The Davids on Survivor: David vs. Goliath played the perfect game of chess during the ninth episode. Instead of wallowing at their disadvantage, they pooled their resources together to deliver another epic blindside. None of the Goliaths were prepared for the advantage train that rolled up into Tribal Council. Alison was surprised, Kara and Alec were blown away, and Dan was left with his jaw on the floor as he was booted from Survivor. We were truly blessed with another perfect week.
As with John’s blindside, the root of the cause stemmed from the Goliath’s inability to venture outside of their original tribe lines. If they had stuck to the plan of going after Dan or Angelina, the Davids wouldn’t have banded together to make this move. Sure, this forced two powers out in the open, but this backtrack will have implications later down the line. The Goliaths showed, yet again, their unwillingness to team up with the Davids, regardless of numbers or votes.
In fact, the Goliaths played this entire week disastrously. Alison, Kara, and Alec fractured their relationships with the Davids since they turned against the original plan hours before Tribal Council. Never cement any plans if you’re only going to turn against the idea later on. In the game of Survivor, it’s always good to have the majority in your alliance; you control the numbers and determine who gets the boot. However, betraying alliances is a volatile matter that needs to ensure bridges aren’t destroyed–you shouldn’t make the move if you haven’t prepared for the backlash. The trio played with fire too much and eventually, they’re going to get burned.
Another big mistake was the last-minute vote switch to Angelina. Splitting the votes between Christian and Angelina might’ve been their way to save face with the Davids, but it destroyed any relationship with Angelina. How can she trust them going forward after this vote? She can’t. Angelina’s best move is to strike while the iron is hot and make alliances with the Davids. She’ll ensure her safety and she’ll make alliances that could then be to her advantage at critical votes. The Goliaths’ loss will be the Davids’ gain.
Carl, Nick, and Christian made the right call by exposing their powers to Gabby and Davie. Even though they’re not all the best of friends, they were all connected in an alliance of necessity. They needed to work together to ensure their safety, plus, the plan couldn’t have worked without all of them being on the same page.
The scene on the beach when they exposed their powers and planned their move of attack was a masterpiece in strategic art. We as the viewers knew that something big and shocking was going to happen to one of the Goliaths, but not the identity of their target. I love when Survivor castaways still create new strategic plans after 37 seasons of gameplay.
When it came to the challenges, both the reward and immunity challenges showcased new sides to some of the castaways. Firstly, Alison is cunning and willing to do whatever it takes to win. She kept peering over at the other team’s puzzle to see the results to the lock. That type of gameplay showed her competitive side. Alison might be someone the Davids need to get out sooner rather than later.
The same goes for Alec. Anyone who is able to literally jump over an entire obstacle course placed a HUGE target on their back. Alec proved that he was a competitive threat, but what hurt him more was that he didn’t need to win immunity. No one had thrown Alec’s name out as a target nor were they considering him out of the Goliaths. Now that Dan got voted out, he might be the new top Goliath target. This win destroyed the foundation that he set up before his immunity win.
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“Breadth-First Search” kept the momentum going with another heated and shocking Tribal Council. The castaways kept the strategic prowess going by shifting pieces and aligning themselves for the future. The Goliaths’ inability to manage their game plan gave the Davids the opportunity to strike. I can’t wait to see how the players deal with the five vs. five split. Things could get juicy.
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