The following contains spoilers for episode 2 of Survivor Season 42.The early game of Survivor is always such an interesting beast, as the show is still trying to balance interesting television with the inherent exposition of introducing a new cast of characters and twists to the audience. Basically, the first few episodes always take some getting used to, because each season usually has a somewhat unique vibe that the different castaways bring to the table, and it can take a moment for the audience to get comfortable with it and feel like the game has fully begun. Season 42 is still in that awkward transitional period that every season starts with, but luckily this season is shaping up to be a promising one, and not even the stilted early game can detract from that.
Since this season was filmed back-to-back with Season 41, there was no way for the producers to know how people would react to that season, meaning that some of the game elements that fans didn't take well to in Season 41 might still be present in this season. However, it seems like they are still able to use the editing to their advantage and play more to the audience that way, because Season 42 is much less advantage-focused and seems to be centering itself more on the players and the fun moments between them.
A lot of Survivor fans complained that Season 41 was too focused on idols and advantages, which led to other strategy talk and player interactions getting tossed to the wayside. This season, however, it seems like the narrative focus is much more on the players and their interactions at camp right from the get-go. Only two episodes in and it feels like the audience is being given lots of space to get to know the players and understand the tribe dynamics, which makes the votes much more exciting because the viewer knows the personal stakes that are at hand.
This season is also once again leaning into making the game really hard on the players, and seems to be focusing on that element of the game more than Season 41 did, because already there are multiple players talking about how difficult the game is for them. Tori divulges that a small part of her (for a very brief moment) almost wanted to be voted out at the last Tribal Council so that she would get to eat real food and sleep with a roof over her head again, and they're only three days in. Hai also has a moral dilemma where he realizes that he can't sustain himself on the island on his typical vegan diet, and will likely have to eat meat at certain points in order to stay strong in the game.
This is a much better way of driving home how hard the game is than what the last season did because it's focusing on how much the players are struggling in certain areas early on. How much worse is it going to get once they're closer to the end of the game? Also, it might seem like there are a lot of comparisons being made to Season 41 even though Season 42 is its own distinct season, but they feel like a pair as they were filmed together and are both the beginnings of a "new era" of Survivor, so the comparisons are easy to make.
There is a really great discussion at the Taku tribe where Omar brings up the fact that he is Muslim, and he tells his tribemates that he invites any questions about it if they want to know. Jonathan responds in kind by saying that he welcomes questions about his Christianity, and Lindsay jokes that though she's Jewish, she doesn't know much about it and probably can't answer many questions. It's nice to see religion discussed openly on the show and not in a way that's favoring any one belief (or demonizing any either), and just showing that people with different belief systems can still find common ground and learn from each other. This also sets up the very fun bromance between Omar and Jonathan that will probably be important to the storyline of this tribe, as well as their individual games.
Back at the Vati tribe, Mike has found a hidden immunity idol, and it's one of the trio of idols that has to be activated by a code phrase at a challenge, which is a gimmick carried over from Season 41. He immediately tells both Jenny and Daniel, a mistake that many a Survivor player seems to make, even if they swear to themselves that they'll never tell anyone about their advantages. Daniel immediately begins strategizing and realizes that they need to neutralize the idols on the other two tribes by controlling Mike's idol and keeping him from activating it, which would stop other players from having those advantages. This is an interesting way to engage with this type of idol that we haven't seen before, and it will be fascinating to see if his strategy pans out.
The Immunity Challenge in this episode is a Survivor favorite: the blind obstacle course. It's always entertaining to watch the blindfolded players stumble into everything in their way because their team caller isn't being loud enough, though one might feel bad for laughing knowing how beat up they probably get. In any case, Vati ends up winning with Ika coming in second, which means that Taku is going to Tribal Council. The tribe takes the afternoon to figure out what to do, and it becomes clear that the vote is between Marya and Maryanne.
Omar, Jonathan, and Lindsay are essentially the deciding force here as the main alliance on the tribe, and they have to determine which relationship is more beneficial. Maryanne has a bright personality and is loved by the tribe, but her constant high energy is starting to wear down the group on occasion, and she gets nervous easily, which could be a liability for an alliance if she begins to panic and spiral. However, it seems that the tribe just doesn't have enough of a connection with Marya, and she is the one voted off in the end, after an unsuccessful attempt at using her Shot In The Dark.
This episode was solid, and along with the first one, seems to be proving that Season 42 is going to be much more focused on the personalities and relationships between the players going forward, which is a good sign because that's really the most interesting element of any season. It's the basis for any sort of engaging strategy talk, and it's much easier to get invested in this show and its eventual winner when all of the players feel like real people that the audience can root for and sympathize with, rather than just reality TV caricatures.