Survivor: Gabon episode 15: The Reunion

Lent has already come and gone in 2021 which leads to two things worth mentioning. One is what did I give up for Lent? I didn’t know what all I might have done going into it and didn’t give up one of the things that I normally do: CinemaWins. I might have to give up both LegalEagle and Brian Tyler Cohen in future years, but I did not this year. I also have not gone back to giving up fandom yet, although I might in the future. It could be a while if it happens at all. What I did give up with CinemaSins, TVSins, Jay Exci, visiting the Daily Kos website (although I still shared old links from it on facebook and in blogs of mine), Channel Awesome, The Odd Ones Out, Family Feud, and maybe a bit more.

Other thing that is worth mention is all of the Wednesday shows that I watched during the time that Lent was happening. I was watching the ABC show of The Goldbergs, the CW shows of Riverdale and Nancy Drew, the FOX shows of first The Masked Dancer then The Masked Singer while also watching Name that Tune when it was on and catching just one episode of the new show Game of Talents, and I saw the CBS show of S.W.A.T. While I like Tough as Nails, I never saw any of it this season.

Let’s get to idols from Winners at War part 1. Perhaps the biggest idol play unknowingly at least in some part in the history of idol plays, it starts with an idol that Natalie found and sold to Sandra. Sandra then sold the idol to Denise and Denise played the idol on herself to vote out Sandra all by herself. If only Sandra had the sense to not give over a real idol that was still good, but she must not have learned that much from when Heroes versus Healers versus Hustlers aired and a similar mistake was made.

Now in this link from my Madam Secretary blog, I had a wrong prediction that Conrad would die on the show. He never did and lasted until the very end when he was a former president in the final season who did not appear much. I talk about various problems with being stuck on old tapes, which is going on right now, and having two lists at the time, which I am also doing now.

I also talked about the March Madness of the year in 2016 and how I rooted for a lot of the teams then, which I’ll get more into in this post. I also mentioned some of my thoughts on attending college and student loans. I may not have graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree (I have an Associate’s), at least I never took out any student loans. Know that you don’t have to attend college, but it might not be a waste for you. It just seems a bit like that to me. 

http://adamdeckermadamsecretaryblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/episode-from-3-20-2016.html

I found the punch line to the best redacted joke ever. It’s this: No soap radio. Isn’t that hilarious? Who even needs a set up when the punch line is that funny?

Now talking about March Madness this year, I figured out who I’d be rooting for this year. The post from the Madam Secretary blog mentioned that I was rooting for the teams of Duke, Butler, Wichita State, and Oklahoma in that post. It is worth noting that both Wichita State and Oklahoma were both in the tournament this time, but the others were not, with Wichita State losing the first four to Drake and Oklahoma beat the first round against Missouri only to lose the second round to Gonzaga. It must have sucked for Duke to not be in it since they are normally the higher seeded teams. Here are a link on the cancelled tournament of unknown teams from last year and then this year’s tournament. Also, see if you can figure out what all the underlined stuff means. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_NCAA_Division_I_Men%27s_Basketball_Tournament

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_NCAA_Division_I_Men%27s_Basketball_Tournament

Other teams that I’m rooting for in this one are the tier one teams from the states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I am rooting for them as they are part of what I call the Midwestern governor alliance. I worry that it might be for show and not showing much of a coordination between the states, but I still like the idea of it. 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/16/1937894/-Midwestern-Governors-announce-a-third-multi-state-partnership?utm_campaign=trending

The teams I’m rooting for in this one that are tier two (outside of the states just mentioned, which isn’t all of them on this list as well), are those from the states of Washington, Oregon, California, New Jersey, Virginia, Delaware, Nevada, and New Mexico. Another alliance of governors did this. I like to call them the election integrity governors and may give them a special nickname post or mention in my blog on The Good Fight at some point in time. Maybe I’ll talk about them and share this link there when I do a post on the 2021 elections next month in that blog. 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/9/30/1982273/-NEW-12-Governors-issue-a-statement-on-threats-to-voting?utm_campaign=trending

Who was supposed to host in 2020: first four was Dayton, Ohio; first and second rounds were Albany, New York; Spokane, Washington (hosted by University of Idaho); St. Louis, Missouri; Tampa, Florida; Greensboro, North Carolina; Omaha, Nebraska; Sacramento, California; and Cleveland, Ohio; sweet sixteen and elite eight were Indianapolis, Indiana; Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; and New York City, New York; and final four and championship Atlanta, Georgia.

