‘Survivor: Worlds Apart’ review: Perception is (someone’s) reality

There are a variety of different interesting layers to “Survivor: Worlds Apart” as a season, but to us, one of the biggest ones beyond the shadow of a doubt is what is happening when it comes to Mike Holloway and how he is viewed. It’s almost remarkable. The majority alliance on the show treats him like he is the most terrible human being to ever walk the face of the earth, saying that he is lying and going paranoid … all seemingly because of two bad moves he made around the time of the auction. Somehow, he is a terrible person for trying to play the game, but we’ve never heard him really treat anyone terribly. The worst we have heard from him is that he wants to get people to work hard.

We are told at home to really like Mike, and appreciate his underdog story; meanwhile, the other players in the game seem to be driven up the wall by him, and most of the jury really likes him. It’s certainly a strange viewing experience at this point, since we wonder if this is all a product of some groupthink mentality.

Regardless of the reasoning, we can at least tonight celebrate an excellent hour of TV, given that we saw Mike win immunity, and then have one of the more satisfying tribal councils in recent memory as Carolyn played her immunity idol, and in turn then was able to send Dan home. Both she and Mike cast votes to send him packing, and that was enough. Dan used his Vote Doubler, not that it really mattered.

The reason Dan’s exit is so satisfying is because Dan carried with him so much arrogance throughout almost the entire guy; it is one thing to just be cocky, but to continuously demean other people for your perception of them is just absurd. Maybe he just cannot help himself, but think back to how he handled Sierra pre-merge, how he has spoken to Shirin, or even what he said to Mike tonight. He is so condescending that it is not even funny. We know he really wanted to play the game, but we’re curious about whether or not it is everything he hoped it to be after going through this entire experience now that he is watching it back and people are seeing him play.

Dan has said all along that he wanted to be remembered; well, that is certain mission accomplished.

Also tonight, Rodney complained more after losing a reward challenge, Carolyn also briefly questioned Mike’s sanity, and we wonder now with her going back if she is going to be convinced to try and work with him for a vote, given that it is pretty clear now that Rodney, Will, and Sierra hold many of the cards. Episode Grade: A.

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