Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On

 "Yeah, I'm cooked, chat." -Rizo Velovic This was actually a really exciting finale, I thought.  I was rooting for Rizo and was a little surprised when he was taken out in fire-making, which left us a very flawed trio in the Final Tribal Council.  That's not a bad thing because it seemed fairly even across all three players.  I thought all of them had a shot at winning.  So often there is a very clear winner going into the Final Tribal Council, or at the very least one person is a clear goat.  It was fun to have a more evenly matched group of finalists, even if I didn't think any of their games were particularly impressive.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked, staring with the Final Five! Who Played Well: After Savannah won Immunity, one particularly insane option would have been for Sophi B, Sage, and Kristina to try and maybe get Rizo to play the Idol on someone else and blindside him out of the game.  Normally I'd write such ...

 "Britta, I've been in a few real wars, this one is actually the most terrifying." -Leonard Rodriguez "For A Few Paintballs More" picks up back in the middle of the paintball game.  Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi) witness Pistol Patty and a squad of Stormtroopers enter the school.  Pistol Patty is revealed to be Stephen Spreck (Jordan Black), the Dean of City College.  Dean Spreck tells Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) that the entire paintball competition was just a clever way of getting Greendale students to destroy their own campus.  The Stormtroopers spot Troy and Abed and chase them off. The surviving Greendale paintballers meet up and Troy proposes they form an alliance to take down City College.  He deduces that the prize money must be real and that if a Greendale student wins, they can give the money to the school to undo the damage done by the paintball game.  The theme of the game changes from western to  Star Wars  and Abed takes ...

 "Have fun eating each other alive." -Rizo Velovic Lololololololololololololol.  The Knowledge is Power Advantage is one of my least favorite Advantages in all of Survivor and I am tickled pink that, once again, it failed.  It's never worked once and that makes me so happy.  I wish Jeff would take a damn hint and not use it again, but I doubt he will.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: I can't believe that anyone bought it, but it seems like Rizo managed to convince Kristina, Sage, and Steven that his Idol expired at the Final 6.  I truly hope they were all more skeptical than they appeared to be on screen because that's ridiculous.  He also managed to play his part in keeping Sophi B loyal to their trio, he held onto his Idol, and helped knock out Steven, his biggest threat. Savannah also played a big role in keeping Sophi B loyal.  I was skeptical of her choice to bring Rizo and Sophi B on Reward.  Thos...

 "You're just an average-looking guy with a big chin." -Jeff Winger "A Fistful of Paintballs" picks up with a brand new game of paintball in progress.  During Greendale's end of year picnic, which was western themed, the Dean (Jim Rash) announced a new game of paintball, but with a much smaller prize than the previous year's to keep things from getting out of hand.  However, the mascot of the ice cream company sponsoring the event, Pistol Patty, announced that the prize is one hundred thousand dollars, which causes absolute chaos and a western-themed game of paintball began. Neil (Charley Koontz) is chased through the halls by Mike (Anthony Michael Hall) and his goons.  Before they can shoot Neil, Annie (Allison Brie) appears and eliminates them.  Neil pleads with Annie to let him go with one of the paintball guns.  Annie agrees, but when Neil attempts to shoot her in the back, Annie gets the drop on him and takes him out of the game. Abed (Danny Pudi) t...

 "Spaghetti with garlic bread!" -Jeff Probst This episode doesn't quite reach the heights of last week's stellar episode, but it was still enjoyable enough.  I was especially surprised by how dangerous Steven's Journey appeared to be.  That definitely felt like something out of early Survivor , which was actually refreshing.  I'm just glad Steven didn't pull a  Survivor 44  Matthew.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: I don't think Sophie S should have gone home here, but it was a good move for both Rizo and Savannah.  They did a great job of recruiting people and helped make it a unanimous vote.  I especially liked the olive branch Rizo extended to Steven and Kristina on the Reward.  He got them to make a move that wasn't great for their game.  Plus, once again, Rizo managed to hang onto his Idol.  I don't love that they just let Steven go on the Journey without any resistance.  It cou...

 "Are you farting right now?" -Jawan Pitts This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for this episode of Survivor .  It's certainly my favorite since the Shannon-boot and it may be my favorite of the season so far.  This was just so much fun with so many different possibilities.  Plus Knowledge is Power wasn't used, so that's always a plus.  I love when an episode of  Survivor gets me on the edge of my seat, and this one did that.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Rizo is really growing on me week by week.  I hate when he calls himself Rizgod.  I think it's what the kids call "cringe," but I'm really enjoying the way he plays the game.  I loved his fake Idol play to get a read of the other castaway's expressions and reactions, which allowed him to hold onto his real Idol for another week.  Plus I think taking out Jawan is good for him.  I don't think Jawan was a huge threat to win, but was part of a...

