Survivor: David vs. Goliath Finale "With Great Power Come Great Responsibility" Analysis

"I'm feeling like such a noob."

-Angelina Keely

Wow, what a show.  Survivor: David vs. Goliath was a fantastic season with a very solid ending.  The finale was a lot of fun (mostly because of Angelina) and capped off the season in a satisfying manner.  This is easily in my top 5 seasons of all time and could maybe even get into the top 2 or 3 after I get some more time to digest it.  But did we get the best gameplay of all time?  Let's take a look at this jam-packed finale.

I'll be examining each round of play separately, so we'll start with the Final 6 and work our way down and I'll be giving out awards after each elimination and at the Final Tribal Council.

Who Played Well:

Overall, I think everyone played well at the final 6, though some certainly played better than others.  We'll start with Angelina who managed to find a Hidden Immunity Idol and was on the right side of the numbers to vote out Davie, but she did have to get Nick and Mike's help to find the Idol, which is never ideal.

Mike had a close enough connection with Angelina for her to feel comfortable with telling him about the Idol.  Mike has never seemed to like Angelina, but good for him for pulling the wool over her eyes.  Plus he managed to convince her to knock Davie out of the game, which was 100% the right call for him.

Alison had a solid relationship with Mike up until this point and it was this connection that got the target off of her back and onto Davie.

Kara was also an important part of taking out Davie.  Alison was one of her closest allies and keeping her in the game was a good move for her.

Finally, Nick had the most mixed round of everyone.  He was doing really well.   He won Immunity and helped Angelina find the Idol, unfortunately he was not in on the plan to vote out Davie.

As for Davie, he was in a tough spot and there wasn't much he could have done.  It made sense for all of the Goliaths to vote out Davie and he didn't have an Idol to protect himself.

Verdict:

The "Has Got It Going On Award" for the first part of the finale goes to Mike White for helping Angelina find the Idol and for orchestrating the elimination of Davie.

The "Not The Player For Me Award" goes to Nick Wilson for not being in on the plan to eliminate Davie.

Moving on to the final five...

Who Played Well:

Nick is the only person to play well in the final five and even he had some problems.  He was too emotional immediately after the vote, which made Mike want to target him.  But he did win Immunity and got Alison voted out, which was the right call for him.

Who Sucked:

I will give props for Mike for trying to repair his relationship with Nick, but I'm not sure it worked that well.  He also looked bad in front of the jury with his comments towards Alison and pissed her off on her way out of the game.

Kara wasn't that bad, but she was unable to save Alison from being voted out and I think Alison would have been more likely to take Kara to the end than Nick ultimately was.  Getting rid of Alison here was bad for Kara's game.

Finally, Angelina tried to get too cute with her fake Idol plan and I think just annoyed everyone on the island and on the jury.

As for Alison, she was another person in a bad spot and couldn't do much about it.  Going after Mike was the right call, but she just couldn't get enough people on board.

Verdict:

The "Has Got It Going On Award" for part 2 of the finale goes to Nick Wilson for winning Immunity and vote getting rid of Alison.

The "Not The Player For Me Award" goes to Angelina Kelly for trying to hard with her fake Idol plan and annoying everyone on the island.

Moving on to the final 4...

Who Played Well:

Excellent job on Nick for winning Immunity and taking Angelina to the end.  That was 100% the right call and everyone knew it.

Mike did a great job in the fire-making challenge and looked great in front of the jury by beating Kara.

Who Sucked:

The person who simply gets taken to the end by the final 4 winner has never done well at the Final Tribal Council.  It makes that person look like a goat being led to slaughter and that is definitely the case with Angelina.

As for Kara, outside of winning either challenge, not much she could have done.  Angelina was so clearly the right choice for Nick that Kara didn't have a hope.

Verdict:

The winner of the "Has Got It Going On Award for part 3 of the finale goes to Nick Wilson for winning Immunity and for taking Angelina to the end.

The "Not The Player For Me Award" goes to Angelina Kelly for being simply taken to the end by Nick.

Finale:

I thought all three of the finalists did a solid job in the Final Tribal Council.  They answered the questions and presented themselves well.  I was very impressed with all of them.

Nick Wilson wins the final "Has Got It Going On Award" for doing the best in front of the jury and getting the most votes, even from John and Dan who I thought were locks for Mike.

The final "Not The Player For Me Award" goes to Angelina Kelly.  She received zero votes and annoyed Davie by bringing up her "selfless" move of getting rice for the tribe again.

This really was a tremendous season of Survivor.  Easily the best since Millennials vs Gen X.  I still hate the final 4 fire challenge, but it didn't really have an impact this time.  Hopefully the producers will drop that in season 39.  We also got one of the best reunion shows in a long time.  I doubt season 38 will be able to be as good as this one was, but I'm excited anyway.  Good job, Survivor.  Keep it up!