It was a very good finale. Normally finales are pretty slow, and nothing too interesting happens. But even though we pretty much knew the outcome, the culmination of season-long storylines was fantastic. I think that's a credit to the 90-minute episodes.
We saw Jake's story conclude. He was the guy who never could get any momentum and suffered failure after failure. But he finally had success when he made fire.
Then we saw the Austin and Dee showmance and how that turned out. Ultimately the player who withheld the most information won.
The final five vote was crazy. Not one single player knew what was going to happen. If Jake and Katurah had communicated, they could have gotten Dee out. But that's the storyline of Belo... they can't effectively communicate and collaborate.
I think Dee played one of the best games of all-time. I'm not sure exactly where she will rank, but I'll do those a little later. Just based on gut, it's going to be pretty high. Her social game was impeccible, and she showed that sticking with people you trust is a good way to go. She also showed that you can have two #1 allies. Yes, she got lucky by being put on Reba, and she even admitted that. But she worked with the cards she was dealt. She was the ultimate triple-threat. She was great socially, strategically, and physically. It's similar to a Parvati or Kim.
We have also heard how awful Lulu was this season, but Belo was even worse IMO. Lulu couldn't win challenges. Belo could, but played such bad strategic games. Nothing they did ever made strategic sense. Kellie was the only one who was playing well, and that's why she went so early. I imagine Brando would have as well, had he lasted longer. I don't think we're talking enough about how bad Belo was. However, it led to good entertainment.
I thought Austin got more votes than he should have. It honestly should have been a clean sweep for Dee. I get why Drew voted for him, but Kendra and Bruce are both some of those players I mentioned who didn't do much that made sense strategically. I just can't see how you can point to Austin and say that he did anything better than Dee. Maybe one-on-one relationships with those specific players, but Dee was superior than him in every phase of the game.
Overall, it was a good season. I loved the finale. There were some low points with the quits, but ultimately they led to better outcomes down the road. Imagine if Hannah had stayed, and they voted out Emily first. Sean quitting showed Dee's ruthless side of still voting for Sifu, and then we got the drama surrounding Sifu and J. There was also a Pagonging of sorts, but it was a more entertaining version. And I enjoy seeing good gameplay.
I will do my winner, season, and player rankings in a little bit. I'll share them when I'm done.
