[S30: Shirin Oskooi]

So does that mean that the men pretty much declared it would be a woman going home? If so, then I can see why she wouldn't have approached the other women. She probably figured that while she did that the other two would be working to save themselves and aligning with the men. I'm sure there were major distrust issues between the women at that point since they were pretty much made to turn on each other.

 

Love her tweet! She is definitely smart and aware of the game on a micro and macro level. 

[S30: So Kim]

I just know.  "Smarter" and "more accomplished" are normative or whatever, not objective, and if I've never heard of him, and he's dating her (so he's not, like, David Bowie) then he's not, almost certainly, by the values I judge by.  If he's really a rocket scientist, then I am doubly convinced.

So smart and accomplished in this case = well-known/a public figure? That's definitely not how I think of it. What about successful business people or scientists who are doing intelligent, groundbreaking work, but are not well-known among the mainstream community? Or who may not be well-known among certain communities (e.g. general population or tv fans), but are revered in others? There are a lot of people who have a ton of really positive qualities and are normal people, not public figures.

 

And I mean, we think Parvati's successful because she won a show that we're fans of and is considered to be a great player. But I don't know if doing well on a reality tv show and doing media work for the show makes you thought of as being successful in the grand scheme of things (especially for people other than us who don't care about the show at all). If you're going by the name recognition thing, then I don't think people outside of the Survivor fan community would know who she is. So if they used your standards of evaluating success then they'd probably say the same thing you said about "I've never heard of this person, they can't be that successful".

 

Also, what's wrong with being a rocket scientist?

[S30: So Kim]

I know it sucks for So to come out there for two seasons in a row and only get to play 3 days, but Malcolm is certainly a good consolation prize.  As good as the million, though I think not as good as the Sole Survivor title.

PS I dunno who this dude is but he's not smarter and more accomplished than Parvati.

Uh...if you don't know who "the dude" is how can you automatically assume that he's not smarter and more accomplished than she is? That's not to say she isn't smart or isn't accomplished, but there are people who are more so.

[S30: Shirin Oskooi]

Okay, so now I'm thinking maybe she messed up the puzzle because had the beginnings of a brain parasite!

 

Jk, but drinking the water without boiling it would really freak me out. 

[S30.E01: It's Survivor Warfare]

It made me go Hmm because she is freakin 30, not 21. Shirin is also 30. Tyler is 32/33. So that makes 4 out of the 6 (the majority) in their late 20s/early 30s. She sounded delusional and bitter in her exit interviews. Good riddance.

Yeah, I read in her Parade magazine interview that she felt her and Joaquin were the first to go because they were the youngest and I had the same thought that you did, "Shirin is basically the same age as you! Max is not that much older!" I didn't even realize Tyler was so close to her age as well. That means that 5 out of 6 players on the tribe were around her age. Going by age Carolyn would have been way more likely to be voted out.

 

I agree with Alapaki, I think by youngest she meant hottest. Which is So dumb. I know there have been a few instances where looks have played a part on how the game turned out (Morgan getting singled out on Day 1 of Cagayan for example), but I really think that attractiveness has little to do with the game for the most part.

Ugh, Parvati.  If that women were suddenly unable to see what she and everyone else looked like, her brain wouldn't be able to function.  And Jeff is nauseating every time he boasts about her "game play."

 

Directing my bitchiness elsewhere, there was a comment at EW that Vince would be the first survivor leaving the island in handcuffs.

 

I'm surprised the editors didn't save the dark side footage of their star free-spirit hippie dude until later.  Maybe Vince doesn't last long enough to have an arc or maybe he gets even creepier.

I've never understood why people can't see how Shallow she is.

 

Yes, I've made a bunch (or So many, if you will) of horrible name jokes in this post.

[S40.E14: Dakota Johnson / Alabama Shakes]

Cold Open - I didn't know this was a Birdman parody, but it was still pretty good. I liked Taran's facial expressions as he was walking through the backstage area.

 

Monologue - Another audience Q&A (even though it only really had one question). Kind of boring.

 

ISIS - I didn't know the video they were parodying (I was missing all the current references this show had!), so for most of it I was like "Where's this going? What's going on?", but it turned out to be a good parody. 

