Will Dual Survival fans give Joe Teti a chance?

They’re back!

Well, at least, Cody Lundin is back; Dave Canterbury is wherever he is, but he’s not back on Discovery Channel’s Dual Survival, much to the dismay of many viewers. And, the tension between Cody and new partner Joe Teti did not help bring viewers around to the new pairing.

There was often conflict between Dave and Cody on the show during the first two seasons—that was part of the fun. But, the conflict was typically good-natured. Last night, the conflict had a different vibe to it—but, does that make it negative, or just new and different?

Long-Term vs. Short-Term

Cody and Dave, while having different ways of getting there, were usually united on their goals. Their focus was typically together: getting to the end alive. Cody and Joe, however, seem to have not only different ways of getting there, they also seem to have different goals for tackling their survival challenges. Cody, a primitive survival and living specialist, looks at the overall picture, and seeks ways to get to the end alive and well. Joe, on the other hand, is a highly trained military specialist. As Discovery has indicated, Teti “is a veteran of both US military and US government special operations units. He is a former Force Recon Marine, Army Special Forces ‘Green Beret,’ and a former operator in a highly classified government counter-terrorist unit.” Watching him last night, it was clear: He does not breakdown his assignments into huge chunks, planning from beginning to end; he looks at the situation and seeks ways to get to the next minute alive—a completely different point of view, and one that perhaps only someone who has been placed in situations where their life is truly, constantly in jeopardy can understand.

Overacting?

Fans have already complained that Joe is “overacting,” but perhaps he is simply relating his training and experience to the situations at hand—something most of us really cannot understand. Yes, his reactions may appear extreme at times—such as when he killed the pig in the one-hour special Dual Survival: Unbraided—but would it not seem MORE surprising that his reactions were NOT extreme, given all of his training and years in the most elite areas of the military? That training is not something that one just throws away when they leave combat, so it doesn’t seem surprising—or unreasonable—that when Joe killed that pig—and, boy, did he kill it—he would have the wild-eyed reaction he did. Most of us have never been in a single situation where we have to be on the lookout for someone literally trying to ambush and kill us; but imagine if that were our daily lives for years on end. Is it unreasonable to think that our training might kick-in in such a violent situation, pig or otherwise, and that perhaps, for a moment, we might find ourselves back in an earlier moment of defending ourselves in a different time in our lives?

Psychology vs. Physiology

Cody and Joe are working together for the first time, and it just makes sense that they are going to hit some bumps in the road. And, when they are coming from such completely different modes of operation, there are going to be a lot of points of discussion, maybe heated, and times to compromise. But, that is the point of Dual Survival, right? Two people with different philosophies working together, even if it means one of them taking a swig of his own pee to get a “psychological edge” at the displeasure of the other, which should be enough to give anyone an idea of the extreme Joe is working from in his methods. And, while both agreed that drinking urine for hydration is not advised, even Cody stated, while still strongly disagreeing with the idea of drinking urine at all, that, “the psychology in many aspects does trump physiology.”

Just a chance?

Viewers are missing Dave, there is no doubt, but Dave is gone from Dual Survival, and he is not coming back anytime in the foreseeable future. Change in any form is difficult, but perhaps if we give Joe a chance to be Joe, we’ll start to see that there is a method to his madness. And, who knows? We might even begin to like him.

Thoughts? Sound off in the comment section below.

Dual Survival airs on Discovery Channel on Tuesday nights at 9/8c.

UPDATED: Did Cody, Joe turn trust-building corner in Hawaii?

Image: Discovery Channel