Survivor Episode 8+9, and NOT 10

It took me a while to watch this mega episode. Maybe it's because my obsession with the new series Watchmen has transcended TV and now I'm devouring the graphic novel as well. But mostly it's because I had an inkling of what was in store and didn't want to have a shitty night.

In what has felt to me like an overwhelmingly supportive and positive season, there were absolutely no feel-good moments this time around. This could have been a momentous episode for far more lighthearted reasons. End Boss Kellee v. End Boss Missy is a fight that I wanted to see. What we got instead was Survivor gameplay at its worst.

I'm skipping any attempt at a recap because I really have just summary points to make:

Who were the winners here? 
No one.

Who were the losers?
Let's hit the highlights: all women, particularly the women on this season of Survivor. Which in itself is also particularly unfair. Somehow a man making a woman/women feel unsafe/uncomfortable has resulted in all the women coming out looking like bad guys. How is that possible?

Let's get into the really nasty stuff first, though, and then maybe we can end on a high note (though no promises):

- Dan.  In Tribal #2 his a refrain of "Why won't you let this go?" reeks. Kellee has been thinking the same thing for 20+ days. She TOLD YOU to back off. You did not. His response in imitating someone being uncomfortable as he accidentally brushed by someone around a crowded fire belittled Kellee's experience in their interactions. And he partially defended himself by claiming to come from the industry that produced the MeToo movement, while blatantly ignoring the fact that the same industry also produced Harvey Weinstein. I get that I am watching a TV show and that I clearly don't have all the facts. But I also find it hard to accept his response to what happened as being remotely close to acceptable. Whether he's a real sketchball or not, I'm not sure. But  that's the point. As Moon noted: "I don't believe his touchiness is sexual or nefarious. But it obviously disturbs his tribemates. They told him to stop and he hasn't." That's the point.

- Aaron. Aaron is such a fucking douchebag that I'm removing him from my team. Seriously. Touchy Dan too for that matter. Aaron: you are an ass hat. "I have a mom and sisters so I'm clearly sensitive to this issue" is a bullshit stance. Fun fact: we all have mothers, it comes as a package deal with human existence. Doesn't mean women have been treated fairly or respectively through human history. Jamal actually defends Aaron in his exit interview, which I think attests to Jamal's character. But if Aaron really didn't have enough real info to recognize what was going on then maybe he should pay more attention, listen more closely, and start considering that maybe he's not the king of the universe.

Okay, and here are some highlights:

- Kellee. Kellee played a fantastic game up until she trusted Lauren in the 11th hour of tribal council. She spoke her truths and anticipated what would happen if she made a big deal out of what was happening. And she was right. Hopefully Survivor history will recognize her as a kick ass player and not because of what happened. Because if you remove all the harrassment/uncomfortableness/gender biases that went down here, what we're really looking at is a showdown between Kellee and Missy. And Kellee wasn't going to have the numbers, or at best it would have been really close. So she should have played an idol.

- Janet. This is the sort of leadership that we need more of in this day and age. She's playing a game where people are expected to lie, manipulate, and back-stab each other. And she still knew exactly when a line was crossed, and stood behind that even though it was going to cost her. When she said "This has become a moral issue" then maybe she shouldn't have tried to address that issue via the avenues of the game. Maybe she should have had a more serious conversation with the producers at that point. But that's not a detail to get too hung up on. Janet did was she believed was right, and then got villified for it afterwards.

- Jamal. Say what you will about Jamal, the man has character. He may be bossy at times, but he is also compassionate, eloquent, intelligent, and sensitive. I really think what Jamal said during Tribal #2 is about as good as it gets when it comes to difficult issues like this. (Side note, though: he really needs to work on his meta game. The way he used that IoI advantage was a D+ effort.)

- Survivor. After finishing this episode I was left with intense feelings of anxiety, sadness, and anger. And for that, Survivor, I thank you. Survivor producers forced us all to experience and process an emotionally challenging situation that is all-too-common in today's society. I think they easily could have reframed this in a way that diminished what happened to Kellee and how Missy and Elizabeth behaved. I did not have fun watching this episode. But it certainly gave me a LOT to think about, and I'd like to think that most viewers of the show will be able to at minimum recognize how complicated these kinds of situations can be. Survivor definitely made mistakes on this one, but I appreciate that they didn't shy away from showing these events anyway.

