39 Days, 20 Americans, 1 Very Deserving Survivor

I'll scrap the Week In Review in favor of a recap of the season finale of my favorite show. So indulge me as I give my thoughts on what turned out to be a pretty good season (though I still prefer the last one because of the personalities and the fact that it was consistently good throughout):

• I said a few weeks ago that I thought Parvati may have played the best social game ever. I don't necessarily mean that she was best friends with everyone, just that she built enough strong alliances that she was always safe because other people had her back. In the end, this is what put her over the top. Always emotive, she had friends on the jury and persuaded the rest of the votes she needed, while Amanda's stunning lack of personality (don't forget that she came in third last season behind Courtney!!!) continued to show through. Eliza said as much during her comments. So make no mistake, Parvati absolutely deserved to win this, and I'm very happy that she did.
• Most of the other things worth comment happened during the jury and the reunion show. Both of the non-final votes tonight were no-brainers.
• I think that for every season going forward, they need to go split-screen for every tribal council and have Eliza, sitting in her house, reacting to things that people say.
• I was a bit surprised by who was bitter. I thought Erik seemed angry enough at himself and easygoing enough that he would be pretty cool. Same for Ozzy and James. Not the case. In fact, the favorites seemed to be a little nastier overall, whereas you'd think they'd be a little more nonchalant.
• Ozzy really seems like a great guy, for as cool as he tries to play it off (and let's also not forget him throwing the challenge in his first season to get rid of "I love you" Billy). He was really nice to Erik and Jason when he didn't have to be and just seems very regular, I guess. But dude, that was the wussiest jury performance ever.
• What the f*** was up with Natalie's question? Was she trying to figure out if Parvati really liked her liked her? Was she trying to embarrass her to see how she'd respond? What the f***? When Jeff looks confused, you know you're in bad shape.
• Speaking of, I really think that Probst makes the show. It's impossible for me to imagine tribal council without his great questions and the reunion shows got a heck of a lot better when he started doing them. But the hair, Jeff, the hair.
• Don't you think Amanda might have won if she was as bubbly on the real show as she was on the reunion one tonight?
• How about the palpable hatred that Probst has for Fairplay? He didn't even try to hide it.
• I was excited that Tracy and Alexis got love for being the dark horses. Aside from Parv, they were my favorites.
• So 16 seasons are in the books and the next one will finally be in HD. Can't wait.