 

This is what always kills me - there's always complaints in the media that SNL doesn't have cutting edge sketches or push the envelope.  And what happens when they do?  There's blowback.  I actually thought both of their ISIS sketches this season have been very clever - that Shark Tank one from the Chris Rock episode was great.  I know ISIS is a touchy subject, but that doesn't mean humor about it is beyond reproach.

This is exactly what I was thinking when I heard about the backlash against this sketch. SNL can't win. 

 

I think the risk of parodies in general is that a lot of people don't understand that the point of the parody is to be like "we're making fun of how wrong (or sometimes inaccurate) this idea is". There are so many people that love Mean Girls that do not get that it is a parody moving and they just go "Oh yeah, that's what all girls are like! It's so hilarious because it's true!"

 

Cinderella - I thought that at least this was better than the other fairy tale themed sketches SNL has done lately (like Tonkerbell). I thought Cecily's dancing was funny. I was glad when it ended though and that it didn't drag on forever. 

 

Brave - I really liked this because it's something I think about a lot. Being honest doesn't always equal being rude, but I understand why they did the sketch that way for comedic purposes. I thought it was interesting that they kept the things the women were being honest about very simple. I feel like for so many sketches and characters at this point SNL just jumps to really weird or absurdist humour. So I thought it was good and made it relatable that the women were commenting on very normal issues, rather than having them be honest about Drunk Uncle or Girl at a Party type opinions. 

 

50 Shades of Grey - No.

 

Internship - I get what they were going for here, but it felt like such a retreat of so many other sketches/character. The Aidy character with the two broken arms felt very Kenan in the Gilly sketch or Aidy having dinner with Seth Rogen sketch where he has to feed her and the whole thing had a very "Girlfriends Talk Show, but older" vibe to it. I know I say this all the time, but not sure why in practically every sketch Aidy has to be the outcast/loser and Cecily has to be the ditz. I used to think the writers/Lorne were pushing both of them into these roles, but I'm starting to think it's because they can't do anything else (except for the occasional sassy/oversexualized character for Aidy or the tough-talker for Cecily). Also, this sketch really didn't go anywhere. It just seemed sort of aimless. There's only so long I can watch people misuse the word "literally" and the phrase "I can't even".

 

WU - I don't undertstand how Michael Che learned nothing from being around Jon Stewart at the Daily Show. Jon Stewart has such amazing delivery and personality at that desk. Unfortunately, none of that rubbed off on Che. I get that some people play WU to be closer to an actual news anchor, whereas Jon Stewart doesn't even pretend to do that, but that doesn't mean they all have to be monotone and devoid of personality. I also get the sense the Michael is either just a mean person who dislikes everyone or specifically dislikes Colin Jost. The way he said "so stupid" after one of Colin's jokes was really disdainful. For some reason I didn't like Colin's joke about the Batman kid's parents wanting to kill themselves. It just felt a little too mean, maybe because he is a kid that they're making fun of and not an adult.

 

 

 

I know next to nothing about Che, but to me he doesn't seem to connect to the material. Maybe that's why he comes across as bored, because he is bored. Also, Jost is basically personality free and gives nothing to play off of. He seems distant. I think that might have been the downfall of Cecily too, when Jost came on--the energy at the desk took a nosedive.

They need to have someone who has natural charisma or someone who can play the character of an Update anchor, and then define that character--give him/her a quirk or a trademark or something. It would also help if the two anchors actually liked each other--I'm not getting that sense from Jost and Che. I don't think they dislike each other, they're just...there.

That's how I felt about Cecily at the desk too. She seems funny and intelligent, but not charismatic or energetic enough or something. I mean, she was more energetic than Jost, but she just didn't have that umphf. Or it could be that she's very quiet and introverted in real life and only really feels comfortable playing characters. I feel most of the people in this cast are funny and intelligent, but missing something. It's like they're competent/good, but not great? Not sure how to describe it.

