Mabdul Doobakus

This season's fatal flaw. The terms Malolo and Naviti still have no meaning to me.

I'm rarely outright critical of this show, but this season has been a mess. Too many swaps, I really don't know who half these people are, who's aligned with who. Naviti, Malolo, the new tribe (whatever it's called)...I don't think I could tell you what tribe a single player started on or what tribe any of them are on now. I wish they would just merge already. I'm not sure if this is an issue with the cast, or with the editing, or both. But...woof. It's gonna be real hard for this season to climb out of my personal list of the worst three to five seasons ever. And with all the tribe swaps, is there any meaning to this idea that Malolo is one of the worst tribes ever? It's possible that almost every player has been on Malolo at some point...but again...I have no idea.

Maybe so. She's generally pretty honest, so I don't know why she would lie about this. I thought I recalled her confessional saying she was sending him away so he couldn't find an idol, but I'd be lying if I said I remembered 100%.

It was annoying to me as well, but it probably played better to the jury who aren't getting it in such a condensed format. They seemed to buy the whole idea that her experiences going undercover allowed her to separate real life from Sarah from Survivor Sarah. I thought it was a good answer. She did an excellent job in that tribal council and played a strong game overall. I was definitely rooting for her, especially once Cirie left.

Yeah, I don't think Michaela was trying to save Brad. Not buying that at all. But nonetheless, I love Michaela. She gets emotional, but when she's calm she's one of the most reasonable and sharp-minded people out there. And even her emotional outbursts are honest at least. When she's an ass to someone, it's usually because they deserve it. I would love to see her back, but agree that a waiting period would make sense. I would love to check in with her in 3-5 years.

Debbie has a loose association with the truth which I think borders on pathological. I think she is able to convince herself of just about anything. All that stuff about her anger with Brad being an act? Come on. Is that why she was still yelling during her confessionals? Just to sell the cameraman on the act too? This lady would drive me insane IRL because her reality is so subjective and it can be really hard to coexist with people like that.

I happen to like the loved ones visit, although this one seemed a bit long. I feel like they usually wait a couple more episodes. But I'm probably wrong. Anyway, I always feel like I learn a lot more about the contestants through the loved ones visit, and I'm always curious to see who they bring out. And people always make fun of the contestants for being overly emotional, but since almost all of them get like that--even the ones that you think wouldn't--I don't think all the eye-rolling here is entirely fair. 30 days of sleep deprivation, hunger, and paranoia, without anyone you can really trust to have your back...that clearly takes it's toll. Probably 95% of the contestants cry. If you're a big fan of Survivor, you almost certainly know who Monica is. She's no better than average as a player, but she's been around twice, and now so has her husband. I definitely don't want to see her back again.

Didn't really like it either. No big deal, still really liked the show as a whole. Last week's episode was solid. Lena Dunham did say this was more like an epilogue. And she was right. This was like watching the last 15 minutes of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, where all the fun stuff has already happened, and everyone is aware we're just limping towards an eventual conclusion because the journey is already over.

Well, I thought of the 3 people sitting at the final council, Hannah played far and away the best game of those 3. She was on the winning side of almost every vote and her social game had a major hand at some of those votes. Adam really wasn't very good at this game at all. His intentions were thwarted time and time again, and he was on the wrong side of many votes. The way Hannah completely played him leading into the final 5 vote was emblematic of this. Hannah voted out Brett, and then when it came time to flip Ken, I don't see how Adam got ANY of the credit for that. It seemed pretty clear that Hannah told Adam basically "stay away, I got this" and then she went and worked her mojo on Ken and got him to flip. I don't really get how Adam could be seen as the superior player here. And I had some respect for him for holding the thing with his mother close to his chest all season and not using it to his advantage...BUT...then he did start using it to advantage...with Jay, and then as his trump card at the final tribal, and I was kind of grossed out about the whole thing. There's no question that his feelings for his mom were genuine, and his tears were genuine, and it's a sad story, it truly is. But there's also no question he timed these confessions in a way that were to his advantage, whether intentional or not. I'm shocked this was a unanimous vote for Adam.

I liked Ken a lot until tonight. That was just embarrassing, a total deer-in-the-headlights panic stricken meltdown. I thought for a minute that he was making a completely selfish play to try to get both sides to vote out Will, but I don't think his move was even that strategic. I would've at least given him SOME credit for that. All he managed to do was make it harder for Will to take his side. And I guess in a roundabout way, he did get the other side to shift their vote to Hannah, but there's no way that was his plan. I took Ken as the guy who seemed to remain the most calm amidst all the craziness, but I think I was wrong. With his back against the wall, he completely lost his mind. I don't really like moves in the game that are solely intended to build a resume. It feels hollow. If you're playing the game with a purpose, your resume should take care of itself. Getting rid of Zeke may have been the right move for Will, but his presentation was wrong from the very beginning.

FWIW, editing could have made it seem that way because it made for a good story. I honestly don't remember that episode all that well.

You're asking me to remember things more than one week old. Unfair.

This season was ok, but that jury vote damages it significantly. Aubry was unquestionably the hand that controlled this game the most. She probably had the most impressive journey from the start of the game to the finish. She seemed very likable the whole way through. She overcame two huge blows when her two biggest allies were evacuated. Michelle played fine. She hung on. But you cannot argue she played anywhere near as well as Aubry. I hope none of the folks who voted for Michelle are ever invited back. Respect the game.

Only disappointed that Shane didn't make it. Otherwise, I can't really complain. Quite a few people (mostly those who didn't make it) who I just don't remember at all.

The Chris Rock monologue earlier in the year bothered me (I don't really remember why at this point), so I completely sympathize with those who were put off by Louis CK's monologue. I'm not sure why this one didn't bother me as much. Maybe I'm just being inconsistent. The stuff reported in the Gawker article bothers me much more, but as someone said upthread, that has to be taken with a grain of salt. Episode was OK. I will say that Colin Jost has grown a lot in the last half of the season and I wouldn't mind seeing him continue on. He consistently got bigger laughs than Michael Che, who I didn't like on the Daily Show and who I don't like here. Never understood that hire. I watched that episode thinking it was Kenan's last episode, and though the Reese DeWhat sketch was his goodbye. Then I didn't see him during the goodbyes on the show and was wondering what that was all about, and quickly found he out he was sticking around. I know some people find his schtick tiresome, but to me he has a way of sometimes elevating some otherwise pretty terrible skits. He makes the filler better, which makes him valuable. It'll be interesting to see how the show uses Pete Davidson in the future. I thought his WU segment was interesting because it basically acknowledged his skills are actually pretty limited. I do think he's funny, but it remains to be seen how well he fits into this show because he hasn't shown much ability to develop characters and I don't think he can continue to just deliver standup bits on WU.