^ Not the Mole, but king of it.
Like I said earlier, I was extremely pleased by the finale. Was it the most shocking finale of all time? Nope, but it was very satisfying. Craig had me totally fooled until the final four, possibly because I was so hung up on Victoria and Clay. He was certainly the one that I most suspected out of the final three, but I wouldn't have been shocked by any of them. My heart was still thudding until Mark leapt out of that door - and then I emitted a borderline horrific victory shriek even louder than the one I did when Paul was executed. Heh.
The "How Mark Won" montage had my jaw dropping multiple times. I thought Mark was on to Craig from Episode 1 (he even got a comment in Episode 1 about it!), and it was Nicole who was barely squeaking by. Oh, this montage also led to my favorite moment of the whole finale, and there were so many to choose from - Paul looking increasingly pissed off as he saw the many times Mark narrowly escaped execution, and that Nicole beat him by four seconds on the last quiz he took. Oh, Paul, karma's a bitch, isn't she? :)
I felt terrible for Nicole during that episode, actually. Not for losing - she handled that well as I knew she would - but because of the way the other players were treating her. Yeah, she's not the nicest person and her attitude clearly got incredibly annoying, but it couldn't have been easy to listen to all the other players talk shit about her. Yeah, she played the game fairly dirty, but so did Paul and nobody's hung up on that. Ali thinking she was genuinely psychotic? Please. I think Nicole was really hurt by Kristen's confessional where she laughed over how she didn't think Nicole could be a doctor; Kristen was one of the few in the game Nicole respected and liked. When asked directly about Nicole, the only person who treated her like a human being last night was Mark (and probably Alex and Clay would have).
So, speaking of Mark... MARK!!! He won!! I can't believe he won!! My favorites never win. Did I mention I love him? Oh, and did he mention he was doing it for his family? That was the one thing about the finale that irritated me, like, editors, I would have loved him enough even if you just mentioned it once. He's still my favorite ever. Like, when he called himself a "putz"?? Could I love him any more??? It was wonderful to see him so gracious, humble, sweet, and even funny at the end ("I hope it's not a tax collector!"). Yay! I just love him. Also, it was really entertaining that he called Victoria "V," because Mark's so the type to come up with nicknames he thinks are all stealthy when in fact they are completely obvious.
Speaking of Victoria, oh my God, how much would you kick yourself if you were her?!?!? Mark is far too obviously my favorite of this season, but I felt awful for her. Gosh, she's adorable, though. I like how they kept cutting to her for random moments/comments, and I wondered why, but... oh yeah, she was the prettiest girl on the show with the best personality. Forgot that.
I loved how sheepish and not a little moved Clay looked during Mark's acknowledgement of him. Clay was an utter hoot and one of my very favorites this season (along with Mark, Victoria, Nicole, and Alex), but he was awfully callous toward Mark. They had a coalition, yes, but the coalition seemed to consist of Mark throwing ideas at Clay, Clay agreeing but not saying much in return, then Clay running off and giving a bazillion confessionals about how Mark could be the Mole. I don't think he realized how much he meant to Mark, and I think it touched him that he did mean, in fact, that much.
I felt Craig was an awesome Mole. He didn't just sabotage the physical things - I mean, he could have bombed Midas Rush and nobody would have gotten on his case about that, but he kicked that challenge's ass. I had to laugh at the fact that Craig kicking sand randomly was in fact a clue - when I saw it the first time, over the clip of Liz talking about the Mole possibly hiding items on the beach, I was like, "Oh, silly editing and your attempt to convince me Craig's the Mole when he probably had something in his pants." Hee. Oh, and how awesome and hysterical was that montage of all the girls giggling over Craig, followed by big red "EXECUTED" stamps on their faces? So awesome! He majorly avoided detection, too (hey, MarkFOMOs, if it was "so obvious and disappointing" that it was Craig, why did you think it was Mark?!). I do wish they'd spent a little time on missions he clearly tried to sabotage and failed, like Grapes of Cache or Go Figure.
Some of those clues were dumb (corbata roja, NOT ALI, so many clues pointing to the final three and not the Mole), but some were AWESOME (I caught the CRG thing during All for One, but dismissed it as just a coincidence; four is; Craig's name never called during executions). What the heck did that sped-up thing say? It sounded like "Craig buried Paul" to me. I even think there were some clues that weren't covered: the N20 on the wine barrels for November 20, and Jon holding up Journal 11 when Craig had it (and was 11th in the credits). ABC has the solutions up to the widget and text clues. People got most of them... and oops, they messed up the EFG PQR ZOO one. Heh.
I wonder why they didn't usually do the thing pre-reveal where they ask the executed players who they think is the Mole, and who won? Probably because they all said "Craig is the Mole and Mark won"... The players seemed way more excited over Mark being revealed as winner than Craig as the Mole.
I was shocked during the Nicole/Mark montages when it turns out they both pegged Kristen as the Mole. Kristen?! WTF? She was the only player all season who was completely unsuspicious. Mark was more suspicious. Marcie was more suspicious!
Ali wants to date Craig; Craig has a man-crush on Mark.
I was so very disappointed by the surprise. I was like OMG ANDERSON COOPER'S COMING BACK!!! ALEX AND NICOLE ARE SECRETLY DATING!!!! THERE'S GONNA BE A SEASON 6 AND I'VE ALREADY BEEN PICKED TO BE THE MOLE!!! And then it was like... oh hey Mark's wife. Not that I wasn't a big ol' sap during that moment. Oh and hey everyone calling him Super Veiny 1950s Dad - his wife wants to stay home, dude.
Oooh, Alex. He's always been cute as hell, plus he's got one great personality, and he finally ditched the awful puberty mustache. Yummy. How's he still single? Also, is it just me or is Bobby good-looking too, with clothes on? His montage was hysterical (running up and down the steps of the Philly Museum, hahahah!), but came in such a weird place in the episode. I love how he's still BFF with Vicky. Awww.
I loved the shots of the players before the results were revealed. Craig was like, "whatever." Mark was doing push-ups or something ridiculous. Nicole was putting on makeup. Hee.
I WANTED A REPEAT OF "PAUL-FREE!!!!"
Overall, it's been a fantastic season and I adored almost every minute of it. Yes, I know people out there might have bitched about Jon Kelley's voice (I don't know why, it was clearly sent from the angels above) or the touchscreen technology or Nicole and Paul, but I really enjoyed it. The Mole is the smartest, best reality show on television, and it deserves to be renewed for all eternity. Great season, great Mole, great winner. :)
BTW, ranking the US Moles:
1. Angie (sabotaging everything and remaining almost undetected)
2. Craig (ditto)
3. Kathryn (I'll always love Mole Queen Kathryn as my favorite Mole, but she was too helpful too often)
4. Bill (maybe because the clues did all but knock on your door, shout, "IT'S BILL!!!" then run away. He got lucky that Elavia and Dorothy were in the game so long, and that Darwin misled soooo many players. He sabotaged quite a bit, but what kind of Mole adds $100000 to the pot???)
5. Frederique (Oh, Freddy. You might have remained undetected, but I think you forgot sabotage is an important part of the Mole's job. Kind of the definition of it.)
