New season starts tomorrow. Last season felt like a waste of time to me for the first time in a long time, so hopefully this one will be better.
Thanks for the heads up. The last season left me cold, too, but I’ll give this a shot. Plus Davey & Goliath!
I’m not a fan of Survivor’s opening episodes, but that one was really good. I couldn’t believe that they were spending so much time in the first episode, just letting us get to know the people on the show. Of course, I found out at the end why they could afford to do that with the run-time of the episode. Usually a huge portion of the episode is reserved for after the immunity challenge, and the scheming that goes on, and then tribal council. By avoiding that, they were able to actually show us both tribes of players and it worked out really well.
I’ve not finished the episode yet, but so far I’m liking Cochran 2.0, his nerd girlfriend, and the woman with the purple hair. The wrestler needs to STFU about how awesome he is.
And when will people learn that taking charge and barking orders when building the shelter is almost always a short path to an early exit?
Been a great season so far, and today’s episode was the best so far. Great gameplay and top notch editing and music to maximize the suspense. Excellent.
Agreed. I’'m still rooting for Cochran 2.0, but with everyone gunning for him I doubt he’ll last much longer.
This season has been very good, especially after at least a couple of really dud seasons. The season gimmick has paid off in unexpected ways, and the casting has just been terrific. This might be the best ensemble cast for a season ever - so many interesting, and likeable, characters - and everyone playing reasonably smart to great. I can’t think of a season where the final dozen characters were all at least possible contenders and the editing has been relatively even, giving away less than usual, although obviously there are frontrunners.
But yesterday’s episode really took this season up a notch - that was one of the best single episodes the show has ever seen. Great strategy, everyone acting reasonably and making good strategic decisions, including at least 3 moves that were the best possible decisions by individuals whom I didn’t think were capable of making them - all 3 exceeding expectations in that spot. Fantastic episode, which shows again by the series has enjoyed such longevity - it’s just an amazing psychological game, which I like as much as any sport.
Another great episode tonight. It’s been so interesting to watch this season having all these relationships develop when the tribe got split that seemed so genuine, and then for them all to gradually go away as Mike and then the girl this week come to their own revelations about staying with the Goliath tribe after all. It’s sort of the reverse of what we’re used to seeing on this show, since revelations usually go the other way.
It’s pretty exciting to see the David tribe come together as a result of this too. The two black guys David and … I forget the guy with the thinner face’s name, Carl? Anyway, the two of them have been playing so great these last two episodes. Carl? was just perfect at tribal council when he said that it’s up to the Goliaths, the Davids are at their mercy. That’s some great acting! He was so believable at that instance.
So it was a nice moment for the Davids to actually get closer together and actually share all their information and tools, which let them strategize to basically orchestrate this tribal council.
And Gabby fails her NerdCred roll by referring to the Davids as the “good guys” and not the light side.
This has been a better season than the last few. Christian has certainly been entertaining in his confessionals. When I saw the episode title of “Breadth-First Search”, it was obvious it was a quote from Christian although I figured it would be him from him explaining how he solved a puzzle so quickly and rather than his idol hunting strategy.
Christian has certainly been a hoot. I hope he makes it to the end.
No matter how he does, Christian seems like the kind of player who is destined to be on the show 2 more times. This season has a ton of players who would be good returning players.
Dan isn’t one of those, but considering he was probably the most annoying guy left and yet was still interesting and had some colour to his background - shows the quality of the season. Aside from getting pouty-faced this season a bit, he really didn’t do anything wrong - was solid in challenges, was part of a seemingly dominant alliance, got 2 immunity idols – and, more importantly, actually used them in spots that were sensible to do so (technically the first use wasn’t needed as the votes were split against member of his alliance who he didn’t protect, but he was correct to sense that one needed to be played and protected the most likely target) - and then used another again, correctly, only to have it counterfeited by a new ability that was also correctly played. In many other seasons he would have looked like a superstar for using 2 idols in successive weeks and saving himself and another alliance player, and yet he instead got busted off the show without really making a mistake. Shows how relevant luck still is in a game. But no more than in other skill games, like poker.
Nick has been quite perceptive at sussing out what is really going down. In the first episode, it didn’t look like he was going to make it past the first vote.
Ugh. “Loved ones” episode. I’ve posted this before, but with $! million on the line, as much as I love Ruth, I think I could handle being away from her for a month without becoming an emotional cripple.
“So, Christian, what kind of a woman would want you for a boyfriend?” Fuck you, Probst, you condescending prick.
Yeah, the moment Christian’s girlfriend walked out, I was thinking “oh shit, how is Gabby going to take this?” Sure enough, she was gunning for Christian the rest of the episode, and I was so glad to see her go at the end. She was a very frustrating player to watch, even to root for, because her social observations seem a little haywire. She was the one who wanted Karl off last week, and Christian took the heat for it and got people against him. Of course, she took that to mean that he was getting the credit for it.
While that’s certainly true, it’s a weird way to try to win the game.
I noticed that even though David was instrumental in saving Christian this week, he still voted against him in tribal. Perhaps that was the plan? He doesn’t reveal himself to be working with Christian when he plays the idol. It was Kristina and Mike that voted for Gabby, which must have been their backup plan in case the idol got played.
I don’t see how Christian can stay in the game long now unless he gets some good alliance members soon. Gabby being gone should actually help him with that quite a bit.
I definitely got a “woman scorned” vibe, but then started thinking I was just being sexist. Good to know it’s not just me.
Well, let’s say we take her at her word, seeing him with his girlfriend is still what put the thought in her head.
Let me preface this by saying I don’t really watch Survivor so I’m not really sure how things work on the show, outside of the most general concepts. But my wife watches, and I happened to look up from my computer a couple of times and I saw someone on the show and thought, hey is that Mike White the filmmaker? But he was being treated just like any other player, so I thought maybe I’m wrong? Do they occasionally have I guess semi-famous people on the island?
Heh. It’s true, they do. And yes, that’s Mike White. He was on Amazing Race with his dad, which is when I first got to know him in reality TV terms, not just from being the writer of School of Rock. And now he’s on this season of Survivor as a “Goliath”, meaning someone who has made it in life, I suppose.
He probably got cast based on his performance on TAR