Survivor 42 Finale "It Comes Down to This" Gameplay Analysis

 "My 2nd grade teacher would be very proud of me."

-Romeo Escobar

And so we've reached the end of another season of Survivor.  I had some issues with this season, for sure.  It seems like Jeff learned nothing about the new twists from Survivor 41 and didn't change them up enough or remove them for this season.  Apart from that, I do think this was a better season than 41.  I think the post-merge was superior, the editing was more well rounded, and the winner had a much more satisfying arc.  Now, let's get into the gameplay of the finale and figure out who played well and who sucked.  We'll start with the Final 5.

Who Played Well:

We'll start with Romeo.  I liked his fake Idol plan and although he was never in any danger, it's never 100%.  He, and everyone else, made the right move in knocking out Lindsay.

While I didn't love the interactions between Jonathan and Lindsay after the previous Tribal Council, I don't think Jonathan was ever going to get Lindsay's vote anyway.  He made the right call in getting Lindsay out of the game.  It's close, but I'll give Jonathan a net positive for this round of play.

I was getting really worried when Maryanne started talking about playing her Idol for Lindsay, but she talked herself out of it.  Instead, she saved her Idol, convinced Mike to play his on her, and knocked Lindsay out of the game.

Finally, we have Mike.  I don't love that he promised so many people the Idol, but he won Immunity and knocked out the biggest threat left in the game.

Who Sucked:

None of the surviving players had net negative gameplay in the Final 5.  

As for Lindsay, she gave it her all, but she was the easy choice to get rid of here.  She really should have played her Idol for Omar at the Final 6.  Maybe he would have been the target instead of her.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Final 5 goes to Maryanne Oketch for getting Mike to play his Idol on her and for knocking Lindsay out of the game.

I'm not going to give out a Worst Player of the Final 5.  The player who was voted out is not eligible to receive either award and the surviving players were all net positive.

Let's move on to the Final 4!

Who Played Well:

Both Mike and Maryanne made it to the end of the game.  Maryanne was taken because she was perceived as being less of a threat, even if that wasn't true.  Mike defeated Jonathan in fire, which was a great look for him.  Being the one to take down Jonathan is something nice to add to his resume.

Who Sucked:

After giving it some thought, I think Romeo made the wrong move.  It's great that he won Immunity, but he needed to add a lot more to his game to have the slimmest chance of victory.  He needed to take on Mike in fire-making himself.  If he was the one to take out the biggest threat, I still don't think he would have one, but he would give himself the best chance.  It's a big ask, for sure, but I stand by it.

As for Jonathan, I think he was a little too conservative with his fire-building, whereas Mike went with the bonfire approach.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Final 4 goes to Mike Turner for taking down Jonathan at fire-making.

Worst Player of the Final 4 goes to Romeo Escobar for not taking on Mike himself at fire-making.

Final Tribal Council:

Maryanne was wonderful at Final Tribal Council.  She gave one of the best performances of all-time and snatched the victory away from Mike.  Amazing stuff.

Romeo did a decent job as well, but simply wasn't able to do enough in the game to stand out.

Mike tried to pull the integrity card, which does not work at all in Survivor.  At least he was able to admit to his faults, but the jury shouldn't be educating you about your game at Final Tribal Council.  I love Mike, but he definitely deserved to lose.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Season goes to Omar Zaheer.  I think he was the most well-rounded player in the cast.  He really had a great social and strategic game.  I think he could have won if Drea hadn't called him out on  her way out the door and if Lindsay had played her Idol on him.

Worst Player of the Season goes to Rocksroy Bailey who is a near zero at the social and strategic parts of the game.

And that's season 42.  Hopefully Jeff will drop some of these garbage twists going into season 43, but I doubt it.  Congrats to Maryanne, a truly awesome Survivor character and winner!