TV Guide's final Panama Critique:
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Survivor
by Ken McGilvray
May 14 2006: Yoga Boy's Got It All Stitched Up…PLUS: Reunion Time
Another season down and another million awarded (along with some sage tax advice from Jeff Probst). Aras might have had a sweep if he had a better answer for Bruce and if Shane hadn't thrown out a pointless question. In any case Aras played a strong game and even earned the respect of rival Terry. As we learned in the reunion, Danielle really had no way to win – she would have had the same 5-2 result if she had picked Terry. I'd like to know what kind of conversation Danielle and Aras had before the final challenge that made him jump off after a simple nod from her. Terry's ouster had the Burnett-inspired foreshadowing all over it. He was too confident after winning the final reward and his trust in Danielle was too firm until she started wavering. And she blamed it on being a Gemini. Who did she think she was – Courtney? Those final endurance challenges are so dull but the editors did a good job catching and magnifying every wiggle. But they really pulled out all the stops for the "fallen comrades" moment. Sure we got the same melodramatic music and the usual "what I learned on the Island" clips, but the huge skull bonfire was pretty cool to watch. And at the final three Tribal Council Aras' "sales pitch" really came to fruition; Terry's torch was finally snuffed, to the obvious chagrin of Sally, Austin and Bruce. In the end the Casaya bonds held tight as one of the strongest alliances in the history of the show.
Aras' misfortune now adds a whole new rule to the unofficial Survivor guidebook – do not guzzle down a mimosa and then go traipsing along slippery rocks. I swear we've seen more of the medical team this season than Melinda, Misty and Ruth Marie combined. Those gashes did look painful, but a million bucks can buy lots of iodine. Plus the sight of the intrepid yoga-boy all bandaged up could only evoke the sympathy of jury members Courtney, Cirie and Sally. In all honesty I was expecting more fireworks from the jury, but instead we got Courtney babbling about the "sea of forgiveness" and becoming a bird and Shane asking one of the dumbest jury questions in the history of the show. I think Danielle really blew it during her final words when she said "I have lots of things coming up in my life and this will really help me." Those are not the things people sitting in bitter judgment want to hear. Aras was much wiser in the amount of jury booty he kissed.
I was waiting for that silly moment with Jeff flying to the reunion show in a helicopter or paragliding in or something, but alas, he just sauntered in without fanfare. Aras' big winning moment was eclipsed by the amount of applause for both Terry and Cirie, but I'm sure he didn't mind. It was great to see Cirie's husband HB again, and I just knew she'd win the truck. She's truly an inspiration to all us armchair Survivors. I'm glad that Bruce is healthy, Tina is coming to terms with her loss and Shane isn't as crazy as he seemed (sort of), but I still didn't learn much about any of the others. So props to Aras, the winner with the most high-maintenance hair in all twelve seasons of Survivor and now…onto the next season in Cook Islands!