Survivor: Season 43 Episode 1 Review

gamerant.com:

The following contains spoilers for Episode 1 of Survivor Season 43.The long-awaited 43rd season of Survivor is finally underway, and it has come in with a bang. The first episode was packed to the brim with content, even with the 2-hour run time. The audience is introduced to this season's colorful cast of characters, as well as some new twists that are being introduced in Season 43, including some that are modifications of the twists and advantages that came into play in Seasons 41 and 42.

So far, it looks as though Season 43 will be following in the footsteps of its post-Season-40 predecessors, as the editing and play style feels very similar to those most recent seasons. However, 43 has the benefit of being made after Season 41 was released, so the producers were able to see how the audience reacted to certain new elements and tweak them as necessary to appease the people who reacted negatively to some of the newer seasons' twists.

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In the usual opening montage, the audience is introduced to a few of the new castaways who will be doing their best to outwit, outplay, and outlast the others on the island over the course of 26 days. The editing tactics that were used over the course of the whole episode actually did a really great job at endearing these new players to the people watching, showing off their emotional backstories without overloading the episode with them. Usually it's pretty difficult to remember anyone's names at this point in the season, but this episode had enough standout players with the focus put on them that it felt like fans have already known these players for weeks.

As usual, there were a few standout castaways from the episode that got enough focus and screen time