Phew, disaster averted. I spent most of the first hour and 15 minutes rolling my eyes, yelling "puke," and flipping off Brad every time he appeared on the screen.
As discussed on Survivor Know it Alls, Advantagegeddon did, in fact, take place, with one of the predicted outcomes happening: everyone become immune from votes leaving only one outsider as the only person available to go home. As a viewer it was pretty incredible to watch, as a person rooting for Cirie (even Borrowed-Time-Cirie) it was really disappointing. While I'm not opposed, necessarily, to all the idols and gimmicky advantages being in the game I do lament that the effect was that a serious contender for getting the win was the casualty of it.
The reason I'm not totally opposed to all the advantages being in the game is because so much of the time they are played well before a situation like this could happen. It just so happened this season that you got people who held on to their idols coupled with an advantage that had a weirdly specific caveat imposed on it: Sarah could only use it at final 6, and Sierra could have only used it at 13 or 6. I shutter to think, though, what would have happened if Cirie hadn't forced Sarah into using her vote steal and that, too, had come into play at Advantagegeddon...
Before I move on, Troyzan claiming he had a shot to beat anyone of the final 5 at final tribal was completely laughable.
Moving on...
I rather liked the new final tribal format. I liked the conversational aspect of it and the players' ability to talk to each other and to the final three to work out who the best, or most deserving, final contestant to win would be.
Of course Ozzy, the guy who thinks fishing should win you the million, would champion Brad, the guy who matched Ozzy's immunity-win record.
Ozzy is not a great player, I'm just gonna say it. He's stuck in Old School Survivor and the game has evolved way beyond him. I hope he doesn't become the first 5-time player.
And of course Looney Tunes Debbie would champion Brad as well because "I grew up with three brothers and was in the military..."
I'm glad Zeke wasn't a Bitter Betty toward Sarah and appreciated her game play. I wasn't overly worried about him being able to overcome bitterness because he does appreciate the game so much, but it was still good to see.
Weepy Andrea gets on my nerves.
Aubry's "Fuck You All" look on the way into Final Tribal was everything
It's kind of a shame that Brad took such a terrible, asshole turn in this last episode with his bullying of Tai to give him the idol and passing decrees to Tai about what he has to do. I think if that hadn't happened I would have been mildly okay-ish with a Brad win... I mean, if it absolutely had to happen. As it stands, though, Brad became a total shit right at the end and did one of the stupidest things a final three contestant could do: he sent a player to the jury who he belittled, patronized and bullied as the last jury member, and a person who is generally loved by the other players (even if he was a waffley game player, people love Tai), because Brad felt personally slighted by him. Dumb move, Brad.
I think it might be worth going back in the season to tally up all of Sarah's votes because it was brought up by Zeke that she was always on the right side of the votes. The only time I think this wasn't true was at Advantagegeddon: Sarah got three of the six votes, Tai got two and Aubry got one, so the only time she wasn't in the voting majority happened to be the one time this season it didn't matter which was a stroke of luck.
Overall, I thought this was a good season. The first half was definitely epic, there was only, to my memory, one ho-hum tribal (when Caleb went out - was he really a game changer? He only got in because of his reality TV cred...), the rest were pretty good. I've heard critique that this season lacked an overall narrative that held it together, but I think Sarah's story provided it. She was featured in the beginning by presenting her Criminal-Not-Cop philosophy, used the premerge to build relationships and bond with people and then really exploded onto the game playing scene around the merge and exploited her relationships to her advantage.
Sarah was by far the clear winner of this season and I'm so, so, so glad she won.
I think the number of gimmicks was somewhat appropriate to the season: Game Changers.
Also, IIRC, there was a similar number of advantages in Cambodia (Second Chances), the advantages just weren't hoarded like they were this season: There were multiple hidden immunity idols
there was a vote steal that season
And I thought one more, but now I can't remember... The Legacy Advantage didn't come into the game until Millenials v Gen X last season.
I don't know... I think that after, what? 20 seasons involving hidden immunity idols that having a season with none would be interesting... Maybe, like Debbie was offered, they find "fake idol kits" or go full Bob/Joey Amazing and make their own fake idols. It would at least be something to consider after so many seasons of complications being added to the game.
Seasons with the arbitrary tribe divisions are gimmicky to me, and I agree that these aren't even the best ways to divide people up. Brains, Beauty, Brawn made some sort of sense as they already exist as divisions within the wider culture, and White Collar, Blue Collar, No Collar also imposed an interesting philosophical overtone to those seasons. The season where they divided the contestants by race was... seriously questionable - honestly, who thought that was a good idea? But I think I like seasons where there's a school-yard pick'em for the first tribes and the overarching theme of the season is broad, like Game Changes, Second Chances, etc. It's not necessary to have these arbitrary divisions, IMO.
As discussed on Survivor Know it Alls, Advantagegeddon did, in fact, take place, with one of the predicted outcomes happening: everyone become immune from votes leaving only one outsider as the only person available to go home. As a viewer it was pretty incredible to watch, as a person rooting for Cirie (even Borrowed-Time-Cirie) it was really disappointing. While I'm not opposed, necessarily, to all the idols and gimmicky advantages being in the game I do lament that the effect was that a serious contender for getting the win was the casualty of it.
