Well, I saw X-Men over the weekend, but I’ll save my comments on the movie for next week, since there probably won’t be much television related topics to discuss. In short, I enjoyed the movie, but was disappointed with a lot of aspects as well. X-2 was definitely better, without a doubt.
I also had an interesting thought regarding Lost the other day. Why is it that the island can cure Locke of paralysis and a broken leg, but that damn scar on his cheek from the accident just won’t go away? Ponder that for a while…
What I did want to discuss, however, was the recent Survivor finale thoughts from Murtz and Eliza. I’ve always really enjoyed their columns, however I do have to admit that I disagree with a large portion of what they said.
I’m sure it’s pretty obvious that I’m very pro-Terry (people tend to either be very pro-Terry, or very anti-Terry), but I completely disagree with the assertion that he just coasted through the game (following the merge) due to his immunity wins, and that he had no strategy whatsoever. I also have a problem with the accusation that he isolated himself from everybody else.
Let me explain. First off, Terry DID play strategically. When the merge first began, he sat back and watched, and tried to evaluate who would be the best options to switch sides. Initially he went with Shane and Cirie. When it seemed evident that they wouldn’t switch sides, he turned his attention to Bruce and Danielle, even offering Danielle the immunity idol (which was a very smart move). When that didn’t work out, he tested out Courtney and Danielle. When that fell apart, he moved onto Shane. After Shane got voted off, he once again sat back and watched, and realized that Danielle was the way to go. And, really, if Danielle hadn’t gone against his word, he would have made it to the finals, and he would have won.
With that in mind, I also believe it when people say that they would have voted for Terry over Danielle. Think about it: Austin, Sally, and Courtney absolutely would have voted for Terry over Danielle, no question about it. Shane openly said at the final tribal council that Terry deserved to win the most out of everybody, and that was before the show pushed him as the nice guy American hero. And he obviously didn’t like Danielle, so I don’t think it’s hard to believe he would have voted for Terry as well. Along with that, Aras admitted to Danielle that if she didn’t take him to the finals, he wouldn’t vote for her. So right there you’ve got all the people at the reunion who said they’d vote for Terry over Danielle.
Regarding the assertion that he isolated himself from everybody, the fact of the matter is that the Casaya tribe made it absolutely impossible for him to integrate into the group. They reminded him every single day that once he loses an immunity challenge, they’re going to vote him off. Numerous characters picked arguments with him because of the simple fact that it drove them crazy that he kept beating them. Even Sally, who came off as exceptionally likable, commented that it was impossible to break into that group. Could he have helped his cause? I’m sure there are a few things he shouldn’t have done, and other things he should have tried to do, but I really don’t think it’s fair to say that he isolated himself.
Finally, I also disagree that he should have given Nick his immunity idol in the first merge vote. Sure, hindsight is 20/20, and we now know that he COULD have given up the idol and it wouldn’t have affected his game, but there was no way for him to know that at the time. Terry knew that there was a massive target on his back (they told him so), and giving up that safety net could have been suicide.
Also, keeping on Nick and voting off Shane would not have given La Mina the majority. At the merge, there were six Casaya members (Shane, Aras, Danielle, Cirie, Shane, and Courtney) and four La Mina tribe mates (Terry, Austin, Nick, and Sally). So even if he gave Nick the immunity idol, they’d still be in the 5-4 minority.
All of that said, I do agree with the assertion that Cirie organizing Courtney’s demise was one of the best strategic moves in the game, as that messed with numerous players’ game plans, and helped show how much in control of the game Cirie truly was.
I must agree with Murtz that Danielle was the hottest player, although she lost some MAJOR points when we got some solid hairy armpit shots during the holding up your bodyweight challenge. Sally in Jury-mode looked AWFULLY hot as well. Bravo to her.
Best Jury comment absolutely goes to Shane, as everybody else was pretty level headed and forgiving.
Well, that’s pretty much all I’ve got on tap this week. However, The 4400 will be returning shortly, which I’m really stoked about. Should be a great season!
