To explain how I saw where the characters of China fit into their roles, I reported the impressions left by the editing of the first three episodes. Generally, a player that doesn't have a story after three episodes is considered a tourist, the Survivor equivalent of actors with occasional roles on a TV series. The numbers before each paragraph refer to what I had seen in each of those first three episodes. I apologize for being so verbose. The text in italics is used only for reference and can be skipped if you only want to see what I saw as the role of each player.
Episode #1- Chicken was a player that never fit in.
The intent was to categorize Chicken as a "Dumb Player".
Ep.1- Ashley's misery was reinforced by the camera angles. It could be to
humble her but it rather looked like the intent was to make us feel for her. She's an outsider and that's never good.
Ep.2- Ashley showed her determination to make things work in ZH despite Dave's antics. The discussion that led to her vote didn't reveal any strategic considerations, it only focused on the frictions caused by Dave and Ashley.
Even if Ashley wasn't shown as a very smart player, going up against a negative player made her story one of a
"Victim".
Ep.1- Leslie being shown as set in her ways indicates that she could have a confrontation
with members of Fei Long. Right now, I don't see her coming on top of any confrontation.
Ep.2- Leslie didn't see the possible downfall of her plan to tell Todd about the idol. She didn't consider how Todd could turn it around against her. She didn't tell us that she was keeping an eye on Todd. Hearing Todd's ideas made us see her as very gullible. She entered an alliance without knowing Todd's intentions.
Ep.3- Leslie continued to show signs that she didn't understand this game when she told her tribe she had made strong connections with the other tribe. Since she was considered a merge threat, her elimination was seen as strategic.
Leslie could've been portrayed as a victim by tweaking the edit just a little. All that was needed was removing one sentence here and there and
letting us hear people calling her "mom" more often. Instead, she was edited as being a "Dumb Player" who talked too much,
giving away valuable information to the other tribe, telling her own tribe about it and about her friendships. The edit made it appear as if she HAD to be
voted off. That manipulation was a big indication that the winner was in Fei Long and part of the alliance that decided her fate.
1- Dave's last words at TC and his vote against Ashley makes me wonder if he hasn't
already made a fatal mistake. Ashley would've been one of Dave's followers. Now, can they work together? What is a leader without
followers?
2- Dave is used as a weird character, a bossy know-it-all. He's not shown as a long term player.
3- Dave is far from playing with a full deck of cards. In a positive episode for ZH, we still saw his inabilities to fit in. He should be leaving soon. Even Frosti knew that Dave should've been happy to be there still.
Where to start with Dave? Was he the "Villain", the "Dumb Player" or the "Comic Relief"? If someone has a term
that covers all three, I'll welcome the help. Since one of his first scenes in camp was making a goofy face, I'll say he was mainly "Comic
Relief". We were meant to laugh at Dave and, outside of voting Ashley out, he had no real power.
1- Aaron became the leader of what appears to be a very united tribe, despite JR's
antics. Fei Long appears like a power-house and that suits Aaron's game nicely.
2- Aaron joined the alliance with Todd and Amanda but he wasn't aware of all the discussions. It made him look as the one who didn't know the intentions of his tribe mates. For now, he is still the leader of a tribe that Jeff described as working well together. It reflects well for its leader and his prospects.
3- Aaron is clearly in a position of leadership. He made it work by getting the vote to go as he wished. However, we saw once more that he is lacking some of the virtues of a good leader when he argued with James. His role has also been revealed by Leslie to Zhan Hu, making it tough for him to use deceit. His road will be hard but he could be going a long way.
Aaron's story arc started early to make us take notice of his presence. We saw his shortcomings but we could also see that he was a player. He
could have been villainized for his treatment of Leslie but we saw that he had reasons to mistrust her. The way he was eliminated from the game made his story
that of a "Victim". Again, he could have been seen as deserving his fate by his hesitations while talking with ZH in the lake and
when he told us about needing to vote out James. That would have worked if we had heard he wanted to fool ZH until the merge and if we hadn't seen his
efforts during the challenge, the camera showing him trying to catch his breath while the women of ZH were laughing instead of solving the puzzle. More
laughter back in camp from them showed us what was the editor's intent.
1- Sherea wasn't really part of the story in the opening episode but she wasn't
even hidden enough to say she may have a growing arc. We saw her weakness, we heard her complaints. That isn't promising at all.