 

Loved Kate as Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I saw some of her Justin Bieber mannerisms in Ginsburg's dance moves, but it was still awesome. She can really dance. The Kanye part was okay and kind of fun. They have really just started to shoehorn Sasheer in wherever they can, just so they can still say she's a part of the show. I like Riblet's delivery of WU jokes, but I don't care for the whole backstory of his friendship with Michael Che and "jorbs". I did like that they tried to elevate the bit by having him remove his pigtails and tracksuit. That was better than him just coming out and doing the same thing as last time.

 

Worf MD - This was so wtf. It seemed like five minutes before the show started they found out about Leonard Nimoy and realized that Kenan was barely in any sketches, so they just shoehorned this in.

 

Net Effect - I liked Leslie's "First!" Other than that it was meh.

 

Good Neighbour - Meh.

 

I was distracted the whole episode by how much Dakota looks like a bunch of other celebrities combined. She's like Cat Deeley mixed with a bit of Anne Hathaway or something. Anyway, this one wasn't that great, but I kind of expected that the first show back after the 40th would be a bit rusty. When they started to live sketched with Cathy Anne I knew we were in trouble. I kept thinking "Oh crap, this is the best they've got tonight?!"

[S30: Shirin Oskooi]

You can't complain about fatigue, dehydration and starvation in the first challenge, though.  You certainly shouldn't be anywhere near "starving" although you've gone a couple of days without a good meal.  But starving?  And I think they provide drinking water so dehydration shouldn't be an issue either.  If you're physically wiped out this early I question how you'll recover.

I lean more towards she simply froze up and they didn't have a plan b if she couldn't do the puzzle.

I've heard a lot of Survivors say that the first days are the worst because they aren't used to these things and that they start to forget about the hunger, fatigue, etc as the season progresses. So if that was the case for Shirin then I think it could have affected her puzzle performance. The other thing is that we never saw the White Collar tribe get a fire started, so they probably weren't able to boil drinking water. She might have been dehydrated and will be less so throughout the season because all the tribes will get fire pretty soon.

[S30: Shirin Oskooi]

She's probably not used to the fatigue, dehydration and starvation yet. I'm sure that messed with her focus and thinking.

[S06.E16: Connection Lost]

 

While I agree that Alex does get overlooked and her siblings get far more attention, this was one instance where I think Alex was wrong to keep pushing the essay - Her family was in panic mode because her sister may be pregnant and may have eloped.  The Hailey "situation" was the most important thing at that moment.

Except that Claire was doing that at the beginning of the episode before they had found out about the "Hailey situation" and at the end, when the situation had already been resolved. 

 

I get that Claire and Phil's horrible parenting of Alex is played for laughs, but it's really not funny at this point. She deserves better.

 

While I agree that Alex does get overlooked and her siblings get far more attention, this was one instance where I think Alex was wrong to keep pushing the essay - Her family was in panic mode because her sister may be pregnant and may have eloped.  The Hailey "situation" was the most important thing at that moment.

Except that Claire was doing that at the beginning of the episode before they had found out about the "Hailey situation" and at the end, when the situation had already been resolved. 

 

I get that Claire and Phil's horrible parenting of Alex is played for laughs, but it's really not funny at this point. She deserves better.

[S30.E01: It's Survivor Warfare]

My first thought when hearing that was: You know who makes employees cry?  Terrible bosses.  You know who brags about that?  Terrible human beings.  

All true. Although a lot of contestants on the show are probably awful in real life. Many of them usually brag about manipulating people in their real lives. You know who manipulates people in life? Terrible people. You know who constantly brags about it? Sociopaths. 

 

I thought the premiere was good, but it seemed to drag a little and tribal seemed really short.

 

I was having Rupert All-Stars shelter-building flashbacks in the scene with Dan. Yikes.

 

I don't care for these dumb tribe themes. It's just an excuse for Probst to be a reductive idiot and declare that whoever wins demonstrates that their trait/skill (as represented by the tribe they were first on) is the most important for winning the game. Also, this seems like too much of a redux for Brains, Beauty and Brawn. Brains = White Collar (Which is why Jeff hates them - why does he have such an inferiority complex when it comes to intelligence? Was he held back in school at some point?), Brawn = Blue Collar and No Collar = Beauty because they're probably just full of unemployed actors/models who can spin being unemployed into being "free-spirited". 

