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accirax · 6 months ago

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Disventure Camp All Stars Power Rankings (Round 10)

It's time for a very special episode of the DCAS Power Rankings! Previewheads know what's up.

In case you haven't seen my previous power rankings ( 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9), the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Ashley's Elimination

Current Point Total: 41 acquired / 63 total

Even though I didn't particularly claim a points victory on this one, I am absolutely claiming a moral victory here. Because, I was totally right on the reasoning behind an Ashley boot! Ashley was a challenge threat, a conflict negotiator, and, overall, the most heroic hero. (Alec even said something really similar to that descriptor directly; that filled me with pride.)

As I said, if the villains had a free shot at any one in the heroes "alliance"-- if you could even call it that-- it 100% made sense for them to take out Ashley. And, given the emotional state of our would-be protagonists, they got that without even having to try.

I think Ashley served her purpose in the narrative pretty well, all things considered. Sure, she was mostly playing second fiddle to Jake. But, honestly, who isn't in this season...? She stuck around for long enough to tie up her loose ends from last season-- AKA, eliminating Fiore-- as well as establishing some iconic new relationships with Jake and Ally. And, losing such a likeable compatriot at this midpoint of the game is sure to kick the heroes (especially Jake) into high gear, reminding them just how precarious their position is. They did about as well as they could have with Ashley's character going into this season, in my opinion. I'm happy to lose her in this way.

Trailer Analysis

Another big one out of the way-- we're finally getting our returning camper this episode!!! Gosh, watching the trailer and seeing everyone back and at it again made me so happy. Why do we have to keep eliminating people again? Ah, right-- the drama. And oh, what a dramatic trailer it is.

"I ain't no quitter!" "Ugh, I'm about to... to throw up...!" "This could decide my streaming career..." "Nothing's in our way." "What happened here?" "Do I look like I give a shit?" "Are you okay, Jake?!" "Loser!" "You BITCH!"

We got some bonus dialogue for this episode's preview! I used the color coding to attribute characters as best I could, but for the sake of clarity, the people speaking were Miriam, Gabby, Ally, Fiore, Lake, Riya, Ashley, Yul, and... someone. I couldn't really tell who was saying the last quote; sorry. It sounded like a feminine voice to me, but I couldn't place exactly who. Thoughts on each quote individually: Miriam's quote is pretty standard "get back in the game" type stuff. Gabby could be experiencing nerves or a harrowing physical experience. I assume that Ally is talking about Hunter in some capacity-- we saw in Episode 1 that Hunter has joined Ally on her streams, so if they broke up or something, that would change the trajectory of Ally's career. It could also just be about winning $3 million, though. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that Fiore is talking to Alec, trying to reignite their alliance, although the jury's out on how well Alec will respond to that pitch. Lake could be talking about a physical environment here, but, honestly, I think that quote will relate to how the Cyan Team's social connections imploded after Lake's departure. Riya is being Riya. With this quote from Ashley, I'm more inclined to think that Gabby's nausea was caused by something physically difficult/threatening, to pair with Jake being in danger. Yul is being Yul. That's what I got so far.

Finally, Trevor and Derek are going to talk to each other again! I feel like they haven't actually had a conversation with each other since Episode 1. However, between Derek's smugness and Trevor's surprise, I'm worried that things won't go well for Trevor here. Specifically, I'm theorizing that, before Trevor can confess his feelings for Derek, Derek is going to tell Trevor about his crush on/"date" with Kristal, and Trevor will have to pretend to be supportive. Classic romance trope type stuff.

I missed these guys so much :,)

This entire trailer definitely supports the idea that the eliminated contestants and the surviving contestants will be participating in a challenge together, not just that the eliminated people will be fighting for themselves. Based on this screenshot (and other parts of the trailer), I think they divided themselves into pairs: Ellie and Gabby, James and Yul, Lake and Aiden, Tess and Ally, Connor and Riya, Fiore and Alec, Ashley and Jake, Miriam and Tom, and Hunter and... Grett??? Hunter and Grett being paired together makes the least amount of sense, but I think it's still viable. Let's say that the teams are decided via a schoolyard pick. If, for whatever reason, Grett gets to pick last, Hunter could be the only one left (after Ally picks Tess). I think that the surviving contestants getting to sponsor an eliminated contestant makes sense rather than the other way around because of James winding up with Yul instead of Aiden. And, of course, there's the potential for additional TomJake drama if Tom chooses Miriam before Jake can. We can't live without more TomJake drama. (/s)

THE TEAM EVER!!!! Please don't be smirking because you're about to intentionally screw Fiore over, Alec. She's literally eight (and your daughter).

