Game of Thrones

I blogged several years ago about my dream casting for the HBO series, knowing full well that they’d never cast the people I wanted because a) they’re mostly movie stars they can’t afford, and b) HBO doesn’t care what I think. At least not when it comes to casting.

Those blog posts ended up getting more comments than any other blogs I’ve written. (Apparently the online community cares more about Game of Thrones than Survivor.) While I really enjoyed creating my own casting lists, one of the main reasons I did it was because I wanted to write my own dream scenario down before HBO went and ruined it.

I had low expectations going into the TV series of my favorite book series. There are only very rare situations where a movie/show ever did a book justice. I thought that I’d watch the TV series but only out of loyalty to the books, not because I would really like the show itself. Turns out I’m dead wrong.

I love the show Game of Thrones and I am thrilled that they’ve already signed on for a second season. Ben and I went on a binge this weekend – we were 5 episodes behind, so I had 5 hours of bliss to catch up on. The show takes on a huge challenge of tackling a book that has a massive cast of characters, and somehow successfully integrates all of their stories into one cohesive storyline. I didn’t think this was possible, which was one of my main doubts about the show.

Happily, the author George RR Martin worked for some years in the script-writing industry, and appears to have written the books in a way that can easily be translated onto the small screen. For that, and for completing the 5th book A Dance with Dragons, I thank you George!

If you haven’t seen the show yet, I definitely recommend it! It’s got all the best things: great characters, good plot, plenty of violence, sex, cussing, etc. I’m especially pleased with the actors they cast as Dany & Arya – they, Jon Snow, and Tyrion are my favorite characters in the books, and the actresses are doing a wonderful job! I like the actors who play Jon Snow & Tyrion as well, but have minor gripes about them. I hate Jon’s hair – I think it makes him look like a tool – and I don’t like Peter Dinklage’s choice of inflection when he speaks. In my mind Tyrion has always been smugger in his tone of voice and Peter’s playing it too proper. However, he’s growing on me pretty quickly.

My other huge compliment to the show is their choice of giving the whores in the series a voice. There are a lot of men who sleep with prostitutes in the series, and the writers decided to give these women an intelligent voice & opinion. These “lowborn” women end up having some of the best dialogue in the show! I love watching those scenes & I applaud the writers for choosing to take this convention and run with it.

Game of Thrones airs on Sundays on HBO. You don’t need to have read the books to follow it – the show carries all the best stories & stays true to the tenor and voice of the books.

Redemption Island: Episode 14

I loved the finale this season! Not because the ending was surprising in any way, but the suspense of the Survivor Pool had me squirming on the edge of my seat, spreadsheet open in my lap. As the contestants were eliminated one-by-one, and the points were added up, I knew: this really was coming down to fan favorite.


In the end those 5 points made a huge difference. Who won this season's pool? Well... for the first time in Survivor Pool History, we ended with a TIE!!

The Standings 

Team #Winning!: Moon - 141 pts
1. Boston Rob (105 pts)
2. David (23 pts)
3. Krista (13 pts)


Team Saggy Bottom Panties: Me - 141 pts
1. Phillip (48 pts)
2. Ashley (46 pts)
3. Natalie (47 pts)


Team Cockydoodlebug: Doug/Bri - 117 pts
1. Grant (46 pts)

2. Rooster (29 pts)

3. Andrea (42 pts)

Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 67 pts1. Mike (29 pts)

2. Matt (23 pts)

3. Stephanie (15 pts)

Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 46 pts
1. Evil Russell (10 pts)
2. Sarita (11 pts)
3. Julie (25 pts)

Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 33 pts
1. Francesca (0 pts)

2. Kristina (10 pts)
2. Steve (23 pts)

Reflections:

After speaking to other Poolers, we decided it was best to split the victory, rather than try to come up with some kind of tiebreaker. ALTHOUGH, I'd be very willing to have some sort of Survivor trivia lightning round duel to decide it, a la Friends Season 4, Episode 12 "The One with the Embryos." Beware Moon, I majored in lightning rounds.

Splitting the victory means that Doug still retains his record for most Survivor Pool wins, but this is not a runaway. Bag & I are in close contention! Courtney is 0-2 so far, but I have no doubt that there will be many seasons in which she'll have a chance to win The Pool. Hang in there... and maybe don't pick Evil Russell for once. :)

Even with this shared victory, Moon still has a large asterisk hanging over his head. His only solo victory is the controversial Yul season, and with a shared victory this season I think that Moon needs another solo victory before he can consider himself a top Pool competitor.

Dachui picked what I considered to be the strongest team at the outset of this season. We picked blindly (which is why Phillip went in the first round) and considering that they had little to no information on the players, their team was a tough one to beat. Unfortunately the game got the best of them, and they underperformed this season. However, Dachui is a real threat in the long run of this game.