2- Sherea decided to speak up at TC. Would it have been better for Zhan Hu if she had expressed her opinions earlier? Staying away from conflicts had kept her off the radar. We weren't given any indication on her plans now that she started to participate.
3- Sherea is safe in Zhan Hu but all her aggressiveness won't be forgotten when she'll need votes from Fei Long members, either after the merge or after a switch. The women of Fei Long will be waiting for her.
Sherea was lazy and we were constantly reminded of it. The "Lazy Player" became her story despite any justification of
saving energy for challenges. It also overode any considerations that Sherea could be seen as a victim the same way Aaron was. Note that Todd and Amanda were
heard considering voting out JR but realized they HAD to vote out Sherea. Any consideration of Sherea being a victim is also removed when you consider that her
laziness was already a reason for ZH to put her next on the block.
1- Jaime, for being on a team that went to TC, was never more than a spectator
instead of a true participant. She had no story in this opening episode.
2- Jaime was a spy that gave information to a member of Fei Long but we never saw her giving a report to Zhan Hu. Picking Leslie could be considered a smart move to upset Fei Long's pecking order but will Leslie ever be in a position to reward her spy? A deal with one of Fei Long's power player may have been more fruitful down the line. Instead, we saw Jaime often sleeping with Jean-Robert rather than talking to others and making plans for later. On the positive side, we saw that Jaime figured prominently in her tribe's strategy. With Erik and Sherea, they are the trio making the decisions.
3- Jaime is the ZH member that has the most connections with the themes of the 'Art of War'. She knew what she was doing when she made an alliance with Leslie and she acted as a leader when it was time to decide that Ashley had to go. The fact that her plan of keeping Fei Long weak failed and that Todd has his eyes on her indicate that her story should fall short.
Jaime's story was very interesting. For an episode #1 spectator, she quickly learned how to make a splash! When Jaime entered the world of
Survivor, she was very likeable but she "dared" to be upfront about her flirtations and her deviousness and that's not the role Survivor likes to
see from its women. I've already elaborated in the first post how she was portrayed as a "Villainess".
1- Jean-Robert is the expendable big guy that Fei Long could get rid of if
they get a numerical advantage. He talked to the "Smart Guy" of his tribe but, unlike Earl, he didn't see the value of Todd.
2- JR doesn't look like a true survivor. He's a bluffer who got called by Aaron and he didn't have the cards.
3- Jean-Robert is quite a character. An eloquent, even if vulgar, bully. The "chocking walrus" seems destined to crash and burn. It should be fun to see!
Never being in a position of power meant that Jean-Robert was never quite the villain. Jean-Robert was portrayed as the obnoxious
"Comic Relief". The "numbskull" with such a weird plan, everyone knew it would fail.
1- Frosti's story was mainly about proving himself in challenges. It
can't be good that his team lost after his blunder.
2- Frosti's calm demeanor and strength will be needed in this disorganized tribe. Sherea included him in the persons she didn't know. That tells us something about his inability to create bonds.
3- Frosti is still a player without much of a story and even less of a game plan. He has no connection to any of the themes of the season. Add all that up and you get a clear sign that Frosti isn't an end-game player.
In seasons past, Frosti could easily have been treated like a Tourist. Part of this season's appeal was that we had so few of those
"extras". From an inauspicious beginning, Frosti's story evolved into one of "Proving Himself". He did succeed in
showing to everyone that someone so young and small could compete especially when he showed more maturity than Dave.
1- James has valuable skills to stay for a while but his story seems more of
someone growing as a person by improving his social skills and getting the love he hopes for. As far as his worries of fitting in, nothing beats winning
challenges!
2- James has contributed a lot to Fei Long's wins but we only hear praise for his work ethic, not his efforts in challenges. It can suggest that James won't dominate when it counts, when the challenges become individual. Making the merge seems a certainty but, after that, James could be in trouble.
3- James turned quickly from a shy, likeable man who said he simply wanted to be loved into a very crude, unlikeable man. A sudden turn in character is not a good sign for a player's chances.
Although his story wasn't yet defined by episode #3, we knew two things of James: He'd be one to watch but he wasn't a winner. He
was called "Superman" in the first episode for his work in camp, he dominated certain challenges, never moreso than in the episode #3 reward, but
that was a FL loss. His episode #3 rant against people who pray made me wonder at the time if he were to become a villain but that had no repercussions to his
overall story. James was the "Hero" of China. As many heros before him, he made a fatal error and met a "tragic" end,
okay, more funny than tragic!
