Survivor 32: What Makes a Winner?

What could Kaoh Rong? Medevacs, twists, and winners.

 "I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right?" - Omar Little, The Wire, S02E06



Wednesday night, Survivor wrapped up its' thirty second season. First of all, I apologize for not blogging about it earlier, but in retrospect, it'll be good to have one fresh take on everything post-finale.

At what point did Michele's game
become one of a winner?
Survivor: Kaoh Rong: Brains vs Brawn vs Beauty II, for me at least, was a tale of highs and lows. The season kicked straight into gear very early, and yet toward the end I felt it crashed a little bit, not maintaining the anything-goes quality of some of the mid-merge and pre-merge areas. In addition, the unsatisfying winner of Michele Fitzgerald hurts the quality for me in an overall sense.

The Premerge - Kaoh Rong had an excellent premerge. We began with the Darnell boot, a shocking vote given I thought Alecia would have been out the door instead. That being said, Darnell was a fun character who would have been entertaining had he gone on longer. His gut told him to go to the bathroom, not to win, I guess.
The Jenny tribal council was ridiculous and fun, continuing the great premiere with a strong sequel episode. The imagery of her standing at tribal was hilarious. Afterwards, the Liz boot was entertaining given the 2-2-2 nature of the brains tribe.

Caleb - The Beast Mode Cowboy made a lot of waves upon entry into the season. His alliance with Tai was indeed adorable, but otherwise, I didn't quite understand the hype. All of his memorable moments were more memorable for the Tai side of things, and bedazzled jeans aren't enough to warrant a return in my book. That being said, he's almost certainly going to return, so I shouldn't complain too much.

The Alecia Business - So, this was a big topic of conversation way back when the Alecia boot went down. Were Scot and Jason awful people? Was Alecia deserving of the treatment she got? In my opinion, no to both. Scot and Jason aren't the most eloquent of players, but neither did anything exactly criminal. In reality, I think it was more the producers fault than anything else. Alecia should have been a beauty, not a brawn. The entire episode was ugly, but the outcome was expected. This was no Dan or Will from World Apart, but it wasn't a great look for those involved.

The Swap - The first boot of the swap was more interesting for the story it set off for out winner than it was for the actual strategy behind it. Anna really got screwed placement wise in the swap, eating the bullet, similar to a Matt Bischoff from Caramoan. I liked Anna, but it wasn't a travesty. The interesting thing to analyze here is how it began the story of Michele, our winner. Up until now, Michele seemed like the right hand of Anna, essentially just doing her bidding. Here though, her alliance was shattered. Was this the beginning of the path to the win?

Peter - Peter is the kind of player that could play 100 times and probably go out around the same spot every single go-around. He's so overconfident it's almost ridiculous. His boot had to happen, despite the fact that in the end, it may have been in Aubry's best interest to keep him around. Even though I'm sure he has no winner potential, I would absolutely love to see Peter return and go out in a similar fiery fashion.

Merge-Evac - On to the merge, and the first major low-point of the season for me. Neal was medevac-ed as a result of a staph infection on his knee. It was a strong episode otherwise, but all of the strategic game play resulted in nothing, a ball of puss ending Neal's game instead of a vote. All of that being said, the table was set for an exciting post-merge, even with Neal's evac. Everyone seemed to have something of a story. From here, I want to walk through the merge character by character.

Nick - Nick was an interesting one for me. In the beginning I thought he was the worst of all worlds - a game-bot who didn't even give entertaining enough confessionals to make air, plus he was snide and annoying. However, come the merge, he really came into his own. Instead of just being an arrogant handsome guy, he became kinda like Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey, an emotionless robot villain who ended up making a memorable impact on the season. Do I need to see him back? No. But he definitely contributed to the season well. Plus, this marked the first of a series of back-to-back blindsides, the strongest run of episodes in the season.

At what point was Aubry just drawing dead?
Debbie - I can't sing Debbie's praises high enough. Especially in the premerge portion of the game, only Tai made competition for Debbie for most entertaining player. Her fifty nine jobs, her offensive strategy that really only made sense in her head, and her bold personality all made for one of the most memorable characters in a long time. I would see Debbie back in a second. Plus, this marked the big Aubry turnaround, when she voted out a strong member of her core alliance to move her own game forward.

Scot - Going in, I didn't expect much from Scot, but I really do think he brought it. In the beginning, he just seemed like the number two to Jason, but as the game went on, I believe he ended up as a better player. His social game was shockingly good (until the end) and regardless of his immense height and wealth as a result of playing in the NBA, he likely could have won had he gotten to the end. That being said, at the final tribal council, I'll revisit my problems with Scot.

Julia - Julia ended up being better than I first thought once she reached the merge. Being only eighteen or nineteen, it took a while for her to get out of her strategic shell, but once she did, Julia ended up bringing at least something to the table strategically. Once again, not somebody I would love to see return, but maybe in a few years with a bit more life experience she could be a savvy player.