We need Miriam back for one episode so that she can smack some sense into Jake and Tom. Specifically Tom, it seems.

Oh, hey, I was right about Hunter and Grett being paired together. I forgot this scene was in the trailer when I wrote that other part. Yeah, those pairs are definitely correct.

The girls are fightinggggggg. Forget Alec intentionally screwing over Fiore; I wonder if Riya will be attempting to do that to Connor so that she doesn't have to confront her relationship with him again. Probably not, though-- this is more likely that Riya is going to suggest, like, cheating or something, and Connor will tell her off for it.

So, these teams are going to come into contact at some point. Makes sense, given how close Alec and Riya are.

What the hell is going on in this challenge? We've got running, wrenches, motorcycles, and cliff diving. I've got nothing, honestly. Seems like a pretty physical challenge, though.

"There's no honor among thieves." "Are we stealing something?"

Sounds like Ellie is probably trying to convince Gabby to not continue working with the villains alliance. It makes sense: working with the villains was what led to her own corruption/downfall, she still harbors annoyance towards Alec, and probably doesn't appreciate how Grett treated her girlfriend back in S1. The question that I (and possibly Gabby) have to ask, though, is... what else would Gabby be meant to do at this point? I guess it partially depends on who's coming back.

Power Ranking...?

So, obviously the Power Ranking is going to be a little bit different this week, given that, as far as I'm aware, no one is actually being eliminated. Instead, someone will be coming back into the competition. Whatever happens this episode, I don't think I'm going to score any points for it. If it so happens that someone is eliminated as well, then, so be it.

However, I am going to rank how likely I think it is that each eliminated contestant will be returning to the show! It won't affect my score at all, but I think it'll be fun. I'm going to go backwards, from least likely to return to most likely to return, this time in order to keep up suspense. So, who do I think is least likely to return...?

#9: Ashley

Yeah, I just really don't see this one. Obviously, in a real life reality TV show, sometimes the person who was just eliminated is the one who manages to come back into the game. But, when you control the script of a complete fiction, is reversing the move you just made really the best decision? In this situation, at least. It'd be one thing if, like, Gabby was eliminated and then came back swearing revenge on everyone again, but I would have to imagine that Ashley would behave much of the same. That's not very compelling TV, imo.

Along those lines (but even more importantly), I wouldn't want Ashley to come back because it would likely undermine the emotional moment that she and Jake just shared due to her elimination. The appeal of Ashley's exit was that, now, as a repercussion of his actions, Jake will be truly alone. If Ashley immediately came back, that just wouldn't be true any more. And that would really suck! So, I think that, like she said, Ashley will have to save her farm on another season, and not this one.

#8: Miriam

Although Miriam has the appeal of being one of the earlier boots of the season, meaning that we didn't get to see much of her before she went, she shares the same problem as Ashley of giving Jake a decided ally back in the game. No matter how much farther Jake goes from here, I think a satisfying ending for him will be ultimately succumbing to or conquering his problems on his own, without guidance from Ashley or Miriam or whoever. I fear that Miriam would simply solve too many problems if she were to re-enter the game now.

Also, while it's not a death sentence, it really seems like Miriam wasn't always planned to be in this season. Silly Billy (a DC YouTuber and the voice of Trevor) said in this video that (paraphrased) "there was a point where the first boot of one of the seasons was considered to be included as an All Star, but the winner wasn't." Given that the first boot of S2, Oliver, was almost certainly never considered as a competitor for All Stars, it seems pretty likely Silly Billy was talking about Will, and therefore Miriam. Obviously, plans could have shifted to both put Miriam into the season as well as giving her a larger role in it. However, it likely implies that Miriam was chosen to be included as a minor character in All Stars, especially after the focus she received in S1. I'm just hoping that all that talk about her medical issues doesn't suddenly become relevant in this episode.

#7: Hunter

After receiving a bit more context about what exactly happened to Hunter between S2 and All Stars, I feel pretty confident in saying that they wouldn't want to bring him back. Like, if his and Tess' eliminations were meant to more or less bury that trio of characters, why would they suddenly choose to unearth the most problematic one at this critical juncture? It just seems strange.

