The Morning After: "Art of War. Yin and Yang."
SPOILER ALERT: Stay far, far away if you don't want a hint as to who won Survivor: China last night.
My rooting interests in Survivor: China ended when Jeff Probst snuffed out Peih-Gee's torch, leaving us with bitchy Todd, his hanger-on Courtney, pushover Denise and Amanda, trailing that eternal cloud of pixellation over her butt. (I'll admit, as a sarcastic New Yorker myself, I enjoyed Courtney, but that's not the same as thinking she deserved to win.)
Of course, I watched the finale anyway. And yet again, while I won't name names, we saw that those who fail to learn from Survivor history are doomed to repeat it.
In this case, the winner of a certain immunity challenge last night chose to keep the most-disliked person rather than the most sympathetic person. Have all these seasons taught us nothing? The finale jury almost never awards the million dollars to the person they like best or feel most sorry for; they vote out of respect, not pity. If you bamboozle people and own up to it, they'll generally decide that you outplayed them and deserve the prize.
The corollary to that--which a-certain-immunity-winner also forgot--is that deceiving people and then apologizing for it at the jury only backfires. People respect the unashamed villain. They despise the player who wants to be the villain and then feel guilty about it. It has been thus ever since Richard beat Kelly in Survivor: Borneo.
Honestly, aren't they teaching this stuff in the schools by now? What's wrong with the American educational system?
Discussion, tactical theorizing and misquotations of Sun-Tzu welcomed. Oh, also, if any of you had more sense than I did and watched the finales of Dexter or Extras instead, have at 'em.
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1
A very satisfying end to Dexter's second season, which amazingly was able to BUILD on what made it successful in season 1 (there's a lesson for you, Heroes).
That being said, the finale was for me a bit anticlimactic, largely because the previews for this episode GAVE TOO MUCH AWAY! Honestly, on the list of reasons why I want to run a network (or cable channel), having control over marketing and trailers to ensure that promos don't give away surprises is in the top 10, easily.
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2
I both lost interest in Survivor and just didn't have time to watch it much this season. I did however tune in for the finale. I didn't even know who Amanda was, but I knew I liked her better than Todd, Denise or Courtney....all who I did remember from previous episodes. When Amanda didn't plot with Denise and Courtney to dump Todd, I knew Todd had won it. If she had taken Todd out...which was in her power...I think she had a better than average chance to win over Denise and Courtney. Dumb move on her part.
Maybe it was the clothes, but it looked like Courtney had finally eaten a sandwich by the reunion.
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3
@ Keith: Exactly. All Amanda needed to do was get rid of Todd, then argue that (1) she and Todd ran the whole show and (2) since she managed to get rid of him, even if he was the mastermind, she was by definition the better player. QED.
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4
I haven't seen the Extras finale but am really looking forward to after the reviews you and Tim Goodman gave it. Then I sneaked a peek at the grade the Onion AV Club gave it in their TV Club section (my second favourite hangout) C-???? What's up with that? Is this a finale that's going to divide opinion?
Oh and since everyone is talking about Survivor. I've never seen the show but is this the one Jean-Robert Bellande was in? As a poker player, I run into him every week and I have to say: He's the biggest douche in the world
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5
@Nadir: Yes, Jean-Robert was in this Survivor. Funny, he didn't speak well of you either. Just kidding.
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 8 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 9 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 10 hours ago
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