Superpole2000

And the harsh truth: Rob was physically out of shape, which likely affected his mentality. It's tough to keep youthful energy when you let your body age with the years. That buddy system was almost necessitated by his tiredness and unwillingness to try anymore. And yes, I think you can attribute at least some of that to the fact that he suspected the other four people were all against him. But I'm also of the opinion that luck determines most of your outcome on Survivor. If you are in a group of five and four people want you gone then you are powerless. On the other hand, you can do virtually nothing (ex. Sandra) and make it further in the game than Rob. Now with idols involved, almost the entire game is luck-dependent. Whoever wins this season will have to be 95% lucky and 5% good.

It's so deathly boring. I don't understand how production thought this would be interesting. Not only that but I thought the log hike challenge was gross. It was manufactured torture for what purpose? To entertain? It certainly wasn't entertaining. The edge of extinction concept needs to disappear. I have no interest in the show escalating the torture in future episodes or seasons just so they can suck a few tears out of contestants who have already been voted out of the game.

I had a similar reaction. I feel like Survivor has been playing with fire for 39 seasons on this topic. There is a lot of physical touching in this game due to: Challenges: human ladders, one-on-one wrestling, tackling, etc. Opt out of these and you lose. Harsh conditions at night: Want to shiver all night? Go off by yourself. Want to feel warm? Snuggle up to a stranger who could easily mistake you for their significant other when sleeping. Emotional highs and lows: The pressure of the game pushes people to seek comfort in each other or celebrate with them, often in the form of touching. You can't opt out of a group hug without killing your sense of unity with the tribe. And wow, I can't believe how many people are dropping "I LOVE YOU!" into conversations on this show. Skimpy clothing: Ever lounge around in your underwear with some strangers? It's not normal, and it exposes you. But what are you going to do? Production doesn't give you the option of wearing what you want, so instead you are doing all of the required touching in this game while wearing your skimpiest stuff. Furthermore, being in such clothing around others might work to amplify the sense that everyone is more intimately connected than they actually are. The game is designed to push intimacy on everyone. Kellee refused it from one particular person who was going overboard while doing what so many others have done before in the game. I don't blame her either since I would have done the same thing. It's strange to normalize the massages, the snuggling, the mutual grooming (ex. mud bath rewards), etc., but because the show has displayed this for 39 seasons, it is seen as normal. Even when you get a bunch of contestants agreeing that they are uncomfortable with some of the touching, still nothing changes because the high stakes of the game and peer pressure push people to accept something that they aren't comfortable doing in order to win a prize.

I haven't watched the following episodes yet so I don't know how it all shakes out, but I agree with you. I'd even go further and suggest it was a terrible move by Kellee. Instead of guaranteeing she moves forward to the next episode by playing the idol for herself, she risked her safety on Noura (on NOURA!) and forced herself to be deceitful in the process all for what? To get a different guy out than Dean? Is that really advantageous to her? I don't think her odds of winning the game increased, and her risk of losing the game that very night obviously increased. Terrible risk to take when the reward for doing so was insignificant. And there is no way Dean and Noura keep that move quiet, so people will lose their trust in Kellee. That collateral damage is important. It has to be one of the top 3 worst moves so far this season. She's an MBA student who passed up a 100% chance of a profitable investment for an 80% chance of a slightly more profitable investment. Furthermore, she completely ignored the fact that there are other people in this game who might be playing their own idols and mucking up her perfectly orchestrated scenario.

You are so right! I find the show quite charming in these moments, but recent seasons have been all about idols, challenges, rewards, and votes. It's left very little time to show anything else, which is a shame.

The worst part of that jury was Kelley Wentworth and her scolding of Chris when Chris dared to ask Gavin a question. Why can't Chris ask Gavin a question? It gives everyone insight and moves the conversation forward. But of course, that would make Kelley feel less important. The fact that others on the jury agreed with Kelley's complaint was really pathetic.

I agree with the suggestion to provide better clothing. The men do not need to be running around in boxer-briefs so that countless people can make pervy comments about genitalia, and the women don't need to be swimming around in bras. Good looking people will still be good looking while wearing more modest clothing. Also, all of the objectification of contestants on this site and others is a real turn off.

The music, both the songs and just background sound, were very well chosen. The balance between dialogue and silence was also excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. My favourite part of the series was when Marianne told Connell that she was humiliated by him keeping her a secret in school. Once she told him that, I thought it should have prevented any sort of romance going forward. A real life version of Marianne probably turns the page on him and doesn't look back because the memory of being hidden is too insulting. As for Connell, the shyness started to feel unreal after a while. Lots of people grow up shy, but the smart/good looking/athletic ones tend to lose a lot of that shyness as they hit their 20s and the world is almost literally bowing down to them. And Connell's mom was really relaxed about the sex in their home. I didn't buy that for one second, especially given her past.

I really wanted to see that Mitch interview. The season felt like a lot of leadup to what ended up being a pretty ragged finish and a promise unfulfilled. The conclusion was somewhat satisfying, I suppose, but the punchup with Mitch was lame. So was the suicide and all of the slow motion reactions that followed. I think the show could have provided more interesting ways of concluding the story than going over the top with the fistfight and death.

I agree with you. I haven't hated the show, but it hasn't left me eagerly anticipating the next episode...ever. I just wouldn't push anyone I know to watch this show like I might for a show I truly enjoyed. I think what it's missing is some light to go with the darkness. Even in a heavy show like The Wire, you had comedic lighthearted scenes that gave you a break from the depressing circumstances and made you like some of the characters. This show has one downer scene after another.

Parts of this were quite good, but parts of it were just so bad that I wanted it to end. That singing scene, in particular, was excruciating and unnecessary. The "It's complicated" chat at the bar/restaurant was a good scene, but then the show punted away that momentum by showing Alex and Mitch together and joking about him being a sexual predator. And Bradley's quick sex scene with a stranger was also jarring to the plot. I like that Bradley/Alex aren't Mary Sue characters, but I still want them to make better decisions.

Nor would anyone want to. It's not like going through airport security. My guess is that the time of these medical professionals is far too expensive to spend it going through the unpleasant entry and exit process from Rikers. Furthermore, they were interacting far too freely with the inmates in this episode and it all felt very fake. That fight would have brought out guards in riot gear, and not even superhero Max would have joined in.

I agree, that's a gaping plot hole. They have plenty of air time to fill this season, and they could have gotten a full episode out of that one plot alone. Just the reaction from Helen alone would have been great TV. Show us Helen's reaction to the blood memento! I did think the sad hug at the end of this episode was well done, though. I felt that one.

I liked the last few minutes of this episode. The only thing I didn't like was how we didn't get to see the reaction of his coworkers finding the blood stained carpet. That was too big of a plot point to just bury off camera. Maybe that reveal will come in future episodes, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

And even if he could sneak in, wouldn't an intelligent professional in his position know that it's incredibly bad to do that? The writers have made Max a protocol-breaking dope. I am rarely on his side because he is always doing something dopey and breaking rules that inconvenience him. The astronaut story was nonsense, the cancer patient was never going to have a kid in any real world scenario, and Bloom/Kapoor were uninteresting. The only highlight in this show was the manipulative kid. Her story was so interesting, and the acting was great.