Two big milestone seasons, loaded with big-name returning contestants. Apart from that, there's really no comparison between the two seasons. Heroes vs. Villains was peak Survivor, nearly flawless. In the Hands of the Fans had some great moments (from some of the same people), but on the whole felt like a muddled, stumbling, obstacle-strewn quagmire, albeit at least one that ended acceptably. Now that we've all seen both seasons, it's instructive to rewatch HvsV with modern eyes, and try to figure out *why* it worked so well, and what was missing from ItHotF.

As it turns out, that's really easy: Season 20 mixed huge characters and players from different seasons together in big tribes, and watched what happened. Season 50 did everything it could to keep them apart. It's an utterly ass-backwards approach for a social/strategic game, one that really makes you question the show's current leadership, but it's as plain as day in the HvsV premiere.

The whole point of bringing back everyone's favorite players in an all-star season is to see them work with or against each other. That's really hard to do when they're scattered across three tribes plus Exile and/or journeys. You would think that after 50 seasons, Survivor's production braintrust would have long since learned this. Perhaps they just need to go back themselves, and rewatch this season, too.

A dark start, in retrospect

Okay, I'll admit that some HvsV decisions weren't perfect, but they're mostly concentrated in the opening sequence, and most of the blame there lies squarely in the editing. Let's just say a series of poor choices were made. But it kicks off as the contestants are being flown in on military helicopters (an echo of the military boat escorts in S8: All-Stars, I guess?), and we get a bunch of confessionals during the flight, as expected. But they're almost all from the men. The order: Rupert, Hantz, JT, Jerri, James, Coach, Tom, Boston Rob, Colby ... then Sandra and Cirie. So of the first nine people to talk (not counting Probst), there's just one woman (Jerri).

But it gets worse! Right after that, in the opening mat chat after they land (but before the description of the RC starts), Probst takes the time to ask questions of the contestants, to remind audience casuals who they are, to talk about the theme, and to find out how they feel about coming back. You know, the usual sorts of things. But again, the spotlight here is almost exclusively on the men. And again, this is likely an editing choice - these mat chats usually go on much longer than is shown. But as shown, the imbalance is striking. Probst asks eight people questions (in order): Rupert, Tom, Colby, JT, Jerri, Parvati, James, and Rob (twice). That's six men, just two women. And in the women's case, it's less questions, and more stating his opinions of them, then giving them a second or two to respond. The men all get actual questions.

Perhaps most shocking is Probst's dripping disdain for Parvati. After asking if anyone feels they're on the wrong tribe, and several Villains raise their hands, Probst feels it's time to berate Parvati: "Let's be clear: While you did a great job and were rewarded with a million dollars, you led one of the most notorious tribes of women ever in the history of the game. You betrayed people left and right. You guys were responsible for many, many blindsides! Great player? Yes, that's why you're here. Hero? NO." He then asks James for confirmation, and gets it. (He later pays James back for this support by reminding him he was voted out holding two idols.)

Not only is this editorializing bizarrely inappropriate, it's not even accurate! The two people most responsible for the blindsides were Cirie and to a lesser extent Amanda (who was not in on the Ozzy blindside), and they're *both* on the Heroes! Never mind that the show celebrated every blindside at the time, and has done so in perpetuity. Despite all that, Parvati was mostly a passenger in S16: Micronesia, especially on the most celebrated move (getting Erik to give up his necklace), despite what Amanda claimed at Final Tribal (to Cirie, no less, who thought up and orchestrated it). And obviously, the Black Widows were an alliance, not a "tribe of women."

Who is this jackass, and how on earth did he go from this embarrassing display to running the entire show the very next season?

It's a really odd way to kick off a 10th-anniversary season. Look, Survivor fans! Here are our Heroes! Here are the people we hate! We especially hate the women, most of whom we can't be bothered to ask questions of or listen to!

Thankfully, this is one area where In the Hands of the Fans was vastly superior. In that opening, we got to hear from S1: Borneo original Jenna Lewis (and Colby again), and Cirie was given space to reflect on her long and illustrious career, and shed some tears. See, some things can get better! (I'm blaming the shitty filter/tone of the HvsV opening on Mark Burnett, who has repeatedly proven that he's an awful person.)

Character through camp life

Let's get back to the main topic, though: Heroes vs. Villains works so well because the focus is entirely, as the title suggests, on its players. If it's location, location, location in real estate, it's people, people, people in good Survivor seasons. A great cast can lift an otherwise middling season above where it would otherwise settle. But you have to let the players play the game with and against each other. The biggest fault of the new era is that every season more or less explicitly pits the players against the whims of production itself. They're battling rock draws instead of each other.

