Survivor: David vs. Goliath

originally aired September 26, 2018 to December 19, 2018

The order in which players left the game and the impact they left behind:

• Pat (David) A medical evacuation, but probably didn't greatly impact how early he was going to exit.
• Jessica (David) Her ouster was probably an early indication of the tone of the whole season.
• Jeremy (Goliath) Ironically, probably about as abrasive and socially clueless about this fact as Natalie, whom he tried to coach away from such tendencies.
• Bi (David) A rare player who values their life outside of the game more than the game, withdrawing after becoming aware that she'd damaged her MCL.
• Natalia (Goliath) A victim of David/Goliath cooperation led by Alec, an early indication that despite the Goliath bluster the Davids had a real fighting chance.
• Natalie (Goliath) Jeremy was right about Natalie; in her real life she's shielded herself from any real responsibility for her personality, so she thinks it doesn't matter.  But outside of that bubble?  It does.
• Lyrsa (David) I don't know why all the "strong women" this season were such poor examples of strong women, but Lyrsa, at least as far as this season goes, was the worst example.
• Elizabeth (David) The sort of player I could root for a little more if she had the gameplay to go with her personality.
• John (Goliath) In the interests of full disclosure, I've been a fan of John Hennigan/Johnny Nitro/John Morrison/Johnny Mundo/Johnny Impact since he first made a name (any name!) for himself in wrestling.  His Survivor experience probably helps explain why he never excelled in WWE, despite his considerable talent, because he has trouble asserting himself, as anyone who watched this season can attest.  He's content to sit back and try and let his work show itself.  Thankfully he has good social instincts.  He made a lot of good decisions with fellow players, and had better game instincts than his results suggest, but then he also voted for the winner, which is always a huge plus.  In the end he knew what was worth rewarding.
• Dan (Goliath) The recipient of a needless alliance split at the hands of would-be lover Kara.
• Alec (Goliath) A crafty player who signaled the way forward that didn't leave numbers as the only deciding factor, but played hard and smart for as long as he could, and didn't even get burned by his decision not to remain loyal to Goliath, but rather by how the season played out.
• Carl (David) There are a lot of players in Survivor history who think they're better than they actually are, and Carl is one of them.
• Gabby (David) The second of our three "strong women" who maybe ought to dial it back a little.  Obviously, her low point was backstabbing Christian basically because she discovered he had a committed relationship outside of the game.
• Christian (David) One of the most unique and lovable players in Survivor history (if there had been some kind of audience favorite reward this season, you can bet he'd've gotten it), in the end undone by the tangled knots of strategic would-be loyalties he himself eagerly, unwisely embraced when he decided to vote out John (which, in all fairness, John had intended to do, too; just imagine a scenario where the bonds any of these players made along the way actually stuck).
• Davie (David) I nicknamed him "Ninja Dave" early in the season, a remarkably nimble utilizer of advantages who was a highlight by any standard, and who managed to stay out of trouble for far longer than he was actually a threat.
• Alison (Goliath) The kind of player easy to root for...if only she had ever decided to make an actual, y'know, decision...
• Kara (Goliath) Made the baffling decision to vote out her own strongest ally, Dan.  See where that got her?
• Angelina (Goliath) One of the more idiotic and socially clueless players to ever play the game, this "strong woman" is even more ignorant of her effect on those around her than Natalie.
• Mike (Goliath) In the end, he couldn't divorce himself from the idea of the game rather than the reality of actually playing it.  If he'd managed to do that, he might have actually deserved to be in the final, and maybe even win.
• Nick (David) And sometimes the good guys really do win.  Nick did what a lot of these players only tried to do, and by securing the final three immunity necklaces, he was able to win the season, too.  He forged bonds easily, even if he didn't seem to know what to do with them, but he was as a result fun to watch and thus easy to root for.  If it couldn't be Christian or Davie (my top two choices), it really, really had to be Nick.  And I think the jury members were ideally selected to recognize that fact.  This isn't always the case, so it's great when it is.