Survivor: San Juan Del Sur- Blood vs. Water II

flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
well reasons TO like this season:

- We didn't get the dominating alliance that just used numbers to get to the end. We didn't have a group of 5-7 that just didn't waver and got to the end. We had a balanced game with jon/jack in the middle for many weeks causing uncertainty. Plus there... and even the final 4/5/6 were wild cards.

- Idol drama. While they found the idols easily, people attacked the idol holder in trying to flush and blindside. No 'they have the idol and are invincible' thinking

- There were players... both Nat and Reed that were willing to make bold moves ... even Nat's move with Jack at the end. That was rich...

- We saw some good mix of challenges I think

- Solid retiring of some of the lamer elements... the past player montage seems dead for good (++)... did they even have the 'eat the nasty stuff' challenge this year? I don't recall

- We had new levels of dumb... like running out of rice even before the merge.. losing flint, etc

- Minimal amount of endless crying over cold/rain


Reasons not to like..

- ?? just lacked punch at times
- The big voltile pieces got sent home early (rocker, Jeremy, the other guy..)
- Never seen so many rewards given up??
- Idols were too easy to find and clues availability was too predictable


What would you add?
 
SAV

SAV

Well-Known Member
Liked:
New/different challenges
Some big moves were made
Some intense moments
Some Blindsides

Not to like:
Idol's were too easy to find
Exile Island
Leaving Missy in the game when she was clearly injured
Too many dumb players
bailed them out with extra rice (if anything, make the reward one of those where a local person comes and shows the tribe how to survive off of the land and what is there. And hope they win it.)
 
NYwdwfan

NYwdwfan

Well-Known Member
My thoughts on the finale:

  • Definitely glad this season is over - although there were a few really exciting episodes at the end!
  • Jacklyn dismissing the idol clue on exile - I'm thinking this was a mistake that didn't end up impacting her since Natalie saved here - shouldn't there have been a new idol since Jon found it there and left the game?
  • Hard casts should NOT be allowed. You should be able to get a brace or a boot or ANYTHING you can put on yourself but a hard cast? NO.
  • My absolute favorite part of the finale was Baylor crying during Reed's speech. I know this probably makes me a horrible person but it's the truth. I laughed through the entire scene.
  • Very excited for next season - although I will go on record NOW as saying I will probably want to punch many of the "free spirit" tribe members.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
@SAV - yeah, I was thinking about (but forgot) the missy cast thing too. That was over the top IMO.. we've seen people quit for so much less. If she needed full time medical assist like that.. she should have been taken out.

@NYwdwfan - re baylor crying. I see both sides. For Baylor she's watching someone tear her mom apart... and for Reed.. well he's just calling her out :) Missy did the right thing in just letting him blow steam vs lashing back. Baylor will just have to learn the world doesn't owe you the right to only have kiss ups all the time. You gotta face criticism too.
 
NYwdwfan

NYwdwfan

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
@SAV - yeah, I was thinking about (but forgot) the missy cast thing too. That was over the top IMO.. we've seen people quit for so much less. If she needed full time medical assist like that.. she should have been taken out.

@NYwdwfan - re baylor crying. I see both sides. For Baylor she's watching someone tear her mom apart... and for Reed.. well he's just calling her out :) Missy did the right thing in just letting him blow steam vs lashing back. Baylor will just have to learn the world doesn't owe you the right to only have kiss ups all the time. You gotta face criticism too.
Click to expand...

Agreed - I think she just annoyed me so much during the season.

OH another thing.

I cannot even begin to understand how difficult it would be for a woman to deal with the issues Jacklyn has regarding not being able to have children. It is an awful diagnosis to have and I'm sure it has shaped many facets of her life. I sympathize with her greatly in the regard. I do not - however - understand why she brought that up at tribal council unless she was looking for a sympathy vote. It just didn't have anything to do with the game.
 
PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Just finished the finale and reunion show. Glad to see Natalie win. She wasn't much of a player, but she didn't have to be with this cast. She stepped up at the right time and took the necessary risks. She played it safe most of the game, which was smart on her part.

The Reed speech was amazing. Great entertainment there. He has a way with telling stories and speaking. Was it harsh on Missy? Probably, but I think the point was valid. Missy gave Baylor everything, and she did treat the minority alliances poorly. I also think Jeremy was trying to pull a Spencer from last season by telling the jury to vote for Natalie, who played the hardest. While he was on point with his thoughts, I thought he failed to speak in a way that really motivated people to switch their votes.

