u/Wild_Shoe340

I’m really hoping they’ll just tie up the loose ends she has remaining and show her moving on with her life. While the concept of her coming back to the show as a “legend” and seeking redemption is an interesting concept in THEORY, I think she it’s best if she just acknowledges what she did, does her best to move on, and they show her trying to find a new path in life, continuing on with her career and maybe even trying to make some new, genuine friends (even though having the worst of her exposed on an international spotlight makes that challenging and probably unlikely.). Not every villain needs to redeem themselves and earn a happy ending in the show (key word in the show. She likely does have some good in her left, but it’s probably best if she does whatever mending she has to do offscreen.), and frankly, I feel like Riya is one of those people. We see the worst of her onscreen in the series proper, and she’s left to deal with those consequences either offscreen or in a comic or some other standalone media away from the show.

However, I know everyone has a different opinion, which is why I’m posting this on Reddit to hopefully get a different perspective. Lmk what u guys think!

I’m wondering bc after DC2 you never hear much about her hair or whether or not she’s still wearing a wig even though she’s been staying with Rosa for about a year at that point. I think the assumption is she’s still wearing a wig, but she’s been free from her parents for about 3 years as of now, so a presumed lack of malnourishment and much alleviated stress could enable Lake’s hair to start growing back in theory. Plus it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for her to dye her hair red as an act of rebellion/distancing herself from her parents.

The reason this isn’t a glaringly obvious yes imo is because combined with the fact that they never explicitly state anything, I think there is in fact a point of no return for people when it comes to hair loss from external factors such as malnourishment, which while dark even for this show, she is still at risk for.

I think the comic, this line in particular, is indirectly setting Fiore up to make it to the late stages of the game at least, maybe even the finale again if we’re lucky. I don’t think they’d show her saying she “has a good feeling about this one” during a comic that was released during the same time as her latest season, with the added bonus of her being the first (and so far only) person to get a comic while they’re currently competing in the show if they didn’t have SOMETHING big planned for her. Plus, we already know that the show isn’t above having double finalists (Riya…..) so they may be looking for a redeeming second attempt due to the fact that Riya’s win was received contentiously AT BEST. I might be spewing crazy talk, but this is just my speculation.

My general opinion was that it was actually pretty good, even if I have mixed opinions on it. My expectations were happily subverted in a sense, as while the story does delve into why Fiore has issues with her parents and how they helped shape her malicious nature, part of the story also simply shows that she was always going to be different, whether it be due to her intellect or her troublesome nature, as opposed to the story explaining some harrowing backstory detailing how she went from a normal, innocent little girl to a borderline enfante terrible (the story seems to imply she was always VERY intelligent, she just didn’t like being coddled and treated like a regular kid, which was perfectly fine, even if it led to her presumably acting out and some of her malevolent nature taking hold.), and that her home life simply shaped who she was, given that it’s implied that her parents seemed to expect her to be a doting, helpless little girl like everyone else and at least some of their problems were rooted in her irritation of such a concept and their inability to adapt (this is best supported due to the fact that she states that one of the things she liked most about Alec was that he didn’t expect her to be a usual kiddie kid and she appreciated someone who treated her like an equal.). Plus, it seems that Fiore’s parents weren’t always going to be model parents, since they flat out admit to not spending a lot of time with her at one point in the story and only really paying attention to her when she either a) got into trouble or b) gave her the bare minimum amount of affection, and only gave her the time of day when they were at their wits end with her, which confirmed my headcanon that there were HEAVY instances of miscommunication and parental neglect in Fiore’s early childhood, so that along with the fact that it was confirmation that Fiore’s parents weren’t maliciously abusive and it was instead a messy relationship with varying shades of gray was nice to see as well.

It was also nice to see that she and Alec’s bond remained consistent after they patched things up in AS and he came to visit her in boarding school and also see concrete evidence of the fact that she’s not totally heartless (I mean we all knew that, but seeing her be visibly torn up about her relationship with her parents and actually having some semblance of fondness for her time on DC made her feel human in a way I can’t quite explain.).

