WaW Edgic 6

EDGIC WaW 6

Hello and welcome back for week 6 Edgic. With three tribes and two tribals, we saw quite a few storylines wrap up this episode… and a couple new ones emerge. Here we go~

This post will be broken up as follows: Each segment will focus on a single castaway. I will be writing in mostly bullet points with either a star (⭐) if it’s a positive edit for the castaway or a red flag (🚩) if the content is worrisome for their longevity/importance to the overall story. If the bullet is a black dot (⚫), it means the content is neutral or harder to interpret its significance. I’ve ordered the castaways in how I feel they are connected naturally in the story.

Edge of Extinction
Edge this week did nothing but solidify Tyson’s inevitable return. The entire scene revolved around the advantage, which seems circumstantial, but we received a complete step-by-step rundown from Tyson.
1.	The setup: “I don’t have a fire token yet and there’s four people here that do. So I need to be the one to find that thing”
2.	Solving the riddle: “The main phrase in the clue was: ‘At the right place at the right time,’ and the only thing that has time out here is the tide.”
3.	Tyson finds the advantage and pretends to pee to scare away intruders.
4.	Selling it for the fire token mentioned earlier: “So the most important thing is not so much who I give it to, it’s that that person buys this.”
5.	Cut to Parvati buying the advantage.
So far, all of this mirrors the content that Natalie received when she found her advantages. The rest is above and beyond.
6.	Deciding how to use the fire token: “Boom. I’m the proud papa of a fire token. So now I have to decide, with this fire token, what to do with it. The idol is 3 tokens, but if I wasted 3 tokens on this and never got back in the game, I would look the fool… but I’m not a fool… I don’t think. So my only option is to purchase something from the menu at the mast which is… peanut butter.” Great! I love that Tyson mentioned getting back into the game and shared his thought on why he purchased the PB. Natalie has tokens but hasn’t ever told us what she plans on doing with them.
7.	Further explanation on his decision and application for the future: “I feel like eating the little bit of peanut butter each day would A) boost my spirits mentally, and the fact that I’m doing something sneaky and hilarious, and give me the extra calories that would then prepare me for the challenge.”

Just thinking about who is most likely to return from the Edge, Tyson in this scene exhibits more future planning/story than anyone else has shown in any of her Edge scenes combined. This feels more than circumstantial. And if you really think about, why was this scene even shown at all? The advantage sold to Parvati was never used and the peanut butter (while “sneaky and hilarious” it might be), doesn’t actually have any game-related consequences… unless of course Tyson does return from the Edge.

Natalie also doesn’t receive anything at all this episode. We are probably getting very close to our first Edge returnee and Natalie was MIA. In fact, it seems like Amber is actually falling into the role of Edge Narrator (she received a generic Edge confessional this episode), while Natalie’s content is focused only on fire tokens and physical strength. Ethan was also invisible this episode, Danni said “just start turning over every stone you come across,” which is obviously so wrong and was also shown slipping on rocks. And lastly, Rob was undermined in his plan to find the advantage… and he didn’t even get a scene reuniting with Amber!

Contenders to Return:
1.	Tyson
<Chasm>
2.	Natalie

At this point, Tyson and Natalie are the only two current Edge castaways who have been set up to return. Tyson was mentioned again this episode by Nick (“This is the kind of shit Tyson was doing” subtitled, to Parvati, regarding sneaky fire token bartering). Natalie hasn’t been mentioned by anyone, including Jeremy, for several episodes now.

