I apologize for the lack of Smallville recap/review late last week, but it will be coming within the next day or so. I normally watch the episode Thursday night (as a fan), and then sometime Friday I rewatch to do the recap/review. However, due to the snowfall late Thursday night, practically my entire family was home from work on Friday, which meant I didn’t have the usual television access in order to do the recap. Ditto for the rest of the weekend. So sometime today I plan on doing watching the episode, so the recap should be posted either later today or sometime tomorrow.
Anyway, this edition will mostly revolve around the Survivor finale, which aired last night. Along with that, we’ll touch on The OC, Reunion (screw you, Fox!), and maybe mention a thing or two about Lost.
CONTINUITY POLICE, VOLUME 14:
The continuity police have always criticized shows for contradicting an already established continuity. However, there are certain times when the police need to honor somebody for exceptional service. Therefore, this week, the continuity police are going to credit a show for an extraordinary example of respecting its own continuity.
And that show, surprisingly, is Family Guy. A couple of weekends ago Family Guy had an episode in which Lois finds out she has a brother, and he’s in an insane asylum. It turns out he has some psychiatric issues with obese people, and goes on a killing spree of strangling fat people. Lois’ brother finally targets Peter, and when it seems as if he might murder him, Brian and Lois come to the rescue. Brian throws a stone, and it hits Peter in the face. In response, Peter yells “You missed!” to which Brian replies “No I didn’t. That’s from rolling up the window when I tried to jump into the General Lee,” amazingly referencing a throwaway scene (albeit a hilarious one) from the episode “To Live and Die in Dixie” from season three. It was a very unexpected but amusing allusion, and I was very pleased with the show’s use of its continuity. Nicely done, Family Guy.
SURVIVOR:
Doing a Monday column, I rarely get the opportunity to discuss recent events in television (most serialized dramas with exciting endings happen on Wednesday or Thursday), so it’s nice to finally have the chance to be one of the first to discuss a big television event. First things first, lets discuss Thursday’s episode. The big news of the episode is Cindy’s reward challenge, and if she should have given up the car so that her four opponents could each have one. Upon initially watching it, I absolutely feel like she should have given up the car, if only because it was, I felt, the smartest thing to do strategically speaking. Rafe, who was pretty much the person who spearheaded the campaign to get her voted off, said himself that he would have a lot of trouble voting for her if she had given him a car. I absolutely, positively believe that if she had given them the car, she would not have been voted off that night (there was already strong discussion of voting off Danni), and she probably would have given the rest of the competitors a run for their money in both immunity challenges.
Additionally, there were a few negotiations she could have done. In his run down of the show, Murtz suggested that Cindy tell the others “fine, I’ll give up my car so the four of you can have one, but next time I don’t win immunity, whoever does has to give it up to me.” Doing that would guarantee her making it into the final three or four, and since she’s done well in a lot of immunity challenges, that may be the only help she needs to potentially win it all. That’s a brilliant plan, but I have to admit I’m not sure I would have thought of that myself if I were in that situation. She could have also given up the cars, and hoped that, out of good faith, whoever won (if it’s not her) would give up the car they win in addition to the million, and return the favor to Cindy. Overall, I just feel like it would have been smarter for her to give up the car.
What really killed her, though, is that she came back and blabbed on and on and on about how great her car is. Normally it’s never a good idea to brag about any reward challenge, but when you basically denied others from getting that same prize, it makes matters even worse. I got a real kick out of when Cindy was going on and on about her car, and they zoom in on Danni, who starts grinding the corn harder and harder, and Rafe, who just has a look of disbelief on his face. Anyway, I was really glad Danni was saved for another episode.
That brings us to the finale. The amount of influence Rafe has over Steph was really accentuated when he was successfully able to convince her to vote Lydia off instead of the much more imposing Danni. I was really proud of Rafe for sticking with the alliance like he had promised. It was really amazing that Lydia made it as far as she did, though. In a lot of ways, she was the anti-PalauSteph, in the sense that she really did not contribute all too much to her team (a lot of the times she seemed detrimental) and she never won a single thing, yet she made it to the final four with very little conflict. Although I like her more than Steph, I would have been most disappointed if Lydia one, because she just seemed to deserve it the least. That said, she took her elimination very gracefully.