Honestly, I really enjoyed the story more than I thought I would, and I actually kinda wish that ONC would make more stories outside of a competition setting, since at least from my perspective they seem to have some legitimate chops in that arena. But, I know everyone has a different opinion, so I’m wondering what y’all think about this.

I don’t really watch live feeds, and I mainly keep up through updates and subreddits like this, but if Jason’s alleged treatment from Kamu and alleged isolation by the other houseguests is due to internalized or otherwise suppressed homophobia, it makes me ponder if we’ll have another gay male winner anytime soon, especially taking into account Big Brother’s tendency to stereotype or their male homosexual contestants by continually searching overly campy, effeminate men who have a tendency to dissolve into piping hot messes, for lack of a better term, dating back to the show’s early days, and it seems to affect most of their queer contestants to an extent, but I’ll keep this topic strictly tied down to gay men for now.

The only reason I’m singling out gay men in particular is because, and this is not to sound insensitive, but I feel like other queer contestants are usually portrayed in a more positive light in the edited show compared to gay men, given that I’ve noticed that we’ve had other lesbian and queer finalists and winners that have been portrayed in a much more flattering light in the edited show (not gonna list examples because I feel like if I list examples I’m gonna get jumped, since I’m treading in a very controversial topic which I frankly feel I have no say in one way or the other despite being an openly gay man myself).

The same cannot be said for most of their gay male competitors. It seems like they actively select their “token camp gay” contestants for that season with the expectation that they will fit each box of the usual stereotype and be an overly effeminate train wreck of a player. It’s happened with Jozea, it’s happened with Jimmy, it’s happened with Jason Roy (but thankfully he managed to make a turn around and get to the end of BBOTT.) it happened even all the way back in BB6 with Beau Beasley. While these houseguests weren’t targeted for their sexualities specifically, in my opinion you can tell that on some level they were casted to be a caricature of an entire community. That’s not to say there are aversions, given that we’ve had Michael, Kimo, Kevin, Andy himself, and to a lesser extent Hisam, but I still feel like openly gay contestants on this show are still cast to cause a mess and eventually fail to an extent, even if it’s not as bad as before.

That leads me to another question. Do you think production will evolve enough to move past the stereotype and start regularly casting competent enough players that pose a real chance of winning the game? I’m only asking because despite the fact that the aversions I’ve managed to list usually doing really well on their time on the show, I still feel like they’re more of an exception than the rule, and we still have yet to see a gay guy come out with the crown since Andy’s run on BB15, which was already controversial for… other reasons.

I know I said it before, I’ll reiterate it again. I have no real stake in the matter between Kamu and Jason, but in my humble opinion, from what I can gather, it seems like a continuation of the same toxic pattern and I wanted to know if I’m just talking crazy atp.

While it’s known throughout the fandom that Courtney had to file a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the show twice to get on the show, I feel like they should’ve let her win the lawsuit the first time and allow her to be Action’s overall main antagonist instead of crashing the party mid-way, and here are my main points as to why.

1. It leaves Island on an interesting enough cliffhanger that could entice the viewer into watching Action, as while she stated that her case was dropped and ruled out by the court, if Chris had gotten a call after announcing that the 14 people that had qualified for Action stating that the verdict had been overturned and he was legally required to give her a spot on TDA as part of the settlement, her behavior in Haute Camp-Ture as well as her more unhinged mindset would’ve set her alongside Justin as the two contestants to watch out for during the following season.

