#The unanimous vote at the end of the episode would be for Sierra by the way

[simvibing]

A month ago, I posted my first episode of my first machinima, “Layers of Perspective” on YouTube.

In the episode, we meet Emmalyn Helton, a 30-year old woman running a bustling cafe in the heart of Britechester— prime real estate! College students and professors alike all come to grab a pastry, latte or another cafe staple.

Though she’s proud of where her business currently is financially, she’s dealing with other parts of her life that aren’t bringing her satisfaction. So, she decided to speak with a psychologist.

Fun Fact: Before she started her entrepreneurship journey, she was a psychology professor at Foxbury.

While she approaches the end of her probationary period, she was being considered for tenure, but she faced one big obstacle— the dean.

When the Board voted for Emmalyn, The Dean disrupted that with her vote against her. At Foxbury, the committee works on a unanimous vote to approve or reject anyone considered for tenure. With their hands tied, Emmalyn is faced with either reapplying next year and being denied again or moving on to something new. If she stays, she’ll constantly butt heads with the Dean. If she goes, she’ll doesn’t have anything lined up.

She decides to forfeit her tenure and finds herself on a new path.

After the session, we take a peek into her therapist, Santino Paulo’s world. He’ll be a grounding part of the story as she navigates entrepreneurship, relationships, and general life stressors for Emmalyn’s ambitious spirit.

After an eventful couple of days, we meet Emmalyn’s sister, Sierra. The two have been close since they’ve been kids— they’re only 2 years apart. They talk about e v e r y t h i n g together.

Emmalyn tells her sister about the bland date she went on with a fellow professor. Basically, it was a stale as a bag of chips opened for over a week— just lacking flavor, substance.

You’d think a psych professor would be able to find their match, but the catch is your mind is constantly scanning for information. Your brain receptors are continuously analyzing for stimuli.

And her mind was just not getting it with her date, Gavin.

Later that week, she decides not to write off dating like she was tempted to do. She hops on Cupid’s Corner, swipes right a few times and right a couple times. And she found a match— Don Lothario.

In her mind, she knows there’s something about him that she needs to know about. She’s beyond intrigued by him. He’s handsome, single, no kids, is a well-known art curator for the Museum in San Myshuno.

To her surprise, they talk everyday. For hours. He asked her on a date to the newest exhibit at the Museum and she can’t refuse. She hadn’t been in the art scene since her college days. It was refreshing to have someone to possibly indulge in their pleasure with.

Well just have to see how things go from here…

Emmalyn’s Bio:

Traits: • Ambitious • Outgoing • Non-committal Raised In: Willow Creek Marital Status: Single

[smuffed]

“The Unknown” - Survivor: Game Changers Episode 1 Recap

In the weeks leading up to it, I wasn’t fully on board with this season. The theme seemed forced, the cast seemed a little lackluster, and all-in-all it felt way too soon to have another all-star season. But off of that went out the window when the first episode started. For a long-time fan like myself, it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement of a season premiere and this time was no different.

Anyway, this season started the way the all should—with a good, ol’ fashioned marooning. To me, it just is not Survivor if the first ten minutes aren’t spent scrambling to throw as much fruit off a pirate ship as you can. I do question Caleb’s decision to try to outswim the human/dolphin hybrid named Ozzy Lusth, but it wouldn’t be the first time he exhibited poor judgement. I really don’t care too much about the challenges, so I don’t have much to say about them. 

Strategically, this episode was pretty straightforward. Because of the new “no-revote” twist, people weren’t going to rock the boat once a name came up. In both votes, the vote was pretty much unanimous.  In the first few days, everyone is so paranoid about being the first person voted out that as soon as one name is out there, they all pile on and don’t question it. Ciera was a relatively predictable first boot, given her reputation. Once she showed just a hint of her bold gameplay by suggesting voting out Caleb, everyone quickly turned on her and decided she had to go. Not particularly surprising. I do hope we see Ciera come back, but maybe not for a few years.

The second half of the episode was a little more interesting. When Tony and Sandra pulled together an alliance with Aubry, Malcolm, and Caleb, I was elated. Four of the best players this season (and also Caleb) teaming up? What more could you ask for? It seemed too good to be true! And it was. Why could that big threat alliance not stick together? It all fell apart when Tony confronted Sandra and Troyzan in the middle of the night. From there, one mistake snowballed into the next and soon the king and the queen were at each other’s throats. Tony shouldn’t have been so confrontational. Sandra and Troyzan shouldn’t have lied to him. Tony shouldn’t have taken that lie so personally, and Sandra shouldn’t have been so quick to burn that bridge. When you think about it, that alliance seemed doomed to fail. Two of the biggest personalities (and egos) in the game can only work together for so long. And in this case it seemed to be about half a day. On the bright side, Tony made three days further than I thought he would. He was enormously entertaining while we had him, but his time had come.

