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Wacky Wanda's S13 Episode 10 Commentary!
« on: Nov 20th, 2006, 10:45am » |
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Here are Wanda's thoughts about last week's Survivor...
Did you hear the thunder rolling across North America on Thursday night, from sea to shining sea? That was the sound of Americans and Candians clapping, stomping their feet, hooting, and grunting that satisfied "YESSSSSSS!" as Aitu took out Raro again in back-to-back challenges. YESSSSSSS!
How can we not love Ozzy, smiling and rather matter-of-factly telling us, "To be the underdog is amazing. I'm totally happy to be the underdog." This guy just quietly works away, feeding his tribe, outswimming the competition, winning challenges, and appearing more appreciative than anyone else. Appreciation: What a great quality! When I was a teenager I heard that what parents most want from their kids is appreciation. Such an important trait! Well, Ozzy knows he's been the outcast Latino underdog since the outset. For several episodes now, he's been the only Survivor left from his original Hispanic tribe, still the only original tribe to be down to just one player. Ozzy has always been given only with grudging respect, somehow, by the rest, and he seems to appreciate every little bit of acceptance and every additional day that he's included.
I liked Oscar from the time I read the bio of this Mexican-born boy who has camped from Panama to San Diego and is skilled at wilderness survival. Perhaps along with his skills and abilities, it's his humble attitude I like most. He knows how to celebrate a win, and he knows his own competence, but he's always totally humble and just glad to be accepted on the fringe and not voted out. Not an ounce of arrogance. I love, love, love this guy. He may be my favorite Survivor ever (although he reminds me of two of my previous favorites, Outback Colby and Amazon Matt. Colby and Matt both placed second. Will that be the hero's jinx for Oz? Juries don't seem to like people who win too many rewards and immunities.) Go far, OZ, and don't let me down! You're the quintessential good-guy Survivor, down-to-earth, modest, and a totally unassuming and lovable champion.
Ozzy's tribemates Yul, Becky, and Sundra are doing their part, too. Challenges cannot be won by one person alone. Although I keep remembering Cao Boi's critique of Becky as "a princess out here," I have to believe that the intelligence and physical strength and competence that she brings to the game, as well as those same characteristics in Yul and Sundra, are the things that consistently keep their tribe on top.
Seeing the four Aitu heroes enjoy the "Warriors' Welcome" provided by the Cook Islanders was wonderful. The singing of the natives was beautiful, and their carrying the Aitu four aloft was a grand and well-deserved honor. We had to love every minute of that. As Oz said, another highlight was seeing our "complex, intellectual guy," Yul, loosen up and dance with the islanders.
TWINGES OF SYMPATHY DEPARTMENT:
Billy: I can imagine our poor-departed Billy, watching at home -- with some good friends, I hope -- as his beloved Candice plays kissy-kissy with Adam. Billy didn't make the jury, and Candice has made it, so these two did not see each other after Billy was voted out at number 19. He went home from his Survivor experience thinking he had a sweet girlfriend. I wonder if he tried to make contact with her after they got home, and how much it hurts for him to watch the show play out.
Jenny: As she said, appropriately, in her exit interview, she got taken out on a totally unexpected twist. If she had known that two people were going to be voted out at one TC, she would have worked hard to secure her place. She was a fighter, but she was caught off-guard by this unprecedented type of double-elim with two from one tribe. I think she might probably was next to go anyway, but I'm sure we all would have liked to see her try to negotiate another three days, to see if she could have succeeded. In a sense, we as viewers got cheated out of a chance to see a chopping-block person in the struggle to save her neck, and that's one of our favorite parts of Survivor. Furthermore, Jenny and Becky and Candice were our only remaining non-Californians in the game. Jenny was from Lake Forest, Illinois. Now Washington, D.C. lawyer Becky and South Carolinian Candice are our last hopes for a non-Californian winner. Californians now outnumber the rest of the world 7:2 in the game.
Jonathan: 22 fish! Nice job, man! He's earned his keep. I enjoy his "wandering Jew" commentary, his self-perception of being an outcast and a minority even though he's one of four Caucasians left and was in the Power Four before he jumped ship. There are many reasons I have come to like him: his work ethic, his underdog status, his sincere efforts to make friends, his humility, his admission of having made a bad move in impulsively following Candice, and my sympathy for him as we see Candice repeatedly betray him when he had pledged his loyalty to her in word and followed up in deed.
Nate: Although this guy has said he doesn't like a leader, he was the sorta-leader of Nu-Raro, and now he's in a clear minority. Since Candice and Jonathan came, he's lost Brad, Rebecca, and Jenny and is now the only non-white, i.e. non original-Raro, on the tribe. He has bonds with Adam and Parvati, but Adam is tighter with Candice, and the Adam-Candice alliance (remember "Romber?") is a threat that Jonathan should get Nate and Parvati to split up before it bites them. That kind of a two-votes-as-one deal is the biggest danger to Nate now, and we have to wonder how he's feeling and reacting inside as he sees his painted-into-a-corner-with-whitewash position.
Candice: This is just the smallest twinge of sympathy. I had high hopes for her in the beginning, as her intelligence (800 on the SAT in math), physical skills (soccer and cross country), love of Survivor, and love of people internationally (she's been to Kenya, Chile, and Peru on Peace-Corps type missions) made her a favorite. However, all we've seen is her falling for a hunk, and that's hugely disappointing to me. But -- the tears on Exile Island, as she was the first person to go there a third time, and the only female sent there in this game -- were a tiny bit sad. I guess the sad part was that she didn't get it. She seemed to feel like she was the one betrayed by friends, rather than the betrayer of friends and thus one who completely deserved her third exile. At least, when she returned, she was cheerful and good-natured about it.
AND NEXT: THE MERGE? We're at nine now, and there really has to be a merge. I've heard people speculate about there not being a merge, but for a jury to vote fairly, everyone has to have the experience of living with the rest and seeing how they work, talk, and interact around camp. Expect a merge this week.
Post merge, the question is how people will line up. The four Aitus have the immunity idol as a 5th, so if one of them gets the vote, we would hope that Yul would play the idol and take out a Raro. That would make things 4-4. Presumably Oz will win most of the immunities, and I certainly hope he can do that to preserve himself from the other males, all of whom are certainly threatened by his physical strengths. In fact, I'd love to see Oz be the one to break the "car curse" and win both the car and the game, but I suppose that's asking too much.
Other than the current tribal alliances, other arrangements are possible. There are 5 males and 4 females left, but in this game, gender is not going to be an alignment factor. JP, Brad, Adam, and Nate thought "boys against girls" -could work early-on, but that's over. The other 5-4 alignment would be non-Caucasians against Caucasians. That would amount to the Aitu 4 pulling Nate in with them and taking out, in order, Candice, Jonathan, Adam, and Parvati. (In which case, Parvati's good nature just might even keep her in longer than Nate.) Outside of Yul's playing the idol, Aitu has to pick up a 5th to succeed. It won't be Candice/Adam ("Candam?"), so it has to be either Nate, Jonathan, or Parvati. Parvati's likely to be hoping that her current tribe of 5 can prevail, so she won't jump ship in time and go to Aitu. Jonathan could try to negotiate re-acceptance by Aitu, and it could work if Nate is totally determined to be Raro-to-the-end. At any rate, the merge certainly is a point at which all fans are sparked with renewed anticipation and eagerness for the next episode.
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