Sunday 23 September 2012

Philippines episode 1

A quick note: I'm experimenting with the format of these entries.  When I wrote for Reality News Online, my reams of text were considerately broken up into pages for me by the editors.  Now that I'm doing this in blog form, I'm trying to figure out the best way of making my lengthy entries accessible for the online reader.  This week, I'm breaking it up into separate entries by tribe, but this is unlikely to last for the entire season (if nothing else, it won't work post-merge).  

Feedback on this would definitely be welcome!


Three tribes and ninety minutes added up to a great foundation for this season.  Although only Matsing went to Tribal Council, there's already a definite hierarchy forming on Tandang while conflict is brewing at Kalabaw.  Half the cast have hit the ground running when it comes to their gameplay, and even the immunity challenge was crossing over into strategy territory.

Follow the links below for my breakdown of each tribe.  Usually, most of my information for these analyses come from the web clips on the CBS site.  However, as with previous seasons, this week's webclips are mostly pre-game confessionals.  They contain some indication as to how the player wants to play, but they are also heavily focused on their backgrounds (and, this year, how they feel about the risk of medical evacuation).  Fortunately, members of the press were around for the taping of the first episode and both EW's Dalton Ross and Xfinity's Gordon Holmes provided a few behinds the scenes tidbits in their respective recaps.

Matsing

Kalabaw

Tandang

As I said after the episode aired, I'm pleased with how things went down.  The one thing I do wonder is if the show's efforts to stop the predictable post-merge game will create a predictable pre-merge game.  We already have a four person alliance on Tandang, along with a potential one on Matsing.  Kalabaw's still an unknown quantity, but with the other tribes, it already seems clear who is safe and who is disposable.  Thanks to the small size of the tribes, there's little room for a rival alliance to shake up the majority.  I suppose we'll see how it pans out; if there's a reshuffle after another episode or two, the current pecking order won't matter.

2 comments:

  1. I like this format. You can condense as the game does.

    Thanks for blogging. Your analysis is always a great read.

    JR

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the feedback! I'll probably stick with this format for a bit--maybe after the merge, I'll break it up into alliances, or stuff about the vote, stuff about the idol, etc.

      I'm very appreciative of how many people have followed me over from RNO. I was in two minds about whether or not to go independent, but I'm glad I have done.

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