Survivor - Blood vs. Water (SPOILERS)

[The Quasi Juice]

Great great season. That is all.

[Blehschmidt]

God Damn It, Ciera

[GoGo Yubari]

Hahaha, wow, Gervase is terrible.

hilarious that all that drama and the most invisible player went out at the end anyway.

[XMS]

Even though the end result was a little anti-climactic, Tribal was gold tonight.

[GoGo Yubari]

I'm glad the result was anticlimactic, though, since Katie was a floater the whole way through. Better that Tyson and Ciera stay in longer.

[The Quasi Juice]

Wow, amazing. Not sure if it was a good move by Ciera considering Tyson didn't go home, but if she can persuade Monica than she suddenly has a very good shot at winning. I did NOT expect her to vote Monica though, because she's been playing it relatively safe to the point of immediately telling Tyson about Caleb and Hayden's plan of voting him out. Now all of a sudden in a situation that's much more insecure she was willing to make a move. Hayden did a great job convincing her.

And what the fuck @ Gervase's vote 'THIS AIN'T BIG BROTHER BRO'

Edited December 5, 2013 by The Quasi Juice

[RPS]

The more I think about it, the more I realize Tyson has played a realllllly shitty game. He put himself into terrible situations the last few weeks and he's gotten lucky. On the other hand, I think Hayden's played a really smart game. He knows exactly when to make his moves and when to amp up the pressure. Tyson lacks that skill.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

I've really been enjoying this season. I'm so happy Tyson is back. I think he's my favourite player, not because he's the best player, but because he's so entertaining. I wonder how much different his game had've been if his girlfriend had made it to the merge.

I've quite liked Cierra. She's probably been my favourite new player, right up there with Hayden at least.

This season has been fantastic and I did not really expect the last tribal to get so crazy.

[Pleatherface]

I haven't watched an episode since I clicked on this thread and saw that Vytas and Caleb were gone.

I've never done that before. I've never backed out of watching this show.

But right then it seemed academic, judging from Caleb and Hayden's "We're taking out Tyson!" preview, and the "First she voted out her mom, and now Ciera is the most dangerous player in the game." *Tyson glancing pensively in Caleb's direction* commercials? It wasn't hard to piece together.

I caught the end of tonight's episode by accident. Coming in from work with it playing and hearing Monica say the words "I'm the swing vote."

I didn't know exactly who was left, but I immediately knew the end result.

It made the rest of show painful.

Hayden made a mistake at FTC, throwing around the word control in his opening statement. "Yeah, I couldn't win Immunity, but there are other ways for me to control this game, wink wink." Though I do have to hand it to him, tip toeing around Jeff's "Are you looking for a crack? Like Monica? Someone easily manipulated and stupid who would ruin her game by turning on Tyson, like Monica?" line of questioning. As less savvy player might have fell for that bait.

Ciera for her part, pushed WAAAAAAAAY too hard. She started off well enough, but that's not the tact you take with someone like Monica. Granted, you'd never change her mind, ever, even if there was a "If I win, someone named Monica Culpepper who has these last 4 social security numbers gets double the prize money." clause.

But "YOU SUCK AND YOU'RE DISAPPOINTING BRAD!" isn't going to reach her, and let's face it. This is a woman that was perfectly happy to work with Colton until she was expendable, whipping out the mean jerk label wont make her run screaming to your side.

The really sad thing, is even if both of them played it perfectly? Monica was always going to vote how she did, because that's the game she's been playing every step of the way. She's paranoid and rethinks herself a bit, but she's content to sit there at tribals and look sad and conflicted about it, and then stumble through an explanation about how it was all strategic and her game play from the beginning at FTC.

Ciera brought this on herself by not hauling ass to a Caleb Hayden Mom alliance the second her Mom suggested it with "PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE IN WITH HAYDEN AND CALEB!" Hayden played an okay game, but I'm far more interested in whether or not Kat jumped off a bridge because he called Katie hot, and she finished in a more socially acceptable position to date.

At this point Ciera's hopes lay in an immunity run. And if her Mom comes back? That's blown.

It's shaping up to be an uninspiring Final 3 for me.

Tyson deserves it, he'll probably get it.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Jesus. They certainly made me think even for a moment that Monica could actually pull out a win.

Really great season all around. One of the best ones in a while.

[GoGo Yubari]

AHAHAHA OH MY GOD, Tina winning via shortcuts and other people fucking up the whole way through and making it out. That's fucking hilarious.

Will edit with more comments after I finish the episode.

EDIT: Somewhere, Sierra Reed quietly fumes.

EDIT II: Oh, so the concept on the next one is basically a catchier way of saying "physical game vs. strategic game vs. social game." Okay, cool, hopefully it's well-cast.

[RPS]

I found the season to be OK. I am definitely tired of returning players. Bring on some fresh meat!

Tyson was the best choice of the three, but he made strategic and social blunders along the way and probably needed to be with those three. He made a stellar decision to take Aras out, but other than that, he struggled.

[The Quasi Juice]

Monica should have taken out Gervase with Tina at F4. At least she would have been able to say she made a "move" to give herself a chance to win. Monica was afraid Tina would get lots of votes but I doubt it. She did nothing throughout the game to justify another million bucks. Anyway, it worked out okay for Monica because she got one vote and thus Dat Second Place money. All thanks to Vytas, wow.

It's a shame the finale was a little lackluster 'cause the whole season was good. It was just too obvious whoever came back from RI would work with Ciera and then one of them would obviously go out immediately. Tyson had the idol so that wasn't an option anymore. Shame.

[GoGo Yubari]

Monica would have lost no matter what, and making that move wouldn't really have proven anything. If anything it would have probably proven that she is easy to manipulate. Either Tyson would have gotten the "you controlled the game" votes or Tina would have gotten the "you didn't screw anyone over" votes. Actually, by sending Gervase to the jury all she would have done was giftwrap a jury vote for Tyson for sure.

Tyson's a mid-tier winner really. It's a social game win first and foremost; he made some good strategic moves, he showed up in challenges to close out the game, but the biggest thing was balancing how he was perceived by the jury with how he was perceived by the people still in the game. He heavily benefited from Ciera's mistakes, but then he put himself in a position where she trusted him the most in the first place.

[The Quasi Juice]

Yeah, Monica was always going to lose and Tyson was always going to win. They really should have pulled the trigger on Tyson earlier but alas, didn't happen for various reasons. I'd put Tyson's win above Cochran's, that's for sure.

Some really weird moments during the reunion. Jeff talking to a random fan about Monica and all she did was say lame cliche shit about her. Kat rambling and saying she got a boob job. Colton getting a video package and way too much air time despite quitting twice and you could tell he didn't give the answer Jeff wanted. I have this sick feeling he'll be asked to come back again.

[DYSI]

Caleb passed away yesterday.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

That is so shitty. He seemed like such a genuinely nice dude.

[GoGo Yubari]

Holy shit, really? That's fucking awful. I hope Colton's doing alright.

EDIT: Apparently it was a freak accident on the railroad Caleb worked at. Tragic.