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Hello everyone, this is my first post on Edgic. I have been voraciously reading Edgic for a couple of weeks now and finally feel prepared enough to participate. I'll start by quoting a comment I made on my personal blog last week after episode 8:

"I had high hopes for Charlie. He looked great on paper and appeared to embody a second (albeit slightly sweeter) coming of Todd from China. However, Charlie's story has been edited to encompass nothing except his relationship (worship?) of Marcus with a dash of mild commentary thrown in here and there for good measure. Marcus is gone, and that would appear to close the book on Charlie's story as well."

I feel like I can pat myself on the back for that one. Here are my initial impressions of the contestants in episode 9: (Note: I have a lot more I want to say about all of these contestants, but I realize that this post is already ludicrously long and will spare you all until a later date. Also, it's late and I'm rather bleary-eyed, so please forgive any grammar/spelling/clarity mistakes.)

Bob - OTTP:
Wow, they certainly decided to start pushing Bob the past couple of episodes. Apparently, the man can do no wrong. He performs brilliantly in the challenges, tells endearing quips, and crafts the greatest phony immunity idols the game has ever seen! This is not completely out of the blue though, as (unlike Susie) Bob was at least shown to exist prior to the most recent tribal shuffle. After all, don't forget all the comments about building things in Maine and "Boyscout Bob" from the earliest episodes. Why establish his character so early, have him completely vanish, and then POOF!, pull him out of your hat again as a superhero? Bob is standing on the precipice of a very large cliff and I expect a dramatic sink-or-swim moment from him sometime in the next couple episodes. Also, it might be worth noting that JP appears to really like Bob. The relevance being that maybe he stays in the game a short while longer? (Emphasis on short)

Corinne - CPM:
Initially, I wanted Corinne to win the game. I still love her, but it has become increasingly obvious that she is little more than a villainous distraction/antagonist for the actual winner. I was surprised, however, when they showed the scene between her and the children. Up until this point, Corinne has had edits with three basic purposes:

1. Scenes that show she is well versed in the strategic elements of Survivor (Ex: the scene where she brings Bob into the Onion Alliance).

2. Scenes that show she can be calm and rational to your face and a sarcastic bitch behind your back (Ex: attempting to pull Sugar into a new Onion Alliance).

3. Scenes that show her carrying her bitchiness to overdramatic/emotional extremes which threaten to derail her otherwise rational strategies (Ex: the "she's being a drama-queen music" played over the scene where she and Marcus read tree-mail in episode 7. Oh, and every comment she's made about Susie since episode 6).

This is the first time I can remember the editors attempting to make us empathize or relate with Corinne as an actual human being. The fact that they are attempting even a half-hearted effort to make her more multi-dimensional leads me to be hopeful for her future. I gave Corinne a mixed tone because the scenes where she defended Marcus and played with children counterbalanced ones where, for example, she derided Sugar's naïve ignorance of strategy. I hope people can stay objective about Corinne and don't give her a negative tone rating simply because they personally loathe her. I think that Corinne will make the final 4 with Randy, Kenny, and Crystal (I agree with the intriguing theory that the four confessionals which followed the intro sequence in episode 1 represent the final 4), but she will come in 4th place. Interestingly, this would divide the final 4 between 2 "good" players and 2 "evil" ones, appropriate for this season's promised showdown between light and dark. Also, it seems a lot of people are buying into Corinne and Randy's more extreme comments ("I want to stab her in the face" and "I'm the king of Gabon…") when it appears obvious to me (and I have a rather black sense of humor myself) that these are little more than attempts to play up to the camera, meant as sarcastic jokes. What they are saying is funny because it is so much more embellished and over-the-top than their actual feelings on a given situation.

Crystal - MORN:
Ugh - stupid, arrogant, self-righteous, and combative to an almost comical (if it weren't so pathetic) extreme. I don't like Crystal and, thankfully, I don't think the editors really want me to. I agree with what appears to be the general consensus among Edgic posters that Crystal will make the final 3, but she will not win the game. I won't redundantly list my reasons when so many other insightful posters have already covered them in tedious detail - suffice it to say, I agree. I gave her a negative tone because, once again, she threw a childish tantrum at TC and acted like a complete bitch, letting her incomprehensible emotions rule her. Really, Crystal's very toxic relationship with Randy was her only plotline this week.

