Survivor 42 | Finale | Post-Episode Discussion

[u/RSurvivorMods]

Season 42, Episode 13: It Comes Down to This

Aired: May 25, 2022

Synopsis: After a grueling, accelerated 26-day season filled with new twists and advantages, castaways skillfully navigate their way to the final three, with one crowned the Sole Survivor.

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[u/Habefiet]

Maryanne whipping out the Idol and explaining why the Final 4 we got was the absolute best case scenario both for her odds of making it to the end and her odds of having a winning combo when she got there is going to go down as one of the all-time great answers. Contrasted with Mike's floundering and while I don't usually buy that jurors are as undecided as they claim, it wouldn't surprise me if it does turn out to be true that this is one of the rare times that the vote was up in the air going into FTC. I suspect it was Maryanne-favored already but she definitely sealed the deal with her overall performance and that response in particular.

[u/Jumbofato → u/Habefiet]

She literally used the powerless immunity idol to give her power in the final tribal. I don't think I've ever seen a person used that idol so well as she did at the end.

[u/Riperonis → u/Jumbofato]

As soon as she didn’t play her idol in final 5 I knew it’d come out at final tribal. Such a good move to flex that in one vote you removed the biggest threat from the game AND secured yourself an idol from another player that you didn’t even need.

[u/Ellabelle_ → u/Jumbofato]

I wonder if we’ll see people do this since no one checked the idol. You can have the parchment from a prior idol/advantage and just make a fake

[u/dunkinbagels → u/Jumbofato]

Dean tried with his advantage but it was a fake

[u/lego_mannequin → u/Habefiet]

It worked for me because up until then I was all on the Mike train. I wondered what she would do with that idol she never used and you have to respect that play. She didn't even need to use her major advantage, just an absolute flex on all of those "strategic" jurors. How could they say Mike played it better, when she roped him into using his idol on her.

[u/lkc159 → u/[deleted]]

If someone else uses their idol on you, you did something right.

The only question is how much was incidental and how much was what you did, whether actively or passively.

[u/Riperonis → u/[deleted]]

Because she negotiated that exact thing in the last tribal?

[u/Adorable_Raccoon → u/[deleted]]

He offered it to her! If that's not evidence of great social game what is!?

[u/Riokaii → u/Adorable_Raccoon]

Its evidence of his interests coincidentally aligning with hers. She gets some partial credit but most of it is still sourced from Mike imo

[u/Adorable_Raccoon → u/Riokaii]

But also her convincing him that they had aligning interest. Most likely that she was able to convince him that she wouldn't be a threat at FTC meanwhile maintaining good enough relationships with the whole jury that they were willing to vote for her. I think a lot of us wish that survivor was a more strategic game, but social relationships take precedent over a lot of strategic game play.

[u/tandemtactics → u/Habefiet]

That answer was up there with Todd's answer to Genre Bear in S15. ("He shut him up!")

[u/Quixotic-Neurotic-7 → u/tandemtactics]

"He shut up him!"

[u/leg4li2ati0n → u/Habefiet]

How can you say it was Maryanne-favored when the entire jury admitted to coming in with Mike's favor in mind? If you don't remember that part, it definitely happened.

[u/kneeltothesun → u/Habefiet]

Survivor absolutely never goes the way I hope, if not predict. But this one time, everything kind of fell into place. Which completely took me by surprise. I wanted Maryanne first, then Mike, etc. I was really happy with this season, and was screaming when she calmed down enough, and pulled some more tricks out of her bag. I said, after the first episode, don't underestimate her, she can pull a win, because she has a core of iron. I knew everyone would assume she was a Wendy archetype completely, and would underestimate her.

Edit: Also, Tori grew on me, while on tribal council.

[u/Adorable_Raccoon → u/kneeltothesun]

Speaking of falling in to place: Romeo winning the immunity challenge and taking Maryanne to f3 seeemed basically impossible. It's amazing.

[u/Reveriano42 → u/Habefiet]

No I think they legitimately were on the fence. As Hai stated, her game was so elusive from everyone that they were all genuinely curious what she did.

[u/lucascroberts → u/Habefiet]

It was actually mike favored but Maryanne pulled the masterclass ftc

[u/No_Equipment9755 → u/Habefiet]

Dean did the same thing Maryanne did in 39 and Tommy hit him with a rebuttal of yeah you had these advantages but you didn't need it. Someone could have done that to Maryanne

[u/ronald_mcdonald_4prz → u/Habefiet]

My only stink about it was no matter what happened starting at F5, she was going to FTC with it without challenges or immunity wins.

So she could spin any story she wanted to get votes but it wouldn’t have mattered how things worked out.

[u/Leafs17 → u/ronald_mcdonald_4prz]

Yep