At the beginning of the season, Survivor 48 was finally starting to feel like a beacon of hope in the new era. For the first time in 8 seasons, we were getting real gameplay early on rather than waiting for our castaways to kick things into gear around the merge.
But the last couple of weeks have been confusing to say the least. It feels like we keep building up to big moments only for them to completely vanish while our players toss us into a totally different journey that feels out of left field, but appears to be just another day on the island for them.
It has fans wondering if they're missing something when watching each week, but I think it goes beyond our comprehension skills. It's starting to feel like there are whole plot points that are just not being delivered to us at all.
Fans are wondering what's up with the Survivor 48 edit?
People often discuss a "winner's edit," but the last few episodes have felt more like a chaos edit. It feels like there have been some major plot holes not only in game play and strategy, but in relationships. It's getting hard to tell who is in an alliance with whom, who is just being friendly, and who is misinterpreting that kindness.
Three-time player and fan favorite Kelley Wentworth also had some questions about the editing in an Instagram post (below) after episode 10's seemingly sudden attack on Star Toomey.
Most notably, Mitch Guerra's decision that he'd rather stay with the six he trusts—himself, Kyle Fraser, Shauhin Davari, Eva Erickson, Joe Hunter, and Kamilla Karthigesu—than try and make a move and get to four with someone he doesn't trust—Star.
Arguably, it's Survivor. Does it matter who you get there with? Finishing in the Final Four sounds like a much better outcome than being sent to the jury at six. And after he was so upset about Kyle not picking him for the chicken and waffles reward, there has to be something else we're missing, right?
Was there a conversation between the two of them that happened either early days at Civa or more recently at Niu Nai that made Mitch believe that Kyle's planning to take him to the Final Three? Is Kyle actually planning that and the audience has only been made aware of his secret alliance with Kamilla, and more recently a strong trust in Joe?
Will we get the answers we're looking for this week?
Host and executive producer, Jeff Probst, has previously said that the editors treat the show like a mystery, pulling out pieces of the story to keep the audience guessing how it's all going to play out in the end. Well, in my experience, mysteries are more fun when there are enough clues left behind to actually solve them.
After last week's episode, Survivor 48 is starting to feel like we're playing a game of Clue using the board from Monopoly. You can make it work if you really try, but on the surface there's no easy explanation.
Here's hoping we get a little more clarity in episode 11!