Hello all, welcome back to the Edit Bay! This weekly feature takes a dive into the edit of the latest Survivor episode, analyzing the key stories, main characters, and top winner contenders.
While intended as a condensed version of Edgic, for this season, I will be including my ratings for each castaway at the end of the article.
OVERVIEW
The penultimate episode of the season continued the end-game storylines we highlighted last week and cemented the top winner contender heading into the finale.
As I said last week, the main stories heading into the season’s final stretch appeared to be the Omar and Mike distrust, the Lindsay and Jonathan rivalry, Maryanne & Romeo’s underdog comeback, and Jonathan’s body giving up on him. All of those plot points were focused on this episode to varying degrees.
I also said last week, “If Omar gets rid of Mike, that would likely secure Omar’s victory. However, if Maryanne can pull off an underdog move, that could propel her to the win.” Given that Maryanne pulled off that underdog move and sent Omar out of the game, it seems like we have our winner.
But let’s take a deeper look at the final five to see if there are any other hints of what to expect in the season finale.
THE FINAL FIVE
Ordered from most likely to least likely to win.
Maryanne — Everything in Maryanne’s edit led up to this episode, from the early days on Taku when Omar, Lindsay, and Jonathan had reservations about keeping her over Marya. Back then, the tribe discussed how Maryanne could prove dangerous if she made it deep into the game. Lo and behold, at the final six, she pulled off the move of the season. And at whose expense? Omar, who had previously talked of using Maryanne’s advantages for his own benefit, and Lindsay, someone who has consistently worried about Maryanne being a threat.
In summarizing Survivor 41’s edit, I said that it’s more important to pay attention to the characters with consistent themes and the least undermining in their edit. That’s what set Erika apart from the others, as her “lamb to lion” theme stayed consistent across the season, even if it wasn’t always a central focus. And when she was shown, she often had the correct read on the game and tribe dynamics.
Maryanne has had one of the clearest themes throughout Survivor 42. She is the unabashed weirdo that wants to soak up the experience and prove you can win Survivor without compromising your personality. From the moment the cast landed on the beach, Maryanne has shown off her kooky, larger-than-life personality. But this was always presented as part of Maryanne’s charm. And more than that, Maryanne was aware of how her personality could come across.
Her arc was perhaps best summed up during her visit to Summit Island in the first episode. Here, Maryanne talked of being counted out in life, being ostracized as “weird,” and how she aimed to show that her eccentricities are what makes her special. It’s also here where she laid out her goal: “Maybe there’s someone who’s watching this and needs that, and I want to be like, “Hey, I’m here. I’m weird. You can be weird, too, and you can win, and you can succeed, and you don’t have to change anything about yourself.”
Maryanne’s story is about showing you can be your weird little self and still win without changing who you are. And it’s about being underestimated but never giving up. We’ve seen, especially since the merge, Maryanne as an outsider. But she has never been undermined. She has remained aware of her position and the dynamics and always knows how to survive one more vote. Perhaps the stand-out moment before this episode was the way she used the emotion of the rice negotiation to buy goodwill from her tribemates. This showed that Maryanne had more strategy than others perhaps realized.
It’s that theme of being underestimated that allowed her to pull off such an incredible move in this episode. And without a doubt, this was presented as Maryanne’s move. While Mike was the first to suggest targeting Omar, the edit focused on how Mike (and Jonathan) backed off the move. It was Maryanne that took over the plan and made it happen. And she did it without Mike and Jonathan, who were still underestimating Maryanne and too scared to put their lives in her hands.
With Omar gone, I find it hard to see anyone else as the winner other than Maryanne. She has such a clearly defined narrative that she would surely beat anyone in the Final Tribal Council. Not only does she now have this epic move on her resume, but she’s been portrayed as likable throughout. Even that early OTTN wasn’t a “Maryanne is evil” edit; it was simply others airing frustrations of Maryanne being a bit much. But even those criticisms were curbed with love and support, with both Lindsay and Jonathan talking of how much they liked Maryanne as a person.
I suppose she could end up as a robbed goddess, but I find that far less likely. Nobody else in the final five has such a clearly defined theme and narrative. Omar had one… until he didn’t — he was the owl in the night, controlling things from the shadows. But as soon as Drea exposed him, Omar’s theme died, and he was booted. Plus, Maryanne is the only one of the five that hasn’t been irreparably undermined.
The narrative of this season is how you shouldn’t underestimate anybody and that you don’t have to change who you are to succeed. Maryanne exemplifies those themes more than anybody.
Big Gap…
Lindsay — After a string of strong episodes, this was not the best week for Lindsay. She still had a lot of focus, which was nice, and she still has a main storyline with Jonathan. But the edit here showed her to be out of the loop, unaware, and overconfident.
She started off on a high from the previous vote, explaining how her amulet was now an idol. She felt on top of the world. But rather than flesh out new relationships or end-game plans, her edit reverted back to Jonathan. “My plan now is I want Jonathan gone,” she said, which has basically been her plan since the double Tribal episode. While she explained her reasonings well, it did feel like Lindsay had become blinded by Jonathan and was missing the bigger picture.