The second immunity challenge was really, really intense for me as a viewer. Danni absolutely NEEDED to win this in order to stay in the game, as it would have been suicide to go up against Danni in the final two. I also absolutely loved it when all three competitors, at the same time, were hanging from their rope as they tried to get their footing back on the platform. That was a really exciting moment, and just great television. It also seems like one person just slips up in a totally minor way, and this year it was Rafe, who instinctually touched the post.
I also found it striking that people have always noted how strong and athletic Stephenie is, yet it seems to me that Danni has dominated her in many of the physical challenges (the basketball-esque one and the giant ball rolling one immediately comes to mind). That was really emphasized in this challenge, as Steph was in a great deal of pain, really struggling, and in tears as she slid down the post, while Danni was……doing her nails? In fairness, I’m sure Danni’s long legs were a major factor in this, but you can imagine how ecstatic I was when Danni was victorious.
Then we come to Rafe’s little remark to Danni. I truly, totally admired Rafe for telling Danni that he’s releasing her from any promise they made, and that he wants her to take whoever she feels is right into the final two. I thought he was purely genuine when he said that, and wasn’t just trying to get “nice guy” points. To tell you the truth, I still feel that way. However, it really, REALLY bothered me when, after Danni voted against him, Rafe says in his testimonial “I’m now really voting for Steph, and she’s got my vote.” Rafe, you don’t tell somebody that you’re releasing them from any obligation to vote with you, and then hold it against them when they vote against you. That basically takes away any of the sincerity in your gesture. I truly believe that Danni would have taken Rafe to the final two if he had not “released” her, so as far as I’m concerned she really didn’t do anything wrong. I think I would have preferred that Danni take Rafe to the finals, but I don’t feel she was obligated to, and I don’t feel like she really betrayed him in any way. Hey, just look at season two, when Colby took Tina to the finals because he liked her more than Keith, and it cost him the victory.
Although I’m obviously biased, I feel like Danni handled herself a great deal better than Steph did in the final tribal council. I think that Steph basically copped out on a lot her answers, to the extent that Rafe even somewhat called her out on it. I also want to bring up the fact that Stephenie repeatedly said that she and Rafe played the same game, and I’m not sure I agree with that. For the most part, I don’t really think that Rafe promised anybody that they were safe, and then voted against them. The only exception that comes to my mind is with Jamie, but otherwise Rafe usually skirted the issue or said that he honestly wasn’t sure how he was going to vote (which I believed). Steph repeatedly told people that they were safe, and then later voted against them. As much as people tried to make Steph out to be the ringleader, as time went on I really believe that she was just a follower with a great deal of power. I just feel like Rafe (who, in my eyes, was much more of the ringleader) played a much, much more honest game than Steph, and I really don’t believe that he betrayed or backstabbed anybody.
As expected, Judd made quite the scene. I found his comments towards Danni very unusual. He basically asked her if she thinks she ever lied in the course of the game, and she answered extremely openly and honestly: she stated two specific examples of when she lied, and she gave justification for doing so. In response, Judd says, quite confrontationally, “so it sounds like you lied an awful lot” and then tells her that when she gets home, she should go to confessional and ask for forgiveness. Coming from the person who had lied more than anybody competing, I found that pretty bold. However, I think Danni reacted with class and a cool head. She basically cut him off, and said with calm determination that she does ask for forgiveness every day. She didn’t come off as brash, she didn’t come off as rude or mean spirited, and she didn’t raise her voice. I was extremely impressed with her response to Judd’s pretty outlandish accusations. Oh, and I think Steph had whatever Judd said coming to her, and I actually can sympathize with his anger over Steph lying to his wife about their strong bond. Truth be told, Judd REALLY took care of Steph in this game, choosing her to join him in any reward he had won, and showing her the hidden immunity idol. I think the guy’s a douchebag, and I was really happy to see him go, but I think he has a legitimate right to be bitter towards Stephenie.
A few side notes: I found Judd’s comment to Danni about skating through the game odd. Was it an insult? A compliment? I also loved what he said about Stephenie always complaining about being hungry, but eating more than anybody in the entire game. The facial expressions following the revelation that they ate the chicken were interesting as well. Having Judd roll his eyes after Lydia said she knows for a fact that the gods were punishing them for eating the chicken was great, and Jeff’s overall judgmental disbelief that they had eaten it was pretty priceless also. Finally, the constant budding silent communication between Jamie and Bobby Jon offered some really humorous moments as well. Oh, and regarding the chicken, I was really surprised Lydia ate it, after going on and on about how she felt a kinship to the Maya people and their rituals. I mean, I can totally understand being hungry, but it was like day 37 of a 39 day game….you couldn’t hold off two more days in order to preserve the intention of a cultural sacrifice?
