The Ghoul's blog

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Ranking Survivor Seasons: #9 May 26, 2014: recently finished a very long process of rewatching every survivor season in order and will be doing writeups as i rank them from worst to first. after I finish these up I will be redoing my top 39 characters that I did a long time ago, and then i am leaving this site forever and ever

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9 Blood vs. Water

Blood vs. Water is one of my favorite seasons, which is weird, because going into watching the season while it was initially airing I was expecting it to be a piece of crap. A bunch of twists like Day Zero, BvW itself, First Impressions, Redemption Island etc. and more returnees as all the makings of a disaster. But it was anything but that and had a very unique feel to it and the Blood vs. Water twist ended up being one of the best they’ve ever introduced, probably topping the tribal swap and Medallion of Power for me.

Blood vs. Water is stuck in modern survivor, which by nature is a very game driven entity, even in the better seasons it has produced. Characters have been reduced to gamebots, and the few characters that they decide to develop tend to get beaten over our heads to the point that they’re too much. But Blood vs. Water, due to the nature of the twist and the complex relationships introduced to the game by having players connected with one another, created a lot of fresh tension and made it so they had to include character moments.

That is especially true with Redemption Island, which in its previous incarnations was basically a giant time suck that takes about 5-10 minutes of an episode that might have been put to better use. But in BvW, because the players had an invested stake in who got voted out and how the dynamics of the other side were revealed, RI was basically a machine that created character moments and fresh drama. I wish it had ended at the merge, as once the mystery of if your loved one is gone or not and the idea of switching being abandoned for the most part it does become more of a timesuck but I can handle it in the setting and don’t get too upset even though it’s still a flaw.

All in all I loved the season dearly. Ciera is a star character; I love pretty much everyone, even Hayden (who established himself as a cool Survivor character and not some dull Big Brother insert). Monica is great in this season, Gervase is great, Tina is great, everyone for the most part is cool. It produces some great premerge boots like Brad, John, and Laura. Rupert is pretty much Rupert in his element and he left before he could get annoying as a fourth timer and Candice was the best she’s ever been on the show. It pays homage to the older seasons with some throwbacks for Tina/Gervase, and my main problem with the season on its first run, Tyson, was actually turned around for me on rewatch. I enjoyed him quite a bit and didn’t really notice him being as gamebotted as much as I had thought. His personality shined through, he still had pure Tyson moments along with more complex moments pertaining to Rachel, and even when he was being put into the gamebot slot you could feel his humor in all of his decisions and statements. BVW (h)

Favorite Character: Ciera

Hint for 8: Season with a female winner

Remaining Seasons:
Borneo, Australia, Africa, Marquesas, Amazon, Pearl Islands, Vanuatu, Nicaragua

obscurity steel best ilovesleep bostonrob_ massgustavo95 prada lachie227 carterbehne electraviv blueu22 etaco75 lemjam6 euro patrick319 oysterman11 andthentherewasone sosyomomma absol amandabynes aimers; Points: 82 11 comments
Ranking Survivor Seasons: #10 May 26, 2014: recently finished a very long process of rewatching every survivor season in order and will be doing writeups as i rank them from worst to first. after I finish these up I will be redoing my top 39 characters that I did a long time ago, and then i am leaving this site forever and ever

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10- Fiji

Fiji is my pick for the most underrated season of Survivor. I understand the hate towards it but I think it’s misguided. Fiji is burdened with a controversial premerge twist and a rather gritty cast like Gabon, but I just love every ounce of it. Me putting it in the top 10 is definitely a statement piece, because I think it deserves a lot more love than it gets.

And mostly it comes down to the Horsemen. The four douches that get their rise and then a hard, hard fall at the hands of one of their own, Dreamz. Edgardo’s boot is my favorite tribal council in Survivor history and the facial reactions are worth watching on their own. That storyline and explosive conclusion to their ‘rise’ to power is just orgasmic. And the fact that Edgardo, the one nondouche in the legion of douches, takes the fall for his alliance, makes it even sweeter and more jarring television. I’m probably the Horsemen’s biggest fan, both ironically and unironically. Also the fact that Rocky was too douchey to get accepted into the legion of douche makes me laugh inside. The season is also carried along by strong characters like Earl and Yau-Man, as well as having strong comedic relief in Lisi.

My favorite character for sure is Dreamz though; who past the surface of just the ditzy dumbass that no one ever liked he’s actually a very complex character with a rough personal backstory. I felt like he made every scene he was in better and I feel that he is overly maligned for screwing over Yau-Man with the car and that there’s a lot more backstory and reasoning to that that gets left on the cutting room floor.

I just love every aspect of Fiji and it’s that one season that you love more than you should, but it is what it is.

Favorite Character: Dreamz, no contest

Hint for 9: A season with a Wesson

Remaining Seasons:
Borneo, Australia, Africa, Marquesas, Amazon, Pearl Islands, Vanuatu, Nicaragua, Blood vs. Water

obscurity steel best ilovesleep bostonrob_ massgustavo95 prada lachie227 carterbehne electraviv blueu22 etaco75 lemjam6 euro patrick319 oysterman11 andthentherewasone sosyomomma absol amandabynes aimers; Points: 139 14 comments
Ranking Survivor Seasons: #11 May 26, 2014: recently finished a very long process of rewatching every survivor season in order and will be doing writeups as i rank them from worst to first. after I finish these up I will be redoing my top 39 characters that I did a long time ago, and then i am leaving this site forever and ever

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just missing out on the top 10 is

11- Palau
Palau is an interesting season. It has perhaps the best postmerge of any Survivor season. Or at least from Gregg boot on, it totally delivers and just completely goes crazy, like Survivor on steroids.

After All Stars, a lot of people say that Survivor began to go downhill and that the golden age was over, but I really think Vanuatu/Palau deliver as much as the original seven seasons and keep the franchise alive at its peak. Just felt the need to say that.

But once Gregg goes, and the build up to Gregg’s boot, Palau is a complete fire bed of perfection. Tom/Katie/Ian are all fantastic and so are Gregg/Caryn/Jenn, though not as much. The fact that Koror was secretly such a giant mess of people waiting to turn on one another is a great dynamic that was left in the shadows for the most part, is a great storyline. Once the season gets down to the wire the characters like Ian and Tom really step it up, Ian in particular is a really deep, complex character and his quit is highlight of the season.

Palau’s main con is the fact that the premerge is pretty bland. Ulong is a really flat tribe lacking personality, so you have to go through what feels like an entirely different season, filled with meh characters other than people like James, Bobby Jon, and Jolanda (who lasts one episode). If you aren’t really a Steph fan, which I’m not, the premerge is pretty boring and difficult to swallow. Koror dominating is cool but not really interesting on a rewatch.

Either way Palau is a fantastic season, almost entirely based on the last several episodes which is one of the peaks of Survivor.

Favorite Character: Tom/Ian

Hint for 10: Season with a tribe swap/shuffle

Remaining Seasons:
Borneo, Australia, Africa, Marquesas, Amazon, Pearl Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Nicaragua, Blood vs. Water

obscurity steel best ilovesleep bostonrob_ massgustavo95 prada lachie227 carterbehne electraviv blueu22 etaco75 lemjam6 euro patrick319 oysterman11 andthentherewasone sosyomomma absol amandabynes; Points: 123 10 comments
Ranking Survivor Seasons: #12 May 25, 2014: recently finished a very long process of rewatching every survivor season in order and will be doing writeups as i rank them from worst to first. after I finish these up I will be redoing my top 39 characters that I did a long time ago, and then i am leaving this site forever and ever

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12- Panama

Panama might be the funniest season of Survivor. Casaya is probably the biggest band of hilarious misfits that’s ever graced television. The balance between the group of nutters and the straight laced, nice people tribe, and how the nutters absolutely whooped the cohesive unit is just a great dynamic.

But let’s be real here’s who makes Panama special:

Aras- the calm yet really freaking weird leader of Casaya, who in a normal season would have been the oddball but in Panama he was one of the few level headed players to make it deep
Danielle- Danielle’s interactions with players like Shane were great and her shafting Terry is fun
Cirie- One of the best contestants on Survivor, ever
Shane- One of the funniest, zaniest contestants ever who constantly threatened and yelled at his alliance mates but still is enjoyable to watch
Courtney- The kind of person who is threatened with death, only to respond to the insult about her apartment instead
Bruce- The lovable martial arts master who was medevac’d for not being able to poop
Bobdawg- Who got drunk in the outhouse with an old Asian man with wine stolen from his tribe and literally exercised total verbal domination over Courtney the following morning (Why hasn’t he been brought back??? One of the biggest what could have been contestants ever)

Panama is hilarious and delivers like crazy. I’d also like to point out that I randomly love Nick Stanbury, whose only moments were a few throwaway jokes about peaking on the first day, hitting another contestant in the face with the machete, and his completely out of the blue but inspiring final comments after being voted out.

My only complaint with Panama is that it tends to slip out of my memory really quickly after rewatching, more so than most seasons. It has happened every time I’ve ever seen it, I love it as it happens but then I forget a lot of the details. I literally feared this happening after rewatching so I wrote strong positive things about it to solidify it's spot on the ranking. So with that I struggle to put it any higher but it's definitely one of the funnier seasons. But either way, fantastic season.

Favorite Character: Cirie, always Cirie she's one of my favorites of all timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Hint for 11th: Post All Stars

Remaining Seasons:
Borneo, Australia, Africa, Marquesas, Amazon, Pearl Islands, Vanuatu, Palau, Fiji, Nicaragua, Blood vs. Water

obscurity steel best ilovesleep bostonrob_ massgustavo95 prada lachie227 carterbehne electraviv blueu22 etaco75 lemjam6 euro patrick319 oysterman11 andthentherewasone sosyomomma absol; Points: 60 9 comments
Ranking Survivor Seasons: #13 May 25, 2014: recently finished a very long process of rewatching every survivor season in order and will be doing writeups as i rank them from worst to first. after I finish these up I will be redoing my top 39 characters that I did a long time ago, and then i am leaving this site forever and ever

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13- Philippines

Philippines renewed my faith in Survivor. After wading through the era of pure crap that is RI-OW, I was just about burnt out on the show, to the point where I was ready to call it quits and just focus on the older seasons. But Philippines, just like it did at the time of airing, was a shot of adrenaline into a dying franchise’s heart. It really benefits from that rebirth feeling, but it is a very strong season in its own right.

It has a cast that really thrives in its roles. Not everyone is a major character and there are some people relegated to obscurity (Katie, Dana, and Carter too but I feel like he thrives in that role and contributes a good unintentional one liner every episode), but everyone fits into their role and does well in it. Coupled with that, after three straight seasons of relative gamebotting, where I didn’t really grow to give a damn about any of the story arcs, it delivers with Lisa’s. Lisa is a fantastic character who I really grew to appreciate after rewatching. Denise and Malcolm also have solid story arcs and Denise winning was great and she’s one of my favorite winners. Malcolm building up to a slam dunk only to fail at the very end with a huge challenge advantage is also Survivor at its best. I also have an inexplicable love for Jeff Kent, there’s just something about him and his incessant targeting of Penner that makes for a fun dynamic. This is also my favorite incarnation of both Penner and Russell Swan. Penner/Lisa’s talks about her life and how Survivor is purely a story driven TV show and them working out where they fit in it is great television and the Matsing chronicles are just good TV.

Philippines just doesn’t have many weaknesses and we’re into the realm of seasons that just deliver on nearly all facets, I don’t feel like I have to point out weak flaws to justify why a season didn’t make it that far now that we’re in the top half, we’re just in really good Survivor territory.

Favorite Character: Lisa

Hint for 12: This season featured a Wesson or Baskauskas

Remaining Seasons:
Borneo, Australia, Africa, Marquesas, Amazon, Pearl Islands, Vanuatu, Palau, Panama, Fiji, Nicaragua, Blood vs. Water

obscurity steel best ilovesleep bostonrob_ massgustavo95 prada lachie227 carterbehne electraviv blueu22 etaco75 lemjam6 euro patrick319 oysterman11 andthentherewasone sosyomomma; Points: 105 11 comments
Ranking Survivor Seasons: #14 May 23, 2014: recently finished a very long process of rewatching every survivor season in order and will be doing writeups as i rank them from worst to first. after I finish these up I will be redoing my top 39 characters that I did a long time ago, and then i am leaving this site forever and ever

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14- Thailand
The first of the original seven seasons kicks the bucket. Thailand is a great season, one that stands up as one of the strongest and it fits snugly into the first golden age, even if it was the weakest of the original seven. It boasts good editing and some unique characters (Clay, Helen, Jan, Brian) and has an interesting twist in the fake merge and has interesting dynamics. Really from a production standpoint they deliver nicely, as all first seven seasons do. Just the fact that all seven seasons pretty much made it into the top half of my rankings and Thailand lands at 14 despite being the weakest of them by far really is a testament to how strong the show once was and every season was a hit.

To Thailand’s strengths, it has a cast that I enjoy and some of my favorite characters. The Chuay Gahn Five are one of my favorite alliances and Helen/Clay are two of my all-time favorite contestants. It also boasts great characters like Jan, Jake, and Robb. While I personally don’t like Brian a ton, his dominance is interesting to watch, as very few people have ever exhibited such a sociopathic dominance, if ever. It makes for an interesting dynamic and I enjoyed the final six a lot and it dropped a lot of its dead weight early. Also the episode where Erin is booted and Sook Jai is forced to turn on itself is really a powerful episode, even if Sook Jai didn’t get a ton of development.

This leads into part of Thailand’s weakness, which is Sook Jai. It produces several duds and leaves you lacking with some of its characters. Ken, Penny, Erin, Stephanie, and Jed don’t exactly deliver a ton, even if the latter two are kind of lulzy for how bad they were at the game. Shii-Ann is interesting but I didn’t find her that compelling in Thailand. Thailand also has a sort of weird, dark vibe that very likely can be attributed to Brian and his playing style, coupled with Grindgate which is a very polarizing moment.

Overall, Thailand < 3

Favorite Character: Helen

Hint for 13: This season featured a final 3

Remaining Seasons:
Borneo, Australia, Africa, Marquesas, Amazon, Pearl Islands, Vanuatu, Palau, Panama, Fiji, Nicaragua, Philippines, Blood vs. Water

obscurity steel best ilovesleep bostonrob_ massgustavo95 prada lachie227 carterbehne electraviv blueu22 etaco75 lemjam6 euro patrick319 oysterman11 andthentherewasone; Points: 132 8 comments

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Ghoul's blog

The Ghoul's blog

1...2425262728 Posts 166 posts

1...24 25 26 27 28
Posts 166 posts