Overall it was a blah season, but in the past few weeks the action stepped up and became pretty entertaining. I don't think Blood vs Water will come back anytime soon... they got lucky with Ciera and Laura in the first one, but I think it's either hit or miss with the theme. It makes casting pretty tough because you might have one good/entertaining player, but that comes along with a lousy and boring player. For example, Rocker and Julie. Rocker made for some entertaining TV, and Julie wasted a spot for another player who deserved it more. Definitely didn't live up to Cagayan.

As for next season, I love the theme. It should make for some good TV, and I hope the casting is more thought out. I missed the intense strategy that lacked most of this season. I also like the three tribes as opposed to two. Can't wait for February 25!
 
NYwdwfan

NYwdwfan

Well-Known Member
It's pretty much brains vs brawn vs beauty again Since they said those classifications were how the person gets through daily life.

White collar using brains
Blue collar using brawn
Free spirit using beauty or whatever else gets them by.

It gets interesting when the blue collar workers are really intelligent and cunning. Or the white collar worker is a fitness freak. Still think the free spirits are going to be annyoing.
 
DinoInstitute

DinoInstitute

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Alright, so I'll give my take on the finale and season as a whole now I guess.

Personally, I found this a very enjoyable and suspenseful at times finale to the season. At the immunity challenges, I was really into it, at tribal councils and when talks were on about certain boots, and how close it was being edited to be. Not to mention, a little bit of drama at the beginning.

Jaclyn and Missy I initially thought made a huge mistake taking out Keith, but at the reunion it ended up they would lose anyways. What would have been really interesting was a Keith vs Nat finale (with whoever else).

Reed's speech was great, it was evident that he was going for his own version of Rats and Snakes being the superfan he is. I agreed with and loved everything he said, however, it was built up to be more than what it really was by Jeff and others. Probably because there weren't too many WOW moments this season.

The Baylor blindside was incredible, really. That is why I loved Nat, and I'll talk about her as a winner later. But, I'm a little surprised we didn't get more of a reaction from Baylor being COMPLETELY blindsided....at final 5....by the person she trusted most...Just kind of shows the gameplay this season.

The first immunity challenge, I think that was a very good place for the advantage leaving everyone on equal grounds for the final, and I liked the challenge in general. But, just imagine how long it would have went on without the reward....

I did not like the reunion this season. I do like how they cut in between breaks like last season(mostly because it counted as commercial time), but in the actual reunion show, it was not entertaining and satisfying enough. Jeff spent way too much time talking to the audience! Newsflash....We really don't care about them, they aren't who we have been watching survive on an island for 13 weeks. Because of that, we didn't get enough time to talk to the cast. We should have talked to AT LEAST Nadiya, Jeremy, Dale, Drew, and a few others that haven't come to mind.

In the reunion, he spent a lot of time building up season 30 (which I also made a thread for to talk about). I usually really like the previews, but he spent too much time on it, again. At least he's feeling confident about it. I think I read in an interview Jeff thinks it has potential to top Cagayan.

Now, the season as a whole.

I think the finale bumped it up in the total season rankings a bit. I would put it slightly above average for a season, but not too much. Some great moments, an average cast, but a nice, satisfactory close to it. Not too memorable, but I would put this above many others as a recommendation/to re-watch.

Natalie is a great winner. She pushed the game forward slightly when she needed to to benefit her, with big moves. Played a really good game, hada road map laid out in her head, and followed the directions perfectly. It helped there wasn't really anyone else to combat her, but I still think she played very smart.

Who do I think are the All-Stars from this season? Definitely Natalie and Jon, maybe Keith simply because I think Jeff wants to "market" him as a new Rudy and to fill the silly old man role, and perhaps Reed and Jeremy.

Who do I think is most likely to be forgotten (post-merge)? I would say Wes and Alec, and if you count Julie then her too.


Well, that's the season. Looking forward to the upcoming, but for the meantime, will miss Survivor. One last thing- I never buy anything because of how pricey the superfans make it, but here's the Survivor Auctions site: http://stores.ebay.com/Auction-Cause/Survivor.html?rmvSB=true
 
DinoInstitute

DinoInstitute

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
flynnibus said:
well reasons TO like this season:

- We didn't get the dominating alliance that just used numbers to get to the end. We didn't have a group of 5-7 that just didn't waver and got to the end. We had a balanced game with jon/jack in the middle for many weeks causing uncertainty. Plus there... and even the final 4/5/6 were wild cards.

