The Best Thing on TV This Year Was: ‘Survivor: David vs. Goliath’
December 21, 2018There is a reason Survivor has run for 37 seasons, entering phrases like “voted off the island” into the cultural vernacular. People love to see other people suffer. We love to be reminded that stripping away our basic needs makes us cranky, stupid, and paranoid. And we love to typecast people into their most base attributes—strong, agile, smart, empathic, manipulative—traits that ultimately come down to physical, intellectual, or social strength.
Here’s how it works: Contestants are dropped off in the wild to survive as a member of a "tribe." Once there they compete in challenges to win food or shelter items, or "immunity" from elimination, surviving round after round of backstabbing and often controversial votes until one is crowned the winner and walks off with $1 million.
After 18 years, CBS has found ways to refresh the format, with themes like "Millennials vs Gen X" (a millennial won) and "Blood vs. Water" where castaways came onto the show with a loved one. These wrinkles pushed contestants to depraved depths of money mongering, as they betrayed alliance members in their quest to outwit, outplay, and outlast—one contestant even voted out her own mom.
Like some miracle, the play goes off smashingly. The Davids steal a vote from the Goliaths, and then use their Idol Nullifier to successfully block the Goliath who had played an idol. They send a Goliath home. Hubicki gets to keep his own idol, which he uses to save himself after voting off one of the Davids who had just saved him. The backstab eventually sends him home too. It’s a rollicking clusterfuck to watch, one that only gets more and more convoluted as the season develops. If you’re a potential Survivor fan looking for a season to start with, this is the one to pick.
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