‘Survivor’ Is Better When Everyone Gets A Little Silly With It

I remember individual seasons of Survivor by and for their "mood." This is a nebulous bit of recall, because "mood" (or "vibe," if you will) is both subjective and insufficient; distilling roughly twelve hours of programming into one word is inevitably going to leave a lot out. But this is how my brain works, and so we're all just going to have to roll with it. Some seasons are chaotic [derogatory] (Gabon) and others are chaotic [complimentary] (Cambodia — Second Chance). Some seasons are dark (Island of the Idols, Caramoan), and others are brutal (Kaoh Rong with its three medevacs, Africa with the poop water). It's easy to love the ones that can be filed under the "epic" label (Heroes vs. Villains, Winners at War), and most everyone who cares about the show does. But, in my heart of hearts, I think I love Survivor most when it's just "silly."

While it normally takes most of the season to decide upon a corresponding mood, the second episode of Survivor's ongoing 50th season, "Therapy Carousel," has made it very clear that this is going to be an extremely foolish season. Again, that is not a bad thing, and it is also not an all-encompassing designation; there have been plenty of thrilling strategic and physical moments already; you've got Cirie swiftly dictating her tribe's votes away from herself and from her ally Ozzy Lusth in back-to-back episodes for the former; anything Jonathan Young has done in challenges for the latter, as much as it pains me to say that. And there was a real bummer of an ending in episode one, as season 48 winner Kyle Fraser had to be pulled from the game after rupturing his Achilles tendon. (He seems to be taking it all in stride.) Survivor is a bloated game, and season 50, with its 24 initial players, couldn't help but avoid the "something for everyone" temptation. It's unclear to me as yet whether that's [derogatory] or [complimentary].

All that being said, wow did episode two really lean into both the intentional and unintentional comedy that's inherent in the show's ridiculous premise. Putting this many people into the wilderness with minimal supplies and food eventually drives everyone more than a little crazy, and while that sometimes manifests in uncomfortable ways, it also opens everyone up to a healthy dose of insanity. Oh, and also gastrointestinal distress, which is how episode two kicked off: Christian Hubicki was simply chatting with tribemate Joe Hunter when he made the same face a baby might make when they fill their diaper. He did this because that's essentially what happened. Christian, a robotics professor and one of the most intelligent and likable contestants to ever play Survivor, fully shat his pants on day four.

With that, we were off to the races, as the Survivor editors made sure to craft a bizarre 90 minutes of television in which every tribe had at least one moment of absurd comedy. This is not a complete list, but:

• On the pink Vatu tribe, Genevieve Mushaluk led a mission to go through Aubry Bracco's bag, because she thought that Aubry was carrying it around a bit too suspiciously and close to her body. Though the bag squad did not find any advantages, the sequence felt like the dumbest heist you could imagine, with Genevieve apologizing profusely as she searches through the bag (she is Canadian, after all), Q Burdette taking to his role of lookout with aplomb ("woo-woo!"), and 51-year-old Colby Donaldson, who was part of a bag search way back in season 2, looking like he was having the time of his life.
• That bag search gets a funny callback like twenty minutes later, when Aubry gets sent the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol (sigh) just when her tribe has convinced itself that she doesn't have any advantages.
• On the blue Kalo tribe, well, not much happens. That's because this tribe is getting the short end of the editing stick, but we still get a vintage moment of Coach Wade absurdity. In trying to prove that he can keep up with Jonathan, Coach goes out into the water to try to spear some fish, only to immediately cramp up in both of his legs. I don't know what my favorite visual was here between Coach floating in pain while Jonathan keeps him afloat, Coach getting a ride back to the beach thanks to the Survivor emergency swimmers, or, and it is probably this, Coach hobbling along the beach in highly preventable pain.
• Speaking of Coach, at the reward challenge in the first half of the episode, Jeff Probst gives everyone the news that Kyle had to be pulled from the game. Kamilla Karthigesu, Kyle's close game partner from 48, is crying immediately, and Ozzy sounds choked up as well when he says that it's tough to be out on Survivor. Coach then takes exactly zero social cues from that moment and launches into a tirade about his "honor," which he felt Ozzy tarnished in the premiere, before saying that "Yesterday’s adversary is tomorrow’s enemy. Today’s enemy is tomorrow’s adversary.." Coach, respectfully, what the fuck are you talking about?

I have to go back to Christian and the orange Cila tribe here, though, because he had one of the best breakout episodes I've ever seen for a contestant on Survivor. It might have started crappily (booo, hissss, not sorry at all), but Christian utilized his charm and nerdy personality to both his alliance's advantage and the viewers'. After cleaning up his, and pardon the reality TV jargon here, doo-doo ass, Christian laid out a plan to keep Joe, a player whose only operational mode is "honor and trust," happy while everyone else takes up the schemes and betrayals Survivor calls for. Christian decides that everyone should check in with Joe throughout the day to keep him from popping off—this is the titular therapy carousel—eventually dubbing this system a "Joetation."

When Christian's turn to do his shift of Joe Appeasement arrives, we get treated to one of the best bits of cinematography in the show's history:

Who says Survivor has no artistic merit?! The hammock scene only gets better, as the cameras later step back a bit to show Christian playing therapist to Joe while also gently rocking this massive 46-year-old man.

Unfortunately, the Joetation fails and Joe starts accusing everyone, but mostly Rick Devens, of lying to him. This is more traditional Survivor humor, with the steadfast Joe butting heads with the eye-rolling Devens, who says in a confessional that he wants Joe out because it's just not fun to play around someone who refuses to lie in a game about lying. (Side note: I actually side with Joe on this; Devens lied about something he didn't need to lie about and got caught. Play better!) The scenes of everyone scheming at the Cila camp are wonderfully paced, and everyone gets a moment to shine, but the real punchline is set up when Christian finds the aforementioned Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol (sigh) that he sends to Aubry.

After he shows the idol to Devens, his closest ally, Devens goes into the Idol Maniac mode that defined his first season and concocts a plan that I'm still not entirely sure I understand. Basically, Devens wants to make a fake idol play but at the Tribal Council area, and he needs Christian to cause a distraction so that he can hide his fake idol at Tribal Council for later use. I'm not entirely sure what the payoff of this will be long-term, but in the short term, Christian commits to the bit and does an exaggerated pratfall in front of everyone, giving Devens the necessary clearance to execute his plan. Honestly, give Christian an Emmy for this.

As the episode ends, with season 49 winner Savannah Louie voted out—she had no chance on this tribe, unfortunately; I hope she gets to play again in the future—things look to get a bit more serious next week, with a very early tribe swap coming into play. Traditionally, when tribes swap around, strategy and social games come to the forefront, as everyone scrambles to protect themselves with new enemies and adversaries (damn it, Coach!). It could be that episode two was just a brief mirage of goofiness before things get a lot more focused, but with this specific cast of characters, I could see the tribe swap only heightening the farce around this season. I really hope so, because I don't know that I had ever laughed as hard at an episode of Survivor, and I have seen a lot, as I did at "Therapy Carousel."