Edit Bay this season is going to be a much shorter analysis due to spoilers. However, I will still assign ratings to each player, so readers can track the chart throughout the season. And I will highlight a few potential story arcs and important alliances. But there will be no discussion of potential winner edits.
OVERVIEW
Another episode where a large chunk of the screen time was dedicated to idols and bird-cage-related shenanigans. However, we got a little character development on Ratu, and Soka saw a conclusion to an early season storyline.
Much of Soka’s edit revolved around Danny planting a fake idol and tricking Matt into thinking it’s real. It continued Matt’s series of misfortunes following his loss of two votes while carrying on Danny’s edit as a sneaky, mischievous player.
The overall dynamics of Soka still remain sketchy, though, even with them attending Tribal Council. We know that Frannie and Matt are tight and have a budding showmance and that the rest of the tribe is wary of this. But the episode ended with Claire going home, which was set up earlier in the season with her sitting out of back-to-back immunity challenges.
But there were some gaps in the edit here. For example, Frannie told us she wanted to keep Claire around because she wanted to work with her. We’d been given no insight into their relationship before then. In fact, we saw Claire as antagonistic towards the Frannie & Matt pairing.
Josh was presented as an alternative target, with some mentioning he couldn’t be trusted. Again, we haven’t seen enough of Josh to understand where that perception is coming from. Elsewhere, Danny told Heidi he wanted to work with her as he told her about Matt finding the “idol,” so this could become an alliance, but we didn’t hear anything further in confessionals.
Over on Ratu, there was also a large part of the air-time focused on fake idol drama. However, there were also some fun character moments, including Kane’s D&D roleplay and Canadian National Anthem rendition, Brandon’s renaissance man flashback, and Jaime’s Plant Lady/worm-eating. And even Matt’s fake idol showed us he is willing to play a deceptive, villainous game.
Tika was the shortchanged tribe of the week. We did hear a little from Carson and Sarah regarding their thoughts on last week’s tribal. Carson hoped to keep things open with Sarah, but she told us she couldn’t trust him anymore. Meanwhile, Carolyn and Yam Yam still seemed tight, and they had a fun scene about Yam’s yawning.
So again, it still feels like this season is only just scratching the surface, but new personalities are starting to emerge, which could be important to keep an eye on moving forward.
ALLIANCES & CONNECTIONS
Frannie & Matt (Pair) — The clearest alliance in the game so far, Frannie and Matt continued to work together in this episode. And we continued to see the rest of their tribemates worrying about their closeness. Despite this, however, they avoided becoming targets, and the person most dead-set on breaking them up, Claire, has now gone.
Carolyn, Carson, & Yam Yam (Alliance?) — There wasn’t much Tika focus in this episode, but we did hear Carson say that he loved working with Carolyn and Yam Yam in the last vote. Yet, as we saw, Carson was also keeping his options open with Sarah. In this trio, it definitely seems like Carolyn and Yam Yam have the closer bond.
Jaime & Matthew (Pair?) — The Plant Lady and the Plant Daddy formed a connection in this episode, but it’s an alliance that comes with a big asterisk. While Jaime seemed gung-ho about working with Matthew, we saw that Matthew was up to some sneaky business with the fake idol. So this is a pair that seems set for some drama down the line.
Danny & Heidi (Pair?) — There isn’t a great deal to go on here, but we did see Danny saying he trusts Heidi the most, and Heidi described Danny as “probably my number one.” And Heidi did ultimately vote with Danny against Claire. So this is a duo to keep an eye on.
STORIES
A Nerdy Romance — As mentioned, Frannie and Matt’s bond is well-established by now. We even saw them talking about taking a road trip together in this episode. And now that they’ve survived their first tribal council, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them become a big part of the season’s overall narrative.
Matthew’s Mid-Life Adventure — Matthew’s adventure took a detour into sneakiness this episode, but it still played into his overall theme. He is soaking up every part of this experience and living out the things he’s dreamed about back home. As he said, “I like being sneaky. I don’t get to do that in my day-to-day life. So why not explore every option out here?”
Chief Laziness Czar — This episode followed up on Claire’s story from last week about her “laziness” and sitting out of challenges. Whether the full story or not, the episode told us that her sitting out played a part in her ouster.
EDGIC CHART
Definitions: https://insidesurvivor.com/survivor-edgic-an-introduction-3094
| Name | EP 1 | EP 2 | EP 3 | EP 4 | EP 5 | EP 6 | EP 7 | EP 8 | EP 9 | EP 10 | EP 11 | EP 12 | EP 13 | EP 14 |
 Brandon |
CPM5 | MOR2 | OTTP2 | |||||||||||
 Carolyn |
OTT3 | OTT5 | UTR2 | |||||||||||
 Carson |
MORP3 | CP5 | MOR2 | |||||||||||
 Danny |
UTR1 | MOR3 | CP5 | |||||||||||
 Frannie |
MOR3 | MORM3 | CP3 | |||||||||||
 Heidi |
MORP2 | UTR1 | CP4 | |||||||||||
 Jaime |
OTT3 | UTR1 | OTT3 | |||||||||||
 Josh |
UTR1 | INV | MOR2 | |||||||||||
 Kane |
MOR3 | MOR3 | OTT2 | |||||||||||
 Lauren |
CPN4 | UTR2 | UTR2 | |||||||||||
 Matt |
CP4 | MORM3 | MORN4 | |||||||||||
 Matthew |
CPP5 | CPP2 | CP3 | |||||||||||
 Sarah |
MOR3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | |||||||||||
 Yam Yam |
MORP4 | CP4 | OTT2 | |||||||||||
 Claire |
UTR2 | UTRN3 | MORN5 | |||||||||||
 Helen |
MOR3 | MOR4 | ||||||||||||
 Maddy |
MORN3 | |||||||||||||
 Bruce |
UTRP2 |
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