Nowhere is that contrast more visible than in comparing the non-RC/non-IC/non-Tribal parts of these two seasons' premieres. Season 50 followed the opening arrival/RC with ... "Fight for Supplies" and subsequent Exile for Ozzy and Q. That gave us four different locations (three themeless tribes now with seven people each, and the three, then two, players at the duel/Exile location) with subsets of the cast. HvsV, in contrast, sent both tribes of ten to their camps, as they should. They spend the first day or so building their camp, as they should. Importantly, this gives the audience an immediate contrast between the two tribes. The Heroes are full of "good guys" who have strong work ethics, they work together towards a common goal, they succeed. They caught four chickens with a net! (Pro tip: If you've recently ingested poison, you may want to watch this sequence, the smarminess level may help vomit that back up.) Over at Villains camp, Boston Rob, however, is frustrated that nobody at the Villains camp wants to work for more than 10 minutes at a time. Russell is out forming "final two" deals with Danielle, then Parvati. We also see Parvati getting bored with weaving palm fronds and taking a break. The nerve! The Heroes are good! The Villains are bad!

That all gets flipped on its head on Day Two, though. Somehow, the Villains all survived the night, and Boston Rob decides they need a fire, which he will do by rubbing sticks together. We get a hilarious confessional from Randy, who confidently states that doing such a thing is impossible, nobody can make fire by rubbing sticks together. Then Rob, with several Villains helping him, goes and disproves that, and the Villains have fire. Coach gushes about how Rob is "the man." All is well.

There's another beat to this story, though. We also get the Heroes - who braved multiple injuries the day before, especially Rupert's debilitating broken toe, to win flint - somehow not having made fire themselves yet. So Rupert, who as you have been told repeatedly is a good guy, gets to work making it. Cirie walks up, watches him, and giggles in confessional about how Rupert has shaved half of the magnesium off of the flint, and still doesn't have fire. But also, Cirie is well aware she can't let on what he's doing wrong, because of Rupert's massive ego.

Eventually, Rupert gives up, and wanders off into the forest, complaining about not having fire. JT and Tom wander over, start the fire with little effort, and the sun shines on them all again. (Poor Rupert, if only his broken toe hadn't prevented him from operating the flint properly.)

This is such a great sequence, highlighting the differences between the two tribes' general approaches to camp life, and the developing splits and allegiances between individual players on those tribes. All of this and not a journey or complicated new advantage that requires five minutes of on-screen reading of instructions! Weird how you can get so much good stuff by putting people together and just watching them react to each other, rather than splitting them apart.

(Also I will close by noting the Heroes could not have caught the chickens on modern-day Survivor, because no tribe is allowed any supplies like nets unless they EaRn TheM.)

Character through camp life, the sequel

That's not to say there was no camp life in the S50 premiere. We did get some fun-ish "new school vs. old school" contrasts on some of the tribes, especially on Vatu, where Old Man Colby came into contact with people like Angelina and Rizo. Rizo's constant chatter when he could/should be working irritated Colby, until big tall Rizo talked to him, with tears in his eyes, about how he'd looked up to Colby as a kid, and Colby realized he was the same age as Rizo is now when he first played in S2: The Australian Outback, and all was forgiven. Stephenie and Q also complained about Rizo, with no resolution, but maybe that's because, as we saw in the HvsV premiere, Stephenie spends most of her time complaining about other people ("why do the Villains have to be such jerks?").

That said, there was still one other outstanding camp life/character segment in the S20 premiere: The great Boston Rob (er, "Bob") bet. It started innocently enough: The Villains had fire and camp was fine on Day 2, but they didn't have anything to do with no challenge that day. So Boston Rob and Tyson are messing around and decide to climb a palm tree that's leaning out over the water. Their goal is to harvest coconuts. They quickly realize it's much higher up and more dangerous than it looks, and opt out. But Rob is aware that Coach is starstruck with him, and sees how far he can push that by talking Coach into trying it himself. As he does, Rob and Sandra are sitting on the beach watching, and Rob bets Sandra a dollar that Coach will complete this task. Sandra is sure he won't. Coach, meanwhile, has a confessional talking about how he likes Rob, because he's sharp, and (points to his chest tattoo) "iron sharpens iron."

So Rob is clearly enjoying manipulating Coach, something Sandra praises about Rob in confessional. Coach clearly thinks he's training to be the best or something. Who knows with Coach, but he's clearly the sucker in this candy store. Finally, with the bet, we see Sandra as the clear-eyed, analytical observer, and Rob as the ego-driven guy high on his own bullshit. Coach gets to about the same spot in the tree as Rob did, realizes it's a stupid idea to go further, and climbs back down. On the beach, Sandra cackles instructions for her check: "Write 'To Sandra, the winner. From Boston Bob the loser!'" So, so good.