YARA:
The green tribe had very minimal content this week so let’s just review what we got.
1.	Ben received the first confessional, commenting that he feels good B-Rob is gone. “I’m out here having fun and building relationships. To show people that I can change my game, right? That’s my goal. So, on this tribe, I’ve grown closer to Sarah, and to be quite honest, Sophie too. She’s a good person and I like good people.” I think this is OK content. It’s good that he received a post-tribal confessional and filled us in on his current situation. The bad is that Adam’s confessional that immediately follows takes strategic priority over Ben’s because it correctly identified Ben’s situation and even sets up a possible showdown between Adam and Ben. And the fact that Ben isn’t aware of that yet is bad for his edit. Not to mention, Ben’s main storyline coming into this episode was his feud with Rob, which has obviously been tied up.
2.	Adam also comments on B-Rob’s elimination and how it applies to his future game. “I’m really nervous, because I’m on a tribe with people that might have stronger connection with each other than they do with me. I mean, Ben has seemingly become very close with Sophie and Sarah, but when we have time alone, he’s barely talking to me. So I don’t feel like this is a great celebration. In fact, I feel a little bit more cornered on this tribe now then I did before Boston Rob went home.” As stated above, Adam’s content has strategic priority over Ben’s because it correctly picked up on Ben’s situation and applied it to Adam’s own game.
3.	Sophie and Sarah received no content other than the two of them splashing around in the water together, signifying the two of them as a strategic pair. We would have liked to get some more content from the two girls but I think that the edit is setting them up as an unbreakable duo, at least on Yara. If Yara goes to tribal, the threads have already been established for Adam and Ben to turn on each other. Who will Sophie/Sarah join with? My gut (and the edit) is suggesting it to be Adam. Side Note: Sophie did receive some positive SPV from Ben, who called her a “good person”.
4.	Adam received the post-challenge confessional. “The most amazing thing about this win for me was that it’s like winning two Immunity Challenges back-to-back. We’re going from 14 people in the game to 12 people in the game. That’s a double elimination. It doesn’t get better than that.” This is the second time Adam has received the important post-challenge confessional… and both times were after his tribe won the challenge. That is really bizarre and unprecedent. Adam is playing a vital role this season, we just don’t know what yet.

Jeremy
⚫In a confessional, Jeremy discusses his safety-without-power advantage and current position on the tribe. “Coming in, Denise and I, we’re the old Sele. There’s only two of us, but I have this safety-without-power advantage. I could leave Tribal Council as soon as I want. I don’t have a vote, but I’m here tomorrow. It’s gonna be right here, waiting… and I’m quick on the draw! That’s my only problem.” Jeremy is going to tribal, he’s in the minority and his name has been mentioned by others already. This confessional from Jeremy is basically the bare minimum he could give us. It only sums up what we already know about his story.
⚫Jeremy had a confessional questioning why Tony was missing (we’ll talk more about it in Tony’s write up). Considering that Kim also received a similar confessional, I would say the content is more relevant to Tony’s story than Jeremy’s.
➡️ Moving forward: Jeremy received a couple of tribal question and was involved in some strategy discussions with Sandra, Tony and Kim but none of it really related to anything past this vote. Jeremy’s content continues to be only related to other players or his advantage. He hasn’t given us any long-term goals since the premier and has no confirmed allies (he didn’t even talk to Denise this episode!). He’s just floating along right now and the only thing that would signify any importance to his narrative is if Natalie returned from the Edge.

Kim
🚩Last week, the big story on Dakal was that Kim was in the middle. Where was it this episode? She never even proposed the possibility of working with Denise/Jeremy to take out Tony/Sandra. And actually, she never even really said herself why she’s voting with old Dakal; we just hear it second-hand from Sandra that they are “100%” sticking together. Perhaps if Dakal goes next week, she will swing over and join Jeremy/Denise and this storyline will resurface? Maybe… but either way, bad edit for Kim that her prominent storyline was essentially dropped when it could have been relevant this episode.
⚫Kim had a confessional questioning why Tony was missing (we’ll talk about it more in Tony’s write up). Considering that Jeremy also received a similar confessional, I would say the content is more relevant to Tony’s story than Kim’s.
⚫Kim had another confessional regarding Tony’s spastic nature. “These are the people I’m in bed with, you know? The guy that freaks out and can’t even stay to have, like, a level-headed conversation after a challenge. And that is concerning for me.” This is kind of a continuation of Kim-in-the-middle storyline but she doesn’t act on her “concern” and doesn’t relate it back to anything she said last episode (nothing about not trusting Tony/Sandra, nothing about her being “in the middle”, nothing about Denise/Jeremy). As mentioned above, it’s possible she acts on it next episode; we will see.
⚫At tribal, Kim was asked what the season’s theme could be. She said it “is about the threats versus the nonthreats.” It’s something we already know, but if this theme continues, it’s good for Kim’s edit that she’s included in it.
➡️ Moving forward: I suspect Kim to make it to merge. She still has to reconnect with Sophie, who knows about her idol. On Dakal, she’s the least likely to be voted out, considering her established bond with Denise and her swing position. Nowhere near contention status, but at least we know where Kim stands right now and we’re following a few of her threads (Tony is too erratic to work with, Sophie and the idol, and Kim-in-the-middle). Last, the edit foreshadowed that Kim would take out a big threat and I thought it would be Sandra. While Sandra did go home this episode, it’s hard to say if the foreshadowing applied here. Perhaps next week Kim plays a bigger role in taking out a threat, and since everyone this episode agreed that Jeremy was a big threat, perhaps it’s him (or Tony).

