Episodes 7-8: The bounce-back begins
Published: February 8, 2021
The fate of the Foa Foa tribe feels its grimmest yet at the end of Episode 7 of Survivor: Samoa, but the foursome somehow find a way to avoid receiving votes at the next episode's merge Tribal Council, despite none of them being immune. It's the start of a reversal of fortunes, and it happens despite all Russell's schemes falling flat, him misplaying an idol, and being out of the loop as the merge boot was set up.
Episodes 5-6: The storm
Published: February 4, 2021
There's a dark cloud hanging over Episodes 5-6 of Survivor: Samoa, one filled with foreboding for Galu. But also, mostly, rain. Almost all of which ends up on the contestants, crippling the first episode's post-IC scrambling, then taking away one contestant's shot at the game in the next episode. A look at what Survivor learned from this, and what could have been.
Episodes 3-4: Rise above, we're gonna rise above
Published: January 30, 2021
There are good and bad aspects to Survivor: Samoa's second pair of episodes: On the one hand, nearly all the time spent with Galu is delightful, which is good, because they're the focus of Episode 4. Unfortunately, while there's a great story in Episode 3, as Jaison demands that Ben be booted, the show chooses to smother that in unnecessary (and inaccurate) deification of Russell Hantz.
Episodes 1-2: Welcome to Hantzvision
Published: January 23, 2021
There's a lot going on in the first two episodes of Survivor: Samoa: picking tribal chiefs, a hero challenge, two immunities, an idol find. Unfortunately for the season, almost all of that action is shown from the perspective of one person: Russell Hantz. We do get occasional efforts to also show the Galu tribe (a.k.a. Shambo and a bunch of people who aren't Shambo), but it's mostly Hantz. So here's an effort to try to deduce/ reconstruct what we missed.
Jeff
Pitman is the founder of the True Dork Times,
and probably should find better things to write about than
Survivor. So far he hasn't, though. He's also responsible
for the Survivometer, calendar, boxscores, and contestant
pages, so if you want to complain about those, do
so in the comments, or on twitter: @truedorktimes
Other Pitman recaps:
Jeff Pitman has been writing about Survivor for far too long. Here are some options for further reading...
Survivor: Winners at War | Island of the Idols | Edge of Extinction | David vs. Goliath | NZ: Thailand | Ghost Island | Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers | Game Changers | Millennials vs. Gen X | Kaoh Rong | Cambodia | Worlds Apart | San Juan del Sur | Cagayan | Blood vs. Water | Caramoan | Philippines | One World | South Pacific | Redemption Island | Nicaragua | Samoa | Gabon | China | Fiji | Cook Islands | Vanuatu | The Amazon | Thailand | Marquesas | Africa
See also: The full True Dork Times index of past seasons.
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