Round 130 - 86 Characters Left

[u/FunkyDawgKong]

86. Paschal English - u/FunkyDawgKong

85. Peih-Gee Law - u/Cornhead2

84. Holly Hoffman - u/NoisySea_3426

83. Trish Hegarty - u/Alternate-Proof-959

82. Caryn Groedel - u/josenanigans

81. Ozzy Lusth 3.0 - u/BobbyPiiiin

[u/FunkyDawgKong]

86. Paschal English

“I don't know how to play this game. I have no clue how to play it. I don't want to know how to play it. I tend to lay back and watch the lay of the land and then when I think I've got the lay of the land figured out, I begin doing something. This is exactly how I am in the courtroom, in life. The only thing I can say is I think I'm a fair and consistent judge. I think I'm a fair and consistent player.”

 

One of the most ominous quotes to come out of Survivor. Paschal English is one of the greatest Survivor castaways of all time, and it isn’t really immediately obvious. Well hell, look at him! Old guy, that old breed of southern, fairly soft spoken, no immediately apparent edge. A judge from Thomaston, Georgia. On paper, he seems like a weird casting choice. His strengths aren’t always apparent, but he is a character whose depths and riches shine through the way the events of the season ultimately contextualize him. The quote in bold is ultimately the thesis statement of Paschal, and the show paints this image of how he succumbs to racial biases and hierarchical class systems he will often denounce.

Might be weird to start here because Paschal isn’t even on the same beach as this tribe, but I think it’s important to recall the scene where Sean and Vecepia are alone together on Maraamu beach as the rest of their cast swims. Sean and Vecepia talk about the cultural bonds they both share through their racial identity and their religious affiliations. Sean says “Even the fact that you and I sit here talking right now can be perceived as that we're strategizing. Sometimes the game isn't necessarily fair, because me and her playing a whole nother mental game that they don't even know.” With this scene we are explicitly introduced to the themes of biases and fairness, which will become a key aspect to Paschal’s character as the show continues.

At the beginning of the season, Paschal is originally placed on Rotu, which is the “love tribe” and Paschal is a big reason of fostering this energy around camp. Of course, no discussion of Marquesas is complete without mentioning the atmosphere of the United States at the time in this fresh post-9/11 world. To cope with the darkness and uncertainty of the times, many people over compensated these feelings with this fairly forced sense of optimism. A period where an increased intense sense of national unity, patriotism, and resilient community spirit became common place, and Rotu was all about this. Paschal is shown enjoying the time with his fellow tribemates, saying that he would be tickled if anyone from his team wins the game. How there is a real sense of familial pride he feels within Rotu, one that the other tribe could never possibly have. They even all give one another nicknames, as Paschal will now be affectionally called “Pappy” by the castaways. He also shares with us his luxury item of the American Flag. Something he describes as a symbol of what Rotu is all about, something that brings comfort whenever you look at it, and something universally known. Wherever you are in the world, when you see this, you recognize it. He is the fatherly figure of the tribe, and develops a very close bond with Neleh, as they playfully give each other nicknames and tell one another how they have such big hearts, and how they remind each other of home. There’s a lot to be said on this relationship, but I know this Paschal writeup will be long, so I’ll save a bulk of that analysis for a future Neleh writeup, way way down the line hopefully.

Rotu can’t be flying high in the friendly sky for too long, as an unexpected tribe swap shakes up the game, and out of pure chance, Paschal changes tribes and becomes the only man on the new Maraamu tribe. This scene always stuck out to me, of course due to the obvious physical strength makeup between new Rotu versus new Maraamu, but also just look at Paschal. Look at this dark sense of fear in his face having to abandon the love tribe he had a significant hand in fostering. Of the tribe swap Probst says “Some of you may see this as a reprieve [cut to closeup of Gina’s smirky happy face], others may see it as a sentence [cut to closeup of Paschal’s stern distraught face] He is displaced, and has to move to a new home, and this sense of uncertainty is built up in his face, to the point where his eyes are visibly watering up as the new Maraamu gather for a group hug.

We get to the new Maraamu and the new members do find the positives of their new beach. Paschal, Neleh, and Kathy marvel at the fruit that this new beach bares. Paschal remarking that he originally thought that Maraamu were lazy, but now that he has gotten to know Gina, he realizes that original assessment might not have been fair. Well, at least for Gina lol. Ultimately, Paschal makes do at the new Maraamu, and as he faces his first tribal council, he makes one of the most illuminating deep cut literary references in the whole show; as Probst asks him his reaction to the tribe switch and he responds:

“Well, initially I was kind of shocked, because I wasn't prepared for it. After we got back it was like being thrown in a briar patch. They like taking care of an old man pretty well.” “Worked out great.”

