It’s insane how much the edit protected ___

Rachel.

I’m rewatching episode 12 and wow. The edit obviously wants the viewer to root for Operation: Italy to work out, but I didn’t catch my first time watching how disparate the dunking is that they’re doing on the members of the underdog alliance.

Teeny’s made to look like a complete fool, especially in the scene with Genevieve showing her the fake idol in front of Sam. Sue is shown saying she’ll save Caroline if she gets an inkling of a bad feeling. And Caroline talks about how seeing her name on parchment will bolster her image as a threat to the jury.

Rachel, though? Conspicuously absent, until she’s shown suddenly suspicious. She doesn’t want to split the votes. She acknowledges someone might flip. She suggests the smart move.

Of course, Operation: Italy works, and the others are blindsided. There’s no way to avoid showing that, but my god, the edit tried SO hard to shield Rachel in this one. I’ll admit I’m biased, because she was my winner pick and I’ve been rooting for her from the start, but I really don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t show a single confessional that makes her look dumb if she wasn’t our winner.

Edit: oh my god, I wrote this post before watching tribal council, and I noticed this. Teeny says “we’d be stupid not to think that [the three who went on reward] wouldn’t be plotting against us.” And then what do they cut to? RACHEL NODDING.

I’ll see myself out.