Survivor 47 Is Feeling Like Vintage Survivor Again After A Vicious Blindside

This season of Survivor has been absolutely outstanding. It's only five episodes in, but it's already feeling like a vintage Survivor season instead of the new era bullshit we've been seeing since 41. Last night was a particularly strong episode, ending with one of the best blindsides we've seen in a long time. 

Annika got voted out 3-1 and was utterly and completely shocked that Sam and Sierra turned on her. It was one of the most raw and authentically angry exits we've seen in a long time on this show. And I LOVED it. That's how people should act when they see their dream of winning a million dollars get extinguished right in front of their faces. I don't want hugs goodbye and a "good luck everyone!" on the way out. I want tears. I want anger. I want bad blood. And that's exactly what we get from Annika. My only complaint is I wish this happened later in the game so we could see her on the jury. 

I think it overall underscores how this season of Survivor has felt like an old-school Survivor season. We've had minimal sob stories and crying. The twists haven't been TOO extreme although I still fucking hate the "journey" and think they should stop forcing that down our throats and making people lose their votes. And the beware advantages are whatever to me. I liked the caught-red-handed one and hated the building boxes one. But overall, there's definitely a lot less gimmicks than we've seen in the recent seasons. I even liked the "Survivor Happy Hour" thing we saw last night where the tribes got to mix it up and get info out of each other without a tribe swap. 

Here are some of the most interesting storylines of the season thus far. 

-Andy's redemption arc. He went from a crying mess on Episode 1 to a stone cold killer last night. He perfectly played Annika and Rachel playing the "I'm on the bottom, give me a plan" role and then slit Annika's throat with a great exit confessional talking about burying her and then planting her headstone. I think there's a real chance Andy has figured this game out with the help of Sam, and now may just be a good player. He's still weird socially but he at least understands the game. I would not be shocked if he has a major underdog arc and goes deep. 

-Sam is a great player. Him and Sierra have been running their tribe (not as a showmance) and last night he proved he has the upper hand in the alliance by getting Annika out instead of Andy. That would've left Sam as the only guy on a tribe with a brewing all-female alliance. Instead, he gets to keep a solid ally in Andy who will seemingly listen to whatever he says. I do, however, think that the trio of Sam, Sierra, and Andy will have a huge target on them now once Rachel gets to explain to the other tribes how tight they are. 

-Rome is just a fun guy to root against. He's a villain, but not in a fun way where you want to root for him like a Tony or Russell. You root against him because he's incredibly unlikeable and a dick to his tribe (especially Sol) and has delusions of being Boston Rob when in reality he has one of the worst social games I've ever seen on the show. That being said, I'd like to see him last a bit longer because it is good TV rooting against him, but he has 0.0% chance to win. 

-On the blue tribe, the most fascinating players to me are Gabe and Sue. Gabe is playing a "big" game right now but I think he's smart and a good player who can last awhile even with a potential target on his back. And Sue is clearly not the "mom" archetype that everyone thinks she is. She got an idol with nobody knowing and I think she could make a deep run being a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing. 

Overall, it's been a great season and I'm looking forward to the rest of it. Seems like a merge or something of the sort is coming next week. Let's just pray for no hourglass or a similarly dumb twist to ruin it.  

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