last week, if a woman is going to win this season, it is going to be in an epic underdog comeback tale. Thus one of the major questions raised in our discussion this week was what the elements of an underdog comeback story are. In order to properly identify a story, you must know what its element are. Essentially there must be three things: 1. A weakness in the Goliath 2. A unique strength in the David. 3. A glimmer of hope in the underdog’s story. Number one is taken care of easily with the gender extremes are bad theme. The men are confident. If they lose, it will be due to overconfidence. Number two is a major issue, as we have yet to see anything like this from the women. Perhaps they will be able to turn their talking from a weakness to a strength as Kim says at Tribal Council, “I feel like I'm a good communicator and that's something we need, but I don't feel like there's a place for my voice yet.” The “yet” opens up the possibility of that place being found later. Number three, though it seems like it might not be there, is. As much as the women have struggled, they have addressed all their issues. When they needed fire, they negotiated for it. When they faced anarchy, they elected a leader. When they had to address the rah rah issue, they threw their lot in with Kat. The last was, of course, forced by Tribal Council and shifts the focus back to Kat, which raises all the concerns for the women.

The honest truth is that Kat received one of the worst one episode edits in the history of Survivor. She was raked over the coals as not only stupid, not only the reason the tribe lost, but an embarrassment to women in general. The members of Salani even recognized it, as the terms about embarrassment and stupidity were repeated over the last part of the episode. All that needs to be looked at is this series of statements and exchanges:

Monica: "Kat jumped in when she didn't even need to jump in, not once, twice. I'm sad. I'm sad for women. This isn't the way women are. Frankly I'm so embarrassed."

Nina: "We are in a tribe of the witless. Outwit, outlast, outplay, we are a witless tribe and we are being led by 20 something year old women...it's embarrassing."

Monica: "(Kat) should be going tonight."

Nina talks to Chelsea: "I know (Kat's) fun, but she's ruining this tribe...we can actually redeem ourself as a tribe and not look so stupid. Cause right now we look like idiots."

Chelsea: "trust me I've been embarrassed since I've been here."

Nina: "Then let's fix it."

Chelsea: "I just talked to Nina. I mean, she's really right about Kat. Kat makes us all out to be freakin' idiots."

Probst: "Chelsea, if you could start over, do you think you guys would form different alliances?"

Chelsea: "Yeah, it would probably be different."

Probst: "Sabrina do you agree with that?"

Sabrina: "Yes, 100%."

Probst: "Alicia there's no girl power going on right now. No young women at home going 'Go Women's Tribe.'"

Alicia: "No there's not."

Probst: "Is that embarrassing?"

Alicia: "It's very embarrassed, especially in that challenge. Monica figured it out but because everybody was talking, we couldn't hear Monica's suggestion, and it was embarrassing to watch."

Kat: "It was my fault."

The problem this raises for the women, especially in the Girl Power alliance, is that they voted to keep Kat despite all this negativity. When sentiments and arguments are repeated this often and strongly, it is about more than crafting the decoy boot. We’ve already established how Alicia and Kat were established in this episode as the personification of Girl Power. By keeping Kat, the women have shown that they are not Beyond the Charm. The question is if they can ultimately move beyond it. Right now, the fate of their tribe rests with Kat making that journey. However, there are three individuals from that tribe who have shown hints of moving Beyond the Charm, and they comprise the female side of our players to watch list.

Players to Watch

Kim:

In the first episode, she wasn’t fully committed to Girl Power. In this episode, she said she hasn’t found a place for her voice yet. Her story seems to be one of waiting for her moment in the game. Strategically, she urged Chelsea to stick with the Girl Power alliance to gain the trust of the other women. The shot of her swinging the axe speaks loudly in the women’s talking edit.

Sabrina:

Elected the leader, this episode featured her telling her tribe what they needed to do to fix things, and trumpeting the superiority of the male style of communication. Though she is clearly being built as a reliable commentator, she seems to be trending more toward the oracle, as she makes statements that hint at the women’s ultimate undoing and Colton’s involvement in it. If that is the case, it will be especially ironic as she gave Colton the HII (a common technique in Survivor editing).

Monica:

In episode one, her stating “I’m beyond the charm” to Tarzan seemed more like a ploy to distract the men so Alicia could try to steal fire. In reality, that is likely why she said it. An episode later, however, it seems it was included editing-wise to show that she actually is beyond the charm. She was one of the harshest critics of Kat and, like Kim, was one of the women shown actually working.

Troyzan:

Out of everyone in the last episode, Troyzan received perhaps the most crafted edit. He had two new quotes in the Previously On segment, one about wanting to be the greatest Survivor ever, and was basically edited as putting the men to work and evaluating the work positively. He was also involved in the Colton-reveals-his-HII scene.

Jonas:

While the men aren’t receiving much story, the editors make sure we know Jonas is there and that we like him. He comments on Colton’s strategy and has a defined character, the underestimated guy. What remains to be seen is how he’ll fit into the season’s themes. Could being a sushi chef who has skills that work toward survival because of the lack of rules be his arc similar to John Locke in S1 of LOST?

Michael:

He opened the episode strongly, helping the women by tending their fire. However, his story took a hit when he was linked with Matt as the muscle that needs to go soon.

Jay:

Largely absent this episode, he was shown working hard with Tarzan. His role may just end up being a member of a cross-gender alliance.

Colton:

We include him here not because we think he has a chance at winning, but because he is inextricably linked to how the plot of this season will unfold, linked to both tribes in a season that may turn out to be about the mixing of gender traits.