Survivor 41, Episode 12; The Final Stretch
Some overlapping thoughts from last week and a few endgame predictions.
Author’s note: This newsletter (obviously) contains spoilers for Survivor 41, Episode 12, which aired Wed. December 8, 2021.
Catch up on previous recaps:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
As the year draws closer to an end, so too does this series covering Survivor’s return to our regular schedule. With the penultimate episode in the books, we’re getting very close to understanding what all of the individual parts equate to as a whole. But one important detail still eludes us – how the hell will this end?
On the surface, this episode really doesn’t provide too many new clues on who our winner may be. If anything, it felt more like a bridge between the events of the previous episode and the finale. We didn’t really get the fireworks or grand gestures that lead up to a climax and clue us in on how the endgame plays out. And considering the complicated edits we’ve received, there doesn’t seem to be any obvious hero to really root for going into the final stretch.
The fact of the matter is, the path to the end will be an unconventional one regardless of who actually emerges as the supreme Survivor. For better or worse, season 41 has tried hard to reign in a new era of the series. As such, it seems – in this case, at least – to have abandoned the traditional tropes attributed to a winning game.
But before I get to caught up dissecting the rag-tag group of finalists that will be competing against one another for the million dollar prize on the 15th, let’s go over what happened last week.