THE GOOD: Sophie started this game as no one. I have not recognized her during the pilot. She was only given little airtime before the merge in which she created a moment of her own when she joined Albert and Coach in an alliance based on loyalty. Overall, she’s the season’s covert strategist and her under-the-radar strategic game help her move further without being recognized as a threat that even Coach failed to see it.
THE BAD: It was a bad moment for Albert to receive no votes. It made me ask myself why no one wanted him to win. Suddenly I got the answers. If I am to compare Albert’s game to playing tennis, he was playing clean the first few episodes until he started to commit a lot of errors and not recovered since. His strategic game was too aggressive and he failed to maneuver it in the right direction.
Albert was the season’s Mr. Lucky Man. His alliance still helped him get in the final three even if it looked like he’s checking out the episode before the finale. He was still given a chance to face a jury and all he needed to do was to try convincing them why he deserved to win. Unluckily, errors start to pile up all over again and he immediately found himself in a painful position by not answering a question that only required a yes or no.
WHO STAND OUT?: I like how Coach reacted after Cochran praised him. “I came into this game wanting to do all the right things – and when you try to please everybody, you end up doing all the wrong things. … Each day I just wanted to justify my actions…in the end it became one big convoluted mess.” It’s the only moment in which I felt the sincerity and the honesty in him.
Though, at the start of the Tribal Council, I just wondered why Coach did not drop the “integrity, loyalty and honesty” the moment he had his opening statements. Experience should have told him that the jury won’t take it as genuine response.
I also appreciated Edna for being an open-minded juror. She understood how this entire game was played even if it’s her first time. Instead of hating the three people sitting in front of her, she chose to shed some light and helped her other jurors accept the reality that the Final Three played a better game than them.
THE UNLUCKIEST: Ozzy was a step closer to winning a million should he win that last individual final immunity. History could have happened as he would have named as the first sole survivor who was voted out twice.
EPISODE RATING: This was a good finale and a season worth-watching (8 of 10 stars!). It’s not a forgettable season even if it featured two returners (which is unfair) and a “Redemption Island.” Every episode stood on its own, each challenge was fun and though there were times the series of events were clearly predictable, there’s still something explosive to watch out for.
Personally, SURVIVOR SOUTH PACIFIC is the best season to date after Heroes vs. Villains. It could have been more special if there were only two people sitting in front of the nine jurors or the final votes could have been 3 – 3 – 3 or 4 – 4 – 1.
Photos courtesy of: CBS, TV by the Numbers