The following contains spoilers for Episode 11 ofSurvivorSeason 41.
One of the things that makesSurvivorso interesting is that it’s often referred to as “a microcosm of the real world”, where players of all different backgrounds and personalities are forced to live together on an island and find ways to relate and work together (or in some cases, work against each other). Many seasons have even had themes that separate characters based on some element of their personality or background, likeBrains vs Brawn vs Beauty, orHeroes vs Villains, or even theOne Worldseason that initially divided tribes by gender.
Some of the bestSurvivorepisodes are the ones that deal with this joining of two worlds and make some sort of commentary on how the game connects to the real world or to the players’ real lives in some way. Episode 11 ofSurvivormanaged to display how the real worldaffects the gameplay ofSurvivor, while still being a very entertaining hour of television. While some of Season 41’s twists worked and others (perhaps a vast majority) haven’t, the element that keeps saving this season is the cast, and the intricacies of their relationships with each other.
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While the show keeps trying to push the intrigue of the big twists it continuously presents (to very little fanfare from fans of the show), what makes this season interesting is the players that they cast to be in it. This isone of the most likeableSurvivorcasts in recent memory, with no real villain characters to speak of. There are just a lot of really relatable people on this season with interesting personalities, and while tension is often fun to watch on a reality show, it’s just as fun when it’s complemented with real friendship and players who actually like each other rather than constant rivalries. What’s working about Season 41 is that the audience has fallen in love with the cast, and is actively rooting for many of them.
Part of what contributes to this is likely the choice of the editors to include a lot of player backstories to get the audience more invested in them as people. Every episode has a moment or two where a player reveals an element of their backstory or something that happened to them that shaped their life, and it gives a fuller view of this cast as people. In this episode, it is revealed that Danny lost his father in a car accident 25 years ago, and he’s still dealing with the emotional trauma from that. There’s a really interesting segment where he discusses the anger he had towards his father for so long, and how he’s grown to let go of that now (partially through his journey in this game). It’s a really great moment andgives a lot of insight into Danny, who is a player that the audience hasn’t gotten to know on a personal level yet.
Flashing back to the actual gameplay of the episode, a new twist is introduced at the Immunity Challenge. The first player to be “out” and fail at this particular challenge will be forced to play the “Do or Die” game at Tribal Council, where they will either “die” and immediately go home or survive and be immune from the votes and around for at least another few days. Players can choose to opt out of the challenge and not risk it, which is what Heather and Liana choose to do.
The remaining players duke it out, and this twist ends up being anticlimactic in a multitude of ways, the first of which being that Deshawn falls out of the challenge almost immediately, which instantly kills the tension. It seems like they should have chosen a challenge thatplayers rarely instantly lose atfor this twist, because this particular one is so easy to mess up and it really undercuts the excitement of the twist. Danny ends up winning immunity at this challenge, which is a satisfying end to his mini-arc this episode.
At camp, a number of names are thrown out, but the main targets are Ricard and Liana. Ricard is universally acknowledged as the biggest threat, butRicard’s alliance is wary of voting him outbecause they believe they can trust him more than they can trust Liana. On the other side of things, Liana’s alliance doesn’t want to vote her out and believes that Ricard will win the game if they don’t get him out now. It’s a classicSurvivorafternoon when Tribal looms in the background, as players try to assess if their one choice that night will lose them a million dollars.
Tribal itself is a really interesting one because it takes the time to have a long discussion about race and howtheSurvivorplayers of color, specifically the Black players, relate the game to their lived experiences in the real world as minorities. Deshawn once again brings up his struggle between wanting to represent the Black community and stick with his all-Black alliance and also wanting to make the moves that are the best for his personal game and his shot at a million dollars, and he gets very emotional talking about it.
Liana also brings up how her identity as a Black woman is what comes first in every interaction, and is the part of her identity that is the most relevant to every part of her life, no matter what other identities she possesses. At one point she states that “Blackness is not a monolith”, and that it’s significant that the Black players on the show are all different in gameplay style and personality and that they have a diversity of thought. She also notes the difficulty inwanting to stick with her Black allianceand be a part of representation on the show (especially after the events of the past couple of years) but also being aware that she can’t just ignore strategy in the game.
Liana even speaks directly to the viewers at home and reminds everyone (specifically those who might complain thatSurvivorshouldn’t be bringing up real-world issues) thatSurvivorhas always been about being a microcosm of the real world, and seeing what happens when you put a vastly diverse group of people onto an island together. This conversation at Tribal was such a powerful interlude to the game while also being integral to the game (once again, because the game itself mirrors the real world in many ways). It’s great that the show has made a genuine effort to be as inclusive as possible this season and given the players space to discuss these issues, and specifically to give the Black players a voice regarding discussions of race and representation.
Then comes a strange tone shift as Tribal movies back into game mode and Deshawn steps up toparticipate in the “Do or Die” challenge. This is the next part of how this particular twist was underwhelming, as the “game” involves Deshawn picking one of three boxes at random to decide his fate. Twists that involve chance are never received well inSurvivor, because it robs a player of all of their agency in a game that’s supposed to be all about strategy and one’s game being influenced by conscious choices one makes. “Do or Die” works out for Deshawn, as he manages to choose correctly and stay in the game, but the twist itself (in classicSurvivorSeason 41 fashion), didn’t end up being as exciting as the show wanted it to be. In the end, Liana is voted out, though she had a fantastic last episode with her very eloquent speeches at tribal.
With only a couple of episodes left, what remains of thisSurvivorseason will certainly be interesting. They don’t need tointroduce any more twists to this game, because it’s too late in the season to get invested in anything like that (though the infamous “monster” from the pre-season marketing still has yet to appear). If the show would only realize that its best bits are when it lets the players’ personalities and relationships run the show rather than random twists, it would be a much more solid season. This episode alone proves that in-depth discussions and strategy are what make this game worth watching.