Still, I put Hunter above Ashley and Miriam because I don't think his return would bring about any genuine narrative problems. Now that he and Ally have had some time apart, and Ally has developed some other enemies, it could be interesting to see them come back together. Would they grow closer again when faced with external pressures, or would they find that the rough situation only further exacerbates the problems they're having?

Hunter's skill in immunity challenges could also be relevant in preventing members of the villains alliance from gaining immunity at certain points in time. At the very least, it could be an in-universe explanation for why the returning player wouldn't be immediately eliminated again.

There's a lot that I wish the DC writers would do with Hunter, because I like him, but I understand why they might not. I don't think that being paired with Grett is a great sign for his return, either. Not that Grett is terrible or anything, just that it's a signifier of Hunter not having a ton of important relationships (or at least ones that they choose to directly focus on) in this season.

#6: Ellie

Honestly, I'm surprising myself with how low I'm putting Ellie here. The fact that she didn't do a patron reading isn't doing her as many favors as I'd initially assumed. She also still definitely has beef with Jake and Alec which haven't gotten a ton of particular focus this season, which could be expanded upon if she were to come back. Why not Ellie, then?

The thing is, I just feel like Ellie had such a nice sendoff that it'd be really sad to undo it. We came to the conclusion that Disventure Camp is bad for Ellie. In that case, why are we meant to root for her of all competitors to come back?

Having Ellie suddenly re-enter the game would also probably be weird for Gabby's character arc. Somewhat like Jake, I think that Gabby needs to be the one in charge of her own fate at this point. If Ellie came back, there could be an interesting conflict of where the girls would land as a duo (stick with the villains or flip and work with the heroes to get revenge). But, in either case, Ellie would probably become the main decision maker again. Gabby's personal vows to eliminate Tom and Aiden would go unfulfilled-- either the situation would likely read as Ellie seizing revenge for herself, or, with Ellie back in the game, the need for revenge would be diminished.

I'm glad that we have Ellie back for this episode because, much like Miriam with Tom/Jake, I think that this is a good time for Gabby to be able to check in with Ellie and have a trusted companion to confide in. However, I don't think that that moment needs to last much longer than this one episode. Gabby needs to continue to face her fear of being alone.

#5: Lake

I really don't know how to feel about Lake.

On one hand, I understand why they'd bring her back. Lake was eliminated pretty early into the season, so it would be nice to give her some more screen time. She's also really close with Aiden, and could therefore be a useful addition to any moves in which Aiden is looking for numbers (like in a Jake or Riya elimination). Also, she's a definite physical threat. That could give her an advantage in simply winning this challenge to get back in, to the extent that matters.

However... I don't know, the more I think about it, the more it just feels wrong to me. Lake finished her character arc in S2. Other than Aiden (and I guess kind of Gabby), she doesn't have much of any other relationships to further new plotlines with. What would she be doing in this season, really?

Yeah. I don't have much else to say, which I'm taking as a bad sign for Lake's odds. I'm excited to check in with her in this episode, though!

#4: Tess

As the outcry rang following episode 9, there's definitely still more potential to be had with Tess' character. The contestants pointed out that all Tess wanted to do on this season was reconnect with Ally and Hunter, which she didn't get to do. If she got to re-enter the game, she'd get that opportunity, which would be nice. With Ashley gone, Ally is also potentially in need of someone to align herself with (god knows it will not be Jake). Giving her Tess as a partner could be useful in that sense.

Another thing that I haven't discussed much until now is the impact of inserting another person into the current 5 villain/4 hero divide. If you add another hero, you go back to the 5-5 faceoff, whereas adding another villain could cause the villains to further steamroll. The reason why I hadn't brought it up until now is because I think it's a hard metric to determine. Giving the villains even more power seems unnecessary and unfair, but it could also be a good inciting incident for the villains turning on each other. Putting the tally back to 5-5 seems repetitive and therefore silly, but it could be giving the heroes a chance to right the record and eliminate a villain this time.