[S30: Carolyn Rivera]

I feel like she has already earned the honour of being able to quote the great Drew Christy and say "basically I'm a bad ass".

 

She seems like she might be a bit abrasive, but she came ready to play and I like that.

[S30.E01: It's Survivor Warfare]

Oh sexism and ageism in Survivor. It never changes. I have come so close to quitting this show so many times for those reasons.

 

It was just sad to see that once everyone got back from camp it was such a forgone conclusion that it would definitely be a woman voted out. I can understand targeting Shirin because of the puzzle, but So was targeted for lying about the beans when Joaquin did the exact same thing and Carolyn was targeted just for being an "older woman". That was the only reason. So mentioned something about her not stepping up in the challenge, but we didn't see her struggle in the challenge and if she had, it definitely would have been shown. And who's to say that the men are even going to be that helpful in challenges in the future? There have been so many seasons where men have been kept for "challenge strength" when they are not even good at challenges and some "older" women can be quite strong.

 

I've always thought it was interesting when younger female players are ageist against older female players, somehow not realizing that they could just as easily find themselves in the same position if they played the game in a few years. I've especially thought about that when older women have made the finals and younger women have never really seemed to notice the biases and ageism.

 

Then of course there was Rodney's gross comment about how women just want men to lead them. He can go anytime now. I feel like I need to take a shower whenever I see him.

 

I was also grossed out by the condescending way that Dan talked to the women on his tribe. He better watch it, or he is done the first they go to tribal. Although I didn't think Sierra handled it in the best way by insulting him to Lindsay while basically acting like he wasn't even standing in front of them.

 

I thought it was hilarious that the no collar tribe was totally haughty about being no collar and judging the white collars when the no collars seemed super pretentious. Jenn seems annoying and like a try-hard to me. I don't know why Joe and Vince have taken interest in her other than the fact that I guess at least she attempts to joke around with them and also because she's, you know, there. They have to do something to pass the time.

 

Liked Joe a lot, although I thought his flirting with Jenn was awkward as hell. The "princess" line made me laugh. Of course it was nothing compared to Vince's serial killer likeness. Joe was definitely cast to be Malcolm 2.0, but he seems more assertive than Malcolm. I remember when Russell Swan did things Malcolm didn't agree with, Malcolm just said nothing and let it ride. But I think Joe was right to correct Vince in this case, rather than going along with building a crappy and uncomfortable shelter. 

[S30: Vince Sly]

I was so uncomfortable watching his interaction with Jenn from the safety of my own home. I can't even imagine how creepy it must have been on the island. 

[S30.E01: It's Survivor Warfare]

From Parvati's Hollywood Reporter recap

 

In my eyes, So thinks Joaquin is attractive and wants a chance to make a bond with the hot guy right away. This wouldn’t be a bad idea if So was some unattractive, unthreatening schlump, but she is super hot and majorly threatening.

I don't think that's why So did it at all. I think So wanted to be pro-active and be a leader. I remember in the Heroes vs Villains recap for the episode where Parvati said that Jerri wanted to join her alliance with Russell because Jerri had seen Russell give Parvati the idol and how Parvati thought Jerri wanted a man to do the same thing for her. To quote the recapper "Parvati, do you not think better of our gender?" Not everything is about attractiveness and getting validation from men.

[S30: Vince Sly]

Run, Jenn, run!!!!

[S30: So Kim]

What a disappointing player. I can't believe that Malcolm Freberg is dating that bad a Survivor player considering what a superfan he is.

 

 

Anyway, he kind of disappoints me that he's dating a first boot. So, beneath him. IMO!!

 

I don't get this. I really don't think where you place on Survivor has any bearing on who else you should date from the show. That's more about how well you connect with them and how much you enjoy spending time with them, which has nothing to do with Survivor, IMO. Plus we tend to think that the people who do well on Survivor are amazing people, but a lot of them aren't that accomplished in real life. Malcolm seems like a bit of a drifter and So seems way more accomplished in real life than he is, which I would think would have a bigger impact on their relationship than where they placed on the 30th season of a reality tv show. It's like when people say they can't believe Parvati is dating John Fincher, even though he is way more accomplished and smarter than her in real life.

