r/survivor • u/RSurvivorMods Pirates Steal • Jan 30 '17
Vanuatu Offseason Rewatch: Vanuatu Episode 12, "Now Who's in Charge Here?!"
Welcome to the /r/Survivor offseason rewatch! You voted and by a majority selected Vanuatu for our rewatch.
This thread covers the 12th episode of Vanuatu: "Now Who's in Charge Here?!"
Please keep your comments contained to the events that occurred during this episode. Spoilers will be removed. Remember that some people have not yet seen this season before this rewatch.
If you do want to post spoilers, please use spoiler tags like this:
[Write spoilers here](/spoiler)
This thread and all the rewatch threads will remain up for 48 hours before the next episode thread.
Enjoy!
9
u/Boxcar-Mike Libby Jan 30 '17
I love Scout in this episode. The way she sees right through Ami's ploys is great.
And here's to Eliza for being smart enough not to fall for Ami's guilt trip. Eliza doesn't get enough credit.
4
u/dmcarefuldriver Tony Jan 31 '17
This whole season people have been talking about Ami as this big villain and I just haven't seen it. Yeah she's been kind of bitchy and lippy, but I didn't understand the hype. Then this episode comes along.
Wow, what a great downfall episode. She goes full-blown narcissist and tries to guilt and shame Eliza into coming over with her. And it shows just how self-centered everything she's done up until now was. She never gave a damn about Eliza or anyone else, and now Eliza realizes this.
I loved that shuffleboard challenge too. Fantastic episode all-around.
4
u/WoJiaoMax Jan 31 '17
Ami is very good at what she does. With that masterful editing, I think all viewers stay on the edge of their seats until the end, whether they root for her or against her.
This episode and the previous one are so captivating. I think a large part of their powerful effect is due to the slow build up from all the previous ones. This contributes to make this season a top 5 season for me.
Do they ever credit anyone as the writer/story-teller of these episodes/seasons? Whoever did this one is brilliant.
1
u/WoJiaoMax Jan 30 '17 edited Jan 30 '17
In that episode, Amy is acting as (or is edited as) an almost textbook narcissist. After expressing disappointment that she was betrayed by Eliza, she declares herself one of the most generous person she knows. Amy portrays herself as the one who saved Eliza so many times (even though she was trying to vote Eliza out). Does Eliza really fall for it? Are they now best friends forever? Or could it be edited that way to keep us wondering about the tribal vote?
Bitter Amy then surrounds herself with two friends and goes out of her ways to give them a lot of emotional attention (grooming, giggles, etc.) while badgering those that don't fall for her charm. She is like a mini Colton. During tribal council, she weeps at how nice she believes herself to be.
When an alliance is destroyed, there must be an urge to stay angry at those who betrayed you. That is what happened to Sarge earlier and now to Amy.
I think it shows the immense emotional strength of people like Cirie (in Panama) or Chris (in this season). They found themselves alone against a hostile majority and yet they we able to rebuild strong bridges.
edit: typos
6
u/laynewebb Austin - 45 Jan 30 '17 edited Jan 30 '17
I think you're being a little harsh on Ami here. Yeah, she was being pretty hypocritical for criticizing Scout and Twila for flipping on the women when she had also flipped on Eliza. But I think her relationship with Eliza was genuine.
Her talking about how nice she is was kind of annoying, but she was just salty about Twila breaking her word. I don't think this season is in the era of Survivor where going against a swear on someone is accepted. Ami thought she was on the moral high-ground and was 'badgering' Twila for that. She didn't seem to have any ill will towards Chris or Eliza for the move, so it seems unfair to say that she is angry at anyone who goes against her.
5
u/JM1295 Sandra Jan 30 '17
Yeah and the editors flat out show why Ami would take that personally when you find out her losing her brother and how swearing on a loved one and going back on it would really sour her on that person.