This looked especially bad during the scene where she and Jonathan were both lying to each other. Jonathan was shown not to be buying what Lindsay was selling. Whereas Lindsay believed that Jonathan would vote for Mike as she suggested. It was the first time that we’ve seen Lindsay this out of the loop. She wasn’t aware that both Mike and Jonathan had cottoned on to her and Omar’s tight relationship and were setting the groundwork to split them up.
This overconfidence led to her not playing her amulet idol for Omar. She felt like everybody was on board to vote out Jonathan. “Jonathan will be out as planned, and then me and Omar have a nice cruising out to final four and make it to the end,” she stated. This line set up what was to come, as, at the same time, Maryanne was putting together her plot to split Lindsay and Omar up.
If Lindsay had had a similar edit to the past couple of weeks, I wouldn’t be so all-in with Maryanne as the top contender. It might have made me believe in another underedited Erika-style win. But I just don’t think the edit would undermine a winner like this, even if it did tie into the narrative of Omar’s boot. I do think her chances are probably still better than Mike and Jonathan, simply because she hasn’t received as much negativity and undermining across the season. But it’s difficult to see her winning.
So what does her finale look like? As I said earlier, I could see her battle with Jonathan leading to the fire-making showdown. In fact, a fire-making loser really does seem to fit Lindsay’s edit — a small presence pre-merge who fired up in the end-game as a challenge threat but will ultimately come up short.
Long Shot…
Mike — Mike’s edit was similar to Jonathan’s in this past episode in that he had a really solid first and poor second half. He started off by catching onto Omar’s game, realizing how much of a threat he was and that he needed to make a move to take him. He followed up by broaching the plan with Maryanne, explaining that you can’t force it; you just have to nudge an idea along and let it flourish.
This would have been great had Mike followed through on his plan to vote Omar out. Because this was initially presented as his idea. He set the ball rolling and used his knowledge of the game to sway the votes, first by telling Jonathan and Maryanne about Lindsay’s amulet and then by promising to use his idol for Maryanne at five. And this seemed to work, as Jonathan and Maryanne both appeared on board with the plan.
But, as with Jonathan, after the immunity challenge, Mike went back on the idea and wanted to play it again. Again, Mike at least had the chance to explain himself. He worried about Lindsay playing her idol on Omar, so it made sense why he wanted to target Romeo. But the way the edit presented this whole section was solely in Maryanne’s favor; the Omar vote became her move, and Mike & Jonathan looked afraid, as well as underestimated Maryanne as a player.
So while Mike first ignited the Omar plan, he didn’t ultimately get any credit for pulling off the move. And that could be vital. Now, we’ve had flawed, complex male winners in the past — Survivor edits seem to be more lenient when it comes to men, not afraid to show them in a more rounded and less flattering light. So it wouldn’t completely shock me if Mike ends up winning, though I think it’s a long shot.
I think Mike has been undermined too much throughout the season. Those early pre-merge scenes of him losing the idol could have been chalked up to a fun character moment at first, but now combined with the rest of the edit, it doesn’t look great. His revenge-focused pursuit of Chanelle wasn’t the best outlook. Nor was getting completely snowed by Omar with the Hai lie. He’s also talked up his loyalty and word throughout the season and yet has betrayed several players, which could come back to haunt him.
Could Mike make the FTC? I think it’s very possible. I could envision a world where Maryanne sits next to both Mike and Jonathan and comes out on top. Or, more of a long-shot, Lindsay in the Maryanne position. Mike has had this theme from the start of wanting to show people he is not some mean, tough guy; he is a likable, sociable person that can make bonds and form trust. But in doing so, he’s had to break that trust, and those are things that can be thrown back in someone’s face by a jury.
No Chance…
Jonathan — Jonathan’s main role in the narrative at this point is his back-and-forth battle with Lindsay. Both continue to point out the other as their biggest threat to winning challenges. But this time around, Jonathan had the better edit, as he was portrayed as game aware and allowed to explain his thought process and strategies in a complex manner.
He began by explaining that he sees how tight Lindsay and Omar have become and how they don’t realize he’s on to them. From what was shown, Jonathan’s read appeared to be correct. Lindsay, especially, didn’t realize how close Jonathan was to Mike. This was further emphasized in a later camp scene where Jonathan and Lindsay were both lying to the other about plans for the next vote. But whereas Lindsay believed she had Jonathan on board to vote for Mike, Jonathan was shown to be ahead of Lindsay’s plan and didn’t buy into it.
I don’t think this changes much for Jonathan in the grand scheme of things, as I believe this was merely shown to set up the blindside to Lindsay and Omar later in the episode. Plus, as perceptive as Jonathan was in the first half, he suffered from the same risk-averse gameplay as Mike in the latter half. Once Lindsay won immunity, Jonathan backed out of the Omar plan and wanted to play it safe by voting Romeo. While this was logically the right move for Jonathan, the edit portrayed him and Mike in a cowardly manner, compared to Maryanne’s bravery in making the big play.
