Lurker > Inviso

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Tough As Nails Finale: I'm absolutely stunned that not only did we get a female winner (in less time than it took Amazing Race to give us a F/F winner), but that it was LEA instead of Elizabeth.

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This episode has been great thus far.

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While I HATE the insistence on adding twists to every episodes, this cast has really managed to fight off the worst instincts of the producers. I've enjoyed this season (aside from a brief blip at the non-merge merge) far more consistently than the past three seasons, and at least 41 is less likely to have a disappointing ending like DvG. This might legitimately be the best season since Kaoh Rong at this point...which is admittedly an indictment on the franchise as a whole.

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Okay, THAT is the biggest surprise of the TaN season thus far. I am genuinely stunned that the frontrunner goes out before the finals.

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I appreciated that tribal council. Having the players openly and honestly discuss matters of race in our society felt raw and real, and was just appreciated. It's a bit fucked up to hear Jeff say "This is why I love this show", as though he hasn't been pimping a plethora of game changing twists forever and a day. Also, having this raw, real moment, right before Deshawn has to survive a game of chance. >_>

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This twist is so dumb, especially because Deshawn could essentially end up immune for losing the challenge.

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XD Shan humming her villain song out loud.

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Pokewars posted...

Xander noooo messed up.

Why the hell perfect opportunity to snipe one of the power alliance out with an immunity idol that has diminishing returns if you're not always safe and numbers dwindle on and on.

He didn't even need to burn the idol. Shan just showed in the previous round that extra votes carry through in revotes. Xander/Xander/Evvie vote Liana and Danny/Deshawn/Liana vote Evvie, the revote would be Xander/Xander vs. Danny/Deshawn, and if the boys push that tie, Xander is immune and Evvie/Liana are safe, so one of them would've gone home.

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Burning the extra vote to force an unnecessary tie is hilarious.

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I'm loving the amount of conflict in this episode. It just feels a lot more like everyone is playing, instead of certain people following the leader.

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Ugh, and this week is even worse, because I just lost my favorite Tough As Nails player left.

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I appreciate the interpersonal conflicts of the episode, but I'm still sad to lose another favorite. The season started so strong with two great boots, and Sara was a big "who cares". But since the merge/not-merge, we've lost two of my season faves.

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Pokewars posted...

Xander's balls are too big for my screen.

I can't believe he saw through Ricard's masterful attempts at subterfuge.

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Did a quick ranking of the seasons to gauge where I'd put this season right now.

The cream of the crop:
Kaoh Rong
Vanuatu
Pearl Islands
San Juan Del Sur
China
Philippines

Very good seasons with a few minor flaws:
Marquesas
Borneo
Heroes vs. Villains
Nicaragua
Guatemala
Gabon

Largely solid seasons, but with some major flaws that prevent them from being better:
David vs. Goliath
Cagayan
Exile Island
Fiji
Amazon
Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers
Micronesia
Palau

Has some distinctly negative aspects, but has enough fun and enjoyable content to not hate outright:
Game Changers
Winners at War
Blood vs. Water
Dawn of a New Era
Edge of Extinction
Samoa
South Pacific

Mostly bland and forgettable:
Tocantins
Africa
One World
Australia
Ghost Island

Extremely, extremely negative and unpleasant, but at least KINDA interesting in that negativity:
Thailand
Worlds Apart
Island of the Idols

Aggressively boring and soulless, and revolving around a twist that honestly makes the season worse through its existence:
Millennials vs. Gen X
Cook Islands
Caramoan
Cambodia
All-Stars
Redemption Island

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Also, on the subject of season rankings...while this season is overproduced to shit, and that sucks, I still prefer it to a good number of seasons in the show's history. That can change, sure, but it's largely interesting for the time being.

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Honestly? I hate live tribals, but if there was ever a reason to have one, this was it. I'm fine with this instance of a live tribal.

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The Mana Sword posted...

What a waste of an episode

And yeah, this is a no-brainer. There is no scenario where you shouldn't use this advantage.

