This article contains spoilers for Season 42 of “Survivor.”

The last season of Survivor – season 41 – began questionably. All the new twists, advantages and surprises left both players and viewers perplexed and unsure of what was happening at any given moment. Somehow, the season managed to get past this initial disappointment. Its amazing cast provided lots of drama, backstabbing and hilarity from about episode four onwards. By the finale, I was crying and screaming at my TV – in a good way. I was overjoyed when Erika, the first female winner since season 34, got her million dollar check.

When Survivor 42 premiered on March 9, I was full of anticipation, choosing to believe that it would avoid the rough start that the previous season had. At first, it seemed that my dreams would come true. The cast is great, bursting at the seams with personality, entertaining confessionals and great one-liners. Even Jeff Probst was exceptionally great in the season premiere, delivering the iconic line, “Either you slay this game or the game will slay you.” That was so slay of him.

Season 42 Tribes:

Vati: Jenny, Chanelle, Daniel, Hai, Lydia and Mike

Taku: Jackson, Marya, Jonathan, Maryanne, Lindsay and Omar

Ika: Zach, Swati, Drea, Rocksroy, Romeo and Tori

Overall, the first episode made me enthusiastic for the episodes to come. It started off with a high-intensity challenge wherein Hai from Vati tribe, Drea from Ika tribe and Lindsay from Taku tribe were all offered an advantage each of them can use if they make it to the merge. Since these contestants were gone for so long deciding whether to take the advantage or not during the challenge, they had the chance to cover themselves in mud and fake blood to make it look like a difficult obstacle was holding them up. This is great TV and it’s hilarious to see the Vati tribe fret over Hai, who’s covered in fake blood, while fellow tribe member Daniel, who actually dislocated his arm in the challenge, is pushed to the side. This was both a great twist and refreshing amongst other new changes that just make the game more confusing (cough, Shipwheel Island, cough).

There were some sad moments in the first episode, but none of them were sad in the “this-show-is-going-downhill-and-I-hate-it-now” way. Jackson of the Taku tribe was medically evacuated before the first immunity challenge. At the first tribal council, we lost Zach from the Ika tribe, a quirky superfan who entertained us with delightfully awkward social interactions. But in this episode we also got Maryanne of the Taku tribe delivering her own version of the “I’m weird. I’m a weirdo,” Riverdale monologue. It was more endearing than annoying, I swear.

Maryanne and the rest of her tribe continued to be the highlight of Survivor 42 in the second episode. This tribe is made up of the self-proclaimed “weirdo” Maryanne as well as Omar and Lindsay, a pair that has easily befriended all the other players. But the real star of Taku is Jonathan, who is built like Thor. He never boasts about his strength despite carrying his tribe (sometimes literally) through all the challenges. The second episode is a major one for the Taku tribe. They bond over religion and develop unexpected strong friendships. I legitimately cried when I saw that Maryanne, a Christian, wove a prayer mat from palm fronds for tribe-mate Omar, a Muslim.

Oh, and there was also someone named Marya on the Taku tribe. All we really saw of her was the obligatory sad backstory montage that they’ve started giving every contestant before she was eliminated in this episode.

Episode three was okay. A lot of people loved this episode, and I get why. The final minutes of the episode where the Vati tribe goes to tribal council were eventful enough to keep the Survivor Reddit page talking for days. Personally though, I was bored. Jeff Probst put a lot of emphasis on Jonathon pulling his team through the very difficult immunity challenge but, like… I get it, Jonathan is strong. I like Jonathan. But if I wanted to watch a strong guy save a group of people for an hour, I’d watch a Marvel movie.

To recap the part of the episode that was actually interesting, when the Vati tribe went to tribal council, both Chanelle and Mike had lost their votes to different twists. Only Lydia, Jenny, Hai and Daniel could vote. Daniel and Jenny voted for Lydia while Hai and Lydia voted for Jenny, making it a tie vote.

In a Survivor tie, the people who voted who didn’t receive the tie votes (Daniel and Hai) must come to a unanimous decision on who should leave (in this case, either Lydia or Jenny). If they can’t decide, the people who received votes instead become safe and those who couldn’t make a decision must draw rocks, and whoever draws a white rock must leave the game.

This tie left Hai and Daniel as the two deciders. Daniel immediately told everyone that he was completely unwilling to go to rocks. Hai did the logical thing and insisted that Daniel join him in sending Jenny home. Daniel went along with it, folding like a cheap suitcase to avoid going to rocks, and Jenny’s torch got snuffed. Mind you that this is all after Daniel boasting about being a Yale-educated lawyer and dedicated Survivor superfan. Weird.

By episode four, I’d lost all the enthusiasm I had left over from episode one. I don’t care that Jonathon is strong! I don’t care that he can win challenges! I want to see people fight over bananas, sugar and papaya like in Survivor seasons past! I want to see more of Maryanne being weird!

All I really enjoyed in episode four was the montage of Swati from the Ika tribe telling each and every person on her tribe that they are her number one ally. Naturally, this montage is followed by Swati being voted out at tribal council, and I was once again left with a discomforting feeling that the next episode won’t be any better.

Thumbnail graphic by Hope Cartwright.