2. It gives Heather a worthy, yet contrasting female successor. Heather had shown no capability of having a social game, and Courtney was at a similar level (I’m still convinced she has one Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder, but that’s beside the point.), even if she was more well liked by the cast at the time. However, while Heather had rely on her alliance members and sometimes sheer dumb luck to achieve the deep run she had in TDI, Courtney has shown to be more than capable of brute forcing her way through the competition, showing enough physical talent to win clutch challenges, a pragmatic enough mind to be able to have a decent enough strategic game, and decent enough tactical knowledge to find or sway someone willing enough to work with her, even if it’s a mutually reluctant game-only relationship, making Courtney’s chance of getting to the final 4 starting from the ground up, combined with her determination to avenge her unfair elimination the prior season, seem dangerously plausible regardless of her circumstances provided that the show makes use of her already established traits and relationships, and her unfair elimination giving her more ammunition than Justin to be a more ruthless player.

3. It gives Action an arguably more competent and effective villain compared to (or to contrast with) Justin from the get-go. Despite Justin having potential as an antagonist, it really did seem like Justin’s potential only amounted to what antagonistic actions he could do IN THE GAME, making him a decent antagonist game-wise but not really a good enough villain, given that he was still on decent terms with the majority of the cast and a good chunk of his antics (outside of blackmailing Gwen) seem more likely to fit that of a comedic relief villain (his vanity especially), compared to Courtney, who was significantly more ruthless, willing to get her hands dirty physically and emotionally, and served to be the more capable overall villain even in the finished season, and I feel like having that contrast from the get go would’ve served to make the season more interesting narratively and help the dynamics a lot.

4. More than likely, if she had just been let onto Action from the get go, she would have had to start out on the same even playing field as the other players, which could’ve served to make her more dangerous on her own without the use of her PDA and all the more entertaining to watch. She probably would have had to have taken charge of her team after Trent’s elimination to get herself in a place where the team needs her instead of considering her a nusiance, (simultaneously allowing her to clash with Lindsay, who was also tapping into unrealized potential at the same time, on a more aggressive plateau than before), the same way she did during Island, but perhaps more dictatorial than in the previous season, and she would have had to have been forced to claw her way to the top organically instead of through her lawyers being at her beck and call, possibly having to make nice with players such as Owen (who’s friends with EVERYONE), and possibly even forming an alliance with fellow antagonist Justin, maybe even using his eventual crush on her as means of keeping him interested. Then, come merge, and seeing that her poor social skills have often left her at the bottom of the cast totem pole, we mostly likely would’ve gotten something similar to a mix of what we saw in the finished season and what Julia had to endure in the reboot, having to win challenge after challenge just to stay alive in the game and using whatever leverage she can to get her desired targets out, earning her wins through pure physical skill, once again serving as a contrast to Heather, who mainly won her challenges in Island through luck and Lindsay. Plus, having her take charge of the Grips after Trent’s elimination works nicely with Duncan’s taking charge of the Gaffers after Gwen’s elimination, highlighting their romantic rivalry and possibly giving you an arguably more powerful and interesting antagonist than the original Queen of Mean she is, primarily due to the fact that this hypothetical scenario shows her in a a position where she is near constantly at rock bottom and somehow manages to survive and thrive while looking for ways to survive to the next round, something having her lawyers cater to her every whim after entering mid season wouldn’t have allowed her to do. Plus, having her work that hard just to have her love vote her out would most likely make the betrayal sting even more.

Yea this is pretty much a random take I thought of jotting down to get you guys’s opinion and I highly encourage any constructive criticism you may have for me.

I mean, yes, Fiore is pretty much the closest equivalent to Heather in Disventure Camp in terms the legacy her actions have left upon her in the game, but I just wish the narrative could show her progress as a social player by showing people being a little more hesitant to vote her out, given that she isn’t a threat, and she isn’t really as manipulative as she once was. It’s telling that she almost got voted out last episode and was only spared by Sam wanting to fuck with Spencer when she was only put in that situation because Tom wanted to deflect the spotlight off of Natalia + Spencer’s added ammunition of saying Ren having power over someone else would be dangerous, which means FOR ONCE, at least in my eyes, she was almost eliminated despite having done nothing to actually put herself in that situation. This contrasts with Heather in TDWT, where while I still think the cast (sans Cody and to a lesser extent Harold) went a bit too far in their hating on her, her actions in the Yukon, New York, and Amazon kinda dug herself into a hole where it would’ve been understandable if she got voted out as a pre-merge boot. I just don’t really get it. What do you guys think of this?