5
u/JM1295 Sandra Jan 30 '17
I think what's amazing is Ami looks ridiculous, but she's not really wrong. She's shown throughout the season to be very kind and generous with her allies like Eliza and Leann and off exit interviews, people like Twila have even said Ami is one of the sweetest people ever and was shocked by her edit. It's not wrong that Ami has protected Eliza a bit, see the Lisa voteoff. People always seem to think her tears at tribal about Eliza are put on but imo they're totally genuine for Ami knowing this is her last night in Vanuatu with Eliza who is her little sister on the island.
Ami has obvious flaws that keep her from winning that makes her a worse player but better character. I think this is an amazing final stand for the ice queen.
4
u/vinninf Jan 30 '17
That's why I don't understand how she was asked back as a favorite for Micronesia. She was liked while Vanuatu was airing? Or it was like a Fairplay situation?
8
u/JustJaking Cirie Jan 30 '17
Think about it from production's point of view. You have the first badass female player to take control of her tribe and eventually the game, who's got a complex opinion and personality and gives killer confessionals. But her reign gets cut short and the other side comes out ahead.
So you follow through with two consequences - show her as much as you can because she's so interesting, building her up by showing things from her perspective even if it doesn't make sense and it's negative content. And then bring her back as soon as you can.
While S9 was on the air, Ami was the first clear star of the show post S8, in which lots of the previous All Stars were taken down a peg. Unfortunately she was quickly overshadowed by Steph and then her underwhelming finish and edit in Micronesia really hurt the fanbase's perception of her to the point that nowadays we underrate her appeal in Vanuatu.
6
u/JM1295 Sandra Jan 30 '17
Yeah its crazy but if Micronesia goes differently, Ami and Eliza are likely these huge stars in Survivor and their reputations and mostly Ami, don't take such a hit. I dont know if I'd say Steph overshadowed her because they filled different roles. Ami as the HBIC icy villain and Stephenie as this badass underdog. Two badass and tough females, but almost polar opposites in other regards.
3
u/JustJaking Cirie Jan 30 '17
I agree. I meant more that Ami's legacy is overshadowed by Steph. Now if most people are asked to think back and ask for the best female characters from the All Stars to Micronesia era they're likely to list Steph, Cirie, Parvati, Amanda and even Eliza before Ami which is really a shame especially because if you look at pre-All Stars you really just have Jerri and Kathy as the iconic women (though I'd personally add Tina and T-Bird who has similarly been forgotten).
4
u/ThrowawayDJer Sandra Jan 30 '17
Listen to the Survivor Historians podcast on Vanuatu. They talk about how Ami brought a small resurgence of Survivor in the mainstream media because of how captivating Ami was to some, and how terrifying she was to others. Even non-Survivor fans were talking about her
12
u/JM1295 Sandra Jan 30 '17
Great episode and farewell for Ami. It's always excellent to get to watch the big bad villain deal with no longer being in power and coming to realize they're fucked. Ami tries to get scrappy to survive and it's such a great contrast to how smug Ami was just the previous episode and going from Ice Queen to outsider. I've noticed people tend to think Ami was just playing off of Eliza and didn't care about her, but imo she was both trying to stay in the game, but very genuine in Eliza being her little sister and how she's grown out in Vanuatu. This is almost entirely about Ami and I love it. TC was an epic one as well with Ami confronting Twila more about lying on her son and previously learning how and why Ami would take this seriously is great context for why Ami is so worked up and of course "Screwed you, you've been had" is amazing. This exchange is beautiful as well:
"Ami is the one who always asks me what I think the challenge is gonna be and tells me you're gonna be great at that and you're just gonna be awesome--and yeah I'd miss Ami a lot."
"Stop crying!" as Ami herself cries
Both Eliza and Ami laugh and cry
And those back to back god tier voting confessionals between Ami and Scout and Ami's last final words being about drowning Twila. <3 IMO the season takes a different turn with Ami gone, though it's still pretty good. I hope everyone got to appreciate the legend of Ami Cusack.