Tess would certainly be returning to the game as a hero, and a pretty loyal one. She'd be close to Ally, and has a past history of working with Aiden and Tom. Therefore, I think she could be a good addition in terms of unifying the heroes as a group. As a quick possible-but-unlikely Episode 12 pitch, let's say Tess is back, and, I don't know, Tom wins immunity. Alec, Riya, Yul, Grett, and Gabby are all going to vote for Aiden, and Tess, Ally, Aiden, and Tom are all going to vote for Yul. Jake then has to decide on whether he's going to be petty, side with the villains, and vote for Aiden, or take a stand with the heroes and join them in a Yul vote. Then Jake could be heroic and Aiden could take out Yul in a tiebreaker or something like that. As I said, unlikely, but possible. And, Tess could be a key player in bringing that about... even if it wouldn't have much to do with Tess as a character herself.

However, I don't think that Tess will come back, partially because of the whole huntessally debacle. But, more than that, it's Tess' contentment at her elimination that makes me think it wouldn't be her. She was so chill with being eliminated! I know that there are other characters with more of a passion to be back in the game than Tess, so, personally, if she was the one to return, I'd just be, like, "oh." That's probably not the reaction they want. Plus, even though she wasn't literally the last boot, she still got eliminated fairly recently. It could be more interesting to pull from someone who got eliminated a little earlier on.

#3: James

I'm fully willing to acknowledge that I might be biased here just because I miss James so goddamn much. HE DIDN'T GET TO DO THE PATRON READINGS, ALRIGHT?! IT'S A SIGN!!!!

I definitely think that there's some appeal to having the literal first boot be the one to return to the competition. Both in the sense that James has gotten to appear in the fewest amount of DCAS episodes thus far, but also just that it's satisfying to have the competitor that (placement-wise) you would least expect to return be the one who manages to do it. James got a pretty bad tribe draw landing on Magenta, so landing in the merge could be a better way to test his skills on this new season.

Pretty much any positives that Lake was bringing to the table, James could do better. On top of having a stronger relationship to Aiden, he also has connections to Yul and Riya that he could cash in on, as well as this season's animosity towards Jake. I also think it would be interesting to see Tom and James interact after everything that's happened with Tom and Aiden this season. Even if James was generally cool with Tom and Aiden kissing, there've gotta be some weird yet interesting vibes going on there, right? James is also a fan favorite that I think audiences would generally be happy to see come back. Especially if there are jaiden moments in tow. Please, let there be jaiden moments. Even if they're cringe as fuck (affectionate).

However... I don't really know what James would bring from a gameplay perspective. He, too, would be another number to the heroes alliance, and be down to work with Aiden and Ally, at least. But, James would draw an even bigger schism between Jake and the rest of the heroes, which would be... interesting. Would James be re-entering the game just to get voted out again almost immediately afterward? That doesn't seem worth it. There are also still those oddities about elimination order regarding Aiden and James that I described back in Round 7 that I still don't know the answer to. And the looming threat of James' voice actor being too busy to record too many lines for the show.

So, maybe the prospect of bringing James back into the show is too good to be true. I want him back, though. I miss my boy.

#2: Fiore

If my ranking of James was biased, my ranking of Fiore is probably even more so. It's really hard for me to tell how much this placement is an attempted manifestation as opposed to a genuine prediction. I think there are real reasons why it would make sense to have her back, though, so let me explain them.

As a big fan of Alec and Fiore's dynamic, I would be remiss to not mention how this season feels like it's lacking a true, proper conclusion to the conflict that began at the S1 semifinals. Letting them finally be at the same camp again would allow for them to definitively choose whether they're ending their DC experience on positive terms or negative ones. Additionally, Fiore has a lot of potential to develop further plotlines with other contestants! It would be nice to see more of her reactions to what's happened with Grett since S1, and reuniting with fellow Magenta teammates Jake and Ally could certainly bring some spice. Fiore also barely interacted with anyone from S2 other than Hunter and Ally, so seeing further animosity between her and Yul, for example, could be really fun.

Speaking of Yul, Fiore would also be a good choice of returnee from the villains department. I've described how Tess or Lake could make narrative sense as a heroic addition, but I think Fiore would be a perfect choice for the option where they decide to establish 6 villains instead. Namely, this is because Fiore has the potential to possibly break up the villains in a number of ways.