The reason I'm not totally opposed to all the advantages being in the game is because so much of the time they are played well before a situation like this could happen. It just so happened this season that you got people who held on to their idols coupled with an advantage that had a weirdly specific caveat imposed on it: Sarah could only use it at final 6, and Sierra could have only used it at 13 or 6. I shutter to think, though, what would have happened if Cirie hadn't forced Sarah into using her vote steal and that, too, had come into play at Advantagegeddon...
Before I move on, Troyzan claiming he had a shot to beat anyone of the final 5 at final tribal was completely laughable.
Moving on...
I rather liked the new final tribal format. I liked the conversational aspect of it and the players' ability to talk to each other and to the final three to work out who the best, or most deserving, final contestant to win would be.
Of course Ozzy, the guy who thinks fishing should win you the million, would champion Brad, the guy who matched Ozzy's immunity-win record.
Ozzy is not a great player, I'm just gonna say it. He's stuck in Old School Survivor and the game has evolved way beyond him. I hope he doesn't become the first 5-time player.And of course Looney Tunes Debbie would champion Brad as well because "I grew up with three brothers and was in the military..."
I'm glad Zeke wasn't a Bitter Betty toward Sarah and appreciated her game play. I wasn't overly worried about him being able to overcome bitterness because he does appreciate the game so much, but it was still good to see.
Weepy Andrea gets on my nerves.
Aubry's "Fuck You All" look on the way into Final Tribal was everything
It's kind of a shame that Brad took such a terrible, asshole turn in this last episode with his bullying of Tai to give him the idol and passing decrees to Tai about what he has to do. I think if that hadn't happened I would have been mildly okay-ish with a Brad win... I mean, if it absolutely had to happen. As it stands, though, Brad became a total shit right at the end and did one of the stupidest things a final three contestant could do: he sent a player to the jury who he belittled, patronized and bullied as the last jury member, and a person who is generally loved by the other players (even if he was a waffley game player, people love Tai), because Brad felt personally slighted by him. Dumb move, Brad.
I think it might be worth going back in the season to tally up all of Sarah's votes because it was brought up by Zeke that she was always on the right side of the votes. The only time I think this wasn't true was at Advantagegeddon: Sarah got three of the six votes, Tai got two and Aubry got one, so the only time she wasn't in the voting majority happened to be the one time this season it didn't matter which was a stroke of luck.
Overall, I thought this was a good season. The first half was definitely epic, there was only, to my memory, one ho-hum tribal (when Caleb went out - was he really a game changer? He only got in because of his reality TV cred...), the rest were pretty good. I've heard critique that this season lacked an overall narrative that held it together, but I think Sarah's story provided it. She was featured in the beginning by presenting her Criminal-Not-Cop philosophy, used the premerge to build relationships and bond with people and then really exploded onto the game playing scene around the merge and exploited her relationships to her advantage.
Sarah was by far the clear winner of this season and I'm so, so, so glad she won.
(May 25, 2017 at 1:29 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Well, that turned out about how I expected once the shitstorm of idols blew over. Best player of the final five won. I have to wonder how it would have turned out if someone who actually got a vote in the first tribal of the final went home.
Too many gimmicks in this one, IMO.
I think the number of gimmicks was somewhat appropriate to the season: Game Changers.
Also, IIRC, there was a similar number of advantages in Cambodia (Second Chances), the advantages just weren't hoarded like they were this season: There were multiple hidden immunity idols
there was a vote steal that season
And I thought one more, but now I can't remember... The Legacy Advantage didn't come into the game until Millenials v Gen X last season.
(May 25, 2017 at 1:52 am)c172 Wrote: I think at times it almost seemed senseless to even do anything gamewise, since gimmicks were always thrown in. But take too much of that out and it gets boring.
I don't know... I think that after, what? 20 seasons involving hidden immunity idols that having a season with none would be interesting... Maybe, like Debbie was offered, they find "fake idol kits" or go full Bob/Joey Amazing and make their own fake idols. It would at least be something to consider after so many seasons of complications being added to the game.
(May 25, 2017 at 1:57 am)Whateverist Wrote: I'm glad the next one won't have anyone returning. But the categories seem uneven and lame. Is "Hustlers" really a plausible alternate to Heros and Healers?
Seasons with the arbitrary tribe divisions are gimmicky to me, and I agree that these aren't even the best ways to divide people up. Brains, Beauty, Brawn made some sort of sense as they already exist as divisions within the wider culture, and White Collar, Blue Collar, No Collar also imposed an interesting philosophical overtone to those seasons. The season where they divided the contestants by race was... seriously questionable - honestly, who thought that was a good idea? But I think I like seasons where there's a school-yard pick'em for the first tribes and the overarching theme of the season is broad, like Game Changes, Second Chances, etc. It's not necessary to have these arbitrary divisions, IMO.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
