Well. I got some food, and got over my emotional hangover, and the end of the Survivor finale looked quite a bit different.
That last tribal council blew me away.
My jaw was dropping at Jules. That picture of her entire face soaked in tears. Hard to imagine how she could take it all so personally. Which is what makes this experiment so fascinating. Still, after nine seasons, with the contestants knowing exactly what they're getting involved with, they still get sucked into it, they can't help themselves from forming real human connections and recoiling in horror when another player informs them how little that connection meant to them.
And Twila. God love her, she really can't stop being Twila. Amy was a little bitter, but right on the mark: why could she take that oath about her son--which they blew way out proportion in my mind, which makes it all the more interesting; see the previous paragraph--yet she couldn't bring herself to make a damn fake apology.
(And couldn't figure out what her winning hand was: loyalty to the original goal of insuring a woman won.)
I also loved watching Ami cast her vote. Done with the bitterness, the sweetest smile and grudging respect for Twili's authenticity.
Now watching Chris perform, that was down right scary. And first I wanted to barf watching him wade that deep through the horseshit, but then I actually got the chills. That guy missed his calling as a con man.
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But I was wrong again. I thought Twila was going to win. I'm pretty disgusted with the women, particularly LeeAnn. God, what in the hell will it take to get a group of women to stick together? The had the men right where they wanted, got them down to the last man, seven to one and still preferred to hack each other up than beat him. God.
At least I can respect Ami. Of all people, if she had not stuck to Twila, I would have had no respect. She appeared to be behind the thing, and if it turned out that she was only behind it if it suited her, she would have looked pretty hollow. Jules, I understand. She got taken in by the conman. And Eliza. Well, Twili did torture her for 39 days, and bitched her out right to the end. But Lee Ann. For God's sake . . .
And what brutal irony to hand it to of all people, the biggest misogynist ever to play the game. The first open woman-hater I recall. Not to their faces, of course, he's a con artist. But his confessionals throughout the series. God. Does he ever hope to date again? He has nothing but contempt for the entire gender. Odd how he didn't think to con beyond the boundaries of the game. I guess he'll find some self-loathing woman who hates her gender too and respects him for it.
And of all the men to win. At least the final women came down to the last few who did manage to steer the game in their direction. Chris was the last man standing solely because the women considered him the weakest, most pathetic specimen. Ugh. This game has problems.
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A few random thoughts:
Sarge. What an ass. To the end. "Psych?" Yeah, you psyched exactly no one. And you are presumably the only person in America who thinks you found out where your friendship stood. That little ploy was comically transparent, and Chris turned in his worst performance in pretending he bought it. God. I was embarassed for Sarge.
And what exactly is Mark Burnett going with on the Dimples as Indiana Jones routine at the end every season, hacking his way through the jungle with a machete, pulling up the landing gear on the plane personally, parachuting out . . .
Very odd. Mark Burnett is normally the master of great production values. What's with the supreme cheesiness? Camp, is that what he's going for? What an odd moment for it. And why does he make the same perplexing mistake season after season? What am I missing here?
Update:
Watching the reunion show now, and Sarge, God. What a hypocrite. He's sitting there plainly lying and saying his vote was all about surrounding himself with people of good values, honor . . . This just seconds after Twila said to Sarge that she told the truth and he lied to everyone and that's why he won the million, and everyone laughed at the obviousness of it, and Dimples said, "I think that's pretty well established."
That's Sarge's idea of honor? Values? He knows damn well he stuck by his buddies. And there's nothing wrong with that. I would applaud that. I have. The game turned into men against women, and the men got taken early on, but they stuck together to the end, even when they were outnumbered on the jury five to two. The women folded. Stand up for that, buddy, be proud of it. Don't lie about it. And then preach some bullshit about values and honor, when the guy won because he was chillingly able to--in Dimples' paraphrasing, read people, know exactly what they wanted to hear and parrot it back to them.
Later Update:
Nice work from Dimples so far in this reunion show. (They have been infinitely better since they started allowing him to host.)
I wrote the above paragraphs immediately after Sarge spoke, fuming, and Dimples pretty much called him on it, without quite using words like hypocrite.
Then he had the nerve to pose the question that has been bugging me: Why is it so damn hard for women to stick together?
And people nearly always bullshit in these situations--how refreshing to hear Ami not make up some excuses or pretend it wasn't so, but to immediately admit it and say women have a hard time trusting each other.
(Before I get anyone fuming, I don't think the countless examples of this phenomenon through nine seasons of Survivor prove women have trouble working together, I think it illustrates it. Obviously one show is anecdotal. But most of us who have worked in business have seen it in action. I've discussed it with many women. And by the way, gays have the same problem. It can make your head spin to see how fast they can turn on each other. I guess it's a wider phenom of groups subjugated in any way. They develop a mentatlity over many generations that their group is going to lose as a whole, and their best bet is to screw their peers and collaborate with the more dominant group. Takes a long damn time to shake that.)
Ami suggested something more or less along those lines, in highly abbreviated form, and it waw refreshing to see her so candid about it. Most people wouldn't be. I really like her.
And Jules. I guess she's just really young. Much more innocent than I realized. Kind of painful to watch her admit on live national TV that "I'm just figuring this out!" about what a con artist Chris is, that his entire relationship she wept so movingly over was all an elaborate act. (And he didn't deny it.)
"I don't even know if you have feelings!" she gasped. He did deny that. Now he's probably thinking about dating again. Isn't he engaged to that woman who came on a few weeks ago? Maybe he's afraid she's starting to see through the bigger con.
Dutton (Penguin) in early 2009. 