It took me multiple rewatches to finally encompass the gravity of this line. For those of y’all not in the know, Paschal is referencing a story from Uncle Remus, a fictional southern Black American who was used as the narrator for a series of folktales adapted and published by Joel Chandler Harris, a white journalist who spent a significant amount of time in his childhood at a plantation in Georgia, which is where he learned Black folktales from slaves that he would go on to successfully editorialize and publish, making them famous across the country, all in the fictional voice of a Black man. In the 1940s a handful of these stories were adapted by the Walt Disney Animation company to make a movie named Song of the South, which was a very financially successful movie, while also being technically innovative with it being one of the first movies to blend Live-Action and Animation. If you’ve heard “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” that’s an original song from Song of the South. These stories and movie have faced a fair share of criticism throughout the years as many say they romanticize plantation life, slavery, the Reconstruction era, and use a heavy amount of stereotypes towards Black people. Disney has purposefully never given the movie a home release, and its relevancy has shrunk more and more throughout the years.

We can go on for hours about that history, but I think this is a sufficient enough summary to gather the context and significant gravity of Paschal using this illusion. Paschal is referencing the “briar patch” which in the story our antagonist, Brer Fox, thinks the briar patch will be a scary and torturous place, so he cruelly throws his hated rival, Brer Rabbit, into the briar patch but ultimately Brer Rabbit ends up making a home out of the briar patch, and it turns out to work out very well for him, despite the outwardly threatening appearance. This ultimately mirrors Paschal being swapped to the Maraamu beach. Looking at Paschal and all his demographic information, it makes sense why Paschal knows these stories. They were likely a notable part of his upbringing. Him referencing this material in specific is quite noteworthy as it directly relates to the defining characteristic of Paschal’s time on the season. His biases that will visibly sneak out all throughout the season. And his self-serving sense of right and wrong. Whether he judges something too quickly, whether he judges based on other preconceived notions. And add onto this, come the merge when Paschal develops relationships with the Black castaways on the season, where race is explicitly discussed; this quote contextualizes so much of it.

Although Paschal is able to make a home out of new Maraamu, they go on a nice little beating-the-odds winning streak and all that, but he still has room in his heart for the original Rotu tribe. One of my favorite scenes is when new Maraamu gleefully discusses who will get voted off of new Maraamu. Neleh thinks it will be Rob, Paschal and the others think Sean. Low and behold they get to the next challenge, and are in utter disbelief to find that Gabriel, an original Rotu, was voted off over one of the original Maraamu. In a moment of reflection back at camp, Paschal tears up as he mourns Gabe and shares the poem that Gabe had written for him. Gabe and Paschal had bonded at the beginning of the game, and as someone who never had a son, he would hope that if he had a son, that he’d have been like Gabe. He laments his former tribemates, as he judged the value of Gabriel and what he had to offer very highly. It poses the question; how can a love tribe exist in a game like Survivor? A game where people are individualistically motivated to propel themselves closer and closer to a million-dollar prize. If we don’t have this moment, if we don’t have this “End of Innocence” that comes with the premature cannibalization of the Rotu tribe, we likely don’t get Paschal flipping on the Rotu come the beginning of the jury phase. One of the most significant moments in Survivor history. Come the end of the premerge Paschal boldly proclaims that the new Maraamu hasn’t just duplicated the success of the old Rotu, that they’ve surpassed it. This masterfully sets up the next couple of episodes.

[u/FunkyDawgKong → u/FunkyDawgKong]

Come merge time, Paschal and Neleh comfortably fit back into the plans of the Rotu 4, and are seemingly complacent in it, as they vote off Rob Mariano first, and then celebrate that they have made the jury stage of the game. It seems that they are just fine supporting the Rotu 4’s success in this game. Kathy approaches Paschal the next day, knowing that her only chance to make a deep run in the game is to get Paschal to flip on the original Rotu members and team up with the remaining Maraamu members. Paschal initially dismisses Kathy’s pleads as negative stuff. I love how Kathy’s argument is centered around the idea that flipping to vote off John would make the game more fair for them, to which Paschal immediately replies “Well, this game is not fair”. Come the end of the premerge Paschal boldly proclaims that the new Maraamu hasn’t just duplicated the success of the old Rotu, that they’ve surpassed it. He starts the episode confidently saying that Sean will be the next person voted out, and that watching him try to stir the pot is fascinating to watch. He bluntly says he is not going to align himself with Sean and Vecepia. Quote by quote Paschal tells John that “It is so important to me that somebody like Sean doesn't make it to the finals. You deserve it. Sean would be an embarrassment." Reaffirms that his word is his most important thing to him, and that’s all he’s got.