In the end, my girl Danni won, and I was absolutely thrilled for her. I actually really would have liked to have seen who each person voted for, but the only ones we saw was that Judd voted for Danni, and Rafe voted for Steph. I’m assuming that Gary voted for Danni, but people like Jamie and Bobby Jon could have easily gone both ways. Along with that, Cindy and Lydia could have just have easily voted for Steph than Danni as well. By the way, I know I’ve been fawning over Danni for most of the entire season, but this girl looked absolutely gorgeous at the finale. Wow, I mean I was in awe. And this may be completely unprofessional, but don’t we have a lot of Survivor alum writing at our website? Is there ANY way we could get in touch with this girl? Is she reading this right now? If so, e-mail me!
AND THE REST…
My comments on The OC, Reunion, and Lost will be very brief. Regarding Lost, the only thing I have to mention is something I missed from the last new episode. When Kate walked into the Army recruitment building (or whatever that place was) that her dad works at, there is a TV turned on in the background. Who is on the television? Sayid! What is he doing on it? I have no idea. The only thing I can really think of is that they’re waiting a video surveillance of Sayid in the terrorists’ hotel room, which we know is bugged (as Sayid finds a bug in the smoke detector). However, that seems like pretty top secret stuff, that wouldn’t just be arbitrarily playing in a recruitment center. Other than that, I don’t know why he’d be on television.
The OC was a cute episode, only because I love the Summer/Seth dynamic. My age is really starting to date high school dramas, though, because I’m still used to the 1600 perfect SAT score. Now they’ve redone the whole damn test, so I haven’t a clue how great a score a 2300 even is. A few lines I absolutely loved was when Kirsten was talking to Sandy about the possibility of Summer being a genius, and Sandy replies “well she did save Christmakkah.” I also liked it when Ryan was trying to build up Seth’s confidence, and he notes his humor, to which Seth says “yeah, but have you noticed how much funnier Summer has gotten? She may be funnier than me now.” Regarding the Brown thing, I think they’ll either both be accepted, or only Summer will. Summer will lie about being accepted and will turn the school down. In turn, Seth will then be offered her spot. He will, of course, eventually find all of this out.
Well, it seems that Fox has decided to cancel Reunion. Apparently putting a new show up against the #1 show on television is not the best idea. Oh, and not doing any encore presentations of a show that is exceptionally serialized? Not to mention taking a several week break to show baseball, just as things start to get interesting? Yeah, you did a glorious job promotion the show, Fox. Even worse than being cancelled is the fact that they’re not even going to finish the season, which means we’ll never know who committed the murder. That is just downright malicious! I guess the only hope is that the producers will somehow scrounge up the money to finish the season, and will then release it on DVD so that we can find out how the story ends. I don’t know how much that would cost, but perhaps the DVD sales could counteract that. Nevertheless, I’m still predicting that Carla was the one who committed the murder.
TV FUN FACT OF THE WEEK:
This week, let’s take a look at an old favorite that has already provided us with a few fun facts, Sesame Street.
Unfortunately, some classic Muppets have been canned over the years for interesting reasons. Don Music, the piano player who would bang his head against the piano in frustration, had to be discontinued when kids at home started doing the same. Harvey Kneeslapper was hung up because his signature laugh was too much of a strain on Frank Oz’s vocal cords. Roosevelt Franklin, arguably one of the first breakthrough Sesame Street Muppets, had to go as he was considered to be a negative cultural stereotype. (He was the only African-American Muppet at the time, and was seen mostly in detention after school.) Some of these “banned” segments continued to air on the Canadian version for some time after they were removed from the US show.
Interesting stuff, indeed. Next week I have a few more things I’d like to say about Lost, as I’d like to continue to comment on the show even though they aren’t showing many new episodes (especially since most of my reader e-mails are related to that show). Once again, expect my Smallville recap/review to be posted later today or tomorrow. Again, I apologize for the delay.
Danni, if you’re reading this, e-mail me! Until next week, Case closed…