Jason - This is one of the more interesting characters on the season. In the beginning, I loved Jason. He was the bad guy that should make every season great. He found idols, he was a gruff asshole, and yet he survived and made alliances with who he needed to go on. However, as the game went on, I became less and less impressed with Jason. A lot of the social part of his game was more attributed to Scot, and when Jason's allies had been voted out, he didn't do a lot to reinvigorate his game. Unlike a Russell, Jason wasn't fighting until his dying breath. Unlike a Tony, he wasn't socially savvy enough to convince people to keep him around. To be honest, Jason's look exceeded his gameplay and in the end, left a bad taste in my mouth. In addition, Jason's boot episode was the start of the decline of this season in my opinion, after him, the Joe medevac and finale were somewhat underwhelming.

Joe - Sure, Joe wasn't a strategic powerhouse, but he brought an interesting angle to the game not seen in a while. Joe was playing an under-the-radar loyalty game. If people were angry at Aubry, they may have voted for Joe if he made a strong argument. Unfortunately, a medevac brought him out, despite his "getting it done at 71." Certainly not electric television, but an interesting character nonetheless.

Cydney - I loved Cydney as a character. As a player, I don't think she could have won, as not that many people seemed to love her on the jury, but she was certainly good TV. From her endlessly playable soundbytes to her outbursts (Mr. Joe's firewood commands) and strategy sessions with Aubry, she was one of the players I would most want to see again from this season.

The Twist - At the final three immunity challenge, it's announced that Tai, Aubry, and Michele were not in fact playing for immunity. Instead, it will be a twist wherein the winner can vote out a jury member. I absolutely despised this twist. The jury is supposed to be the way the game is balanced in terms of social and strategy strengths. Without a jury to judge the finalists, Survivor isn't Survivor. Now, obviously this was only one jury member, (poor Neal - waiting ever since his early medevac to speak only to be cut short by this advantage. He did make the best of his literal 15 seconds of fame though) but even so, the advantage feels a bit like changing the rules of the game. Does it break the experience? No. But to me, this is something kind of like the Outcasts twist from Pearl Islands or Redemption Island as a concept. It doesn't break the game, but it certainly distorts it.

Oh hai Mark the Chicken!
Tai - Tai Trang and Mark the Chicken undoubtedly left the largest imprint on this season. Starting off in the bromance with Caleb however, would probably be the most likable Tai ever was, only going down the road of corruption into the Scot/Jason alliance afterwards. What I loved about Tai, and what I think the audience (and Sia) loved about him, was the fact that even after thirty one seasons of Survivor, we're still getting wholly original characters. Tai was a guy who was outwardly terrible at playing the game, making all emotional decisions instead of anything strategic, and yet still made it to the end. Regardless of the fact that he got no votes, Tai will return to this game and make another long run into it. We truly are all water hyacinths.

Aubry and Michele - I'll start this off by just putting it out there: Aubry was the best player of the season. She was not the winner of the season, but from a gameplay standpoint, Aubry was head and shoulders above Michele. Thus, with that out of the way, why did Aubry lose?
When I first saw the finale, my thought was to blame the editors. If Michele had this masterful social game that Aubry didn't, why were we never shown that? Sure, we heard people say Michele hadn't pissed anyone off, but a large part of that may be because she only attended six tribal councils the entire game. Furthermore, Aubry wasn't rubbing her moves in people's faces as far as we could see. Unlike a Russell Hantz who played an excellent strategic game and yet had an actively terrible social game, Aubry was shown to be a warrior, one who was indecisive but made strategic moves in a largely impersonal manner. Michele never made a move as far as we saw.
However, as I thought more and more, I don't think this was on the editors. If there was some kind of masterful Michele moment, we would have seen it. Her game was a subtle one, a social one, and yet one that mostly worked out due to a jury that simply liked her better than Aubry. I can honestly say, especially in exit press with Scot and Jason, that for whatever reason, they weren't ready to be beaten by Aubry. Did the alpha males just not want to lose to a nerdy girl? I understand that Julia was Michele's friend who would stump for her, probably convincing a Debbie or a Cydney one way or another, but for Scot and Jason, I still don't quite get it.

All of that being said, and while it's true that I personally believe Aubry was a more deserving winner, the jury votes the way the jury votes, and that's the game of Survivor. I may not agree with it, and even Debbie, in retrospect, has said she regrets voting Michele, but at that moment in time, Michele was able to get the votes she needed to win. As a story, it was not a satisfying end, almost like a crescendo into a wrong note. As a game though, it is what it is.

The Reunion - HA!

Overall - When looking back at Kaoh Rong, there's a lot to take into account. On the one hand, this is one of the best edited seasons, almost every contestant getting a relatively complete story arc without any one player usurping the screen unnecessarily (cough Spencer Bledsoe in Cambodia cough,) but at the same time, the general narrative of the season, guiding us to the victory of Michele, was flawed. In addition, three medevacs plus a jury twist bring down the quality. If I were to rank the seasons, this certainly isn't top ten, but it's not in the bottom tier either. Is it Brains vs Brawn vs Beauty one? No way. But was it an enjoyable season of Survivor? Undoubtedly. 

Next Up - Season thirty three will be Survivor: Millennials vs Generation X. Is this a blend of Nicaragua and Thailand? I suppose we'll see. I don't love the theme or the twenty new player format, but if the cast is good, so too will be the season. Whatever the case, I'm always excited for more Survivor.

#ByeMark!

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