Survivor Blood v. Water: Take Two

[JirinPanthosa]

I wouldn't worry too much about the season starting gimmick. Since when have more than two tribes lasted further than week 4? It's all about the quality of the casting.

The locale is beautiful and I agree the challenges have been great this year. The casting might be among their worst ever. The cross-section of 'Boring' and 'Bad at the game'.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'm glad Natalie won. We got one of the good juries this time, one that voted for strategy and not spite. Other than Josh and Reed, I think the best option won.

 

[Yoda]

Reed with one of the all-time great final jury speeches right there, lol. It's too bad nobody called Missy out on her "your job is more important than that of a murder jury" speech. What a greedy, despicable creature. All in all a solid result for a season I had lost faith in.

 

[Timewalker]

I find myself loathing Missy with all her "poor me" crap and those endless camera shots of her cast, crutches, etc. If she wasn't able to compete in the challenges, they should have pulled her from the game. It's not right that she got to vote but didn't have to work for the privilege.

Natalie was my choice to win from almost the beginning, so I'm glad she did win.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

At least this subpar season ended with the right person winning, so that's good.

While I'm not a fan of Missy and Baylor and their antics either, I lost a lot of respect for Reed with his over-the-top rant that was more about personal digs and judgments rather than gameplay. It crossed the line from playing things up for the cameras to just being outright cruel. Missy has a lot of faults (the ridiculous "as important as a murder jury" comparison didn't help) but she's not a monster. Also, as Ike Clanton's* wife said, you don't lecture a mother on how to raise her child, especially when she's not even a child any more.

Then Reed followed that up with throwing away his vote on Jaclyn, who was in no way a better player than Natalie. He was supposed to be even more of a superfan than his boyfriend (just quieter about it) and all he did was make a whiny rant and wasted his vote.

That final immunity challenge was brutal. I'm amazed Keith and Natalie sucked so bad at the puzzle that Jaclyn caught up even after the fall injured her.

Aftershow Q&A went alright, but the audience participation stuff needs to go. The Make a Wish kid was okay, since he was funny and actually designed a challenge, but the rest was just painful to watch, like Probst expecting deep answers about a game show from a little girl or his stupid class warfare bullshit with the three most cliched audience plants in the world to promote next season.

* Seriously, I kept expecting Keith/Ike Clanton to tell Probst that "Law don't go around here, Mr. Kansas laaaaaw doggg. Savvy?"

 

[dansigal]

I'd be worried about next season's gimmick/theme except that Probst said that they didn't figure out the theme and then cast to it, rather this time they just the best people they could and then figured out a theme for separating them.

 

[Pegaritaville]

I'm glad Natalie won. I cringed when I first saw the twins were contestants, but her strong play won me over.

I wasn't too thrilled about the final tribal council. Outside of Reed's rant (admittedly he went a little too far) it was pretty tame. No hardball questions for the three- for the most part it was just the standard questions that have been asked in the past.

Missy's opening statement was a head scratcher- why she thought comparing sitting on a game show jury to serving on a murder trial jury was a good idea is beyond me. Delusions of self-importance there.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I find myself loathing Missy with all her "poor me" crap and those endless camera shots of her cast, crutches, etc. If she wasn't able to compete in the challenges, they should have pulled her from the game. It's not right that she got to vote but didn't have to work for the privilege.

Natalie was my choice to win from almost the beginning, so I'm glad she did win.

This I disagree with. The thing you want to see least in Survivor is people being pulled for medical. No point in lowering the standards for a medical evacuation when not being able to compete isn't an advantage.

 

[Garak]

I'm super curious as to what the theme for next season is going to be, Probst tweeted that it's going to be pretty good.

Take it with a huge grain of salt, but the rumor I've heard in a couple places is...

Spoiler: Survivor 30

- Three tribes.
- All newbies.
- Either Rich vs. Middle Class vs. Poor
or
- White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. Unemployed

Some kind of economic/class divide. Which I think they've done before in Haves vs. Have Nots, right?

It's interesting.....and I guess after 30 seasons you have to come up with something new. Apparently they're throwing in something new, similar to an immunity idol, that gives a player power in the game - they'd been toying around with the idea for some time apparently and finally decided to giver.

Glad Natalie won, that was such a solid move when she played the idol and got that dickhead Baylor voted out. Even though I wasn't particularly fond of Jackie, I have to give her respect for the come from behind win on that last challenge, it looked pretty intense. Good call by the jury though, that Reed guy is an awesome speaker, although maybe a bit harsh.

