User blog:Gumball2/TDPI Episode Thirteen Reaction/Season Overview

It’s over. And here’s what I’ve got to say about it.

Now, this last reaction blog is going to be a little different than the others I’ve done. Instead of going through the whole episode, I’m just going to talk the highlights and my overall opinion.

So regarding the episode, it was good but there was plenty of stuff that held it back in my opinion.

So…yeah…

What did it do wrong?

I think the first thing that should be addressed is the helper thing. Similar to All-Stars, they did not bring back everyone else, which really disappointed me. But unlike All-Stars, I can at least give this credit for not killing the others on screen. But with that said, the helpers they chose to bring back are the freakin’ obvious ones: Jasmine and Dave. I was also put down because of that, but…unlike All-Stars…this presents the possibility that Chris fixed the wheel…so it’s not too bad.

I know this sounds a bit cluttered with me talking about the flaws here only to justify them, but trust me when I say that this finale is not innocent.

I feel like bringing everyone back would have really helped this episode. There’s tons of unresolved drama from the people that were eliminated. We should have seen the twins again, we should at least see Topher doing something. This was a season where they should have done that so we could get some closure. But this only suggests that contestants are like toilet paper; they’re used up and thrown away. Despite this, though, (like I already said) I can at least give this credit for not literally throwing them away (via murder).

And speaking of unresolved drama, they took a rather mean-spirited step with Dave. Now…I should probably talk about him for a second. At the start of the season, he was just the everyman; complaining as a normal person would to the bizarreness of all these wacky situations. It was a mix between snarky and germaphobe. But by the end, he has transformed into a miserable mess. Luckily, this was given a reason. It was because Dave was practically manipulated emotionally at the hands of Sky (although it wasn’t deliberate). It’s almost tragic that this thing happened to him and I think it says a lot about his character. We learn by the end that he’s on the verge of going insane. Unfortunately, this finale does not give Dave the closure he deserves. Instead, he becomes bald, gets his hair for some reason, and then loses it again for some reason. He’s seen about to be comically mauled by a bear after he has lost everything.

This “placing aside” of misery in place of comedy is made worse by Sky’s reaction. She admits in the confessional that she was planning to break up with her first boyfriend before leaving and feels guilty for hurting Dave. But then in the very last scene when they’re in the helicopter, she sitting there…and she’s smiling. Okay.

By the way, I did watch the alternate ending afterward and that produced a similar effect with her cheering as she was being wheeled off. So in either situation, she’s pretty much forgotten about Dave. And we’re supposed to care about this callous monster? And we’re also supposed to assume that Dave is the bad guy? That doesn’t make sense.

I guess that’s the only real problem with the episode. I know it’s sort of a big thing, but I can’t really find anything else that’s bad.

So I guess it’s time to talk about the season as a whole, right?

If you ask me, FreshTV’s main goal with Pahkitew Island is to improve upon the dumpster hurricane that was All-Stars. Did it do it?....

Do I really need to say it?

Overall, this season has a much better cast than ROTI and All-Stars. ROTI only had three characters I liked (Dawn, Brick, and Lightning) although the last one was only because of laughs. Most of that cast was annoying, bland, and/or frustrating. The set-up itself was hard for me to buy into and it was greatly mean-spirited. But not as mean-spirited as the plot. ROTI put all of its faith in the wrong things for the wrong reasons and it tried way too hard to convince you that what it’s backing is actually good.

<p class="MsoNormal">All-Stars didn’t have the terrible setting ROTI did, but it compensated by multiplying the other issues of ROTI by ten (at least). The characters it kept from ROTI were all the duds that were only there because they made it past the merge (even Lightning wasn’t funny anymore) and the characters it brought back from the original cast (plus Alejandro and Sierra) were either flanderized, annoying, or useless. If you asked All-Stars what continuity was, it would look at you like an idiot (except for the Malejandro arc; it will go all out over that).

<p class="MsoNormal">But this review isn’t about All-Stars; it’s about Pahkitew. Anyway, Pahkitew did a better job at telling a story in the sense of remembering what it has established. It’s not perfect, but I can at least say that FreshTV did a good job.

<p class="MsoNormal">Pahkitew also had a better cast. Of the fourteen new people, there were only five (Jasmine, Sugar, Max, Rodney, Amy) that I didn’t like. Everyone else was alright and there were a couple that especially stood out.

<p class="MsoNormal">It’s better than All-Stars, but is it better than ROTI?

<p class="MsoNormal">Yes.

<p class="MsoNormal">I should probably show you a list; showing the seasons from best to worst to give you an idea of where Pahkitew would lie:
 * 1) Island
 * 2) World Tour
 * 3) Action
 * 4) Pahkitew 
 * 5) ROTI
 * 6) All-Stars

<p class="MsoNormal">So, that’s another season in the bag. FreshTV, you still have quite the way to go, but you’re off to a good start. My main suggestion would be to try something revolutionary.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Okay…I’m done.