Sandra
✅Story Wrap-Up: I had been saying for a while now that Sandra’s time in the game was running short. I actually thought she’d be gone sooner than this and I think her star-power gave her some unwarranted importance in the narrative. Her B-Rob feud storyline was left unfinished, though there is time to wrap-it up on the edge.

Sandra leaves this season with a pretty sloppy and undermining edit. Throughout the season, she’s been shown to be blatantly wrong (called Tyson’s discovery of the “unconnected” people a “lie”) and even deliberately choosing “revenge” over the admittedly smarter move of keeping Tyson in the game. While the whole “Sandra Bench” side story is amusing, it’s hard to not view her as weak because of it (causals will definitely view her that way). I know it was in the tribe’s best interest to sit Sandra each challenge, but she didn’t get a chance to explain that to the viewers so the only explanation is that she’s bad at challenges. A few times this season, players have painted Sandra as rumor-mongering and cocky. This episode, Denise said she’s “very direct and very honest… and I think she really believes she’s in charge of the game.” At tribal, Sandra even said Denise was not a threat… and we all saw what happened.

I’d like an episode to really see if Sandra has any chance to return from the Edge. But the logic part of Edgic screams 0%. I don’t think she has any unresolved storylines with people still in the game and if the whole “Sandra Bench” is suggesting anything, she doesn’t have chance to win the returning challenge.

Denise
⭐Denise received a lot of positive SPV this episode. Sandra called her a “very wonderful person”. At tribal, Tony was astonished by Denise’s idol play. “Are you kidding me right now? How is that possible, man?” Kim said, “I’m so impressed.” The whole threat vs. nonthreat storyline was flipped around and kind of undermined in itself as Denise, a “nonthreat” made that huge play. Jeff’s final comment even touched on it. Is Denise considered a “threat” now? Or is this just more foreshadowing that a “nonthreat” will win the game (similar to Tony’s Hyenas and Lions analogy).
⚫Denise: “Going into tonight’s tribal, I’m extremely uneasy. I don’t feel like this is gonna be an easy tribal. I think it’s gonna be a challenge. And I think, unfortunately, I may end up burning an idol that I’m gonna wish I had farther down the road.” This is obviously hinting that she’s gonna play her own idol this episode. But is it also foreshadowing that she will be voted out later? Perhaps in a future episode, she finds herself in the minority and wishes she hadn’t wasted that idol on Jeremy. In any case,
⭐ Denise: “Sandra is very direct and very honest, and I think she really believes she’s in charge of the game. That’s not how I play, but it’s the way the game’s played. So my strategy is to kind of play it humbly, to let them know that I get that I know I need them, they don’t need me.” A good tell-and-show from Denise. After this confessional, we see her talking about the vote with Sandra/Kim and being very pleasant and “humble” about her weak position on the tribe.
⚫Denise commenting on Sandra’s offer: “This is not a selfless act. There’s something in this for her, and what I think is in it for her is I stay in the game and her hands are clean. I actually have an idol in my bag, so I don’t need this. But if it's real, it serves another purpose. I could make a move that literally, for the first time in my Survivor career, feels like it could be game-changing. If the votes are coming the way that Sandra is telling me they’re coming and everybody’s voting for me, I can pick anyone of those people and send them home. I’ve never had power like this in the game, ever.” Pretty good insight, I guess. Though it only relates to the current vote so you could say it’s circumstantial. Irrelevant question: Do you think Denise knew she’d target Sandra during this confessional and saying “game-changing” was like an easter egg (because Sandra was in Game Changers of course)?
➡️ Moving forward: Denise has been mentioning her idol nearly every episode since she found it. We now know it was leading up to this epic throwdown of the Queen. Even though Denise had a huge episode, her edit didn’t exhibit anything that lasts beyond this one. Now that her idol is gone, her main storylines are her established connections with Adam and Kim, though she has lower priority in both. Her connection with Jeremy is weak/purely circumstantial to Dakal. Denise’s edit just doesn’t have legs. Could she make merge? Absolutely. Could she be important past this episode? Maybe. What does her edit have going for her right now? Not much.

