Friday, May 05, 2006

Survivor

A few words about Survivor (why not, it's gotten good).

I’m a mild Terry supporter, but I can see why some might hate him. I feel, in these shows, that there is always a sliding scale on the uber-competent middle age males, where they can either come off as incredibly self righteous and overbearing (like that bald fireman on Big Brother) and get very little public love, or as gracious and together (like Survivor Mike who fell in the fire) and be well liked, or any point in between. I actually like Terry more than Survivor winner Tom, but mostly because Terry wasn’t forced to play head games with a tribemate who was decompensating worse than Amanda Plumber in Pulp Fiction (Ian) in order to win (Ian threw away the game in that “Honey Bunny” moment). However, I think this all depends on any one person’s given tolerance for alpha males, and on your age. I would really like to see a poll on the average age of Terry lovers and haters… I think there would be at least 15 years gap in the average. But, for me, bridgeguy said it best in that he’s more confident cocky than arrogant cocky, and I can forgive the fact that he just doesn’t know how to put things sometimes… like with the wives before mom’s discussion.

What I don’t understand, though, is why there is not more Aras hate. He is the very picture of a guy, probably very likable at home, punking out over having his sense of absolute superiority punctured by not being able to “teach a lesson” to the guy making him look bad. Aras seems good looking, smart, and athletic, and is probably well adjusted at home, but you can see in his face that he just can’t understand how he might not be the best at something, and his composure is cracking. There is an element of entitlement denied that I haven’t commented on. And, lets face it, Terry was right about the “love” choices, but saying wives beat mom’s just wasn’t the right way to put it. If you are in your mid twenties and you can’t spend one month away from your mom, something is wrong with you. If you are married and you can easily spend a month away from your wife and kids, something is also likely wrong. I would also like to see age data on Aras supporters and haters.

I love Cirie too, but does anyone else fell like she might be a little tainted? Swearing with Shane on the lives of children, and going back on your word is somehow is vaguely worse than doing the same thing with a fully mentally capable person, and is kind of icky. BUT she has shown real control in the final stretch, after seeming to float under the radar for most of the game (nice change in direction) – I mean, getting Courney out really served only her ends, and didn’t actually help anyone else, but she got everybody to go along.

For me it’s either Terry or Cirie, with a lead for Terry at this point, and I’d like to see these two in the final. I agree with those that say that Terry could win against Aras or Danielle in the final 2 because Shane was sent off in almost the optimal way to get him to vote for Terry (Terry letting him spend time with son followed by steps towards an alliance followed by his entire tribe stabbing him in the back), and Courtney not only resents the tribe but (crazyness of crazy) listens to Shane. However, this assumes Shane remembers and processes facts as normal humans do, which has been shown to be an erroneous assumption.