I feel like Naseer could've been convinced not to use it, especially if blue specifically said "you're more capable of surviving on your own than Erika" as their reasoning for sending him to Exile.

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I feel like there's no way Erika is stupid enough to miss out on two days of the merge and NOT take immunity for herself. But if she doesn't reverse the game, then she's extremely dumb.

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Oh man. Casuals are gonna be SO fucking mad if Survivor has a "Cookout".

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Are you kidding me? No tribal council tonight?

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This is better than episode three, but I once again am not happy about how much focus the idol and advantages are getting.

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https://twitter.com/murtzjaffer/status/1449555780257161216

Jesus Christ...

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Underleveled posted...

Frankly I'd rather someone be over-the-top while lacking self-awareness than be over-the-top and completely self-aware, because the former comes across as just a ridiculous human being while the latter comes across as a desperate camera whore.

For me, if JD was just an over-the-top nerd who thinks he's a jock, that would be kind of fun. But instead he really played into this "superfan" archetype, but also had enough self-awareness to want to emulate his favorite players (who are distinctly NOT nerdy superfans). It was a bit grating, and I honestly wish he was gone last week over Brad.

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bwburke94 posted...

Okay, maybe not that last one. Will's edit was unsalvageable.

Will was beloved by most of the tribe. You could easily build Shirin up as a more hateable character and trim back Will's worst content.

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Mewtwo59 posted...

Worlds Apart put them in a tough situation, because the only person from the majority alliance that they could've edited positively was Carolyn. I mean, they could've tried with Tyler and Sierra, but I don't think either of them gave the editors much to work with.

They could've edited Dan as more of a goofball and less of an asshole. They could've edited Rodney as more of a mastermind as less of a whiny douche. They could've edited Will as more of a likable social player and less of a dickhead for what he did to Shirin.

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Worlds Apart would've been a good season if the editing wasn't so heavy-handed. But instead of making ANY effort to portray the dominant (but ultimately losing) alliance in a positive light, the editors went all in on making Mike the greatest American hero in the history of the show. And in doing that, they similarly made the dominant alliance a group of vile, irredeemable assholes and otherwise irrelevant nobodies.

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God, this SEEMS like a good cast of personalities, but they're insisting on making everything advantages and new brands of idols every round. Jesus CHRIST.

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This was my final ranking for the season.

https://i.imgur.com/nTe5syK.png

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My top two were the most popular houseguests of the season. It's nice to see.

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My AFP votes actually mattered! Woohoo! Go Tiffany!

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Underleveled posted...

I really don't care that they changed it, and wouldn't have cared if they didn't. Frankly if they hadn't brought attention to it I probably wouldn't have even noticed. But I'm pretty sure Jeff was already set on changing it and they decided to make a show of it anyway and it felt very contrived.

That's the problem, yeah. It feels very performative, and even though Jeff CLEARLY wanted to do it, the fact that they tried foisting responsibility on Evvie, and then eventually settled on letting Ricard eat the blame, sucks.

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bwburke94 posted...

Ricard ruined the premiere, and will continue to ruin the season until he's gone.

How? Ricard was a great narrator for calling out JD for being too much of a tryhard.

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That first challenge distinguished the three tribes nicely.

Green is strong and competent.

Blue is strong, but dumb.

Yellow runs around like chickens with their heads cut off.

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Underleveled posted...

So, any theories as to why it took so damn long and a concerted effort by both the players and let's face it, production as well, to get a black winner on Big Brother? Survivor had its first black winner in season 4, and Amazing Race got its first in season 5, and both shows have had several more black winners since then, and, until recently, with similarly predominantly white casting.