Tony
🚩Tony, Tony, Tony! What is going on? You’ve had a great edit so far… why did you do this to yourself? “Our tribe only has five people right now. I’m in the majority of the numbers, but the worry right now for me is that I don’t know if Sandra’s gonna flip on me. I don’t know if Kim might flip on me. Jeremy and Denise might have an idol. Who are they gonna use it on? I need that information, and there’s only one way to get that information; that’s a spy bunker.” A spy bunker… seriously?? The “only way”?! Ugh! Tony’s plan to chill out and lay low was working perfectly until now. Tony went off the rails and here’s a list of all the negative SPV he received this episode:

Kim: 		“Where the frick is Tony?”
“We cannot find Tony anywhere. And, honestly, I’m starting to get nervous. I’m like, ‘Why in the world would Tony be missing?’ He gets like this on tribal days. He’s like a split personality.”
“These are the people I’m in bed with, you know? The guy that freaks out and can’t even stay to have a conversation, like, a level-headed conversation after a challenge. And that is concerning for me.”
Jeremy:	“Doesn’t make any sense. Why would you leave on, like an important decision like this?”
	“Tony’s been great up until now. As soon as it’s time to, “Oh, we have to start talking,” Tony’s gone. Tony, what are you scrambling for? Your name’s not even on the chopping block. What are you doing, Tony?”
Sandra: 	“I’m getting a crazy feeling. I’m getting like a bad vibe in the pit of my stomach.” (regarding Tony being missing)
	“He’s a very paranoid player.”

That is a lot of negative SPV, especially because it didn’t have any affect this episode. Then after
Tony jumped into his spy shack, everyone was immediately onto him and asking where he
was. Sandra even correctly guessed that Tony was in a spy shack. “Do you think he has a spy
shack?” Her and Kim agree not to talk by the water well because “that’s where it was last time.”
This is all dubbed over a shot of Tony hiding in his spy shack by the water well… Then when
Tony pops out, he’s flustered and scatterbrained…
⚫Sandra had an interesting confessional this episode. “Me and Tony are a pretty good team right now, but he’s a very paranoid player. I know Tony well enough to know that my days are numbered with him. He will take me out if I don’t take him out again. I already know it.” The thing that’s interesting about this confessional is that it didn’t apply to this episode, and now that Sandra’s gone, it won’t apply to the two of them moving forward, obviously. It’s clearly a comment about Tony’s gameplay, but not specifically tied to Sandra. It’s possible that the idea that Tony will get paranoid and “take [someone] out if [they] don’t take him out,” will resurface and apply to someone else later on.
➡️ Moving forward: Tony’s chill-out plan was working so well until now. It was almost completely discredited in one scene. It’s really interesting that Tony received so much negative SPV regarding his behavior and none of it mattered this episode. It’s clear that all of this will return later down the road, somehow. He still has a “sucker punch” to deliver, which was hinted at by Sandra this episode. A he’s got a strong Cops-R-Us alliance with Sarah; I fully expect to see that reunion at merge. However, all of Tony’s antics this episode, which were not resolved, could be hinting at how Tony is taken out later this season. Will his paranoia cost him the game? Next episode, I’d like Tony to comment on his behavior and maybe straighten it out with his tribemates. To keep in contention, he needs to be aware of his flaws and successfully rebound from this atrocious episode. Winners have had “bad” episodes in the past, but they are always shown aware of their mistakes and always given a chance to make it right soon thereafter.