- Idol drama. While they found the idols easily, people attacked the idol holder in trying to flush and blindside. No 'they have the idol and are invincible' thinking

- There were players... both Nat and Reed that were willing to make bold moves ... even Nat's move with Jack at the end. That was rich...

- We saw some good mix of challenges I think

- Solid retiring of some of the lamer elements... the past player montage seems dead for good (++)... did they even have the 'eat the nasty stuff' challenge this year? I don't recall

- We had new levels of dumb... like running out of rice even before the merge.. losing flint, etc

- Minimal amount of endless crying over cold/rain


Reasons not to like..

- ?? just lacked punch at times
- The big voltile pieces got sent home early (rocker, Jeremy, the other guy..)
- Never seen so many rewards given up??
- Idols were too easy to find and clues availability was too predictable


What would you add?
Click to expand...
Completely agree. I would add to something missing that I liked when they had it was the Survivor Auction. Its a nice touch to the game.
NYwdwfan said:
It's pretty much brains vs brawn vs beauty again Since they said those classifications were how the person gets through daily life.

White collar using brains
Blue collar using brawn
Free spirit using beauty or whatever else gets them by.

It gets interesting when the blue collar workers are really intelligent and cunning. Or the white collar worker is a fitness freak. Still think the free spirits are going to be annyoing.
Click to expand...
I'm really looking forward to this theme. I feel they were trying to replicate what they got with Cagayan too, I also kind of picked up on that.

I think the Free spirits will be half and half, some just lazy and don't care, others heart-touching and just fun/loveable to watch. Blue collar hard working people will most likely have my favorite overall people, just because they seem genuinely good. The business people will have probably the most villains and cocky people, but also the most strategists. A favorite will come out of them, but not many.
flynnibus said:
the upcoming season reminds me of when they tried to do splits on race and age... didn't really stick and wasn't all that it was made out to be.
Click to expand...
I think this will be different and better. They will definitely drop the tagline of the collars, probably just for the teaser, but other than that.
I don't know if you saw Utopia, on Fox, but it was similar to this theme. People of all sorts of daily backgrounds working together...They will not work well together, let me just say that:p;)
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
IDInstitute said:
Completely agree. I would add to something missing that I liked when they had it was the Survivor Auction. Its a nice touch to the game.
Click to expand...

They did the teasers for food during the one standing/balance challenge.. I guess they dropped the auction as that one was pretty close to it. Auction is a good rewards one IMO :)

IDInstitute said:
Blue collar hard working people will most likely have my favorite overall people, just because they seem genuinely good
Click to expand...

Can also have some of the more stubborn! Or the people that will call each other our. I actually think you might get more fireworks out of those people. It will be interesting to see stereotypes play out :D
 
PUSH

PUSH

Well-Known Member
Here's my thought on the different collars...

White collar: Will have a lot of bosses, but they don't mesh together (similar to the terrible Brains tribe from Cagayan)

Blue collar: Will have a lot of people who work hard, but they each have their own thoughts processes and different ways to run the camp, which will make for some friction

No collar: Everyone will be free spirited, but this will lead to a lack of control around the camp, and a lack of a leader to structure the camp, which is something that's needed early on, especially when first setting up the camp

But I could be all wrong.
 
GenerationX

GenerationX

Well-Known Member
Natalie could not have won if Nadiya had lasted through to the merge. The two are exceedingly annoying together, but Natalie proved that she was not just tolerable, but dare I say it, entertaining without her other twinnie. It was a reasonably well-deserved win, and given the final three, the only real choice.

I got a kick out of the shots at tribal of Alec with his perpetual slack-jawed face. How did he get so far?

This was an average season.

The best part of the reunion was when they showed the tweet telling Probst not to go out to the audience. We viewers have been wishing that for years. Missy and Jaclyn were nearly unrecognizable.

White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar? I'm in.
 
JenniferS

JenniferS

When you're the leader, you don't have to follow.
PUSH said:
Here's my thought on the different collars...

White collar: Will have a lot of bosses, but they don't mesh together (similar to the terrible Brains tribe from Cagayan)

Blue collar: Will have a lot of people who work hard, but they each have their own thoughts processes and different ways to run the camp, which will make for some friction

No collar: Everyone will be free spirited, but this will lead to a lack of control around the camp, and a lack of a leader to structure the camp, which is something that's needed early on, especially when first setting up the camp

But I could be all wrong.
Click to expand...
Yeah, or you could be spot on.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom