MzzJoplin
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Thaid no more ...
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Lex Sez ...
« on: May 12th, 2002, 3:57pm » |
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Lex Sez: It’s all a game, but nobody’s playing for the ultimate prize
"I will not change my fate by pleading or begging or talking to anybody. If they have a mindset that I’m the next one to vote out, then so be it.
"I came here with four things: pride, dignity, integrity and a knapsack. And the only thing that’s tattered right now is that knapsack. Everything else is intact."
Oh, General, General, General. If only you’d remembered to pack a little tactical sense and ambition along with that integrity when you left for the Marquesas. You’d still be around, my friend.
And it was painfully obvious in the final 5-1 vote spread that, true to your own word, you hadn’t talked to anybody before tribal council.
What is it with you guys this season, that you won’t even attempt to save your skins when you smell your own imminent defeat in the air? More often than not, I’ve seen you folks just lie down and die like dogs when you felt your time was up.
Whatever happened to "they’ll have to pry my cold, dead fingers off my weapon?"
I certainly didn’t expect to see you kissing anyone’s butt, Robert, but c’mon — Kathy practically spoon-fed you a master plan to save your butt and probably take you to the final three. Why didn’t you bite?
You can strategize about how to survive tribal council without sacrificing your dignity. It’s just good ol’ fashioned, military-style defense and retaliation. (They call you the General, right?) And it’s what you need to stick around in the game of "Survivor."
Unfortunately, the insatiable drive to win has been one ingredient sadly lacking in this season’s survivors.
One ingredient not lacking in this week’s episode was emotion. We were treated to heaping helpings of the stuff, pure and undiluted. I think the producers were so pleased with the results of last season’s family videos from home challenge (remember me weeping like a crybaby), that they decided to turn it up a notch this time around.
Instead of videos, our six remaining players were treated to the real deal: As the survivors waited for the reward challenge to begin, they were each surprised by one of their loved ones, in the flesh.
Spouses, a sister, a close friend, a mother and a son all filed out, one by one. I could almost see Mark Burnett crouching in the background, excitedly wringing his hands as he anticipated the results: "Oh, this is going to be spectacular. There’ll be crying like you’ve never seen."
And cry they did. A lot.
The scene took me straight back to Africa, and I could barely keep myself from breaking down, as I could feel all those emotions flooding back into me: the longing, the loneliness, the love for my family.
Jeff Probst threw a new twist into the reward challenge and announced that this time around the survivors were sitting out while their loved ones competed.
I won’t go into detail about the challenge itself because it clearly wasn’t the focus on the show either. This challenge was all about seeing survivors cry like babies when reunited with friends and family.
I was dreading the inevitable moment when Jeff would hastily send the loser loved ones away without so much as a hug for their survivors.
But stepping away from their typically sadistic patterns, the producers allowed friends and family who were eliminated from the game to embrace their Survivor kin before being dismissed.
Kathy’s son Patrick was the last loved one standing in the challenge; but if he’d had any idea what the reward was, he may not have played to win.
Probst handed Pat a Soliantu buff and proclaimed that Pat would be a member of the tribe until the next morning, and would enjoy all the privileges that came with tribal membership.
Privileges included cracking coconuts and shellfish, harvesting taro and gathering firewood. His membership also covered a Marquesas meal pass, meaning he could enjoy the same exotic diet his mom had for a month. Lodging was provided at camp Soliantu, complete with bamboo bed and plenty of wildlife — Nonos (which immediately proceeded to devour poor ol’ Pitter Pat).
Kathy was stoked to have her boy around, but city-bred Pat was out of his depth. The chores didn’t sit well (he didn’t like getting his hands dirty), and he couldn’t choke down any food without grimacing. He also sleep well, poor baby.
During Pat’s visit, Kathy tried to take advantage of his clear mind to glean advice about game play. After explaining what had transpired and what she thought she might have to do in order to stay in the game, Pat told her, "I don’t like this game. And I don’t like this side of you."
Oh, if I had a dollar for every time my wife Kelly said the same to me.
As I mentioned, none of Kathy’s shrewd plotting would ever see the light of day. Maybe we can blame her son Pitter Pat for putting the kibosh on another potentially entertaining power-switch before he was whisked away from the island.
It amazes me how little interest these players have in scheming or taking control of the game. Most seem happy casting their fates to the winds, or just figuring things out as they go.
While this may be a terrible strategy if winning the game is your goal, it makes for compelling TV. Without players planning strategies, we never know what’s going to happen next, and the result is guaranteed suspense every week.
It’s as if nobody’s in the driver’s seat, everyone’s in the way-back, while the family station wagon careens out of control down a mountain.
Next week is the last episode of "Survivor" before the big Central Park Finale on the May 19. Can you believe it’s almost over already?
Our five friends better grab the steering wheel or they may fly right by that million bucks and not even notice.
Lex van den Berghe is a Santa Cruz local who spent last summer playing "Survivor: Africa." When he’s not out looking for work, chances are you’ll find him hanging with his family, catching a surf, or playing with his band Luckydog.
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