1- Erik should be named
Nick.
2- Erik is sitting nicely with his allies, Jaime and Sherea. We saw that he was in a position to decide the way the votes went.
3- Erik has no story. He may have shown some involvement in his tribe's decisions but he looks like a flunky, one who will be sacrificed when the game gets individual.
Erik never had a story. A "Tourist".
1- Peih Gee had a good introduction but then started to boss around the lazy
tribe that liked to have fun. We went quickly from a positive story line to a negative one and that's not good.
2- Peih Gee was smart to go easy on the leadership position but she wasn't part of the booting discussions. She could slip through the cracks and go far but she hasn't shown any gameplan. We don't get any sense that Peih Gee's doing more than simply getting by for now.
3- Peih Gee's story is evolving. For the first time, she wasn't only talking about Dave and his idiosyncrasies but was narrating the events in Zhan Hu. She even talked about her desire to have a strong but happy tribe. That role gives Peih Gee a place to the merge which wasn't evident after her bossy start. We haven't heard her talk about her own plans so that suggests she'll go down when her tribe goes down, and be one of the last ZH standing.
Typical of most players on a Journey, Peih Gee was quickly noticed. Since she let Dave lead for the first few episodes, we didn't need to
see the naming of the 2 leaders at the first TC. Her leadership could've evolved naturally after Dave had proven he wasn't a true leader. Knowing
Burnett's appeal for Non-Cooperative Game Theory, it was a bad sign that the scene was shown, even worse that it was seen in the episode #2 recap. It was
as if we were to see right there that Peih Gee was a fighter but that she would never find the winning gameplan. Even after the merge, she remained focused on
pulling someone over to keep ZH alive rather than infiltrate FL. She was seen as the one responsible for throwing a challenge so it could have made her a
villain but that role was mostly bestowed to her "partner in crime", Jaime. It enabled PG to have a story of "Proving
Herself", showing everyone that she had perseverance and was a fighter.
1- Denise didn't have a lot of airtime. Her long term
status remains in doubt.
2- Denise is not presented as a player or even a full member of Fei Long. It already looks like the pattern will be that we only see her giving touching confessionals.
3- Denise was rewarded for her strong showing during the challenge defeat by a hug from Aaron as she climbed back on the boat. We had some shots of Denise reacting to events in camp but nothing to point to the start of a story for the lunch lady.
For all the character development we had of Denise in the later part of the game, her showing in the first three episodes was that of a
"Tourist" to China. Appropriately, most of her development was tied in with her tour of China rather than about the
game.
1- Amanda was the first spokesperson of Fei Long. It gave her a small but
positive introduction to the viewers. We certainly saw a lot of her smiles and saw her in the temple.
2- Amanda had key scenes in this episode. Making a vital alliance is good for her gameplan. The reward challenge showed her competitive drive and endeared her to us with the "My Mom's Gonna Kill Me" title quote. More importantly, Jeff told us she has a "free ride" to score a point and Jeff's comments often have foreshadowing meanings. The alliance may not have that open shot to the end but Amanda is in a good spot to choose her side. She has been portrayed as someone who came to play and who has a plan.
3- Amanda listened to both Todd and Aaron during their discussion of the boot options. She didn't have a big episode but she was part of all the scenes in Fei Long even the apparently meaningless one where they caught a crab. One could even consider it a good sign that we didn't see much of her in an episode that was so negative for her tribe. For one thing, she didn't get any of the stain for booting Leslie. A bad sign is that her story seems more an extension of Todd's. Isn't everyone's story an extension of Todd's?
Amanda seemed to have a story of being the clinical player that makes calculated moves behind the scene and always keeps a cool head. She kept
making the right voting decisions while Todd was "All over the place". She was very well used by the editors as misdirection, appearing as a likely
winner too many viewers up to the last episode. The themes didn't apply as solidly to Amanda as Todd but she had connections to them. Her last episode
showed that she wasn't keeping her emotions in check afterall, especially when she struggled over the decision to choose a reward partner and when she
talked with Denise. She wasn't the clinical winner, so what story does that leave her? I think we have to look at her first two episodes and her jury
words. She liked her tribe for their strength, she did everything to win the first reward challenge even if her mom would've killed her for it and she
chose her final 4 alliance to be up against people she could beat in challenges. Amanda was also on a "Journey to Prove Herself", to
prove she could compete in this game. We heard her say that she thought she would never win an immunity challenge. After she had proven she could compete by
winning that first immunity, Amanda's story fell apart. She had reached her goal.