I guess it could be explained as her being an easy vote-off, but in my rationale that would mean you should focus on the people who aren’t as easy to vote off and save her for last if you don’t inadvertently give her a spot in the finale in the process.

Yes, I know, it’s Heather, but seriously, some of the bullying she endured in this season is comparable to a physical equivalent (or maybe even surpasses a physical equivalent) of her actions in Island, which were pretty much just standard high school mean girl humiliation tactics. She’s the most injured contestant in the entire show iirc, and a good chunk of those injuries were from this season. While I get people like Gwen and Lindsay having it out for her, people like Courtney, who she never interacted with before Action, and even then their interactions were minor, and Leshawna, who she was SUPPOSED TO HAVE MADE UP WITH, liked sticking it to her, and Leshawna gave her a black eye and KNOCKED HER TOOTH OUT DESPITE THEIR ALLEGED TRUCE. It just boggles my mind. Am I crazy, or do y’all notice this too.

Just because Ara was pretty much everyone’s favorite and 4 out of the 5 Cyan Alliance members are still in the game doesnt really mean it’s badly written, just that we have screenhogs. Episodes 1-5 were mid, episode 6 was the first episode I’d call good, episodes 7-11 were middling, with the only things I took serious offense to being the Evie/Aiden dynamic being a waste of our time and Spencer eliminating Bruno in such a non-discrete way completely blowing his cover. Then, Episode 12 came and that was the first one I’d truly call comparable to the earlier seasons. Then, Episode 13 came and we saw a slight downgrade in quality, but the elimination could still be argued as not out of nowhere, since it’s not a shocking blindside that makes no sense like a lot of these eliminations have been. Now, and hear me out on this one, Episode 14 was GOOD. Actually GOOD. Not GREAT, not TRASH either. Good. The merge seems to be spicing everyone up, Tom and Natalia’s rivalry could be heading somewhere, Gabby’s… I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, Gabby’s a mess rn 😅, but if she does wind up emulating Ellie we could have a compelling side quest for her, we have the yaoi-bait dynamic we’ve been waiting for all season, FIORE’S FINALLY MAKING FRIENDS AAAAAAAA, and Rosa and Lake seem to be trying to find a happy medium between playing the game strategically whilst not compromising your morals. Plus, let’s face it, while Ara would’ve been a compelling “Heavy” or mess-maker, her elimination was being built up to the moment Dunia went home, so to have an openly mean antagonist that didn’t somehow reach the finals is kinda of refreshing if that makes any sense. I know I’m probably gonna get a ton of hate, but this is just my take.

I mean it’s true Owen was put in the limo after Courtney but the order in which they were put into the limo didn’t really have to do with anything iirc, since neither of them got a gilded Chris award and both were eliminated/disqualified in the same ceremony, even if Courtney was the only one between the two who was formally eliminated due to Beth and Duncan voting for her. If anything they both either tied for 4th or tied for 3rd. Thoughts?

Here are my reasons as to why:

- Protagonists are usually decided by plot relevance, not morality. The entire first half of CoC was driven mostly by the overall team dynamics, but Spencer’s digging himself into a bigger hole until he finds himself hated by both teams and is eventually given the axe early in the merge seems to stick out in particular. He takes out Diego, he earns the ire of Hannah and Benji, and later on Jade, given that this is the beginning of his rogue behavior that would soon drive the duo apart iirc, as well as gives the Vibe Tribe the majority. Spotlight’s on him until he gets rid of Tristan, which brings the team to hate him so much they THROW THE CHALLENGE to get rid of him. Then, he butts heads with everyone in the Blue Team until he he helps get rid of Lynda, putting himself at the mercy of the girls, in which he diverts the target to Richard in a self-preservation ploy, breaking the trust of the last ally he had in Logan once he finds out, subsequently getting him eliminated in 9th place. Then, going into FvF, he manages to learn from his mistakes and lay under the radar to a fault, almost perfectly mimicking Jade until he develops friction with Lake due to manhandling Bruno, and completely blowing his cover when he eliminates the poor chap, even though he manages to still manage to twist things around so that he is still in a good place with Rosa, and to a lesser extent Natalia and Fiore, ensuring that he isn’t going anywhere any time soon, signaling some sort of development to his gameplay, even tho it’s minor. Plus, depending on how things go with Sam, he may go on a mini-redemption arc, learning to be more personable and less smug, and if he wins, it would serve as a nice conclusion to the duology that opened with CoC and ended with FvF.

- He and Natalia now hold the record of most episodes of any Gen 3’er, and if DC is going by the same standards the TD fandom has adopted for decoding the overall protagonist of a generation of contestants, episode count plays a role alongside focus in episodes (Gwen and Heather are usually considered to be the two main protagonists of Gen 1, Zoke + Cameron for Gen 2, Shawn/Sky for Gen 3 even tho lowk it’s just Pahkitew so it just remained confined to that season tbh 😭, Police Cadets for RR, even though once again it’s just for that season 💀, and Priya for Gen 4), and between Spencer and Natalia, Spencer has the better buildup and more consistent focus between the two seasons between the two.

- Tying into plot relevance and narrative buildup, even if Natalia is a solid character in her own right, if there is anyone in Gen 4 who has potential for a cohesive, multi-season spanning story for them ala Heather in TD S1-3, it’s between Anastasia and Spencer, but since Anastasia’s arc has presumably come a close, that just leaves Spencer, who has a WHOLE bunch of loose ends that he could tie up. Firstly, the writing seems to be gearing towards Spencer and Lake coming to some sort of peace with one another, like an improved second attempt at Jake and Ally’s rivalry in AS. Second of all, if Odd Nation Cartoons is still trying to go for a feel-good win after the horrid reception to Riya’s victory and the mixed reception to Logan’s win, having Spencer take down the new baddie in Sam, make up with his biggest rival, and perhaps be ready to start a relationship again (since he and Sam have loads of ship tease and could relate to one another due to the fact that for unspoken reasons, they have both been wounded by an ex who for some reason has been implied to in Spencer’s case or outright confirmed in Sam’s case to not be in their lives anymore, the potential for them to hook up or start a situation-ship and potentially grow from their experiences is IMMENSE.), combined with the potential he has for growth as a person as well gives ONC grounds to make one of the best winners in DC since Miriam wayyyy back in S1.

Overall, this is my long-winded way of saying Spencer has all the markings to become the overall protagonist of Gen 3, as while a case could be made for Natalia learning to become a more loyal ally and friend given her reputation as a “flipper”, I feel like she was more of a side character in their debut season, as opposed to Spencer, who has been a main character from day ONE. This is probably gonna be viewed as a crackpot take, but I still encourage discussion in the comments.

(IMAGE UNRELATED I JUST WANTED SOMETHING NICE LOOKING)

For more elaboration, one thing I have beef with is that whenever a high-quality fan series based on TD comes along (like Disventure Camp or Reality Resort), everyone inevitably holds Total Drama on this impenetrable pedestal and states that it can never be surpassed, no matter how hard other people try. While I do agree that of all the animated reality series that have come in its wake, TD is still the best in terms of animation quality and writing, I do NOT however feel that some show, beit officially produced or independently produced, won’t eventually have a good case to knock it off its pedestal. TD is an EXTREMELY well-written show at its peak and has an engaging cast of core characters, but while its highs are soaring, its lows are apparent, so if there is a show that manages to match or surpass its highs without going nearly as close to the lows that TD had reached in All-Stars and to a lesser extent Pahkitew Island, I will concede to its case that it may have the right to be considered a better show. Something I have learned through watching many reboots, sequels, and and revivals over the years is that while the original source will always have a leg up due to being the inspiration source and the one all future derivatives will follow, in terms of pure, unadulterated creativity and quality, things can be topped, done better, or even dethrone the inspiration source.