Survivor 39: Episodes 6 & 7

Despite my bold claims in my last post, Dean is somehow still in this competition. Guess I'm maybe not as good at this game as I thought... and our team's score backs that up!

Episode 6 was super interesting. I love the dynamic of the Vokai 4 starting out thusly: "We're totally going to rocks, we have no doubts at all. We're so strong. And by the way we think we're smarter than you, cooler than you, and our farts smell like roses." And then Elaine pulls out her secret advantage, and they be like:



Okay, my attempt to find Lauren actually crying on the show was a bust. But this gif from what I can only assume is from Breaking Bad is a close 2nd. Plus, the upside is that I found this gem of an article: https://ew.com/recap/survivor-season-39-episode-6/.

Except that I disagree with everything this writer says about Aaron. First, and obviously most importantly, Kevin Bacon only won in his Footloose game of chicken because of a shoelace entanglement. Not because he was brave and bold.

Second, I think Aaron should had stuck with original Vokai and screwed over his original alliance. Maybe I'm on a self-destructive kick here, but that just made more sense to me. He seemed to get along with them really well, he could assimilate during the chaos of the impending merge, and come out the other side on the majority alliance and feeling pretty comfortable.

Instead, he's back-stabbed potential alliance by bold-faced lying to them and anchored himself to a minority alliance who just got the "beyond the grave" message from Jason of "don't trust Aaron."

But I do applaud this article's deep dive into the durag incident, the history of Survivor, and any mention of Probst being a great host. Because let's all admit it, the man is a great host. One of the best in my opinion, along with this guy:

But back to social awareness: Jamal and Jack had a really important and meaningful conversation where they both came out looking like stand-up guys. When does that ever happen in reality TV? I may throw a lot of shade Survivor's way, especially ever since they introduce that horrifyingly bad fire challenge when down to 4. But this show really does have its moments.

Okay, I could go on, but quite frankly the article linked above will do it better. Plus I have a whole other episode to get to... and it's a good one too!

Keeping in theme with this post (but not, I promise, for the whole season) here's another Not-My-Recap that's totally worth reading: https://ew.com/recap/survivor-season-39-episode-7/.  There's a deep dive into the "claims of women's alliances are sexist" theme of the tribal council that's super interesting. The author also really loves Kellee, and so do I. So we're clearly meant to be besties. Except that this guy's blog is so popular that Survivor pays for him to go on site and gets to test-run the challenges, so maybe this is more of a #frenemies situation. How has this blog not become internationally renowned, I ask you!?!

In any case, the talk of the town has to be Kellee's saving Dean and ousting Jack. To what end, Kellee? To what end? I'm all about the resume builder, but can she really trust Dean? And is it really a good idea to subvert your own majority alliance right before diving into a post-merge world? Am I opposed to this move just because I'm salty that Dean is still in the game? And if I keep asking questions and not blogging about the pool will you still read on?

Probably not, so let's get to it:

Power Rankings

1. Baggins - Tommy and Missy have been impressive all season, but even more importantly, Elizabeth is looking much savvier than her inaugural visit to the Island of the Idols. This team is poised to win individual challenges as well as drive many of the upcoming votes.

2. MoonBee - Another really good team, with Janet who continues to prove herself wise, crafty, and brazen.

3. Eric - Eric has Kellee and she's not on my team, which means there's hope! There's a nice mix of strategy and physicality on this team that I like. Plus Elaine is a dark horse that can't be ignored. I think this team has a shot, despite the Two Toms setback.

4. Phil - Has 5 players that made it to the merge which is huge... but 2 of them are Dean and I just can't help but feel like things aren't gonna end well because of it. Maybe it's just that this team feels like it's lacking in cleverness.

5. Michal & Ben - It feels like this season couldn't have gone worse for us, and yet we're somehow not the worst....

6. Doug & Bri - Will things turn around for this team now that we're merging? Karishma may end up earning them mad points via coattail riding. But I just don't think that will be enough to get this team a victory, and I don't see them earning a lot of points from challenges or idols either.