Who was supposed to host in 2021 (outside of the championship game and semi-finals which went on in Indianapolis as scheduled): first four was Dayton, Ohio; first and second round were Providence, Rhode Island; Boise, Idaho; Detroit, Michigan; Dallas, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; Lexington, Kentucky; Raleigh, North Carolina; San Jose, California; sweet sixteen and elite eight were Minneapolis, Minnesota; Denver, Colorado; Memphis, Tennessee; and Brooklyn, New York. All of them except Minneapolis and Boise are set to host in the future, although I have no idea how many venues to what specific year are scheduled in the future for now.

There was a game that couldn’t be played as part of this year’s tournament as Oregon versus VCU had Oregon automatically advancing since VCU could not play. Oregon then won round two against Iowa and lost the sweet sixteen to USC. I will have to note that I might have to root for VCU in the future if they appear in future tournaments in the NCAA.

It’s going to be a bit hard to keep track of all of the teams in the tournament, but here goes anyways. Norfolk State is from Virginia. They played and beat Appalachian State from North Carolina. They then lost to Gonzaga (from the state of Washington) in round one. Drake, meanwhile, a team from Iowa, lost to California team USC. Michigan State lost to UCLA which is from California. UCLA beat BYU which is from Utah. They then beat Abilene Christian which is a team from Texas in the place of the same name. They then beat Alabama in the sweet sixteen and then Michigan in the elite eight. They lost to Gonzaga at the semi-finals. The last of the first four games had Texas Southern of Houston beating Mount St. Mary’s of Maryland. Texas Southern then lost to Michigan.

What are all of the other teams to keep track of? Let’s see what all else I can say. Michigan beat LSU in round two. LSU is from Louisiana and had beat St. Bonaventure which is from New York State. Michigan also beat Florida State in the sweet sixteen. Florida State is from Tallahassee and they originally beat UNC Greensboro which is from North Carolina. They then beat Colorado in the second round. Colorado is from Boulder. They had beaten Georgetown in round one. Georgetown is from Washington, D.C.

Backtracking a bit, Abilene Christian had beaten Texas which was from Austin. This is the Longhorns team that I wear a pin of at times. UConn (Cornelius?) from Connecticut had lost to Maryland. Alabama had beat Iona. Iona is from the state of New York. Alabama beat Maryland.

Keeping track of other parts of the tournament, Gonzaga, after beating Norfolk State, also beat the team from Oklahoma then Creighton (an astronaut?), then USC, before being in the semifinals as stated and making its way to the championship game. I mentioned some of those teams before. Ohio beat Virginia while the team of Creighton from Omaha, Nebraska beat UC Santa Barbara which is a California team. Creighton then beat Ohio.

After USC beat Drake, they faced the team of Kansas that beat Eastern Washington. USC won that game and continued as I already told you about. Iowa beat Grand Canyon where they faced Oregon as I told you about already.  Grand Canyon is a college from the state of Arizona.

There should be only two more parts to tell you about before I get to the final game. Baylor from Waco, Texas beat Hartford from Connecticut. North Carolina lost to Wisconsin and then Wisconsin lost to Baylor. Villanova from Pennsylvania beat Winthrop from South Carolina. Purdue from Indiana lost to North Texas which is from the Denton area. North Texas lost to Villanova and Villanova lost to Baylor. Texas Tech from Lubbock beat Utah State. Arkansas beat Colgate. Arkansas then beat Texas Tech. Florida from the area of Gainesville beat Virginia Tech. Meanwhile, Ohio State lost to Oral Roberts from Oklahoma. Oral Roberts beat Florida. Arkansas beat Oral Roberts. Baylor beat Arkansas.

Now let’s get to the last part of this. Know that the tournament wasn’t seeded the same way that it normally was so whether or not that affected the outcome of games is unknown. Illinois beat Drexel from Pennsylvania. Georgia Tech from Atlanta lost to Loyola-Chicago from Illinois. Loyola-Chicago then beat Illinois in the next round. Meanwhile, Tennessee from Knoxville lost to Oregon State. They faced against Oklahoma State which had beaten Liberty from Virginia. Oregon State beat Oklahoma State and then beat Loyola-Chicago.

Covering the old half of this part of the bracket, San Diego State from California beat Syracuse from New York. West Virginia also beat Morehead State from Kentucky (which I guess made it less head). Syracuse beat West Virginia. Clemson from South Carolina lost to Rutgers from New Jersey. Meanwhile, Houston from Texas beat Cleveland State from Ohio. Houston then beat Rutgers then Syracuse then Oregon State then lost to Baylor in the semifinals. 

This leads to the results of tournament with the championship game being played between Baylor and Gonzaga. While I wanted Gonzaga to win based on where they are from, every other year, a team that I do not like as much wins the tournament. In 2019, both of the teams in the finals were teams that I wanted to lose. I wouldn’t know how 2020’s lack of a tournament would affect this back and forth. Plus, Gonzaga was undefeated going into the championship game. Still, Gonzaga had an epic failure at the finale game and didn’t hold a lead on the other team once. Thus, Baylor won the tournament.