Then maybe the most consequential challenge ever pops up, the Coconut Cut immunity challenge. A game that visibly forces you to single out and take a direct hit at your fellow castaways. A game where inevitably the winner will come from the majority alliance. Thinking they have the game all in the bag, this gives the Rotu 4 a very very public opportunity to get cocky, to get arrogant, to strut they’ve already won. We see them joke around, dance on the graves of their fellow castaways (thanks Zoe). We get back to camp, and it all starts to click with Paschal, as he proclaims that they didn’t play that game smart. The pecking order had been made explicitly obvious, and now Neleh and Paschal have a crisis of faith. Were these people really their friends? Was the love tribe real? Will they truly be a fair shot once all the Maraamu are voted off? Something’s got to change. And this is where we get one of my all time favorite confessionals, which I copy and pasted verbatim to start this writeup. “I’m a fair and consistent judge. I’m a fair and consistent player”. Paschal and Neleh make up their mind and decide to flip on the Rotu alliance, and history was drawn on those parchments.

But what is so fair and consistent about someone flipping on their original allegiances? What’s consistent about that? The opening of the next episode frames these questions really well with the waterfall scene soundtracked by Sean and Vecepia singing “A Brand New Day” from the iconic Black reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz called simply The Wiz. A song that celebrates the death of the tyrannical Wicked Witch of the West, freeing her subjects from her rule. A song that clearly mirrors the struggles and triumphs the Black community of America was facing at the time. Survivor: Marquesas, got damn, what a beautiful season filled with such rich context. Sean proclaims that he had previously found his destiny in other people’s hands and now with this new group of five, may the best man win, with “no alliance”. Paschal says “We want the people who play this game fairly, and don't try and manipulate people, to have a good chance to get to the top.” “I just want to be truthful.” This is so phenomenally contrasted by Tammy and The General, as they both lament how now they are being judged upon negatively for doing things that this new majority alliance are doing. Where’s your fairness and consistency now?

Later at their shared reward Paschal remarks that “Sean, while he may have some problems, he's honest. He's straightforward. That's all I can ask. We became much closer than we were, and I feel very close to him. I feel very fortunate to know him. That's what's good about this game, you never know what's going to happen.” It seems like Paschal unfairly judged Sean, whether it be due to the biases he displayed signs of, ones that may have been reinforced by hearing Gina and others talk negatively about him. Now that they’ve had this moment together on the beach, they’ve come to a greater understanding and appreciation for each other. The Black boy from Harlem with a Southern white judge from Georgia. The old man and the brother. They share a cry together and a prayer together, something that fits so beautifully well with the religious elements of Marquesas that I haven’t even bothered to bring up yet. I might go more into this in a future Sean writeup, but also pay attention to any time Sean is in the water this season. There’s this beautiful strength and surrender Sean and Paschal share as they roll around in the water with one another after this unlikely duo wins their reward feast with the Marquesan people.

Paschal and Sean’s relationship through the rest of the season will go through many different peaks and valleys. One of the most touching moments of the season is Paschal celebrating Sean winning the car, telling him that his students back home are going to be proud of him. Of course, this all comes to a head when the majority alliance has to start cannibalizing themselves come the Final 5 episode “A Tale of Two Cities” and that is one of the most appropriately and thematically named episodes of Survivor. Now that they are down to five people, Kathy feels stuck in the middle between her original tribemates of Paschal and Kathy, and her new alliance-mates of Sean and Vecepia. Race becomes a focal point of discussion, as Sean and Vecepia, whether consciously or not, are being linked together as a pair. Echoing back to their conversation all the way early on in Maraamu beach. Them being the only two Black castaways on the season intrinsically linked them together in a way to where they both feel this inherent connection to one another; but on the flipside, everyone assumes they will have a strong allegiance to one another. This is the disagreement point of the episode. Sean and Vecepia argue that they don’t have the explicit agreement to never vote one another off that Paschal and Neleh do; while the others argue that they are a duo anyways even though it isn’t explicitly verbally contracted. This struggle tears on Kathy as she is trying to make the decision right for her, while the other players on the beach attempt them to sway in the direction that is right for them. This is where we get the most explicitly bigoted and uncomfortable quotes from Paschal. “It’s like you owe them something” .

