User blog comment:YoungEezy27/3rd Alternate Ending?/@comment-3573655-20141006220931/@comment-24971793-20141013142327

"Mal's villain characterization wasn't the problem"

I don't know, the core concept of having a good character have an evil force inside that comes out isn't a bad concept. But connecting it to stickfigure Mike's real life mental disorder. I don't think that would have ever been 100% effective since 1. Mike's not even slightly menacing (not even with the flames in the background and emo appearance) and 2. TD might not be the right kind of show to give that storyline the depth it needs.

"it is still serves the same purpose: getting a character who would not have made it far, using improbable methods simply because their a writers pet."

Well no, cause see it's the only episode where you can call her out for that and she got eliminated the same episode. The only other episode where she did something "improbable" was her coin flip, and as said before she didn't need that cause she wasn't even at risk of being eliminated. The writers just tried to create tension and make it seem like Max was going to be eliminated.

"Gross humor does sell it, if you have the right immature, crowd who'll suck that stuff up."

I liked her primarely for how she constantly surprised me. Eating that tarantula, turning into a bus, her plans for the money, licking that vending machine,... I could never predict what she was gonna do next. Yet I always believed it. I don't find her "grossness" funny, the delivery and context made it funny. For example eating a tarantula isn't funny, it's shocking. Seeying Chris' response and Sugar react by rubbing her tummy to complete the challenge, that was the funny part. The writers rarely (if ever) relied on just having her do something stupid or gross (unlike with Owen). It was always a combination of elements that made it funny, timing + context + other's reaction + her reaction + ... . It's not the type of comedy that makes a good joke, comedy is 90% about delivery. Even a "cheap" form of humor like toilet humor can be great if you make sure the delivery is spot on. Also the way she bounced off of everyone, her interactions, where well done. And not just her main interactions but the small ones with Topher, Sammy, Rodney,... where great. That was again something I would have never expected from her character. But it was so necessary in a season where every contestant was kind of on their own little island minding their own business. She also got the most and the best one-liners of the season. She's quotable and memorable.

She was just a lot of fun to watch, I don't like her for being fat and mean I like her despite being fat and mean. I had a blast watching, she teared me up a couple of times. If that makes me immature and means that I have a bad taste then so be it.

"The tree thing is writer's favortism"

Nah, they needed all contestants to reach an equal score so that everything would depend on the final challenge (to build tension). IMO they should have just picked an entirely different challenge, the tree thing was so dumb. I'll repeat, this is the episode where Sugar got eliminated!

"but the thing is Owen is much more tolerable in that regard because it is the same every time while Sugar finds new ways to be gross"

I read this line as, Owen is unimaginative. The writers got lazy with him, stopped trying. And just repeat the same jokes over and over. While Sugar is creative, the writers don't just rely on one overdone joke. They actually put effort into writing her. Most viewers expected her to be fodder, but the writers surprised us all and managed to keep it Fresh (see what I did there ;p ). Job well done!

"she's an antagonist AND a comedy relief but she doesn't seem to do both at the same time, "

I can undermine this argument with one quote: "I wasn't really gonna hit her ... on camera." ;)

The writers probably understood that main antagonist and comic relief is a dangerous combination, and therefore they gave us several other antagonists instead of having Sugar carry all the weight. Maybe it would've been better if she was more of an antagonist, maybe it would've been worse. I don't know, for me she was fine. Only her storyline with Sky could/should have been done better IMO. Perhaps big antagonists just don't work well in the 13 episode format (ROTI, AS) while having several smaller ones doesn't work well in a 26 episode season (TDA)?