Goated POW (player of week not prisoner of war)
Damn that was a great episode honestly, but holy shit there was a lot of terrible gameplay. First off, the most under-discussed bad move was Sophie’s plan where she suggests herself as the backup for no apparent gain. Even though her larger plan being the secret vote on Japan to protect herself (HvHvH Devon specialty) seems smart in the moment, it actually doesn’t even work in theory.
If Rizzo plays his idol and the votes come in 1-1 Sophie Jawan… Rizzo, MC, and Sage decide who goes home (I believe this plan was laid out and subsequently terminated before Savanah arrived otherwise this would have been even more obvious), and at the very least she should estimate her odds of getting through being very small with Sage (being blindsided by Sophie and closer with Jawan) voting Sophie, MC Jawan, and Rizzo most likely voting Sophie as well. She should not like this bet at all and to voluntarily put herself in this spot was bad gameplay.
Then we have MC, with a truly undefendable move to tell Jawan Sophie’s plan, burning a close trusted ally in exchange for potentially making a neutral ally who already doesn’t trust you, like you a little bit more. This rightfully blows up in her face and causes total anarchy where no one believes they know for sure what is going on as their are too many legitimately-considered options to be sure all players involved in the plan you choose will choose the same. Now Sophie and MC are pitted against each other as they can no longer trust that the other isn’t putting on a facade to vote them out (Sophie knows MC threw her under the bus and MC can clearly sense Sophie’s energy has shifted and plans are being made without her), and the real power shifts to the two pairs, Rizzo & Savanah and Jawan & Sage. With xRizzo and Savanah off the table effectively (so much chaos and possibility means it could be anyone but Sage pretty much, you can’t waste your vote in a situation on Rizzo as it very likely might not count if he plays his idol, you know votes are potentially coming your way, and he has a built in 2 votes with Savanah so you really can’t go for him), it comes down to the best move for those 4’s situation, and for at least 3 of them, MC is a more integral part of the opposition and you potentially mix the game back up completely by voting her out.
Really cool vote overall and this season is shaping up to be a really interesting post-merge after a super dull pre-merge, which is fun and reminds me of an overheated season, Caramoan which actually has a strategically really interesting post-merge.
Talking Survivor 