Just rewatched this with my mum, and as the self-proclaimed biggest survivor fan ever it’s genuinely impossible to describe how much I love this episode. [ ⚠️ SPOILERS BELOW ⚠️ ] The first bit of Operation Italy which I love is the sheer strategy of it all. It proves to the entire viewership that Survivor at its core was never about these stupid advantages that keep getting thrown out left right and centre, it was never about people losing their votes on Journeys for pointless reasons, it's about manipulating the social capital and strategic acumen that you have to give yourself the best possible chance of achieving your desired outcome. The mini alliance of three out-maneuvered the powerhouse alliance of four, the minority alliance who had NOTHING in their back pockets managed to outplay the majority who had two Hidden Immunity Idols, one person safe thanks to the Individual Immunity, AND the Block a Vote advantage. and the only way they do it is through sheer grit. They fight tooth and nail for their outcome to come true, everyone playing their role to absolute perfection, despite there literally being like 7 different ways it could go wrong (1. the split doesn’t happen, 2. Andy ends up on the wrong side of the split, 3. Rachel plays her idol on Caroline, 4. Sue plays her idol on Caroline, 5. Rachel uses her Block a Vote on Sam or Genevieve, 6. Andy gets cold feet and retreats into the majority, 7. the Idol flash that Genvieve does before Tribal isn’t believable to Teeny and she tells her alliance to redirect their votes). It’s a testament to the way Survivor SHOULD be played in my eyes, and that’s why I love it. Secondly is the simple fact that it literally includes all of my favorite players remaining in the game. Genevieve, who solidified herself as a major threat with the Sol vote and has been on the bottom for 2 votes now with no alliance, Sam who has always been perceived as a major threat (kind of for stupid reasons too, in how everyone seems to see him as a challenge beast when really this season's challenge beasts were Kyle and Rachel) and has been knocked down time after time since the Sierra blindside at the F11 and who has been a self-proclaimed free agent with nowhere to turn since his own fall, and then Andy, who was my favourite player of the season since the first episode. Andy, who was constantly underestimated and undermined by his peers, constantly ridiculed and labelled a goat due to essentially one incident that occurred on DAY THREE for goodness sakes, Andy who has played easily the most under the radar strategic game that, despite being a genuinely really impressive run (especially considering his start in the game), has not gained anyone’s admiration. despite the fact that he essentially masterminded the Sierra vote, that he planted the first seeds of the Gabe vote, that he informed Teeny of the Sol vote so as to gain her trust and emphasize his own strategic knowledge, that he voted for Genevieve when he knew Kyle was going home so as to gain favour with Kyle on the jury by showing that he truly was ‘loyal to the soil’; despite ALL of this, he still is labelled as an easy beat, which pisses me off to no end. So to see him finally assert dominance, to be the architect of what is easily the best strategic moment of the season AND (dare I say) the New Era as a whole, is beyond satisfying. The third thing I love about this plan is how risky it is. These are three people who accept just how many ways this could go wrong, but know that they HAVE to do this to guarantee themselves any shot of winning. It speaks to how well people work when they’re on the bottom, and that’s one of my favorite bits of Survivor; seeing people fight to the bitter end. Everyone plays their role perfectly: Sam emphasizing to everyone how there was nothing he could do to sway Andy, Genevieve creating the fake Idol herself using Sam’s expired Idol and flashing it to Teeny to stir up panic, then both of these two interacting at tribal to assert (even just before the votes are being read) that the Idol is real, so if they both make it through the night, they still have that strategic leverage over the other four. And then Andy, who manipulates the other four to perfection, swaying them to split the votes even when Teeny and Rachel both have their own agendas, he still manages to convince them that not only does Genevieve have an idol, that they should split, and even after all of this he ends up on the top level of the split so he can flip easily to oust Caroline. I just love how everyone accepts how easily the plan can go wrong and STILL manages to execute it in literally the most perfect way conceivable. And finally I'd just like to add how brilliantly edited this whole episode is. I’m not one to comment on this stuff usually, especially for reality tv, but the heist music in the background, the chaotic tone that permeates the episode, the movie-like transitions littered throughout the sequences detailing the plan, the way confessions and scenes are strung together to form the episodes narrative… ugh it’s so genius I can’t get over how awesome this episode is. [ ⚠️ SPOILERS ABOVE ⚠️ ] So yeah if you couldn’t tell this is easily one of my all time fav episodes of the show, and I’m really hoping this review reaches some of my Survivor moots (cuz ik yall still out there lol) and even to the people who can’t read this review, I hope the effort I've put into it demonstrates how damn good this show can be when it peaks, like this is seriously good television yall, and honestly Survivor is probably my favorite show oat based off pure enjoyment.