Episode Report Card Miss Alli: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT So Long, My Lovelies
By Miss Alli | Season 16 | Episode 6 | Aired on 03.12.2008
"So, this isn't a case of, 'another afternoon, I'll come check you later today,'" says Jeff, who has the unenviable job of moving things forward. "I can only recommend for the sake of his leg and his life that he leave the game now. He needs hospital treatment. It's not going to get better; it will just get worse," the doctor says, with a really good mix of firmness and gentleness. Her tone does a really good job of conveying, "I know you really, really do not want to do this, and I understand, and it's awful and I don't blame you, but yes, I'm telling you that you have to, and that there are not other choices." Jonathan nods quickly and looks over at Probst. "What can you do?" Jeff asks, and this little moment passes between them, because they've had their little things, their little bitchy things, but they both love this whole thing a little irrationally, a little more than civilians comprehend.
And the answer to what Jonathan can do, of course, is nothing, so Jonathan is in tears now. "Okay. Let's go. Let's go to the hospital," Jonathan says. He looks over at the tribe and says, "Sorry, guys. Bad luck on Jonny." And it is, too. Very, very bad luck. "I had this game, too," he says ruefully, with a smile. "I saw the daylight." And of course, some of this is wishful thinking -- what might have been always looks in your mind's eye like the sunny beaches of Tahiti when you know you'll never actually see it. But it's true that he was well situated here; he and Eliza had a good plan of getting together with the four fans at Malakal. Alexis's face is all the proof you need that she likes him; Kathy's freakout that's about to happen demonstrates that she likes him...I think it would have worked, getting rid of James and Parvati. And if they continued to win challenges, they'd have a good shot at a strong entry into the merge. I mean, it's not literally "I had this game," but yes, the "saw daylight" thing, I think is fair.
So Jonathan heads over to say goodbye to his tribe. And he's in tears as he hugs Eliza, telling her, "I couldn't have done anything else." He hugs everyone else, including Kathy, who predictably falls apart all over him, because she is such a crazypants that she's spontaneously sprouting additional sections and becoming a crazyoveralls. And as he's leaving, Parvati does something really good, not very loudly, really between the two of them, because she kind of mutters it -- she says, "You just kicked ass at that last challenge." That is perfect -- that is perfect; it is just what she should do, because bullshitting that they're pals will bounce right off him, but this is what he wants, is reassurance that he contributed until the last second.
Out at the edge of the water, Jonathan climbs up onto the side of the boat as Jeff stands beside him on the beach. Jeff reaches out his hand: "Hey." Heh, Jeff didn't want to be left hanging, though that would have been funny. Jonathan turns around and offers his hand. Both of them, actually. "Hate to see you go, man," Jeff says. "Pleasure." And Jonathan says, "Pleasure is mine," I think, and they have shared a moment, but mostly, he just wants to get on the boat. It's time. Accompanied by the doctor, he crawls inside. Now, he cries for real. And then he's outside, on the boat but in the sun, explaining that while he didn't want to leave, he doesn't want to lose his leg. (Or die, presumably.) "I couldn't have tried any better," he says. "I couldn't have fought any harder. It was fun while it lasted." And the boat takes him out.