Again, this scene happened because the Villains had time to sit around and goof off. The episode wasn't chock full of Big Events that required a boat to arrive at (all three) camps, people to read the notes, decisions to be made, and people to go off on a journey. There was no elaborate, mulit-stage mechanism for retrieving idols. It was just 10 people together, living on a beach. Trying to retrieve coconuts from a tree that looked climbable, at least until you climbed it halfway. And of course, great characters like Sandra, Rob, and Coach there, as part of it. (Russell Hantz was also present, but thankfully mostly silent.)

Tribal Council in focus

Considering it ended up in a 9-1 blowout, Tribal Council was also a refreshing change from modern Tribals. Here, the editing shone: Everyone was pretty sure it was easy vote, 9-1 on Sugar, who had been annoying people (especially Colby, as she stuck to him like a barnacle the night before). So the editors used the opportunity to highlight the developing fractures within the Heroes tribe as a distraction. Both presented as, "We *could* do the easy thing and vote Sugar, but what about this plan instead?"

Good guy Tom, who is keeping tight with straight-shooting Stephenie, straight-shooting Colby, and fellow former winner JT, wants Cirie out. She's dangerous, because she's strategic. Meanwhile, Cirie is trying to keep her connection with Amanda relatively hidden, but is convincing her the smart move is to break up the Tom-Stephenie pair. Obviously, neither of these plans comes to fruition ... this episode. But they do accurately forecast the people next in line. (Cirie wisely wants to avoid voting out Sugar in part because she points out Sugar being "annoying" and a poor performer in challenge serves as a great shield for Cirie.)

Once we get to Tribal, the contrast between how Probst ran things in season 20 vs. how things work in season 50 is clear. Unlike modern Tribals, because Probst kept everyone on track by focusing on the key questions we had just seen discussed in camp: Is blowing the challenge (puzzle) a reason to boot someone? Do prior relationships matter? Who's a threat? Are we thinking short-term threats, or long-term threats? (Everyone is a threat, or they wouldn't be here, everyone agrees).

There are no lengthy metaphors, very little theater. People don't announce how they're voting, but they generally give acceptable answers to the questions. It's really just basic Q & A, which is a reminder that's all that's really needed. Then the vote. THen Probst tells the departing Heroes, they'd probably better start thinking about getting even. "Revenge" is one of the words on the logo, after all. (This season, and this season only.)

The tempestuous teapot of tepid takes

- My toe is broke in at least two places - Rupert's catastrophically broken toe apparently prevented him from contributing on the puzzle (that's him on the end, staring into space, above). He went through SO MUCH. I hope people can remember he's a GOOD GUY. Maybe we need a confessional or two where he explicitly states that, just to be sure. Oh well, here's a sweet picture of smiling Rupert with a soon-to-be-dead animal, just in case.

- Challenge push - For HvsV, a motif of the challenge design was that all the challenges were from past seasons that at least one player on the cast had competed in before. I know, it's not *that* exciting, although with Probst announcing who's done it before, it does ratchet up expectations on those players to perform. Both Parvati and Candice had been on the winning tribe for the first IC, which was also the first IC in S13: Cook Islands. So one of the pair was guaranteed to lose this time around (conveniently, neither participated the rate-limiting puzzle task). But the opening RC also featured head-to-head (to-head-to-head, since it was in pairs) battles, something you almost never see on Survivor any more, because of the always-three-tribes format choice. It also featured two injuries, which is not great, but there was also one in the S50 premiere, which they extended the episode to finish with, so I guess they were proud of it? Honoring tradition? I dunno.

- More editing shade - Probst in his opening mat chat: "Tom: Another big hero, played a very solid game, a lot of people like you, they were happy you won, which isn't always the case with some of our winners" ... [cut to a smiling Parvati]. Wow, indeed. (Parvati mouthed "wow" in the initial shots of the helicopter ride.)

- More shade for the editors - If there's one season-long flaw in HvsV (especially evident in the opening half-hour or so), it's how poorly all the Russell Hantz content has aged. His arrogant blowhardery doesn't get any more palatable with time, and I swear he gets confessionals far more often than anyone else in the first third of the episode. (I can't force myself to re-rewatch it to count, sorry.) And his vaunted strategy of making "final two" deals (in a final three season) with all the Villain women ... it's just 100% cringe to watch. "You HAVE to trust me!" he bellows at Danielle. (She mumbles something benign in response.) His hard-sell on Parvati doesn't even elicit a response. He just talks and talks, and she barely replies. His Day 1 Samoa persona was far more charming. Maybe the edit cut that part here, but ugh, what a troll. Thankfully, we see a lot of the rest of the tribe after this opening onslaught. Boston Rob lights his fire, and suddenly the editors remember there are actually 10 Villains, not just one. Phew!