Yul
➡️ Moving forward: Yul was MIA this episode, even though his tribe went to tribal. I wouldn’t knock Yul too hard for this, however. The drama didn’t involve him at all, and with two tribals, there’s only so much you can fit in. He was still mentioned a couple times during the scrambling and got a question at tribal. He’s still got a strong connection with Sophie that hasn’t amounted to anything yet, so I expect them both to make merge.

Parvati
✅Story Wrap-Up: Parvati goes out earlier than I had expected. It’s probable that her legendary status awarded her more importance in the narrative than warranted. This entire season, Parvati has been painted as a huge threat. But what did she do? At Sele, Rob led nearly all strategic gameplay for the pair. At NooSele, she felt like the facilitator of Wendell’s impending downfall more than continuing any story of her own. Besides bequeathing a handful of tokens to Michele, there is no lasting consequence of anything Parvati did. If this were a newbie season, Parvati would have been massively ignored until her boot episode (Think Julia 38, Desiree 36, Roark 35).

That all being said, is it possible Parvati returns from the Edge? I don’t think it’s out of the question, but again, because of her star-power, it’s hard to say if anything she said even mattered. We still haven’t seen that “diabolical self” Parvati alluded to, nor has she played the “parent card”, in which she got a whole scene to explain. Was that scene only included because it applies to so many other players in the game (Amber, Sarah, Rob, Tyson, Danni and Jeremy have all mentioned their kids at some point)? She also called herself a “phoenix, rising from the ashes” in her first confessional. Is that a metaphor? Parvati left us with more questions than answers.

Wendell
🚩Wendell’s negative-toned edit continued this episode.
1.	At the challenge, Jeff commented on Wendell’s ego when he tried to throw the immunity idol back to him and again when working on the table maze: “[Wendell] drops while talking smack, loses the ball and all the progress.”
2.	Michele claimed she was “giving, giving, giving” and Wendell only “taking, taking, taking” and that he had “burned” her when they were dating.
3.	Parvati said, “Wendell’s walking around like he’s so confident and he owns this place and he’s running the show, but he just made a move that was really dumb.” Then at tribal she said, “It’s been very difficult to have any kind of conversation with Wendell.”
4.	Nick: “He talks the talk, but I’m not sure if he really walks the walk.”
5.	At tribal, Wendell said he would, “stab everyone in the back. I’ll stab everyone in the front.” That’s not necessarily negative, but he got a lot of heat from Parvati, Michele and even Nick for the comment. He even felt he needed to defend himself, said he doesn’t want to be “painted” as a backstabber but wants to “keep it real”.
Just like we discussed in Tony’s write-up, that’s a lot of negativity for someone who wasn’t even voted out this episode. All of this will no doubt contribute to Wendell’s eventual demise, whether he’s voted out or loses at FTC (less likely at this point, since there is so much negativity).
🚩Wendell says, “I’m not concerned with fire tokens; I’m concerned with numbers.” Considering that fire tokens have been theorized to be extremely important this season, that’s a bad edit for Wendell. And then he undermined himself by trying to barter tokens from Parvati soon thereafter.
➡️ Moving forward: Wendell’s bad edit from last week simply continued into this one. There’s really not much more to say that wasn’t said already. He’s not winning and he is so obviously the “bad” person in the Michele relationship drama that it’s hard to imagine him outlasting her.