That being said, this is not a thinly-veiled way of saying Disventure Camp or some other random show based on Total Drama is better, as even though I will admit that on its best days Disventure Camp can wind up approaching TD, those days are long gone and they still have more work to do if they want to claim that crown, possibly more than before, since some of their recent material has shown signs of ONC being vulnerable to backslide in quality. This is also NOT a slander towards Total Drama in general, as I love the show and it will always be somewhere circulating in my list of my top 10 favorite animated series of all time, but I am in fact saying that the pedestal needs to be lowered and we need to be realistic about the fact that with all of the resources we have as avenues for making art and all of the creative, perfectionistic minds out there, we can’t just say there won’t be a show that outdoes our beloved Camp Wawanakwa in terms of writing quality, narrative storytelling, or even visual art. It may not be today, tomorrow, or for another million years, but in my humble opinion, it’s still highly unrealistic to think that NOTHING will come within sniffing distance of Total Drama.

I’m already expecting downvotes and attacks in the comments, so come at me if you want, I just wanted to voice my opinion on a platform where I could hopefully be heard.

As much as I hate it, Spencer and Sam are in it for the long haul and Nura is on a fool’s journey, so the three of them are probably in it for the long haul.

Ara will probably be gone next episode as much as I love her if it isn’t merge, Fiore is still a top target for some reason even though there is really no reason to target her this time around, as S1 was 4 years ago and she’s shown no hints of trying to be deceptive so much as she is just trying to be cunning enough to stay another round. Ren is so much of a threat that one of Sam, Spencer, or Fiore has to pick up on that eventually, Oliwia IS an alternate option since she also has an arc that could potentially keep her for the majority of the merge, Gabby and Tom are probably just a blindside waiting to happen, Natalia also has some hope to make a deep run but it’s much less likely given how much of a shield she is, and Lake is… Lake. Pretty much floating around with bad ideas and trying to find something that sticks even though it’s clear as day nothing will. Rosa is my pick for 4th place, only bc I see her in a Hannah situation where she almost descends into villainy but someone prevents her from crossing the point of no return, which pretty much leaves those three. Plus, there’s the comeback winner, who I’m predicting will be Benji based on narrative expectation, but even then I could see his arc capping out at the final 6. What do y’all think?

Realistically, the answer is probably (and hopefully) no. However, despite Jesse Tannenbaum’s (I think that’s how you spell his last name) claim to the contrary, there is already less than 50% people of BIPOC descent in the house, and you can tell. It’s a far cry from the token minority days of the beginning of the show, but it’s still a change, and something I worry about could slowly snowball into a marked lack of diversity in the future.

I know I’m probably just paranoid and spitballing, but I wanted to know what y’all thought of this.