There wasn’t as much focus on Jonathan’s body giving up on him in this episode, though we had Omar explaining his reward choice as a way to deprive Jonathan and weaken him for the immunity challenge. And there was also a moment when Jonathan excused himself to go lay down and preserve energy. So it wouldn’t surprise me to see this regain focus in the final episode.
So what can we predict for Jonathan’s finale edit? I think his winning chances are far out of the window by this point. Those pretty much died in the double Tribal Council episode. And all the criticism from others about his lack of strategy and hangry behavior does not a winner make. So I expect his last episode to be mostly about his feud with Lindsay — as I said before, it wouldn’t shock me if they went head-to-head in the fire-making challenge. And I could see Jonathan’s story ending in one of two ways. He beats Lindsay in a challenge and makes the FTC only to be dragged for his lack of strategy and pissy attitude, or Lindsay beats him for immunity, and he’s finally voted out.
Romeo — If anyone is drawing completely dead heading into the finale, it’s Romeo. It’s a shame because Romeo stood out as a potential mover and shaker in the pre-merge. He had a flawed but pretty prominent edit. However, once the merge came, Romeo slipped into the background, painted an outsider that was out of the loop and struggling to fit in.
Unlike Maryanne, who was also an outsider, Romeo rarely got the chance to talk through his feelings and future plans. If we did hear from him, it was usually him complaining about his predicament and feeling bitter towards his tribemates. Compared to Maryanne, who was always shown to be working to improve her position. And this episode kind of summed that up, as Romeo looked to be a dead man walking until Maryanne brought him into her plan to blindside Omar.
I’m still not quite sure where exactly Romeo will end up in the finale. I could quite easily see him as a FTC loser. But I could just as easily see him as the first out in the finale, a safe option in a potentially idol-crazy Tribal. One thing I am confident about, however, is that Romeo isn’t winning Survivor 42.
EDGIC CHART
| 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 |
 Jonathan |
MOR2 | CPP4 | OTTP2 | OTTM2 | OTTM3 | MORP3 | MOR3 | UTR2 | CPN4 | UTRN2 | MORN3 | CP2 | ||
 Lindsay |
UTR3 | MOR4 | MOR2 | UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR2 | MOR2 | UTR2 | MORP3 | CPP4 | CPP4 | CP4 | ||
 Maryanne |
OTTP4 | OTTM5 | MOR4 | MOR3 | OTTN3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | CPP2 | CPP3 | MOR3 | MOR2 | CPP4 | ||
 Mike |
CPP4 | CP5 | CP5 | CP3 | CP4 | CP4 | UTR2 | CPP5 | MOR3 | OTTM4 | CPN4 | CP4 | ||
 Romeo |
CP3 | UTR1 | INV | CP4 | CPP2 | CPP3 | UTR2 | MORN3 | MORN3 | UTR1 | MORN2 | UTR1; | ||
 Omar |
MOR3 | CPP5 | CP3 | UTR2 | MOR1 | MOR2 | CP4 | CPP3 | CP2 | CP4 | CP3 | CP3 | ||
 Drea |
CP4 | CP2 | INV | CP4 | MORP3 | MOR3 | MOR3 | CP5 | CPP4 | MOR2 | CPP4 | |||
 Hai |
UTR3 | CPP3 | MOR4 | CP3 | CP5 | MOR4 | CP4 | MOR4 | CPN3 | CPM4 | ||||
 Tori |
CPN4 | MORN2 | INV | CPN5 | MOR2 | MORN4 | OTTN2 | MOR3 | MOR3 | |||||
 Rocksroy |
OTTM3 | UTR1 | INV | OTTM4 | MOR3 | OTTP5 | MOR4 | UTR1 | OTTN3 | |||||
 Chanelle |
UTR2 | MORP3 | CPN5 | UTR2 | MOR3 | MORN2 | MOR3 | MORN | ||||||
 Lydia |
OTT3 | UTR1 | MOR3 | UTR1 | CPP4 | UTR2 | MOR3 | |||||||
 Daniel |
OTTP3 | CP3 | OTTN5 | OTTN3 | OTTN5 | |||||||||
 Swati |
MORP2 | MOR2 | INV | CPM4 | ||||||||||
 Jenny |
MOR3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | |||||||||||
 Marya |
UTR1 | OTTP4 | ||||||||||||
 Zach |
OTTM4 | |||||||||||||
 Jackson |
OTTP3 |
Written by
I do hope Maryanne will be the winner. I think she represents the season really well and she’d stand out well among other winners.
Sometimes I wish you weren’t so good at this haha. I’ve been reading these edgic articles since second chances (except GI) and your insights on winner chances have usually been pretty spot on, except Aubrey in BvBvB2 and EoE was a mess. Anyway I was really rooting for Johnathan and hoped your edit will give me a glimer of hope that he had at least a slight chance. But alas he will fall into the same category as 50 of my other season favorites (across 4 versions).
Anyway thank you for doing this all season