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.
For those new to The Edit Bay, it is a condensed version of Edgic, highlighting some of the stand-out story beats from the most recent episode. It also includes my weekly Edgic ratings for each castaway at the end of the article.
OVERVIEW
Apologies for the delay in getting this final Edit Bay post of the season published; I’m still in the middle of renovating, so things are pretty hectic over here.
I’ll keep things short and sweet in wrapping up the season narrative, and then I’ll share the final Edgic ratings for the final five, along with their overall ratings.
In the penultimate Edit Bay post of the season, I wrote, “Outside of some funky, new-era Gabler-esque surprise, the finale should conclude with Dee’s crowning as the latest Sole Survivor,” and that’s precisely what we saw in the Survivor 45 finale.
Edgically, Dee was far and away the front-runner, especially looking at who else was left in the final five. Her story and position in the game had been highlighted more than her fellow Rebas, Austin and Julie, and she didn’t have the undermining contained in Katurah and Jake’s edits, which all but ruled them out of contention.
Dee’s edit wasn’t the flashiest, but it made sense throughout the season. As she said in the premiere, she was there to play like it was her only shot, and she took that attitude into all facets of the game. When Dee wanted something to happen, she made it happen, and the edit showed us again and again how she got her way.
Her edit went a little under the radar in the early merge, which caused some momentary concern, but it’s clear how the narrative was designed when looking at the season as a whole. You can divide Survivor 45 into three main stories. The first part focused primarily on the “Lulu Losers,” with Emily and Kaleb’s games highlighted the most, with Emily’s growth arc contained within this arc.
The second part of the season revolved around the Katurah and Bruce rivalry, with Katurah’s early criticisms proven right across the early merge until it came time for Bruce’s elimination.
Then, the third and final part of the season switched the focus to the Reba 4, both their control of the game and, ultimately, the moment they turned on each other, which propelled Dee to victory.
All of these stories were present throughout the season, but they moved in and out of the spotlight when necessary for the story at that moment in time. And with the 90-minute run-time, it allowed the show to flesh out each of these arcs and the key characters, making for one of the more satisfying seasons in recent memory.
With the 90-minute episodes here to stay, hopefully we’ll get more of the same in the upcoming Survivor 46.
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 |
 Dee |
UTR1 | OTT2 | CP4 | MOR4 | CPP3 | MOR2 | MORP | UTR2 | MORM3 | UTR1 | CPP3 | CPP4 | CPP3 | |
 Austin |
MOR3 | MOR2 | MOR4 | MOR2 | CP4 | OTT3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | CP4 | UTR2 | CPM4 | MORP3 | CP3 | |
 Jake |
MOR3 | UTR2 | MORP3 | CP2 | OTTP2 | MOR3 | CP4 | CPN4 | CP3 | OTTM4 | MOR2 | CP3 | OTTM4 | |
 Katurah |
CP3 | MOR2 | UTR2 | OTT3 | MORN3 | MOR2 | CP4 | MOR4 | MOR2 | OTTP3 | OTTP3 | MOR2 | MORM3 | |
 Julie |
MOR1 | CP2 | UTR2 | MOR3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR1 | MOR2 | MOR3 | MORP3 | CP3 | CP3 | MOR2 | |
 Drew |
CP2 | CP4 | CP4 | MOR2 | MORM4 | MOR3 | MOR2 | CP4 | CP4 | MORN3 | CP3 | OTTN3 | ||
 Emily |
CPN5 | CPM5 | CPM5 | CPP4 | CP4 | CP4 | CP2 | CP3 | CP3 | CPP4 | CPP3 | |||
 Bruce |
MORM3 | CPM3 | UTRN1 | OTTM3 | OTTN2 | CPN5 | OTTN4 | OTTM3 | OTTP3 | CPN4 | ||||
 Kendra |
OTT3 | UTR1 | MOR3 | INV | OTT3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | OTTP3 | MOR3 | |||||
 Kellie |
MOR3 | MOR2 | MOR2 | MOR2 | MOR3 | MOR3 | CP4 | MOR3 | ||||||
 Kaleb |
MOR3 | CPP3 | CPM5 | CPP5 | CP2 | CPM5 | CP4 | |||||||
 Sifu |
OTTN3 | UTR1 | UTR1 | MOR3 | MORN3 | OTT2 | UTRP2 | |||||||
 J. Maya |
UTR1 | UTR1 | UTR1 | CP3 | MOR3 | MOR3 | ||||||||
 Brando |
UTR2 | MORP2 | UTR1 | UTR1 | CPN4 | |||||||||
 Sean |
UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR2 | CPM5 | ||||||||||
 Sabiyah |
MORP4 | CP5 | CP5 | |||||||||||
 Brandon |
OTTM5 | OTTM5 | ||||||||||||
 Hannah |
OTTM5 |
Written by
Great season analysis, as always!
How come Katurah was CP overall with only 2 CP episodes?