I initially wasn't going to post my thoughts on the finale, mainly due to the fact that I feel like many people have already stated these points. I feel like at this point I'm beating a dead horse; but the more I think about the finale, the more it upsets me.
I want to start off by saying I wanted Mike to win, even though I believe he played a very messy game. I won't go into how is game is messy, because I believe it is obvious and it doesn't have anything to do with my distaste for the finale. The only reason I wanted Mike to win out of the final 5 was that I felt the final 5 was extremely unlikable except for him. I only state this so I don't look like a butt hurt Chrissy fan when I say that she was robbed.
I will quickly say though that Devon is super overrated. Him splitting the vote on Mike wasn't an excellent smart move. I genuinely think Devon acted like he knew a lot more than he really did, and was an idiot. His split vote on Mike was paranoia, not strategic game play. Good for him though, he would have gone home otherwise so I can't be too harsh on him for that.
I want to talk about Ben's idols. That annoyed the piss out of me. I do not in anyway believe that Ben played a good game. He relied too heavily on hidden immunity idols getting him too far. I then asked myself if I was a hypocrite, because I personally liked Mike from Worlds Apart and felt that he was a deserving winner (although Carolyn would've been a good winner as well). I realized I wasn't being a hypocrite, because Mike did something to stay in the game that Ben didn't, play the game. Unlike Mike, Ben didn't win any challenges to stay safe, and he also never tried forming alliances or relationships to get himself out of the hole he was in. Once an idol was found, why was Ben not trying to form cracks in the alliance? He was in a hole and relied on his idols to get him to final 4, that if that stupid advantage didn't exist, he would have been fucked at tribal council.
I think the majority of people agree that the final 4 "advantage" was absolutely bullshit. It in no way benefited the person who had it. Had Devon beat Ben in the fire making, he could have taken full credit for taking out Ben, and Chrissy would have been robbed again. I read an interview where Probst stated it was a solution to fix the issue of a strong player being voted out at final 4 due to the fact everyone knowing they were unbeatable at the end. I'm sure this was made in comparison to David getting 4th on Millennials vs Gen X, even though I believe David could have done more to stay. When I read this, I immediately thought of Natalie Anderson from San Juan Del Sur, and how she was the clear winner out of the final 4. She was somehow able to convince Jaclyn and Missy to take her to the final 3, even though she was the clear cut winner out of them! So I disagree with Probst, I believe a good enough player can get themselves into the final 3, even without the hidden immunity necklace.
Now I want to address final tribal council. I don't have too much to say about this. While watching I was very frustrated. I've felt for a while that Ryan was an underappreciated mastermind, and Chrissy was really following his lead, so I'm glad he kind of brought this up. I do think around the time they cut Ben out of their alliance is really when Chrissy took control. What really pissed me off is that I felt like this jury was kind of stupid. I almost stopped liking Mike when he told Ben he was one of the greatest Survivor players of all time. I was bothered because this jury associated the fact that Ben found a shit ton of idols as good game play, dismissing Chrissy's challenge wins and strategic game play. Also when Mike asked Ben why he deserved to win, I got extremely upset that his reason was that "he was a vet and it'd send a message". How did that not lose him votes? Were people afraid that they'd look shitty if they didn't vote for him? Ben being a vet had nothing to do with game he played. I'm upset he got away with using that as an excuse as to why he should win.
Now to the reunion show. What the fuck was the point of getting the entire cast together for that? It was literally all about Ben and PTSD. I'm glad that they brought awareness to PTSD, but why was the whole show dedicated to that? I think I saw someone on here (can't remember who, but I'm not hating just disagreeing) say that last year the entire show was centered around Zeke being trans. I don't recall that being the case. It was brought up, which I think is fine, because they talked to other people and it wasn't just about Zeke.
Finally I want to address the theme for next season. The preview got me super fucking stoked, until it was addressed it was all new players. That makes no sense. Why is the curses of past players, effecting a new bunch? Shouldn't it be up to the past players to reverse their own curse? Had the rest of the finale went fine, I wouldn't have bitched as much about this. I was just already in such an annoyed state because of everything else that this was the annoying cherry on top.
Not that my blog bitching was asked for, or anyone cares. I just wanted a nice outlet to vent :)
Please feel free to disagree with me, I'd love to hear multiple arguments. #Survivor
Comments
On the bright side concerning the new season, there isn't any shitty tribe division twist. It's just normal people and we won't have some theme shoved down our throats (Except maybe the past mistakes thing)
overall agree , i wanted to mike to win out of the final five too !
i agree with what ya say , but i would ' ve voted for ben bc of how he got there , iconic , no matter how rigged it looks , i mean , hey , if they were against me , what ' s the point of trying to make alliances and stuff , ben didn ' t waste his breath tryna make pacts that obvs weren ' t gonna happen , he was that much of a target , idk he made h v h v h more interesting to watch imo
if idols are out there , aye take advantage , and that ' s what ben did , i ' m pretty sure tai and ben got the same amount of idols in there season ( ? )
plus this goes for someone who never liked chrissy and i kinda thought she was rude when she had that whole 8 person alliance and i kinda felt that was alittle overconfident , which is another reason i ' d vote for ben , chrissy killed the ftc tho , i was disappointed in ben in ftc .
