COME ON IN, GUYS: Other than the joy of seeing the first guy eliminated claim to have played the Best Game Ever (and the glorious return of the Dead Homies parade), there isn't that much to say about last night's Survivor finale, is there? The right person won, for the the right reasons, and it was even more impressive because....
Kim didn't need to (a) use her Hidden Immunity Idol or (b) bring Christina into the finals as an obvious undeserving goat. Think about it: Boston Rob, for all his awesomeness in Redemption Island, wasn't confident enough to bring his closest ally, Grant, into the finals with him. Yes, it takes skill to manipulate votes to get the weakest two in to the final tribal with you, but I'm more wowed by Kim's confidence in saying, in effect, "it doesn't matter who else comes into the final council; I still deserve to win."
So I had a slight fear that she had made the same mistake as Colby Donaldson, who had been just as dominant in his season, and made the same decision in bringing Tina Wesson into the finals with him instead of the irascible Keith Famie. He lost 5-2; Kim won 7-2-0. She knew her jury, and richly deserves her success.
Just four months until the Return of Skupin (and, apparently, Jonathan Penner and Russell Swan, neither of whose original seasons I've seen, but I know I'm supposed to like Penner, right?)
Skupin was an a-hole, but a deserving a-hole and it would have been really interesting to see how his season played out. Russell was similar in that I think his social game would have eventually ended his run, but he was a hard worker. Penner was an interesting guy who initially started out as a pawn and then realized he had screwed himself and switch allegence. I don't know how I feel about him coming back. he was evacuated his second time around, not his first, and he's one of the leading vote getters in Survivor history. I am actually surprised they didn't go for someone like Coulton this time. On the other hand, the less I see of Coulton, the better.
ReplyDeletePenner is fantastic - funny guy, good in challenges and socially, and most important for the show (after this past season of mostly dunderheads) - he's a great narrator. He will reliably give good interview, which I think the editors appreciate. Also, Probst loves him despite the fact that he isn't 25 and uber-buff.
ReplyDeleteCurious to see Skupin v. 2.0. I remember at his reunion show he seemed to have had a huge spiritual awakening after falling in the fire and so I wonder if he'll be a kinder gentler version of himself or if he'll revert to King of the Jungle mode.
Never got enough of an impression of Russell Swan to have an opinion, but I trust that the producers know what they're doing.
As for last night - Adam, I completely agree: Kim's win was all the sweeter because she stuck to her original alliance rather than going with the goats. I think, however, she realized that Alicia could actually have beaten her had she taken Christina and Alicia to the end - bitter jury and all that.
Was impressed with Alicia's self-awareness at the reunion. Was not impressed with Colton, though his mom's immense embarrassment re: her son's behavior was pretty awesome. Seemed to be a kind of dark backstory there, though, that Probst did NOT want to get into on live TV...
I thought I heard Probst say 4 players who had been medically evacuated would be returning, which I assumed were Penner, Russel, Skupin and Colton. I'm hoping I misheard, because I'm not sure I can watch another season with the racist southern belle.
ReplyDeleteOh, man, it better not be Colton. Rumors I heard only said Swan/Penner/Skupin, but who knows. I do NOT want that racist on my TV ever again.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that might suggest no Colton is how puffy he looked on the reunion. He either didn't get far enough for the effects of little food to show or didn't go.
ReplyDeleteShocker that: Probst thinks the season the woman dominated was "a bit of a letdown." http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/05/14/survivor-one-world-jeff-probst-finale-kim/
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