 "Well, don't tell any doctors I said this, but at this point the bus pretty much drives itself." -Abed Nadir "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" picks up during Final Exam Day in Anthropology, where Professor Duncan (John Oliver) and the class are simply getting drunk instead of actually doing a final exam.  Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) unexpectedly enters the classroom with a reporter, Paul Jacobson (Chris Dugger), who is writing an article on the Dean for Dean Magazine .  They plan to sit in on Professor Duncan's final exam, who claims he left the exam papers in his office and flees the classroom. Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) begins to feel contractions, but insists it's just indigestion.  Britta (Gillian Jacobs) tries to give her unwanted suggestions on natural childbirth.  Jeff (Joel McHale) tries to get Britta to back off, which turns into an argument that is interrupted by Shirley's water breaking.  The Dean leaves to get his car so he can tak...

 "Maybe there is room for two Sophies on this island." -Sophi Balerdi This episode of Survivor left me feeling pretty annoyed.  Not by any of the gameplay, but my Paramount+ app crashed right after the second vote was read at Tribal Council.  I didn't get it back up until Alex was getting his torch snuffed.  As for the episode itself, it was fine.  Nothing too special, but even when episodes are nothing special, we still have to figure out who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: I was really impressed with the recruiting skills from Rizo, Savannah, and Sophi B.  Together, they not only managed to flip Sophie S, but Jawan and Sage as well, and they didn't even necessarily need those two.  They could have pulled this off with just Sophie S and Savannah's Extra Vote.  Instead, the trio keeps all of their advantages going into the Final 8.  Rizo also did a great job of painting a target on Alex and Savannah managed to win Immunity. ...

 "Don't listen to Uncle Jeff." -Jawan Pitts This was a really fun and interesting episode, even if there was some really bad gameplay involved.  The twist in this episode really felt like an un-merge.  We've seen similar twists in previous seasons, but I like this incarnation more than most because we've had at least one regular episode with the merge episode.  We had everyone on one beach and lines were drawn.  Now our group is split in half and they have to deal with those lines.  This version worked a lot better for me than previous versions, especially because we didn't have the terrible Control a Vote Advantage to go along with it.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Rizo was in a terrible spot coming into this episode.  He was left out of the vote, but he didn't spend any time stewing on that.  He got right back to work doing damage control and seemed to make some good inroads with Jawan.  It's ...

 "Six seasons and a movie!" -Abed Nadir "Paradigms of Human Memory" picks up with the study group and Chang (Ken Jeong) finishing their 20th and final diorama for Anthropology class, which is a diorama of them making their 19th diorama.  Troy's (Donald Glover) escaped monkey, Annie's Boobs, suddenly reappears and steals Troy's paintbrush before disappearing into the school's vents.  Chang goes in after the monkey and discovers a pile of items that the monkey has stolen from the study group, including all of Annie's (Alison Brie) purple pens.  Chang brings everything back, but then goes back into the vents to chase the monkey who has run off with his spoon. The missing items send the study group down memory lane and the episode becomes a clip show.  We flashback to many different exciting adventures that we've never seen before.  Jeff (Joel McHale) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) reminiscent fondly, but the rest of the group points out that most o...

 "We already had a boat today!" -Alex Moore We just had a normal merge!  Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with the Earn the Merge format with half of the castaways getting Immunity, but if everyone is living on one beach, it's a merge.  Sometimes it may have extra steps, but it's just a merge.  It was nice to have it be so straightforward for the first time in forever.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked! Who Played Well: Jawan and Sage both did a good job of selling their reasoning for voting out Shannon to the rest of Uli.  I thought they might have oversold it at first.  All they really had to say was that Shannon had thrown out everybody else's name.  They added a bit of embellishment, but Nate, Savannah, and Rizo all bought it.  They also formed the Bottom's Up Alliance with Steven and took out a massive threat in Nate.  It was a really good night for both of them, though I am afraid Savannah might murder them. Sophie...

 "Jawan wants me to stop talking." -Jeff Probst Well this episode was quite the roller coaster of emotions for me.  On one hand, Knowledge is Power is back, which is an advantage I loathe with every fiber of my being.  I wish Jeff would take a hint and stop trying to make KiP happen.  On the other hand, Shannon went home and I straight up cheered.  Each episode, I've liked Shannon less and less and I hit my breaking point in this episode when she claimed she can remember being in the womb.  I wanted her off my screen at this moment and away she went!  I've never been so happy that we don't have a reunion show!  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked. Who Played Well: Starting over on the new Hina, I have to give props to the entire tribe.  Each and every one of them did a fantastic job in the Immunity Challenge.  They honestly made it look easy.  Really impressive stuff. I also really love that MC told Rizo that Sage ...