I feel like it would have happened organically in the early seasons. We saw Monica get 3rd, Danielle get 2nd, Marcellas get 5th, Marvin get 6th, Beau get 6th, Danielle get 6th, Jameka get 4th, Ollie get 6th, and Kalia get 5th. I feel like BB14 is when the show really started to shift. They started bloating the casts to 16 (or more, considering battle backs), but kept black casting limited to one or two players per season. Plus they started seeming to really go for specific archetypes for black players, while simultaneously casting a lot of white dudebros who would naturally hook up with some basic showmance fodder. Once Derrick solved the game in BB16, it became even harder, because if the winning strategy is to nestle into a mega-alliance, and you're sociologically an outsider, it becomes harder to get into the winning team.

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It's more being told "black people have been fucked over on this show for 22 seasons, and as a black woman, I can't justify being directly responsible for fucking over another black person the one time production threw us a bone".

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Man, the level of entitlement from Xavier is just...infuriating.

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There isn't a whole lot funnier than seeing Julie hyping up this HoH competition as Alyssa vs. the Cookout, and then Alyssa drops before the episode goes off the air.

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Sweet. My top two are the top two.

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Alright, last week was a low point for me, because I was just bored with the steamroll (plus Derex is a great character). But now, I'm back onboard. The fact that the Cookout won HoH, nommed SB with intent to evict, and then actively strategized to ensure she won the coin flip, all to make it Alyssa v. Six Cookout members next week, is extremely impressive. This isn't just "The other side can't win shit, so we'll just plan on winning power every week" like last season. This is actively working to ensure that happens.

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Underleveled posted...

These are the most stupidly specific questions ever. They may as well have just randomized the HoH.

I'm fine with that. We need more crapshoot random HoHs so it's not just athletic comp beasts winning all the time.

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Kyland got my hopes up, and then they were dashed QUITE expertly.

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Underleveled posted...

While I don't find the mindset of the Cookout to be racist, I will admit that they're starting to fall victim to the same unlikability trap as these other dominant alliances which is having this "how dare you" attitude towards anyone outside of their alliance having the nerve to actually try and play the fucking game (this attitude was particularly grating with Level 6 and the Committee).

As human beings we naturally gravitate towards people that are like us, where that's for similar personalities, interests, culture, life experiences, etc. In the case of the Cookout, their bond has always been based not on them being black, but certain cultural similarities and life experiences that they have all shared because they are black. And they have vocalized that explicitly from the start.

Plus 22 seasons of white dominance in casting, which leads to white dominance in game success. BB22 was the first time in almost 10 years where a black player made single-digit placements (as a result of four black players being cast). A group of people realizing "hey, we've gotten screwed over as a race for two decades, and this is the first time we can come together and really work to correct that" is not racist to me.

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Pokewars posted...

I agree, but we're probably not talking about the same film.

Well yours is probably Django Unchained, so yeah...not talking about the same film.

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Only one movie left really doesn't deserve to have made it this far.

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LinkMarioSamus posted...

I don't really have a problem with it individually, it's just that the slant towards newer movies on these lists typically doesn't sit well with me. Next thing you know we'll have people saying The Last Jedi is better than The Godfather.

Oh my God, shut up about The Last Jedi. The ONLY person on this board who I could EVER see making that dumbassed comparison is YOU, specifically because you are the only person around here who goes out of their way to defend The Last Jedi.

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Sorry for lack of commentary. The middle portion of these lists is usually one of the bigger dips in content. It's easier to get invested in the highest-ranking and lowest-ranking films, because those stir up strong emotions.

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Pokewars posted...

Yeah, but McLintock isn't action schlock, a term I'll borrow from your write-up.

It was just schlock, full stop.

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Jesus, you thought McClintock was funny, but hated Desperado? Classic Pokewars.

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Assuming there isn't some last minute shake-up in the week's boot, here are my pre-jury rankings of the season thus far. Note, this contains Live Feeds commentary as well as content from the episodes:

1. Tiffany Mitchell (Up until the past few days, Tiffany has really held this house by the balls. We haven't had a really dominant female strategist in a long time, and it's just refreshing to see someone like her holding court. She's extremely emotional and messy though, which makes her more interesting than a standard gamebot. Essentially, she's the second coming of Vanessa, and I'm here for that.)

