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Survivor:
Heroes vs. Villains
A Techtite
Review
Oh great; more Russell. That alone would make the
perfect epitaph to Survivor's latest "all stars" season, Survivor: Heroes Versus Villains.
Here's a lingering question: what is the problem with offering an
actual "all star" season? If someone
thinks that a simple "All Star" season is too cliché, here's a
thought: NO! The last time they had an all-star season, they placed half
of the all-stars with fanboys of the series, in the horrid Fans Versus
Favorites season. I thought that was the worst mistake Survivor could
ever make. I was wrong.
Here's the first problem so far: what is a hero, and
what is a villain? This isn't a philosophical question;
it's just simple facts. None of these "heroes" saved a child from
drowning. They are (mostly!) the likeable people:
the people we want to see again. The villains,
conversely, are the people we never wanted to see again.
Here's the unintentional humor of it all: call it clever editing, or
just bad karma, though by episode 2, you begin to see sides of the
villains never seen before, while the heroes tribe slowly becomes so
"full" of themselves, you want them to shut up.
The perfect example of this is seen in episode two.
Over at the villains tribe "Boston" Rob has what appears to have been a
heat stroke. Suddenly, all of the biggest jackasses in the history of
Survivor are actually sympathetic to Rob. Even Russell takes his foot
out of his mouth long enough to say how much he'd feel bad about Rob
leaving. Meanwhile, Coach and Jerri are giving Rob welcome-back hugs.
Wow.
Let's now flip on over to the heroes tribe, in the
same episode. Rupert has a problem with Stephanie before the
immunity challenge. Suddenly they all lose the
challenge, and who gets the blame? Well, it would be either Rupert or
Stephanie...and Rupert brilliantly decides to "sit out" the challenge,
so he's bullet proof. Cue James' paranoia, insisting that there is not
only an "I" in T-E-A-M...there's a "U" as well(!). Insists James to
Stephanie: "They" didn't lose the challenge; "U" did. Whether you like
or dislike Steph is immaterial. James insulted Steph personally, her
attitude, her sportsmanship, her past success on the show...heck; he'd
probably insult her credit score if a netbook was handy. I like James as
a Survivor all-star, though honestly: he was out of line in
this episode; so much so, I could care less who wins the game this
season...and this was only the second episode. Again...wow.
This is just one small taste of the "catch 22" with this
heroes/villains concept. As soon as Yao-Man and Colleen Haskell
refused to return, they should've abandoned the heroes idea. As soon as
they couldn't bring back Richard Hatch ---the villain fans love
to hate--- they should've abandoned the villain idea. Instead they used
some "creative license." Example: Cerie, Amanda, and Pavarti were all
part of one of the most cutthroat
alliances in Survivor history. Yet only Pavarti is in the "villains"
tribe, while Amanda and Cerie get "heroes" status. Huh...?!?
Here's the biggest problem: this season was
spoiled online, ages ago. So much of this season has been
revealed already; it is pointless for me to review the season like I
usually do, scene-by-scene, because more than half of these scenes were
spoiled. Granted; some spoilers did not take a rocket scientist to
discover. Here's a spoiler-free example: rumor has it that at a local
restaurant, long after filming of this season had ended: Russell's
reputation got the better of him. He allegedly had to be pulled away
from a fight with Colby and two other teammates. Surprised? Yeah; me
neither. Yet oddly enough; I'd gladly watch that outtake than any of the
tomfoolery I've seen on this season so far.
---Techtite
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