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Wacky Wanda Reviews the Fiji Finale
« on: May 14th, 2007, 8:27pm » |
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A big thank you to Wacky Wanda for her wonderful commentary all season long. Here's her final review of Survivor: Fiji...
"I'm going to bed. The rest of this no longer matters at all. And I'm never watching this damn show again!" That's what my husband George had to say when Yau-Man was voted off. And he got his big red hanky and went off to bed at 9:30, while I got my cryin' towel and watched with absolutely no enthusiasm as Earl, Dreamz, and Cassandra ate their final reward meal. I suspect that our sentiments were widely shared, and I suppose that under the circumstances, we can forgive George's choice of adjective to describe our favorite TV series.
It was a heart-breaker of a show for almost everyone; Dreamz breaking his promise made me feel about as low as Yau-Man's gift of the truck had made me feel happy just three days earlier. My "Life is Good" feeling seemed to get sucked down the drain.
Did Dreamz lie and break a promise made to Yau-Man sincerely and in good faith? Absolutely! All his subsequent explanations about the difference between the game and real life are just rationalizations, and Dreamz has bought into his rationalizations completely. Perhaps what adds insult to injury is his insistence that it was part of his master plan all along, and he had absolutely no remorse about betraying Yau-Man. At least with Earl there's an apologetic undertone, an underlying sense of, "I really hate to do this, but I have to." With Dreamz there's just the cockiness of "I am so smart and such a great player and actor! I really got the better of you! Yay me!"
Dreamz taught the world the lesson that "Nice guys finish last." Sad. Would hate to have kids watching this.
But I learn from watching. I know for sure that I wouldn't want to be what Dreamz was. It's a game, but it's not "just" a game. It's real. So as another old saying goes, "No one is useless. He can at least serve as a bad example."
So we close the season with these final thought:
Yau-Man: "This was the noblest Roman of them all." [Substitute Survivor for Roman in Mark Antony's speech on Brutus' death in Julius Caesar.] Yau-Man was the greatest Survivor ever! Bottom line: He was just too much of a threat, so the only way in the world he could be in the Final Three would be to win that last immunity himself. If the tribe would have taken out lyin'-Dreamz and kept Stacy, Yau would have won the final challenge and his million dollars, but certainly Stacy was not a worthy person to keep around for Final Four. Yau did the only thing possible to buy himself the opportunity of an F-3 spot in case he placed second in the challenge, and that was the truck-and-promise scenario with Dreamz. Yau-Man played wisely and perfectly, and the only two things that kept him from the million dollars were that the final challenge went to someone else, and that Yau-Man was just too good, too wonderful, for anyone to dare to compete with him in the end.
Yau-Man can take great satisfaction forever in the integrity and wholesome joy and goodness of his play, and in the ultimate graciousness toward Dreamz which he demonstrated and which all the world marveled at. There is one possibility that may make fourth place a great spot for our hero. The rumors that Survivor 16, next fall, will be a kind of All-Stars 2, seem to be well substantiated. Yau-Man seems like a shoo-in as a casting choice that could give him another great adventure, another shot at a million dollars, and another chance for us to cheer him on. Since All-Star Survivor 2 will probably not include any first-place finishers ( it's a given, based on A.S.S. 1, that winners are targeted for immediate elimination), a win in Fiji would have precluded Yau-Man's return. A fourth place finish, however, sets him up as a perfect choice for ASS2 casting, with vast numbers of adoring fans eager to see him again. The only thing luckier in life than getting a chance to play Survivor is a chance to play Survivor twice! Go Yau-Man!
Earl: We understand his decision. Ousting Yau did seem like the only path to his million dollars. However, I would share an old Native American prayer: "Make my enemy strong, that my victory may not be hollow." It would have been a greater triumph to have kept "The Bond of the Best" to the end, and then to have persuaded the jury (whose votes would surely have been split and much more interesting than the 9-0-0 decision) that he was the true leader and deserved the win. The victory over Dreamz and Cassandra was hollow. However, Earl was admirable in many ways, and I am happy for him and his mother.
Dreamz: If I can make any excuse for his despicable behavior, it is from the poverty of his background. If we could eliminate global poverty, we could eliminate some of the concomitant crime. When we think of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, we recall that people cannot move on to higher levels of self-actualization until their lower-level needs for food, shelter, and safety are met. Poverty often creates a "gotta-look-out-for-myself-first" mentality. Yau-Man is at a totally different stage in life, where basic needs have been met, generosity becomes possible, and character and a legacy rather than subsistence are the issues in life. I see Les Miserables in Dreamz; he is Jean Valjean, and Yau-Man is the bishop. "Take it, my son. Go and become an honest man." But I worry that Dreamz will become caught up in self-deception and self-aggrandizement instead of having the sense of appreciation and humility that would make him a better man. I fear that he looks at Yau-Man with not only discomfort but perhaps disdain instead of gratitude and a desire to become like his benefactor and potential mentor.
Boo: Boo was the biggest surprise for me at the final TC. The Preacher-Man called it clearly: Yau-Man was the most deserving, and Dreamz perhaps the least. The meat-tearing caveman that had been my image of Boo took on a new and much worthier stance in my eyes. For the first time, I admired Boo.
Rocky: Rocky's question was interesting and true to his character. To paraphrase: "Why do you think you were the rottenest, most dirty-double-crossin' player in the game?" A 'kicker,' I believe was his term. Two comments. First: I don't think Rocky voted true to his standard. Dreamz was totally the "kicker" in this game; Earl could hardly hold a candle to him in the deception department. Second: I really would have liked Earl and/or Cassandra to answer quite differently, to have said something like, "I'm not desperate for your vote, Rockster. My goal was not to be a 'kicker' but to play as positively and as honestly as I possibly could in the context of this game. So please vote for Dreamz, if what you want to do is vote for the King of Deception and Corruption."
Final Three Game Ending: There were two ways that we as fans knew there was going to be a Final Three ending. First, we saw it happen with Survivor Cook Islands, and we saw how well it worked there, so that the game didn't end with a king and a pawn, to use chess terms. Final three was a great idea to break the mold of taking a loser to the F-2 spot to secure someone's win. I wish Ian had been in a final three vote with Tom and Katie in Palau, for example; it would have been a more suspenseful conclusion. Second, we could tell when the Fiji jury began with the Tenth-Spot player that there would be a final three instead of a final two. Interestingly, the Fiji cast was playing the game when Survivor Cook Islands aired, so they were not aware of the new Final Three ending. Unfortunately, it happened not to work this time, because the elimination of Yau-Man took out the good competition and essentially put two losers with Earl for the final vote. I wonder if the players would have operated differently if they had known earlier that there would be a Final Three instead of a Final Two. Nevertheless, Final Three remains a better concept than Final Two; this season was an aberration, and I am sure next year's seasons will follow the Final Three pattern.
And with that -- We look forward to Survivor: China!
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