Michele
⭐Michele put a plan into action to take advantage of Parvati’s inevitable vote-out. “Parv is my best friend out here, but I don’t know if I can save her. So if she’s already going home, all I can do is try to see if there’s some way for it to benefit my game.” She approaches Wendell with a plan to vote him just for show, in the attempt to secure Parvati’s fire tokens. Even though she and Wendell couldn’t come to an agreement, Michele’s plan was spun into a massive positive for her edit. For one, Michele voted Wendell and Parvati did bequeath her fire tokens to her as a result. So the plan worked! In addition, Michele received some major strategic credit from Wendell. “Michele wants to have her cake and eat it too. She doesn't want to vote Parv out. But at the same time, she wants Parv’s tokens. And I’m like, “Wow, Michele’s playing the game.” Awesome! So far this season, Michele has been edited as a strategic force. The first time was the Ethan vote out, and now she’s receiving credit for successfully capitalizing on Parvati’s ouster.
⭐Michele had an interesting comment at tribal. She said, “I am very emotionally distressed. I feel caught in between four people that I love and I know that it’s for $2 million. My head says that but my heart says that I’m hurting somebody and that doesn’t sit well with me.” For one, she mentioned the money, which is great. But what does her comment hint at for her story? Is she meaning to say she will put her friendships above the win? Earlier in tribal, when Wendell said he was willing to “stab everyone in the back”, Michele responded, “My approach is gonna be different than that.” We’ll keep and eye on this to see if it develops.
➡️ Moving forward: Michele had a really great episode. She was credited massively for strategically taking advantage of Parvati’s inevitable vote-off. And at tribal, she mentioned the money and the win again. As I’ve said before, Michele has had an interesting edit so far. Most other castaways’ stories are tied to strong alliances or advantages, neither of which Michele has. Her edit is unique – its about proving herself, her strategic play… and outlasting her cocky Ex ;P

Nick
🚩Nick had a huge strategic feature this episode. He was positioned as the swing vote on Sele. A lot of his confessionals were interesting and could have game-long consequences. At first he says, “I was hoping to play Survivor with Parvati. However, Wendell and Yul, they’re my closest allies in the entire game. So if they want to vote her out, I guess that’s what I have to do.” At first, this makes Nick look like a follower, not someone who’s going to win Survivor WaW. But then, he is set up to have a change of heart, once Parvati tattles on Wendell’s shady token scheme. “I’ve kind of been on cruise control, just trying to make it to the merge, but now I’m thinking, “I gotta start playing this game.” This is a huge decision. Parvati is a threat, but she’s a visible threat. Whereas Wendell, he is more of, like, a hidden threat. So it makes sense to get rid of him if I can keep somebody that I can actually trust. Whatever I do tonight, is gonna have huge consequences. I just hope I don’t regret it.” This confessional is certainly suggesting that Nick will regret the decision to vote out Parvati and not Wendell. I mean, he explained why right here in this very confessional! The kicker is his comment leading up to the vote. “This is Winners at War and if you’re not willing to [backstab] somebody, they will do it to you and somebody will go to the end and win this $2 dollars. So either grow some backbone or not, but somebody’s gonna get backstabbed and screwed over.” Massive undermining here from Nick. He claims that you need to do the backstabbing before you get backstabbed yourself. Yet, when given the chance, he did not take it. Putting this all together, I think it’s highly possible that someone backstabs Nick down the road, whether it be Wendell himself or someone else. He said earlier about Wendell, “he talks the talk, but I’m not sure if he really walks the walk.” Are you sure you’re not describing yourself, Nick?
⚫Along with Michele, Nick also disagreed with Wendell’s approach to “stab everyone in the back.” He says, “If we’re playing with people that don’t value that philosophy in Survivor, maybe that’s not the right approach for this season.” I think this is less about Nick’s story and more a commentary about the possible winner of the season. Since Wendell is receiving such a negative edit, I don’t believe we, as viewers, are meant to believe his cutthroat strategy is the winning strategy. Therefore, I think Nick’s comment is likely to come true, in the end. I think the edit might be setting us up for a non-aggressive winner – someone who didn’t need to “stab everyone in the back” to win the game.
➡️ Moving forward: Nick had a huge strategic episode, yet he contradicted and undermined himself throughout it. Nick is not a contender to win at all, but I think he will play an important role this season - whether he’s backstabbed by an ally or makes an important fire token play. He was already cast last episode as a nervous and starstruck so I’m leaning more towards the former. He also mentioned Tyson again this episode, so if Tyson does return, I fully expect the two of them to team up. Are we possibly headed towards a Nick blindside by the hands of his idol, Tyson? Now that would be a really epic merging of storylines.

Contenders to win:
1.	Sophie
<GAP>
2.	Michele
3.	Tony
4.	Tyson
5.	Yul

I think Sophie has a pretty sizable gap above any other contender. The other 4 are all really close and I could see them being rearranged in a few different ways.