I’ve watched all 3 of her seasons and 2 of them on feeds (with one feeds season being from collected archival footage), and while it’s been established that in her debut season, she was portrayed as in the edited episodes and showed the capability to be thoroughly and completely unlikable, in 13 and 27, her problematic tendencies have been SEVERELY toned down and what “diva” behaviors she does exhibit usually fall into one of two categories: a) only once in a while, or b) heavily implied to be part of a character, given that her fellow houseguests and live feeders have been given more than a glimpse into her more positive attributes and and true character, and let’s be real, who acts like a showboating diva and says “these newbies are gonna bow to the queen whether they like it or not!” and while that’s not to say her negative and unlikable aspects are GONE, given that she has shown a marked ability to act like a mean girl from time to time, that can be used to propose the notion that they’ve gone away with time. Heavily supporting this fact is that she’s made up with most of the people she got into feuds and fights with in all three of her seasons (highlighted with the fact that Daniele Donato, Kelley Jorgensen, and Ragan Fox, who can all be considered her biggest collective rivals in her time in the BB house, have all either hinted or confirmed to burying the hatchet and making up with her either in the jury house or after the season is indicative of the fact that she isn’t nearly as petty as people would want you to believe.). Overall, the question im trying to ask is: if the people who were forced to LIVE with her for 90 days can bury the hatchet and move on, why can’t the fans? Seriously, I see people jeering for her downfall in, like, every other post I see about her. It’s been 15 years. People change and people grow, and it’s clear she has, so why not cut her some slack?

Plus, if my presumption is right and a lot of her difficult behavior is part of a character, it’s shown that she’s a good sport about the whole thing if she’s willing to continually come back for gags and special appearances, so why can’t we?

I think Sam will realize that Spencer, despite his obvious flaws, is a really hard player to take out and might find himself coming undone with each web he weaves with the same goal in mind.

Narratively Spencer works to contrast with Sam and Fiore facing off against him is less likely since Sam knows her tactics but he might be unprepared for whatever new she has in store. Plus Spencer is kinda tanking his game rn, so without plot armor, Fiore might outlast him.

(Repost from the main DC sub)

- One is essentially modeling the other in terms of how they play the game. For all the people like to compare Sam to Alejandro, people are forgetting that Sam is essentially playing what is a more polished version of Fiore’s game. They both hide under an innocent facade, intending to subtly do their dirty work behind the scenes to make it further into the game. However, while Fiore is more willing to get her hands directly dirty and leave everyone guessing when the time comes for her plans to have light shed on, Sam is more likely to plant seeds in one person and create a domino effect that will keep him safe in the long run while leaving everyone else scrambling in the meantime, making him arguably the more dangerous player.

- They are playing games that are quite similar, yet exhibiting characteristics that are quite different as of late. Ever since Alec’s been eliminated, Fiore’s play style has mainly consisted of playing mind games with other people to shoot themselves in the foot (ex. Spencer getting paranoid after Fiore’s monologue fucked with him last episode) and/or using whatever social skills she has to branch out and form new connections. Sam’s play style is quite similar to hers in that he is also more willing to play mind games with people, but as I said, his mind games are much more indirect and involve subtly planting much smaller seeds of doubt compared to Fiore over time and watching said plant bloom with his “nurturing and TLC”. However, while Sam to be getting more and more secretive, subtle hints (such as Fiore genuinely trying to comfort Natalia when she seemed distressed last episode and genuinely seeming proud when Ren managed to use her advice for good in episode 8) seem to suggest that Fiore is genuinely growing fond of socializing with other players, giving them a nice contrast.

- they’re more likely to work together compared to Spencer and Sam. Everyone remembers Aleheather as a rivalry, but they also forget they upon certain occasions, they could put aside their differences and come together to form what was probably the best alliance in TD history. Spencer seems like the type of player to out-and-out consider another player a black-and-white rival, while fiore has shown that she’s been willing to work with friend or foe (Miriam, Ellie, Grett, and Alec in S1, Ashley and Jake in S3, even though the latter resulted in her elimination.) to get further in the game, something that I feel Sam would be willing to do as time progresses, allowing them both to benefit each other in the short-term while they plan to rid each other of one another in the long-term.

Lastly, if we really want to talk about a villain/anti-hero duo, they’re much more compatible compared to Spencer and Sam due to the fact that Fiore has had time to grow and mellow out from her position as season 1’s main antagonist both gameplay-wise and personally, while Spencer is still fundamentally the same pompous jerk he was in CoC, even if his play style is slightly different. Anyways, that’s just my two cents, but I’m open to more opinions and ideas in the comments below.