Thread:Fedora Kid/@comment-2147650-20150514005631/@comment-1734566-20150514190812

I will admit, this finale is building up to potentially be the best since Philippines; depending on how it goes/who wins, this season will either be solidified as one of the best, IMO, or one of the worst. If Mike pulls it off, then this overall season is solid since it revolves around his narrative. If Carolyn or Rodney wins, it'd be a decent bounce back from Mike losing - if Sierra wins, the season will utterly suck.

I can see the criticisms for the season, to be sure: The sheer negativity. Although to me, again, the negativity was worse in the pre-merge half with the dysfunctionality of the Blue Collars, rather than Dan and Will in the post-merge - both of them only really had ONE bad episode each, and yet the casuals latch onto those moments/quotes and LEECH off of them all to sh**; I mean, SERIOUSLY. If you were to read the casuals' comments on social media or read Redmond Martin's sh***y blog posts, you'd think that Dan, Will, and Rodney are all psychotic rapist serial killers. But of those three, only Rodney has consistently had bad moments. I mean, sheesh - casuals just will NOT let a few bad moments from ONE episode a long time ago just DIE already. :P

But to me, the personal drama is still greatly off-set by the amazing gameplay we've seen from Mike, Rodney, Carolyn, Tyler, and heck, even the Red Collars in the first couple episodes of the merge. And just as there are some admittedly bad personalities, we have some really strong, heroic personalities that are easy to root for, like Mike and Joe, and possibly even Tyler and Carolyn. The twists were always really shocking, from the Kelly boot due to an idol play, to Carolyn betraying Tyler, and even some eliminations that weren't "twists," per se, but still intense, like Vince and Joaquin.

And that leads me back into my final conclusion as far as the CAST is concerned. Again, one of Probst's major reasons for liking this season was its cast, which he described as one of the best casts yet. And technically, that IS true. Of all the casts consisting ENTIRELY of newbies, this is one of the stronger casts simply because just about Every. Single. Person. Was memorable in some way, be it likable or dislikable, and just about EVERYONE made their mark on the season in some way and left with some aspect of memorability to them, with the exceptions, IMO, being Kelly and Hali. Some of the challenges have been intense or funny, drawn-out or quick, neck-and-neck or blow-outs. So overall, while the bad stuff is noteworthy, I definitely think it is NOT enough to bring the season down if it all still ends well with a Mike or Carolyn win. But the ultimate outcome will still determine how the season as a whole, as a narrative, holds up. So my final thoughts, while probably mostly the same as what I've said here, will ultimately depend on who wins next week.

Bring it on, finale. Bring. It. The. F***. On. #ILikeMike