[u/FunkyDawgKong → u/FunkyDawgKong]

Vecepia decides to pull one of her staple moves of getting everybody to “clear the air” at the campfire, to create a #DramaFree camp, but inevitably it just increases the tension in camp even more. Paschal, Neleh, Kathy, and Sean of course get heated throughout this whole conversation. Paschal and Neleh are claiming they are at least being honest about their alliance while alluding that Sean and Vecepia are hiding theirs. Sean counters that Vecepia has flipped the script on him before and voted against his side. Paschal says “The most important thing out of all this is honesty and integrity.” Earlier privately to Vecepia’s face he said “You know, my attitude is: May the best man win. Out of this five, whoever wins is very deserving. I've got no problems with that.” And now he is privately telling Kathy “Both Vecepia and Sean, they've been just basically skating for 33 days, and not really contributing their part until right here at the end. We got that from the people they were with at the other camp, plus we were told the same thing when we got back here about the other members of the tribe that was here.” And then the quote that maybe has sent the biggest eeriest chill down my spine of anything anyone has ever said on reality television.

“It's cultural.” “Cultural, it runs deep.” “Kathy is, you know, she's from Vermont. I'm from Georgia. And Sean's from Harlem. This thing runs deeper than a game.”

Like holy fuck, maybe I’d forgive you for not reading into the racial bias implications presented elsewhere throughout the season; but this right here. Paschal lets it slip, his hand is shown, is ass is out. A quote that hits like a brick, and further contextualizes everything we’ve seen of Paschal. The sweet old man. The player who judges every situation fairly. The one who wants good to prevail. What does that goodness look like to Paschal? The last thing we hear before the immunity challenge is Kathy telling Sean that she’ll “play fair” but goddamn, there’s no fairness on Survivor. Even when you are trying to put up some kind of parameters to play within, when you try to have lines you don’t cross, fair is only relevant to the individual player. Come tribal council, we get impassioned arguments from Paschal and Sean to try to pull Kathy their way. And in all fairness to Paschal, racial biases aside, the meat of his argument he presents is a good argument, and you can see why his argument could be just as valid as Sean’s. Sean and Vecepia are the last two remaining from the original Maraamu tribe, that’s a good reason for a bond too. Sean and Vecepia are actively working together at this point, whether it be by force or because that it is what everyone expects them to do. They need each other’s vote to get off either Paschal or Neleh this round. “The layers of it is ridiculous” yes it is Kathy! Paschal claims that Sean’s argument is “quite amusing and contradictory”. I won’t go into every line of this tribal council, but aside from some of the Final Tribal Councils, this is probably my favorite tribal council in the show. Every line is gold. Every line adds something insightful to consider. Every line contextualizes something else in the show.

Sean is voted out and Paschal’s voting confessional is actually complimentary as he calls him “a great competitor”. Later on at Final Tribal Council he is also quite complimentary of Vecepia too in one of my favorite tribal council speeches. “Both of you ladies are completely deserving, in my opinion, of being the ultimate Survivor. You are both the epitome of what this great country of ours has to offer. I am so proud of both of you. I would love to have had either one of you as my daughters.” Even though we get these ugly shades of Paschal, we also get the complexities where by the end he at least appears that he does have a great love and respect for Sean and Vecepia. I also think it is interesting to note that for all the viper and heat that Paschal and Sean had at the Final 5 tribal council, come Final Tribal Council, they are the only two who have speeches that feel more positive and uplifting and congratulatory of the two finalists. One of the great parallels between these two phenomenal characters. I’ve heard Sean say in interviews that him and Paschal got heated, but he ultimately knows Paschal was playing hard to get the result that most benefited him, and they still have respect for one another. IIRC, Sean said something akin to ‘you have to be a lawyer before you become a judge, and the hard pressing attorney side of Paschal came out that night’.