[S30: Joaquin Souberbielle]

 

Of course the most likely reason So went is because as much as we hate to hear it, a truth of this game is that women tend to target women sooner than men. In the majority of the seasons, at least.

I think the men probably made it clear to them that they wouldn't vote out any of the other men because of their "challenge strength". So then the women were left scrambling and didn't think to team up with each other and either force a tie or convince a guy to side with them.

[S06.E16: Connection Lost]

I don't think I've ever felt worse for Alex than I did during this episode. Claire is horribly neglectful of her. Not that I should be surprised by that anymore.

[S30: Rodney Lavoie, Jr.]

His interview with Gordon Holmes grossed me out.

[S30: Jenn Brown]

Another women with internalized misogyny who doesn't like women and would rather be around guys. Lovely.

[S30: So Kim]

She seemed a bit spaced out during her CBS video, but I still liked her in that and I liked her interview with Gordon Holmes. She's very aware of the problems women face on Survivor and in how they're edited on the show. She wants to change that, but also knows that she it's a balancing act because she doesn't want to come off as too threatening or aggressive. I'm very interested to see how she plays and I wish Survivor would cast more women who have this kind of thought process.

[S30: Shirin Oskooi]

Yeah, her bio was a little too try-hard, but I like her enthusiasm about being on the show and I feel like she'll know what she's doing.

[S30: Hali Ford]

 

I'm yet another woman who aspires to play like Parvati.

I'm sure fewer female contestants would cite Parvati if they weren't told by casting to say so and if they were given previous seasons to watch other than Heroes vs. Villains and whatever the most recent season was that aired before their season was filmed.

 

Also, what is with her insisting in the Gordon Holmes interview that she's really a laid-back dude? She can't just say she's laid-back? She has to include "dude"? Then in her CBS video she says she's actually like a biker dude. Odd.

[S30: Sierra Dawn Thomas]

From her bio "My physical, mental and emotional capabilities are of a man’s level." Yeesh. She has some seriously internalized misogyny.

[Marriage Boot Camp - General Discussion]

Rachel should just pack her bag cuz he is not going to marry you any time soon or ever. Girl, pick your dignity up off the floor and go home.

Yeah, seriously. I find her sad to watch. it's depressing that she's too dumb to see through Tyson's manipulations and even when she does see them, she just doesn't have the confidence to move on. She really does do everything in their relationship and he probably tells her all the time that she's lucky just to be with him and should just be grateful, instead of whining to get married. I could see his manipulations bordering on emotionally abusive. It's uncomfortable to watch and I just want her to get out of that relationship. Even if he does eventually agree to get married, everything else that she wants will always be a battle with him. They'll be where Spencer and Heidi are in terms of having kids. He'll get to pick where the live, where she works, etc. It'll be terrible. Although I did agree with him last week about the dumbness of needing an expensive wedding ring so that she could beat her friends at the ring game. She needs to get over the status crap. Oh and Rachel? When your boyfriend/bootcamp partner is Tyson, you do not get to call out other couples for not opening up enough. I don't even like Aviva and Reed, but seriously. That's too hypocritical on your part.

 

I thought it was a load of crap when everyone was trying to make Aviva feel like a prude and like she was wrong to be private. I would be exactly the same way and I don't see anything wrong with that. I'm in my 20s, so it doesn't have anything to do with age or being parents either. It's just about decency. People shouldn't be striving to be crazy attention-seekers like Natalie.

 

Natalie grosses me out. A few episodes ago Jacob said it was love at first sight when he met her and all I could think was how?!?!? She is not attractive in any way. I don't get Rachel running to her for help, considering the bullying that Natalie submitted her to a few episodes ago. Rachel is really such a helpless person. Yeesh. I actually lol'd when she said Natalie was a "strong" woman. 

 

I did think it was sort of hilarious that Spencer and Heidi bragged about their sex life during the spin the bottle game and then during the puppet show it turned out that wasn't true at all.

 

Props to Elizabeth for telling Heidi that a baby wasn't the answer to her problems. It is really awful when dumb, boring and aimless people have children for this reason. I've seen it way too often. Poor future kids.