Tonight's premiere of Survivor: Pearl Islands featured the most interesting opening to date. The big twist-- that the players would get only the clothes on their backs, with no food, luxuries, or changes of clothes-- was publicized early. But then each tribe got a sack of money and was turned loose in a Panamanian village to acquire supplies, and that was inspired. The two tribes displayed strikingly different personalities, one rushing around like headless chickens and the other collaborating and using their heads. Keeping with the show's pirate theme, one even swiped booty from the other's stash when they weren't looking!
Tribally, I'm rooting for Drake-- the organized blue-clad team that really cleaned up on their shopping spree. Individually, you've gotta love scoutmaster Lillian and Hagrid Rupert. Survivor is tons of fun, and I'm looking forward to another entertaining season.
Right there with you--liked and appreciated the organization and mentality of Drake, but loved Rupert's getting into the pirate theme early. As usual, Survivor seems to have successfully reinvented itself. And without offering a spoiler to the people who are waiting to watch it, I thought the person who got voted off must be braindead. After hearing a few people trying to decide between voting off one of two other people, this person moved themselves to the top of the list by trying to organize votes for a third person and then lying about it. What the hell was he or she thinking?
Posted by: David S on September 18, 2003 09:57 PM=SPOILERS=
Peter: I agree 100% with your take, including your preference for Lillian and Rupert. I instantly liked the big guy when I first spotted him on the CBS site, but watching him rob the idiots in Morgan was an episode highlight. This guy's gonna be a big fan favorite.
David: Nicole brought it on herself, but she had some help. Did you notice how Lillian was apparently doomed, and smoothly shifted the tribe's focus to Nicole, even coming across as a good-natured, honest person in the process? Lillian is a lot more crafty than she seems.
Posted by: Scott Hardie on September 18, 2003 10:25 PMI don't recall if Nicole was ever part of the discussions regarding the potential ouster of Ryan S. or Lillian, so it might not have been clear to her that plans were already afoot. Regardless, opening her mouth was a pretty stupid thing to do-- as she acknowledged in her final words.
It wouldn't surprise me at all, by the way, to see their abandoned belongings offered up for grabs in an early reward challenge.
Posted by: Peter Sarrett on September 19, 2003 11:33 AMI haven't watched the last several episodes of Survivor, but this one really drew me in. As tribes, it is hard to imagine anyone not liking Drake over Morgan right now.
I found it interesting that Ryan S. and Lillian seem to know more about true team building than the others on their tribe, but are also the most willing to just sit back and see what happens. If they survive another week or two into the competition, I suspect their attitude could take one or both of them a long way.
The Drake tribe is in an interesting situation. Other than some mosquito bites everything has gone thier way so far. It will be interesting to see what happens when some cracks start to show in the armor. The early departures tend to be folks who shot themselves in the foot, and Jon's overinflated sense of his own humor seems to be taking him down that path.
Posted by: Brian L on September 19, 2003 12:31 PM