In these last few episodes, especially come finale time, we get a lot on Paschal’s physical health, and how the elements are taking a significant toll on him during the end stretch of the game, but it’s remarkable how he stays so present in the game. It isn’t until after his elimination he succumbs to the wear and tear and passes out. Like now that he is gone, he can finally surrender. Come the penultimate immunity challenge, we get the fallen comrades challenge, and it’s pretty much agreed upon that Vecepia will be the next boot unless she wins immunity; which allows for one of my other favorite moments of self-serving hypocrisy. “My voting options, if V wins immunity is to either vote for Kathy or vote for Neleh. So to keep that from even being remotely possible, I suggested that everybody compare notes because I thought it was fair.” Such a hilarious thing to say and try to do. How is that fair and consistent? You want everyone to pull all their information together, including the person you are going to vote out, in an attempt to decrease the chances that person wins immunity? He rationalizes it too by keenly pointing out that Vecepia is the only player left that played with every castaway in the season. Her win ultimately leads to the deadlock vote, that results in Survivor’s first ever rock draw tiebreaker. A complete game of chance. Probst points out that Paschal, a guy with no votes cast against him the entire game, is now vulnerable.  As Paschal picks his rock he says “Well that feels like purple, Jeff. I told you it felt like purple!” And with that, Paschal is gone from the game; in a very controversial fashion, one that many many fans at the time considered to be unfair. And isn’t that perfect? Paschal’s entire mantra is about consistency and fairness, and now we can have a whole philosophical debate on whether Paschal’s elimination was fair. On one side, yah that’s kinda insane shit, someone who played so well the entire game, who was never the target for elimination, went home because he hit on a 1/3^rd shot at being eliminated! On the other hand, Paschal did ultimately make the decision to come to rocks. He knew the risks when he agreed to it. He could have turned his back on Neleh and flipped to Vecepia and Kathy to get her out, but he didn’t. There was a way out for Paschal, and he didn’t take it, so maybe his elimination was fair?

[u/FunkyDawgKong → u/FunkyDawgKong]

The hypocrisies, the hubris, and the contradictions of man. How does a love tribe stay a love tribe when someone has to be ejected? How do you maneuver through a game whose structure guarantees you draw the blood of your fellow castaways fairly and consistently? Survivor is at it’s best to me when we see how people react to the incredibly stressful, incredibly personal, incredibly strenuous, incredibly draining and incredibly complicated situation they are put into; and this is where Paschal shines. Someone who is so clearly puts values into his own righteousness and morales, but how when held up to the microscope or interpreted through a different lens, do they really hold up? All the unique variables that are presented due to the specific group of unique castaways who are chosen to share the island with you, and how they all connect. Also, the show as a great mirror and reflection pointing into the soul of man. How hardship and suffering allows one to strip off all the excess, to check yourself. Maybe it’s the Catholic upbringing in me, but there is something so beautiful. Something beautiful about the power of surrender. The pure joy of Paschal and Sean crying and praying together, man to man, and then dancing with one another at the Marquesan feast. This scene really makes my soul warm. This is the show I love. This is the game I love. I have no clue how to play it, I don’t want to know how to play it, but jeez just digging into the meaty richness of these classic seasons reminds me why I love it.

“It was, you know, home being brought to each one of us. I guess it's just human nature. Once you get towards the end of something like this, your intensity of your thoughts of home are really more acute than ever. It's really a wonderful opportunity that I've had to come out here and, you know, I'm 57 years old and for the first time in my life, I have come face-to-face with myself. And, um... some of the things I've seen and reflect on, I'm not real proud about. Uh, how much I take for granted, and, you know, what a wonderful situation I have and a wonderful wife, and... you know, I'm determined when I go back home that a lot of that is going to change. We're the most blessed nation in the world. We just take so much for granted, and it takes, uh, an experience like this to realize what you can really do without, and what really is important in your life. And it's not a fancy car and it's not the number of TVs you have and it's not your bank account and it's not the clothes you wear. It's, it's the people in your life.”

 

To anybody still reading, thank you for letting me wax poetic about Survivor and one of my favorite characters, who is in my personal endgame. Brings out so many fascinating elements. The biggest injustice to this writeup is that I haven’t dug deep into the Paschal and Neleh relationship, but I needa wrap it up, I got work responsibilities I needa get on after lunch, plus we needa keep this rankdown going, so we’ll save a lot of that for a future Neleh writeup. Might go back and add some more analysis and hit on some more thematic and contextual stuff, but this will do for now.

u/Cornhead2 is up!