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I think it has the making of a good season. Clearly the main story arc is "The Russell Show" (at least while he lasts).

GALU: I'm not sure what to think about this tribe yet. We'll see more about them next week. My first thought is that neither tribe will dominate as Koror did in Palau.

BRETT: He's on the show to market his sportswear not to play survivor. He wants to uplift spirits on his tribe. With Brett and Russell both cheerleading, that might go a long way to help the try.

DAVE: I think Dave has real game potential. I'll be keeping my eye on him.

ERIK: Coach's eye candy for the season. He looks forward to being a snake. (clappy hands). Love people who go into this game knowing what it's all about.

JOHN: No one likes him. He's not long for the game. Why in the hell did he swim in his #%+!+? Strip down to your underwear and go for it. In any event, he doesn't seem to play a good "social game", let alone a "strategic game".

KELLY: Bo Derek on the island. First impression, I see her like Sarah-S4.

LAURA: Well, it's hard for me to root for anyone who considers being compared to Sarah Palin as something positive, the politics out in the real world doesn't matter. What matters is the politics in the game.

MONICA: We saw very little of her, but she does have a monologue on Survivor: Insider about how glad she is to be here. She' said she's willing to "flirt with men and women". Probst says she's devious, so I hope we see it.

RUSSELL S. As opposed to a dictatorial leader, he is a hopeful leader. According to Kelly on the Insider, he is a popular leader. However, I agree with Probst. I don't think he is diabolical enough to win. But he's a good person to have on your tribe for camp morale. I really enjoyed his Survivor: Insider monologue about "digging deep".

SHANNON (a.k.a. Shambo):
Everybody loves Shambo. She probably should have gone into the water with the rest of her tribe. You don't want the rest of the tribe to bond without you. She takes an early lead for America's favorite. A good monologue for her on the Insider. I hope this won't be a season like S11 where Danni's whole game was shown on the Insider.

YASMIN: Did better in reward challenge than I expected. Shouldn't she have removed her extensions before this game? Lots of personality, should be interesting to watch.

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FOA FOA: A tribe headed for dysfunctionville, with lots of help from Russell. While I love Russell's attitude that people are to be used and discarded like Kleenex in this game, his decision to weaken his tribe for physical challenges is questionable. We'll see how it works out.

ASHLEY: She's the youngest, but I like how she stood up for herself at tribal council. She may not be there for long as she's been labeled as "weak" even though it may be true. Pointing out she brings cardio strengths is a good move. Even if you are MamaKim, you need to prove what you bring to your tribe and/or your alliance. Here's what she said on the Insider about her strategy: "I've seen how people win this game. I'm going to use a lot of those different techniques and kind of make it my own game. Just make sure I don't backstab a lot, because I feel like at the end with the jury, if you backstab everyone, they're not gonna give you a million dollars."

BEN: Ben is an a-hole, but unlike Russell, he doesn't know he's one. He says in the preview that he's never been turned down by a woman. I'll leave it to you ladies to determine if that is true. At first glance I thought he was handsome, but as soon as he opened his mouth a butthole fell out. He will stay awhile for "strength" reasons.

BETSY: If anyone can outwit Russell, I think it is her. However, will she take the opportunity when she has the chance? She is one of my early favorites. In her favor, she doesn't trust people now, which may make life hard, but certainly helps in this game.

JAISON: Hey, the black guy can swim. Probst is rooting for him. Like most strong men, he will probably be targeted for booting just before the merge.

LIZ: I'm rooting for Liz, but without Russell doing a deal with her, she's likely already on the out. It's a good thing no one sees her intelligence as a threat as they did in S10 when they had puzzle phobia.

MICK: He's smart to try and be a mellow leader, but in the preview he stated that he wouldn't be surprised to be blindsided. And I think he probably will be. He was not in on the Marissa vote. Let's see how quick he realizes he's outside the loop.

MIKE: I don't think he is long in this game at all. He was right to try and focus weakness on the women, but does he really want to play THAT card? It's only a matter of time before that catches up with him. He doesn't exactly have the charm of Bob or Pascal either.

NATALIE: According to the preview, she plans an "upfront" game. God bless her. Cannon fodder. According to a monologue on the Insider, Ben has coined her as "Survivor Barbie". She acknowledges that having this as a first impression is not in her favor and that she has an uphill struggle.

RUSSELL H.: I love puppetmasters. Rich-S1 and Brian-S5 were great villains. However, you need to play smart. You still need to bring someone to the final 2 who is less likeable than you. I get weakening the tribe to control it, but I don't get doing that at the beginning. What's the point of sabotaging your tribe so that you merge 9 Galu to 1 FoaFoa? Racheting up the paranoia is fine. Causing your tribe to perform more weakly in challenges doesn't make a lot of sense. Is Russell going to far? Survivor is not a game played in the same moral universe. I think it is fine to swear of the lives of your loved ones with your fingers cross. Making up a fake dead dog story is fine. Invent a whole persona if you can get away with it. I do think invoking Katrina was vile and beyond anything I would do. That's just me. The audience thought Rupert was wonderful for stealing shoes in S7. So I don't have a problem with Russell burning socks and emptying water of the others. Jeff-S2 apparently cut loose the fish the others had caught as payback in case he didn't make it back to Barramundi. I just don't agree that weakinging your tribe physically pre-merge makes sense, but we'll see how it goes. It is possible to play too hard too early as Joel found out in Micronesia.

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MARISA: As Probst stated, she lacked the "killer" instinct. She probably shouldn't have taken her paranoia about Russell to him, but gone to the other women instead. Paranoia is a huge part of this game, not talked about much, but it wears on the players just like the elements. I cannot believe that she believed Russell when he said that honesty was the most important thing in the game. If anything, it's more like the ability to lie well. However, based on her service in El Salvador, I think she might be a really great person in the game of life. Life and Survivor are not the same thing. As Rob C. pointed out, the traits that make you a really good person in life can make you a really lousy Survivor player. The converse is true as well. From her Day After words: "Having my torch snuffed out and walking out of Tribal Council was very difficult for me because I thought I had been treated really poorly by the two main bad guys in our tribe. They were cruel to me, they played practical jokes on me, they were demeaning, they tried to make me look terrible. Cruelty is just not acceptable anywhere. The best I could do was hold my head up high because the more I struggled, the worse it looked. I just had to take it and move on. The most difficult part was not being voted off, but being treated so poorly."