1- Courtney: Even after her negative showing in the temple scene, her
eye-rolls arriving at camp and her snarky comments, Courtney is not alone in her "personal hell": The first shot of Fei Long celebrating immunity was
the hug between her and Aaron, hinting at an alliance with the leader. She would make quite a narrator if she stays but even then, she's not likely to win.
I assume that the winner of Survivor: China will have embraced the Chinese culture.
2- Courtney, for all her negativity, seems to be well accepted by her tribe. Her chances increase with every immunity challenge that Fei Long wins. Leslie may be seen as weaker than her, as Jaime suggested, and JR as more obnoxious. Who would think of booting her after the merge? Our snarky narrator looks like someone who will go far.
3- Courtney has enemies in Fei Long. At Tribal council, when Leslie left, her sad face showed that she is even out of the loop. However, "Baby Doll" also has friends, Unfortunately, it could be one of her friends that she has to worry about, editing wise. Her story of being in conflict with the two giants was stolen by the other "Munchkin", Todd. Courtney's defense was attributed to Todd who will "take care of taking out the trash." Hearing Todd saying that "she won't win things" gives us pause however. Her negative showing in episode #1 makes her tough to salvage as a character. One has to consider Jeff's final words "this tribe needs to do a better job in utilizing each player's unique strengths". It's a new theme to the season and it applies perfectly to Courtney…and to Todd!
I may get some flak from Courtney's fans but she was edited as the "Final 3 Foil", the
"Goat" if you will. Her fans have valid arguments, the strongest being that she received more votes than Amanda. Also, she could be
seen as someone who wanted to prove herself. However, I will object that she wasn't edited that way. Again, as Jean-Robert said at a TC soon after the
merge, everyone would've taken Courtney to the finals. Her story wasn't about proving she could play the game as she said in her jury speech, it was
that she surprised herself. She had an interesting story but it still was one of being the perfect opponent to face in the end, the long term player who
couldn't win.
1- Todd had a very nice introduction episode starting with the temple scene.
If he continues to be Fei Long's narrator, his road to the merge should go smoothly. I expect Todd to make it far.
2- Todd was seen in the recap repeating his "I'm smart" confessional and, later, told us that Leslie leaving would be "fantastic". It shows his arrogance. The plan to use Aaron as a shield is good strategy but very cold-blooded. Speaking so callously about his alliance partners puts Todd very close to the edge. Will he be seen as the master strategist or the villain? Either way, we will see Todd for a long time…especially since he already has memorized the "Art of War"!
3- Todd's story seems interwoven into everybody else's. Aaron and Amanda look like his side-kicks. Jean-Robert and James are his rivals. Courtney HAD to give a confessional about James and JR's crude exchange. Not hearing her comments means that her story against the big guys was seen through Todd's confessional, that it's part of his bigger story. Even Jaime's story was an extension of his. Three times the camera showed Todd menacingly gazing at her after ZH kidnapped Leslie as part of their reward. He knew an exchange of vital informations was about to happen. That put Jaime on Todd's hit-list.
Most of the themes of the season apply to Todd:
- He was careful in choosing his alliance with Amanda and Aaron.
- He has unique skills that need to be used, which JR neglected.
- He told us that Fei Long worked well on making camp which PG said was a matter of life and death.
- He has shown subtlety in planning and attacking.
Todd was edited as the story of Survivor China very early on. He was on a journey to win the game from the start and, in a season where
"Strategy" was a main theme, we saw exactly how he maneuvered the ship. He started by playing a clinical, calculating game but his manic moments
showed he was too emotionally charged to successfully play that way. The twist gave us the occasion to see his true role. Todd won Survivor by being the
"Head of the Family", like a gifted son that can support the family, Todd's plans guided Fei Long's alliance. Certainly, he
shared some of the responsibilities with Amanda but, as Jean-Robert said, we knew who was the "Mastermind".
BTW: I've also edited Sally's role after another look. Sally, being the narrator outside the alliance of LaMina, trying hard to break
into that alliance only to be trapped inside of it after the merge showed she was a victim to Terry's "Boys' Club".