Here’s my thesis statement for season 34: In Survivor Game Changers, the winner isn’t going to be the one who changes the game of Survivor, it’s going to be the person who changes their personal game. The two people who have been voted out are two of the people who came into this season ready to play the exact same way they did in the past. Tony’s antics were fun to watch, but if he thought he could pull off shit like that and not get voted off, he’s crazy. The only way to win an all-stars season like this is to change your game plan. Jeremy’s win in Cambodia is a prime example of this. He went from being an aggressive strategic threat to a subtle emotional player, and that gave him the million dollars. The question now is, who will change the most for season 34?

It’s hard to make accurate predictions with a swap coming up. The dynamics of the original tribes obviously have an effect on the swapped tribes, but without knowing who ends up where, it’s impossible to paint an accurate picture of the state of the game. That being said, here are my power rankings after this episode, divided by original tribe. These rankings are more about short-term success then they are about who will win the game, so keep that in mind. Also, feel free to yell at me for not putting your favorite in the number one slot.

 Power Rankings:

Mana:

1.       Malcolm

From what we’ve seen so far, it looks like everyone wants to work with Malcolm. I can’t say I blame them. Malcolm was a driving force behind both votes and ultimately acted as the kingmaker between Sandra and Tony. Had Malcolm just said the word, Sandra could have gone home in Tony’s place. With the incoming tribe swap, Malcolm’s best hope is to stick with as many original Mana members as he can. Barring that, he’ll have to fall back on his charm and Lord knows he’s got plenty of it. Malcolm’s pretty safe for the time being, but once the merge hits, he’ll probably end up being the number one target.

2.       Caleb

Caleb is in a similar position to Malcolm’s, but the main difference is he doesn’t have the gameplay experience to put that to good use. Caleb went to his first tribal council ever this past episode, so it’s hard to imagine he’ll be able to keep up with the complicated strategy that’s coming ‘round the bend. In the meantime, though, he’ll be a great asset to whoever can earn his trust and keep him by their side. As long as he stays hydrated this time, he’ll do fine.

3.       Hali

Hali came out the game a little stronger than I thought, which is good. She survived the early votes and made her way into the majority. Honestly, Hali just needs to stay on the same track and she’ll make it pretty deep into the game. That being said, she has some nerve talking about “keeping the tribe strong” given how many times she dropped that snake. Lucky for her, that phase of the game will likely end with the swap, and Hali can hide while the biggest threats are in the spotlight.

4.       Troyzan

It pains me to put Troyzan so high here, but he hasn’t done much to warrant a lower ranking. Well, aside from inadvertently ruining the best alliance of all time. Seriously though, I think Troyzan realizes he’s playing in the big leagues and he’s adjusted his attitude accordingly. Not exactly sure how long it will last, but at least for now we don’t have to watch him throw any tantrums. Tantra? Tantrums.

5.       Michaela

Michaela’s hot-headed and that’s part of her charm, but if she wants to make it far in the game, she needs to learn how to cool down from time to time. Her reaction to being the decoy vote may have been overblown by the editors a little, but that’s still indicative of how her tribemates see her. Michaela is a lot like Ozzy in that as long as she’s winning, she’s happy. But now that people have seen the side of her that comes out in the face of defeat, they might not want to work with her. That being said, I don’t foresee her going out any time soon, but if she wants to actually win the game, she needs to play nice.

6.       Varner

Varner is fulfilling the role he was born for—the tribe narrator. But aside from his witty remarks, he’s playing a pretty passive game at the moment. He had to be pulled into an alliance by Sandra and seemed to have no idea that he was outside the majority earlier that day. His lack of agency doesn’t bode well for his future, but at least he’s not stirring up trouble like he has in the past. Varner needs to wake up a bit if he wants to succeed here.

7.       Aubry

Aubry’s in serious trouble here. She’s in the forefront of everyone’s mind as one of the biggest strategic threats in the season. She has already had a few votes thrown her way, more or less just because she’s Aubry. She needs to stick to the original plan she made with Tony and surround herself with other threats. Sure, it didn’t work out too well on the Mana tribe, but if she can manage to pull together enough meat shields, she might be able to make it to the merge. I don’t have particularly high hopes for her, though.