Not the best season, not the worst. I was definitely entertained. BRING ON SEASON 30.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Apparently they're throwing in something new, similar to an immunity idol, that gives a player power in the game - they'd been toying around with the idea for some time apparently and finally decided to giver.

Yeah, I heard about that, but not any hints about what it was.

Maybe something relating to the reward challenges instead, like an Immunity Idol counterpart for Rewards Challenges? Like either an idol that guarantees you a spot on a reward whenever you choose to use it, or one that allows you to veto someone else's chance to go on reward (or to steal their spot)? It could give you a chance to get to eat before an important immunity challenge or listen to other people strategize at a key time (or let's you prevent opponents from strategizing by sitting in on their reward).

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think Reed is just the kind of guy who feels the spotlight on him and needs to perform. He remembers the most memorable jury speeches like Sue's 'Dying of thirst in the desert' speech and wanted to make his own.

If there's a new power in the game it'll probably be elimination related or the audience wouldn't care. Double votes? Cancel someone's vote? Control someone's vote? Bring somebody back of your choosing? (I really hope it's not) eliminate somebody of your choosing without a majority?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Looks like the Amazing Race topic is gone so might as well post this here.

I like Amy & Maya as people but is anyone else annoyed that the winner needed a fortunate rule change to win? I kind of feel like, even though as people they are awesome, they are the least deserving winners since Flo & Zach in season 3 threatened to quit the entire way through and got saved by non elimination legs twice in a row.

I don't like the idea of having five teams meet for the first time for the race next season. You'd think they'd have learned their lesson after Mark & Mallory.

 

[dansigal]

I def don't like the rule change. Specifically that they didn't give the winner anything for the second to last leg, there was no penalty for the team to finish last, and that they let them all then catch up in the airport. Essentially that second to last leg wasn't a leg at all. Wrestler girl was right to be annoyed, what was the point of it?

That being said, while Maya and Amy weren't the best team in the race, they were the best team in the final leg, and it was a pretty challenging final leg/final challenge, they earned it in that regard. I enjoyed seeing them win.

I get what they are trying to do with the couples meeting for the first time, but I think the Race is what the Race is, leave the social experimentations to Survivor.

 

[Timewalker]

Looks like the Amazing Race topic is gone so might as well post this here.

I like Amy & Maya as people but is anyone else annoyed that the winner needed a fortunate rule change to win? I kind of feel like, even though as people they are awesome, they are the least deserving winners since Flo & Zach in season 3 threatened to quit the entire way through and got saved by non elimination legs twice in a row.

I don't like the idea of having five teams meet for the first time for the race next season. You'd think they'd have learned their lesson after Mark & Mallory.

Thank you for not putting the winners of The Amazing Race in spoiler tags in the Survivor thread...

I guess I'd better go watch it over on ctv.ca before there's any more discussion.

EDIT: Okay, I'm caught up.

So, the female wrestler can't figure out how to tell basic directions like north, south, east, and west? Were they trying to navigate during noon hour?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Sorry about that, for a moment I forgot 2014 was different from 1998. :\

 

[Timewalker]

You've lost me.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I mean, in 1998 for a serial reality show you could assume after a show airs in all time zones that everybody either already seen it or no longer has the ability to see it. Some people might have programmed a VCR to tape it but after 24 hours they wouldn't have the expectation of not being spoiled for the sort of show like a serial reality show that is time sensitive in its enjoyability.

The ability to catch up on a show on the internet at will is a fairly new phenomenon, and people who grew up in the 90s might forget the fact that the spoiler window is longer than it used to be.

 

[Timewalker]

M-kay. I have no way to record these shows, so I have to wait until the next day when they're available online, when they're there for the week. Canadians don't get the privilege of Hulu.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Canadians don't get the privilege of Hulu.

It's probably not worth it, but if you're interested, there's a workaround to watch Hulu in Canada, but you have to pay for a VPN service, which essentially makes Hulu or other geo-blocked services think your computer is located in the US so you can watch them.

http://www.howtogetitincanada.com/how-to-watch-hulu-in-canada/

 

[Timewalker]

Canadians don't get the privilege of Hulu.

It's probably not worth it, but if you're interested, there's a workaround to watch Hulu in Canada, but you have to pay for a VPN service, which essentially makes Hulu or other geo-blocked services think your computer is located in the US so you can watch them.

http://www.howtogetitincanada.com/how-to-watch-hulu-in-canada/

Thanks for the link. It's interesting that the most recent comments seem to be from two years ago; I wonder if the service is still running.