Kenny - CPP:
I am 60% on team Kenny and 40% on team Randy at this point. Kenny has had a wonderful winner's edit from the beginning and it has only been corroborated with each additional episode we see. This episode, in fact, was perhaps the best example yet. Like Crystal, Kenny's good edits have been enumerated by enough posters already. I will say that the preview for next week looks like the beginnings of trouble for Kenny, but I still believe he's in it for the long haul. My only problem is that, despite playing the game like a complete rat, which I actually admire (he's making the most of what he has), Kenny has this misplaced attitude of self-righteousness which leads him to believe he and his allies are "good" while everyone else is a "bully". I find this extremely obnoxious.

Matty - MOR:
I have never bought into the popular line of thinking here on Edgic that the game is a toss-up contest between Kenny and Matty. I understand that Matty is given an inordinate amount of screen time and confessionals when compared to other contestants, performs well at the challenges, and appears to have been edited as the good-seed in Fang, but he never really says anything! It's like they gave a surfer some weed and asked him to casually narrate the season, a job he manages to meekly flounder through. At least people like Coby from Palau added some caustic zeal to the duty. Matty has been edited to be a likable guy who we root for to overcome the terrible situations he finds himself in, not a winner. He is the Peih-Gee (although that's giving him a lot more strategic credit than he deserves), not the Todd.

Randy - OTTN:

One day, when someone creates a list of the Survivors with the sharpest tongues, Randy's will be the name you see right at the top - he's simply that awesome (my apologies to Courtney). When it became clear that Corinne was probably not going to win the game, I refocused my winner's target onto Randy. Similar to Crystal and Kenny, I feel the rationale behind my pick has already been beaten to death. I have to acknowledge though, that this theory took a severe, if not fatal, blow in episode 9. Previously, I had operated under the assumption that Fang was edited, not as underdogs, but, as Randy would say, idiots. I thought Randy, who has had a very strong edit (if a bit negative, much in the crotchety vein of Rudy, but far more strategic) would be the Fang apostate who joined Kota and, in his own words, eventually became their "king", leading them to triumph over his former comrades. Then came episode 9. This is the first time I remember the recap siding with Fang and I noticed that both Randy and Charlie were made to look like bad guys. This idea was carried straight through the episode and I am genuinely worried about Randy's future. If, however, he survives episode 10, I feel good about his chances to make the final 4, even if it is unlikely (though possible) for someone with multiple OTTN's to win the game.

Sugar - MOR:
Sugar is growing on me. This episode she was the swingvote, which should have meant a CP in my book. However, it appeared that Sugar had no real development or complexity. All she did was tear up and cry as different players tried to manipulate her. They talked strategy to her, never with her and, in the end, she sided with the people the audience already expected her to be loyal to. Obviously her HII is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off, but, because she has been so well established in previous episodes and was relatively understated in this one, I think she is safe for a little while. I should mention though, that Bob's fake HII plotline seems to be a setup for HII's taking center stage soon and that could likely spell trouble for Sugar.

Susie - UTR:
Unlike Bob, Susie did not have nearly enough early development to justify a Denise/Natalie-type comeback, wherein a former nonentity suddenly emerges into a position of great significance. Yes, she did make a good strategic call in betraying Marcus, but beyond that, Susie appears every bit the idiotic wildcard that Corinne, Randy, and Marcus described her as. On the outs already and with no numbers to back herself up, she told one of her allies that she wanted to vote her out! Susie epitomizes "the firecracker character": a player who is virtually nonexistent until they explode one episode, only to slowly fizzle out to nothing over the subsequent two or three (Sherea from China is the first player that comes to mind, but she was more developed than Susie and didn't burst into the action quite so dramatically). I expect that Susie will be gone in, at most, two episodes. I would have given Susie an INV rating, but I felt her performance at the immunity challenge was so startling and demanded such notice that she earned herself a UTR.

Conclusion:

8. Susie

7. Bob

6. Sugar

5. Matty

4. Corinne

3. Crystal

2. Randy

1. Ken

I'd love to hear everyone's opinions on my ideas.

"We can't get a women's alliance together because Caryn sucks." -Katie Gallagher, Palau