8.       Sandra

If there was ever any doubt in my mind that Sandra was the best Survivor player of all time, it’s all gone now. I love the whole “The queen stays queen” spiel, but clearly not as much as Sandra does. I’m a little worried that she’s bought into her own hype a little. At the same time, though, she has proven herself time and again, so it’s hard to blame her. With all that in mind, I think Sandra’s days are numbered. I really want to be wrong, but I don’t see any way Sandra can sustain this level of ostentatious gameplay. There’s always a slim chance that she’ll be able to pull it off, but it’s so unlikely that I have to start preparing myself to see Sandra’s torch finally get smuffed.

Nuku:

1.       Ozzy

Ozzy’s starting off this game in a good spot, and it’s not exactly surprising. He’s famous for being one of the best challenge competitors in Survivor history, and he doesn’t seem to have lost that in the years since his last appearance. What he does seem to have lost, though, is his ego. Ozzy’s downfall was always his social game. People thought he was arrogant or entitled. This time around, though, Ozzy’s aware of how people felt about him and is ready to change that. Of course, Ozzy’s going to be in trouble once the merge hits, but for now he’s sitting pretty.

2.       JT

JT is a dark horse candidate this season for a number of reasons. First of all, he’s not the go-to guy when people think of challenge beasts this season. As long as Ozzy, Caleb, and Malcolm are around, people won’t really see JT as a physical threat. Second, he still has the stink of his huge mistake from Heroes vs Villains on him, meaning no one suspects he has the strategic mind to be a threat. Third, in addition to his underestimated physical and strategic prowess, JT has one of the best social games in the history of this show. We didn’t see much strategy from the Nuku tribe this week, but if we had I guarantee no one would have even mentioned getting rid of JT.

3.       Sierra

Alright, yes, I gave her plenty of shit in the preseason, but Sierra surprised me this episode. Grabbing that legacy advantage is not terrible for her, but she won’t be in trouble when there are thirteen people left, and she might be gone by the time it’s down to six. So the extra advantage isn’t what has me so high on her. Around the Nuku camp, it seemed like Sierra was a driving force in forming alliances, and she has aligned herself with other physical players like Ozzy and JT. There’s pretty much no chance Sierra goes pre-merge and if she can make it to the final six, she might just be able to win her way to the end.

4.       Sarah

I have high hopes for Sarah. Going back to what I said about changing your own game, Sarah seems to understand that she can’t play the same way she did in Cagayan and expect to win. Granted, we haven’t seen much from her other than a couple confessionals, but as we all know, it all starts with attitude. 

Three-way tie for 5th.       Culpepper/Andrea/Zeke

We really didn’t see much strategy from the Nuku tribe, but the strategy we did see barely included these three. Not necessarily a bad thing, but also not great. I’m sure their stories will come alive now that the tribes have swapped, but for the time being there’s not much to go off of. Honestly, was Andrea even in the second hour? So the jury’s out on these three until we get to see some more from them.

8.       Tai

Oh, Tai…. Tai, Tai, Tai. I think it’s important to keep in mind that this season was filmed about two weeks after the Kaoh Rong finale, where Tai received a $50,000 check from singer/songwriter Sia because he was nice to the chickens. (Man, what kind of bizarro Mad Libs did that sentence come from?) So I guess it makes sense that he’s sacrificing the tribe’s food (and also his chances of winning) to feed the chickens (and also his wallet). Tai is in way over his head this season, as evidenced by the blank stare he gave Cirie. I thought he would make it far, but he might just end up being too much of a liability and get sent home sooner than I thought.

9.       Debbie

If there’s one this you need to win Survivor, it’s self-awareness. And if there’s one thing Debbie doesn’t have, it’s also self-awareness. Is Debbie calling Cirie “Shirie?” Has she seen the show before?  By the way, Debbie mentions she has the tenacity of a giant squid… Are giant squids known for being particularly tenacious? I mean, Debbie’s probably a professional marine biologist in addition to all her other jobs, so she probably knows better than I do. Anyway, Debbie may make it farther into this game than I originally expected, but it won’t be on her own terms. If you feed her ego, you can play Debbie like a fiddle and once someone figures out just how to do that, she could end up with a one-way ticket to the final three as a goat. The only reason Debbie isn’t last is because Cirie is still around.

10.   Cirie

Ahh, poor Cirie. Given her reputation as one of the best players ever, it’s not surprising that everyone is so afraid of her. I think Cirie really drew the short straw by ending up on a tribe with both JT and Ozzy, two of her past nemeses. If Nuku had gone to tribal council, Cirie would be the first person voted out, no question. This swap may be her saving grace, but I honestly don’t see anyone changing their mind and suddenly trusting Cirie. All I can hope is that she has a nice trip with Tony and Ciera.

So there you have it. As usual, I expect to be proven completely wrong, but that’s half the fun, isn’t it?