‘Opposite Worlds’ finale review: Did JR, Frank, or Jeffry emerge as season 1 winner?

There are some things about “Opposite Worlds” that really don’t make sense, but the biggest one was the bonehead move to air the finale against not just “American Idol,” but also the premiere of “Survivor: Cagayan.” Why in the world would you do that? We imagine that the same people who watch “Survivor” watch this show, and then there’s another in “Arrow” that has some of that sort of geek cred to it, as well. We just don’t get the scheduling.

We also didn’t really get everything that happened in the finale, from America basically picking half of the final two (Frank) to having just another duel of destiny determine the winner. This basically rendered all strategy useless, and had things been made a little more apparent as to how the winner was going to chosen, wouldn’t Frank have been eliminated much earlier in the game?

We don’t want to diminish Frank’s victory, since he did a lot of things right throughout. He won a ton of challenges, established himself as valuable, and then also made himself a loyal teammate and alliance partner so that nobody had an extra reason to target him. However, he also got very lucky at times. First of all, there was a prime opportunity to get rid of him twice before the final six, and nobody decided to do so. Also, nobody knew about the final duel, and he being named the final Protected (a bit of a surprise, really) totally saved him from a quiz that could have been challenging.

While we would have preferred a JR win, we’re all right with his second-place finish and with Frank emerging on top. After all, he’s at least someone we will remember for his “beast mode” and his shirt-ripping.

In the end, “Opposite Worlds” didn’t fully give us the best of both worlds. While it was entertaining at times and also had a cool concept, there needs to be work on its structure and strategy if a second season is ordered. Given that Syfy’s reality chief recently announced his departure from the company, we’re guessing that it’s future (pun intended) is very much doubt. Grade: B-.

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Photo: Syfy