Scenario #1, Alec, securely having Fiore and Riya on his side, feels confident enough to slim down the villains alliance to get rid of some of the extra weight. The ramifications of sending home, say, Yul, could give the heroes an opening to exploit further weaknesses. Scenario #2, Fiore and Riya start fighting over who Alec's number one ally is, causing a schism in the alliance. They refuse to work together, so Alec has to choose whether he wants to return to Fiore or stick with Riya. Scenario #3, Fiore nominally joins the villains alliance, but hates being on the bottom. Thus, she double crosses them to work with the heroes, giving them a secret additional number to work with (maybe alongside Gabby or Alec to flip it to 4 villains/6 "heroes").

In terms of negatives, Fiore has already had a lot of time in the spotlight, so you could argue that other characters deserve that boost in screen time more. However, I would say that the biggest problem with Fiore coming back would be the indirect effect it would have on Ashley. It's a lot easier to feel good about Ashley's elimination when we know that, even if she didn't win, she got to accomplish her goal of getting revenge on Fiore. If Fiore returned to the competition literally immediately after Ashley left, it would make that victory feel a little hollow. If I were an Ashley stan, that would probably upset me. So, in that sense, I'm sort of rooting against Fiore here.

However, I am a Fiore stan, so in that sense, I absolutely want her to return. C'mon! She can weasel her way out of elimination again!!!

#1: Connor

When compiling this list, I kinda divided the contestants into three tiers of three. Ashley, Miriam, and Hunter were my "unlikely" tier; Ellie, Lake, and Tess were my "possible" tier; and James, Fiore, and Connor were my "likely" tier. There was really only one issue with those tiers for me. It was that, if I could, I would put Connor in his own tier for (in my opinion) being way more likely than anybody else.

Let's run through all of the reasons why it would totally make sense for Connor to be the one that comes back into the game. Number one: he was an early boot in All Stars and S2. I wouldn't be surprised if, out of all the DCAS contestants, he has the least amount of overall screen time thus far. Therefore, Connor would merit returning far more than, say, Fiore or James, who were both finalists on their original seasons.

Number two: Connor's elimination feels somewhat unresolved. While he isn't the only one this is true for, it is still the case. Tess accepted her elimination with contentment. Ellie learned to care more about her priceless girlfriend than the three million dollar prize. Fiore might've been mad, but, hey, at least she was a villain! She deserved what was coming to her. Connor was just... sad. He got betrayed by both the person he cared for most from S2 and the new friend he made this season. Giving him a second chance could be a good opportunity for him to turn his story around and achieve some kind of happy ending (even if I doubt it would be winning).

Number three: Connor creates possibly the most interesting camp dynamic out of any contestant that could come back. 'Cause, like, he's a hero, right? He's a nice and friendly guy, and he wants to play the game with integrity. But, also, his closest allies are both parts of the villains alliance. Hell, literally his entire former tribe is in the villains alliance, so if he wants to go back to them, he'd have to join their ranks. ...Does he want to go back to them? They voted him out!

I think that Connor is the closest we can get to a neutral party being injected into the show, which makes him unique and therefore exciting. He could also accomplish a similar thing to what I described in Scenario #1 with Fiore.

Number four: Connor is a fan favorite, in his own weird way. People seem to really like him, even if I don't totally get it. (I didn't love Connor in S2; I thought the "adultescent" thing was kinda overdone and the dynamic of "rich old white guy hits on/saves struggling young POC woman" was a little icky, but I harbor no ill will towards Connor fans. All Stars made me like him a lot more, anyways.) I've seen multiple people cite the moment that Connor was sent home as the moment DCAS "started to go downhill." I'm sure many people would be thrilled to see him come back, and maybe even regain some faith in the show's writing.

Connor coming back has character reasoning, strategic intrigue, and fan support, which is why I think it would by far make the most sense for him to be the one that's coming back at this point. Although, that's not to say that there's no evidence that he isn't. He did already do the patron reads, obviously. If he's paired with Riya for this challenge, I'm not sure what about their teamwork would propel them to the top-- if anything, I feel like working with Riya would decrease Connor's chances of winning the challenge. I do also think there are ways to give Connor a satisfying ending without having him re-enter the competition. One scenario I've been mulling over is if he could be the teammate that helps Alec to win in the finale, getting redemption for how he and Riya flamed out in S2. Things to think about, I guess.

So, those are my predictions! Lower stakes this time because we won't be scoring any points, but also higher stakes because the person that returns can really set the tone for how the latter half of the season will pan out. I can't believe All Stars is already halfway over... or, at least, it will be on Thursday. See you then!