AFTER ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN DAYS: What does it take to win Survivor? [spoiler-protecting page break removed]
YES! YESYESYES! Not only did Boston Rob win, but Philip delivered one of the most entertaining final tribals ever, capped off with David's closing argument telling the jury what we all knew to be true: you can't play a better game than what Rob Mariano did this season. "Genius," as David said, "is what that was."
That brilliance was extended to the very end: Rob hand-picked a pair to join him in the finals who could not win -- the sycophant and the psycho. The needle: threaded. (I think that was an 8-1-0 vote.)
The only thing that could have made that better? I missed the absence of the Dead Homies sequence. But damn that was one fine season of television.
added: Rob talks to EW: "I didn’t tell anything to Amber either. Obviously I came home and I’m 150 pounds. She knows my sister went out for the family visit so she knows I went deep, but she didn’t know. I actually led her to believe that I was voted out at the final four. So last night when she was backstage in the green room with the kids — she’s watching the last challenge and she sees that I win the last challenge and I’m going to be in the finals. And all of a sudden things start clicking in her head. It was nine months of me keeping a secret and the payoff was worth it."
Matt Zoller Seitz: "Mariano's greatest gift was his ability to make every player he allies himself with feel as though they were the confidant and co-conspirator who was special and wonderful and different from all the others and would never, ever be betrayed.... His dominance was so total that after a certain point, it became obvious not only that he was probably going to win, but that there would be no traditional suspense this season -- just the more detached sort of excitement that comes from watching a master do his thing."
added: The unaired Fallen Comrades sequence.
Woohoo!!!
ReplyDeleteProbst with an error in the Reunion: Burton (Pearl Islands), not Matt, was first player to be blindsided 2x.
ReplyDelete(Also, it's 10:30p and Russell hasn't spoken yet. Wh-hoo!)<span> </span>
Plus, the Bulls delivered a wonderful butt-kicking on the Heat, coupled with a Bad Teacher ad in the fourth quarter that involves Jason Segal verbally smacking down a kid trying to claim LeBron is better than Jordan (<span>"IT'S THE ONLY ARGUMENT I NEED, SHAWN!") Truly a glorious night.</span>
ReplyDeleteWait, you missed the Dead Homies sequence? I thought its absence tonight was one of the only strong arguments in favor of the Redemption Island format. Anyway: Woo-hooooo!
ReplyDeleteNext season: back to Samoa. Redemption Island again, and two more veterans come back. Can I make a pitch for Dolphin Trainer Ian to be one?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Matt from Redemption Island is one of the returning people. If Russell is the other one I might vomit. Would love to see Ian again though!
ReplyDeleteAs I was coming back to the computer, that occurred to me as well: I'd be perfectly happy to see Matt come back. But how about giving some women another chance? How about Jenna Morasca and Sue Hawk, both of whom left All-Stars involuntarily?
ReplyDeleteI loved the moment, during Final Tribal, when after yet another brutal bashing of Natalie, Boston Rob turned to her and basically, don't worry, they'll be all smiles with you later (and they were).
ReplyDeleteIt was a perfect example that Rob understood everything was simply part of the game, including petulant, unfair rants.
I'm thrilled! And agree that I'd love to see Ian again. Less psyched about the Matt idea - he bores me (though does look v cute w the short hair!)
ReplyDeleteAlso, was I the only one who loved the final immunity challenge? Felt like a return to the tough courses from early seasons (before bowling and shuffleboard became acceptable...).
Though Jenna already won the million (Amazon), so maybe not her.
ReplyDeleteI never thought I'd say this, but I did kind of miss the fallen comrades walk, if only b/c Philip would've had some hilarious comments...
ReplyDeleteI want to see a season of 16 people who won previous seasons.
ReplyDeleteThought it would've been a nice reward for Matt to win the Sprint $100,000, but I don't feel too bad for him, you know, since he's ridiculously good-looking, long-hair or short (I mean, Andrea couldn't even forumlate a sentence looking at him).
ReplyDeleteForget Survivor: South Pacific, I want a buddy reality show with Philip and Ralph.
Well played sir, that was brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI think I was more excited about David's final tribal council speech than Carolina was about his proposal... Otherwise. a great end to one of the more enjoyable seasons of late.
Jeff Probst got a little snippy there with the BostonRob spawn. "If you need to leave, we understand." Well, yes, but the tone was more "if Hawkeye Pierce doesn't do something about those children, the North Koreans are going to find us."
ReplyDeleteI'm a loyal Survivor viewer...but if the two returning are Russell and Phillip, I'm out. Would love to see Ian, or maybe some first boots from previous season.
ReplyDeleteHow about, for season 25, returing to the original location and running the exact same challenges, rewards, etc?
ReplyDeleteAny chance one of the returnees is Erik from Micronesia in attempt to redeem himself from one of the dumbest moves ever on Survivor?
ReplyDeleteIf you're talking about the guy who gave up his immunity idol to the coven, I thought that's who it looked like too.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I've been spoiled for different finales different ways, but I really didn't expect it to be by 8:15 pm PDT, and merely by opening up google reader and seeing the first line of the first blog blurbed in the center pane.
Hope that wasn't this one -- I thought I pushed it back enough in the post.
ReplyDeleteit was here, but now I feel bad complaining about it if you tried to avoid it in the first place. Just a reminder to myself not to look at the internet on finale night.
ReplyDeleteSorry. How much of the text came through on the feed?
ReplyDeleteAppreciate you asking. I believe it was, "AFTER ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN DAYS: What does it take to win Survivor? YES! YESYESYES! Not only did Boston Rob win, but Philip delivered one of the most entertaining"
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched a full season since Australia (I can't believe this was season 22!), and I only knew about Rob and Russell from catching a few odd episodes here and there, but I have to say, I don't see how anyone could have delivered a better season than Rob. I'm not surprised that he was a psych major -- he really did understand where people were coming from and how to handle them (his comments about Philip at the reunion really underscored how smart his game was). And the experience from past seasons means that we got some incredibly entertaining confessionals. I felt like he was winking at us the entire time. His win was well earned and satisfying, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know much about Russell, but based on what I've seen, I am shocked that he won a fan favorite vote. How did that happen? Was he entertaining as a "villain" player or something?
I'm a little worried that David will get dumped by his new fiancee. She didn't seem that into him, although maybe it was just the public nature of the whole thing. I'm not a fan of the public proposal -- I saw a woman say "no" once on the Today Show and it was excruciating. Luckily for the rejected guy, the guests on the show were Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, and they felt so bad that they invited him to the premiere of whatever film they were promoting.
I'm actually excited for another season with Redemption Island, and I sort of like the idea of Matt coming back. If he can show that he's learned how to play the social game, that will certainly qualify as "redemption" for game purposes.
Finally, I have a crush on Steve. I felt I had to share.
Thoroughly dominant Rob performance, and I loved every minute of his screen time. I worried he might be too egotistical to play the HII, or let his paranoia overwhelm him, but he's grown up a lot, become seasoned, and it showed.
ReplyDeleteProbst was being an asshole about the kids, though. For real. He said that like my own grandboss would, e.g., "Could you shut your f'ing brats up? I'm running a SHOW here."
And finally -- I haaaaaate Russell now (despite loving his game the first time he was on), but seriously, DO you guys regret throwing a challenge? DO YA? (Also, Ms Firefighter and Honorable Mother, remember how you THREW A CHALLENGE? Those who live in glass houses ...).
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