2. Derek Xiao (It's amazing to me that this clueless recruit was looking at a backdoor in week one, randomly won veto, and parlayed that and a second veto in week two into a solid position within the house. He just seems like an overall nice guy, and he's making a big move to take out Christian, which breaks up the monotony of house targets for the prior three weeks.)

3. Hannah Chaddha (It's cute that Derex and Hannah are aligned, because they're both similar in how they started their games: young and inexperienced and underestimated by the house. Hannah wasn't even solidly in the Cookout. But she's worked her way up the hierarchy, and she has this wonderful "no fucks given" attitude in how she deals with people. I'd say that's a positive overall.)

4. Britini D'Angelo (Her inability to contain her emotions is wonderful. She's been a pawn three times, and she's aware that she's a pawn all three times, yet she cannot help herself from breaking down. I love the wild card characters on the show, and we need more people like Britini.)

5. Sarah Beth Steagull (The first few weeks were all about her allegiance to Kyland, and she was low-key, but then she targeted Hannah, and suddenly her game has blown up. It's just kinda hilarious to see someone trying to be nice and trying to play the game, yet the reaction to her is VASTLY disproportionate to what she deserves. Her throwing the rest of the Kings under the bus was pretty great though.)

6. Alyssa Lopez (I find her running story of complaining about near-failures in comps to be amusing, but I also love how she's in that sweet spot of being intelligent enough to have a basic understanding of strategy, but bitchy enough that she can't utilize that intelligence to her full potential.)

7. Azah Awasum (She hasn't been a prominent part of the action thus far, but she's a great narrator, and her bitchy attitude is absolutely wonderful in contrast to the game talk all around her.)

8. Brandon "Frenchie" French (That first week was a completely hilarious trainwreck, entirely because of Frenchie. There's literally no reason things had to be as complicated as they were, yet he made a bizarre series of decisions that tanked his game and got him evicted by week two. That's a classic downfall, and we haven't seen something that chaotic since Devin in BB16.)

9. Christian Birkenberger (He went from me dreading him week one, to becoming kind of a goofy moron who wound up getting punked out pre-jury. He was a goofy character, and I can appreciate that. Plus, the Alyssa subplot has been hilarious, where she gets targeted for being in a showmance that Christian CLEARLY wants, but even though she goes along with it, she's nowhere near as invested as Christian is. It's a perfect amount of himbo energy.)

10. Xavier Prather (He's a bit too normal and rational for me to fully appreciate, especially in a house of messy and emotional players. But he cuts a good confessional, and he's charismatic when addressing the audience. He's looking like a strong winner contender at this point, and I'd be okay with that, especially since there's enough emotional for him to bounce off of that could prove interesting in coming weeks.)

11. Kyland Young (He was great in those first two weeks, but since then, he's largely faded to the background. He's still cute in his relationship with Sarah Beth though.)

12. Claire Rehfuss (She hasn't done a ton yet, other than be the token narrator for veto comps. But she has a good head on her shoulders, and she's largely aligned with the right people, so I can accept her for the time being.)

13. Whitney Williams (She seems nice enough, but she just didn't offer a whole lot to the dynamics of the season. I think she just got into Frenchie's Slaughterhouse alliance, and when that fell apart, she didn't really do anything other than bash Brent.)

14. Derek Frazier (It's hard to judge him, since he's largely inert and lays around the house all day. He has this massive fear of a women's alliance, which might manifest it into reality, but I just wish there was some consistent characterization to judge him by. It just feels like he's been lost without Frenchie to guide him.)

15. Brent Champagne (He was an arrogant, misogynistic asshole, and if he lasted longer, I'd absolutely hate him. but it's just so satisfying to watch him go home in week three, after being clowned on by the entire cast, all week long. It's a good downfall for a villain.)

16. Travis Long (He's basically a useless douchebro. He was slightly sexist and honestly, the promo bio stuff we saw kinda sucked. It came across like him trying to paint himself as the next Tyler. I'm just not a fan of mediocre casting choices, especially since we already have Christian to fill that same archetype.)

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