I have mixed feelings about picking players blindly at the start of the season. While I enjoyed both cheering for & rooting against my team, our picks had more to do with luck than skill this season. Next season I would prefer to pick a couple episodes in, and then have dregs to buy later, although ultimately this is up to the group. Interestingly, if this had happened this year, Phillip probably wouldn't have been drafted until mid-season!

Thoughts on the Season:

Overall it was a decent season, but it was really saved by Phillip's antics. I appreciated watching Rob pwn his tribemates - he's clearly a master of his craft - but it got boring after a while. He had no competition at all! I'd rather see him and Parvati battle it out in an even match of wits. What I'll remember more fondly were moments like this:

Phillip: I wanna say that I was never proud to wear plum-colored underwear.... However -
Rob: Are you getting rid of those things?

Phillip: Yes.
Rob: I am SO glad. Look at how saggy those things are!
Phillip: I knew that my manhood was not reflected in the briefs that I wear, but rather the character that I bring to the game. And so, with happiness and joy as I approach my destiny, I bid you ado [sic].
(Underwear are tossed in the fire.)
Natalie: Thank God.
Rob: Now go wash your hands.

Thoughts from the Reunion Show:

-  Grant looks HOT in suspenders! Also, I liked that he didn't forgive Rob. If I were in his shoes & saw the way that Rob screwed around with me with hidden idol clues I don't think I'd forgive him either.

-  I'm pretty sure Dave got dumped later that night. That proposal was the most horrible thing ever aired on television.

-  CBS's attempt at verifying Phillip's "federal agent?" status was purposefully weak. They found someone who got trained when he did 25+ years ago? Seriously? If CBS really wanted to clear Phillip's name, they could have found someone far more legit to back him up. 

Thoughts on Next Season:

I'm happy they're bringing back Redemption Island; I think RI has a lot of potential and I look forward to seeing a more empowered, less religious version of it next season! Probst also mentioned that two former castaways would return. I didn't find any spoilers on who these castaways might be, just a lot of speculation. My fingers are crossed that Ben's Fools v. Freaks dream will be realized with a Phillip v. Coach, or maybe a Shambo v. NaOnka. Expect the next season to air sometime in September with 18 castaways starting the show.

Rule Changes?

-  I think we made some great rule changes for this last season - everything really clicked IMO. Have we perfected our scoring system? No, but we're getting closer :)

-  Having a pool where the overall winner is averaging about 140 points makes ties an unlikely occurrence. But obviously they can happen! Should we consider adding a tie-break rule?

-  Moon mentioned having those who make it to final tribal council earn their points based on the number of votes they receive.

-  Any other suggestions should be mentioned in the Comments here! I can promise you that they will NOT make The Draft: Agenda for next season if you don't!

Redemption Island: Episode 13

Only a few days before the finale, and there's so much left unresolved! Who will return from Redemption Island? Does Grant really think that Rob wasn't the one who blindsided him? Can Rob ever be defeated?

I liked last night's episode even though most of the contestants got really whiny. Especially Rob. He kept complaining about how hard it was to win... Bullshit! He's an Olympic-level athlete who's been skiing down a bunny slope this whole season; just because he hit a slightly icy patch doesn't mean he can complain about how difficult it's been.  

Usually at this stage we have a pretty clear idea of who will win the pool. This season, it's still totally up in the air. What we do know is this:

- at the bare minimum I'm guaranteed to win 40 more points

- at the bare minimum Moon's guaranteed to win 5 more points (he'll win at least 10 jury points, but could lose 5 points for an idol misplay)

- at the bare minumum Doug/Bri are guaranteed to win 20 more points

- at the bare minumum Dachui are guaranteed to win 20 more points

... which means that Dachui will need to win more than 48 points at the bare minimum in the finale to have a chance. Is this possible? Absolutely. This also means that if you calculate in people's guaranteed points above, Saggy Bottom Panties actually has a slight lead over Cockydoodlebug! 

Ooooh, I just remembered that we are awarding 5 points this season to the fan favorite. Who on earth will that be? I see 3 likely candidates: Boston Rob (the only conniver in the group), Phillip (the sadistic viewers' favorite), or Matt (the underdog favorite). I don't see anyone this season running away with this, which will keep the suspense going. Having this fun surprise at the end is great, especially in a game that's so close!

The Standings 
Team Cockydoodlebug: Doug/Bri - 93 pts
1. Grant (36 pts)

[2. Rooster (29 pts)]
3. Andrea (28 pts)

Team #Winning!: Moon - 85 pts
1. Boston Rob (49 pts)
[2. David (23 pts)]
[3. Krista (13 pts)]

Team Saggy Bottom Panties: Me - 75 pts
1. Phillip (18 pts)
2. Ashley (30 pts)
3. Natalie (27 pts)

Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 47 pts
1. Mike (19 pts)
2. Matt (13 pts)
[3. Stephanie (15)]

Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 46 pts
[1. Evil Russell (10 pts)]
[2. Sarita (11 pts)]
[3. Julie (25 pts)]

Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 33 pts
[1. Francesca (0 pts)]
[2. Kristina (10 pts)]
[2. Steve (23 pts)]

Power Rankings

1. Team #Winning! - This competition will come down to who returns from Redemption Island. A strong competitor coming back from RI (like Mike, Grant, or Matt) could return & potentially win immunity in the next couple challenges to earn their way into the finals. A returned Zapatera member would probably sweep the Purple Jury votes, and possibly some pissed off Ometepe's too (Andrea perhaps?). Rob needs to make sure this doesn't happen if Moon is to win the pool.

2. Saggy Bottom Panties - I'm guaranteed to have at least 1 person make the finals, but man wouldn't it be cool if all 3 of them did? I know that won't happen, but I'm still astounded that I have 3 players still in. 3 players whose names have barely even been mentioned when discussing who to vote out. Fingers crossed that Natalie decides to stick with Ashley!

3. Team Cockydoodlebug - I think having Grant sent to RI has given Doug/Bri their best chance to win this pool. Grant was happy to make it to the finals with Rob, and he wouldn't have beaten him. But now, maybe Grant will get pissed off & come back from RI ready to take Rob out. Not saying he'll succeed at this, but it's better than his other plan.

4. Team Fabioesque - They aren't out of it, although it's the least likely scenario I've come up with. But totally possible. I'd like to see Matt get back to the tribe one last time to see him try to scheme one last time. But if I were Team Fabioesque I'd be pulling for Mike to get back since he's by far the more competent player.

5. Evil Crushell - Julie for fan favorite? She was certainly mine.

6. Team Haterz Gonna Hate - Steve for fan favorite? He earned it by handling Phillip's Crazy Tirade as well as can be expected.

Redemption Island: Episode 12

In a brutal immunity challenge that had the nation (minus Moon) cheering for Andrea, the only people not even in consideration for the win were the Saggy Bottom Panties trio. Continuing to impress with their unimpressiveness, they lay low while Andrea gave it her all & subsequently got voted out for being the only physical & mental threat left in the game.

I feel bad for Andrea, but I also question her decision to trust her alliance. She has enough experience with the way they blindsided Matt (twice) & the entire Purple tribe that she should've seen it coming. Okay, maybe she shouldn't have expected it, but she should have at least prepared for this kind of situation.

The Standings
 
Team #Winning!: Moon - 85 pts
1. Boston Rob (49 pts)
[2. David (23 pts)]
[3. Krista (13 pts)]

Team Cockydoodlebug: Doug/Bri - 82 pts
1. Grant (36 pts)
2. Rooster (19 pts)
3. Andrea (27 pts)

Team Saggy Bottom Panties: Me - 64 pts
1. Phillip (18 pts)
2. Ashley (20 pts)
3. Natalie (26 pts)

Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 46 pts
[1. Evil Russell (10 pts)]
[2. Sarita (11 pts)]
[3. Julie (25 pts)]

Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 45 pts
1. Mike (18 pts)
2. Matt (12 pts)
[3. Stephanie (15)]

Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 33 pts
[1. Francesca (0 pts)]
[2. Kristina (10 pts)]
[2. Steve (23 pts)]

Power Rankings
1. Team #Winning! - Boston Rob proved to me how badly he wants to win this week. He's giving 100% in every aspect of the game, and I respect that. That doesn't mean that I wasn't hoping he'd get medevacked after that last challenge though.

2. Saggy Bottom Panties - I have all three players still in the game, and NONE of them are on Redemption Island. It's a true testament to the team's underachievements that I'm not in 1st place right now.

3. Team Cockydoodlebug - 2 players on R.I. now, and suddenly Doug/Bri's team doesn't look so strong. Except that their best player is still in the game, and could make it to the finals if he wins enough immunity challenges. Down, but not out Cockydoodlebug!

4. Team Fabioesque - Fabioesque continues the grind. I think Mike & Matt have the best chance of getting back into the game. But when will that happen? Will it be too late?

5. Evil Crushell - Well... at least she didn't do as badly as Bag.

6. Team Haterz Gonna Hate - Baggins' slow death has finally come to an end. Good run by Steve but you could tell that he'd given up by the time he arrived at R.I. I hope he eats lots of peanut butter & milkshakes in Ponderosa. Bulk up, buddy!