Grid Effect

With the finale this Sunday we decided to get this out of the way now. Frankly, we’re tired of these egregiously long episode titles and there has to be alternatives. Like for instance, at some point during this episode didn’t someone say “embarrassment on a national scale”. That would be a lot more succinct and to the point than these bizarre analogies that the contestants use. It might qualify as a spoiler, but, we’d be okay with it if it meant a condensed post-title.

Anyhow, after last night’s blunder, the consensus seems to be that this is the biggest faux-pas in Survivor history. And though we never saw the first seven or eight seasons, we’d be hard-pressed to imagine anything more desperate or ill-advised. Everyone liked to mock Ozzy and Jason (and James from China) for not playing their idols, but they were at least, to some extent, led to believe they had no reason to use an idol that could help them later in the game. They had legitimate incentive to refrain from playing an idol that can only be put into use before you know where everyone stands, Erik simply gave away immunity that had no future value which he earned from a challenge that ironically ended with a solved puzzle reading “Guaranteed Final 4″. No one in their right mind should ever expect to receive that from someone else in this game.

So why did he give away the idol? His initial stance when Natalie insisted that he give her the idol to regain Cirie’s trust (I’ll give Natalie this, it does sound ridiculous to say out loud), was, “I’m not even going to consider it”/ The knee-jerk response seems to be “because he’s an idiot, that’s why”. And while it indeed was a boneheaded decision, simply labeling him a moron doesn’t accomplish all that much (It’s amazing how many people in the above link call Erik a moron while misspelling the word “moron” or something equally ironic). He claims his incentive was jury votes and that is actually a legitimate motive (not reason, there is never a reason to give away immunity under the current format), but it seemed like the undertone to that was just a general dire need to be accepted. If that is indeed the case that seems to have a degree of sadness to it.

Why would he so desperately seek approval from these people? By our estimations the reason is two fold. He was being coerced by four women, three of whom Erik probably deems attractive (1 and a half by our count. I mean, Parvati has her appeal and all, but we’re only going to be so enamored with someone who has Conehead teeth), he is obviously naive in a way and is probably pre-disposed to seeking the approval of people like Amanda. He claimed he was just aspiring to be friends and make amends with everyone he lied to (and he did lie, but every time he did it was like he let the person he was making false promises to, talk him into those false promises, yet another example of seeking approval). But conventional wisdom would lead you to believe he was letting the member make decisions for him.

It doesn’t take Einstein to pull off the most improbable move in Survivor history, just numbers.

But there is evidence to the contrary that speaks to another motivation. Specifically all his idolization of many of the favorites (most notably Ozzy) and his enthusiastic introduction with his brother that Probst was gracing them with his presence. And of all four of the women, the one he was most indifferent towards was Natalie, the only remaining contestant that was one the show as a fan. He didn’t seem to deflect Cirie all that well (who does?), so maybe he wasn’t using any hyperbole when he said in his parting words (paraphrasing): “These people are my idols and they treated me as an equal”. Yeah, we think there might be some other issues that led to Erik willfully handing over immunity.

Still, his blunder made for really uncomfortable night of television. It wasn’t so much that any of the women were in the wrong for attempting this. Of course they weren’t, the game in and of itself is the task at hand, and the promotion and general tone of the show is “by any means necessary”. Which, from a game perspective, even explains why Erik did what he did. But it seemed like such a gang attack from someone in such a vulnerable position that the discomfort was almost unavoidable.

In the above link, there seems to be a backlash to calling the women “bitches” for their handling of the situation. Followed by a subsequent accusation of those poster’s misogyny. We’ll never understand why things are always divided along gender lines on this series and its fans (though this season the female contestants keep bringing it up), but the issue of various people perceiving them as “bitches” isn’t really a surprise given the nature of the move they pulled off.

The counter-argument seems to be, “but if a man does something similar he is considered strategic and is praised”. While I agree that there is definitely a tendency to villainize the women on this show for nothing more than strategic play, this argument is invalid because no man has ever pulled off something even remotely comparable, nor do I think one or any could, so we don’t have to worry about the comparison.

You might be able to pull something like this on a woman of a similar age and impression as Erik, but for whatever reason I feel like the manipulator would also have to be a woman. And anytime someone makes someone look so cartoonishly idiotic, it’s going to be labeled negatively regardless of the circumstances (real life or reality television). Not that they could help themselves (nor do I blame them), laughing uncontrollably in Erik’s face is only going to accentuate any moral issues someone might have with their actions, thus the unnecessary phrasing from multiple viewers. Unfortunately there is no male synonym for “bitch” (enlighten me otherwise), so if a guy or a group of guys ever pull off something similar, he/them are just referred to as “evil”, “asshole” or the pop nomenclature of the past year or so, “douchebag”.

That said, before this challenge the only person we had any rooting interest in was Amanda (it was minimal at best). We respect Cirie’s game play (every blindside short of Alexis’ has originated from her) but we still feel sour about the whole incident with Yau-Man and Penner, and her superiority complex with the “fans” from when her team was losing challenges after the tribe shake-up was unflattering at best; we’ve always had a low opinion of Parvati because of her vapid shallowness and Natalie is probably the only genuine bitch of the group (Yikes!). So ultimately we couldn’t care less who wins at this point.

It wasn’t that we were rooting for Erik or anything, but the overall tone of this episode just seemed unnecessarily cold. Did they really have to show everyone’s reaction while casting their vote? Not that any of them could help it, but seeing the jury and the people still left in the game laughing in front of Erik’s face epitomizes why we don’t watch any other reality television. It also doesn’t help that outside of Cirie, we don’t really consider the ruling outfit a brain trust of epic proportions, to say the least.

Regardless of our opinions of it, this was definitely a memorable episode and eventful season. We’ve enjoyed it thoroughly, which makes it all the more bizarre that we have no real interest in the finale. Still, we’re going to watch and half-heartedly hope either Amanda or Cirie can take home the million.

Office recap later today.