Despite the hype of Survivor's current season, Survivor: Winners at War, featuring the all winners cast that fans never thought was possible; the show has still seen a fair amount of criticism still based around the twists and advantages that are used, such as the edge of extinction. This twist was used two seasons prior, received a very polarizing reaction from viewers, but was still brought back here and left many fans scratching their heads. While it has still had drawbacks shown in the five episodes of Winners at War that has aired so far; this most recent episode focusing on what Ethan Zohn had to face there properly showed the true potential that edge of extinction had but never lived up to.
The players coming to the edge after being eliminated and then staying there for, hypothetically, the entire game was always advertised by Jeff Probst as pushing the human experience and seeing truly how far people will go to stay. While obviously, that was the case for the players who were actually there and no part of it was ever easy; it was also never displayed in a particularly compelling way before. The most memorable content from it in the original season was the first boot, Reem, settling beef with everyone who had voted her out. That was comedic though and not moving in the way that the concept seems set to do.
In the fifth episode of Winners At War following Ethan's elimination from the proper game - the edge of extinction was used about as well as it could be. Ethan, as well as, Natalie, Amber, and Danni had to go on an exhausting trek 20 straight times before the sunset, and the episode properly got across just how difficult this was for everyone involved. The physical exhaustion plus the emotional release. It was already the correct direction to handle these tasks on the edge, but then with Ethan's involvement, it became one of the best scenes the show has had in years.
For fans, Ethan coming into this season was nearly impossible to not root for, given it had been almost 20 years since he won. The most notable change being the fact that he's now a cancer survivor. Ethan's already simply an inspiring person, but then the ups and downs of Survivor is a perfect vessel for that. He collapses a bit over halfway through the task, but pushes himself through the end of it, connects it to struggles he's already faced in real life, and completes the trek with Natalie, Amber, and Danni joining him for the last stretch.
Seeing Ethan's perspective that the whole segment was moving and ultimately a fully realized example of what Probst described the edge as. The need for people to constantly push themselves, the struggles through that, and the way this experience brings people together unlike the real game. Infamously when the twist was first used, the winner had spent a vast majority of his time on the edge, which aided him at the end because he had spent so much time there with the jurors and bonded with them. An issue was how little that was shown. Here though it's clear how and why people bond and come together through this experience and, thankfully, it's all compelling for once as well.
This all doesn't mean the edge of extinction should remain a part of the show. Whether or not those parts of the game even count as Survivor is still worth arguing. However, the point is that even if Survivor is still digging around in the wrong areas, at least they can strike gold.
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8pm EST on CBS.