Now let’s finally get to the next thing where I mention the challenges that start with the letter c from Survivor fandom. There are a lot of them as always, but none of them cover links to other challenges that aren’t yet covered. So let’s get to it. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Can't_Buoy_Me_Love

This challenge is also known as don’t buoy me love. In this challenge, contestants must stand on a perch while holding a buoy with two handles. This challenge could be done while social distancing. The challenge references a Beatles song called Can’t Buy Me Love) 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Cannonball_Run

This challenge is also known as one track mind. In it, contestants have to build a puzzle and then use it to solve a table maze. This challenge could be done while social distancing. It may not seem that original compared to others, but at least it doesn’t combine itself with existing challenges. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Caught_in_the_Web

This challenge is also known as web over water. In it, contestants have to rescue bags or baskets and then cross the finish line while on a net. It is possible that this could be done while social distancing, but there could be some issues with trying to do it that way. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Cell_Block_Sea

This challenge is also known as phism farm and serpent turf. In it, contestants must race to a cage at the sea, get into it to get something, get out of it, and do a final task back at the beach. I don’t think that this could be done while social distancing as it relies on people being too close to each other at times. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Challenge_Pitch

This challenge is also known as going coconuts. In it, contestants have to knock down a wall and then rebuild said wall. An individual version of this could probably be done while social distancing. I do not think that there is much to the idea of this challenge. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Chief's_Choice

This challenge is also known as open. In it, a person has to pick who they think would be best for each task in a challenge before having them do said challenge. This challenge could potentially be done while social distancing since it could easily be a relay race. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Chimney_Sweep

In this challenge, contestants have to brace themselves against two walls while standing on pegs that get smaller as the challenge continues. By that I mean, they have to step down to smaller pegs. This challenge could easily be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Chinese_Zodiac_Symbols

This is also known by a batter name as flashback. It is also known as living color and my poor brain. In it, contestants have to recall signs that were shown by Jeff in the right order or they would be eliminated from the challenge. This challenge could be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Choose_Your_Weapon

This challenge is also known as weapons, warrior choice, and spear me the details. In it, contestants have to use various weapons to win points or to stay in the challenge. This challenge could easily be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Coconut_Juice

This challenge is also known as jo-coconut. It is also known as get crackin’. In it, contestants must get juice from a coconut into a tube and get the most before others do. This challenge could probably be done while social distancing. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Crate_Escape

This challenge is also known as social network. In it, contestants have to use a crate to solve a puzzle, mainly being a klotski puzzle. The challenge could probably not be done while social distancing, unless made an individual challenge.

You might need more information into what a klotski puzzle is. Well, you probably know what it is, you just might not know that it was called that. My family wound up having it on our oldest computer as it was available on Windows 3. Read more about it here. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klotski

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Crocodile_Rock

In this challenge, castaways must keep pulling on a bar to keep a ball wedged between two jaws or else lose when the ball drops. This challenge could be done while social distancing. The challenge name is an obvious reference to an Elton John song which you’ll see in a later post. 

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Crosswalk

In this challenge, contestants are harnessed together and must figure out how to get through a series of obstacles and possibly solve a puzzle at the end. Based on what I know about it, this challenge could not be done while social distancing.

https://survivor.fandom.com/wiki/Cube_Crisis

This challenge is also known as sled zeppelin. In it, contestants would have to sort through puzzle pieces and use them to solve a cube puzzle. The individual version of this could be done while social distancing. Parts of this challenge were incorporated into the blind leading the blind challenge which you would have read about in the last post on this season.

Now I just learned the day that I was going to post this blog that a contestant from Millennials versus Gen X had died. This contestant is Sunday who died of cancer. I have that season ranked as 16^th best out of the 40 seasons. I have revealed that ranking before. I believe that the last ranking of a season that I have revealed was South Pacific so I’m now going to reveal my ranking of Redemption Island. That season ranks as 12^th best out of 40 seasons. I might rerank this season (Gabon), but will talk about that instead in a future post.

It was on 4-21-2021, a Wednesday, that I rolled this episode. There will be more that I watch of this season, but not more that I will blog about. I’ll explain more of what is going on and what will replace this season on my list of things to watch in the future. Let’s get to the episode.

We begin right where the last episode left off with Jeff introducing Bob as the winner, mentioning whether or not Crystal really did win Olympic gold, and whether or not Corrine and Sugar have made up. Bob is the oldest winner in the game. I wonder what the previous record was. He was wanting to be needed and talks about the fake idol that he made. He stole beads from the tribe flag. Jeff got grief for burning the idol. He admits that he got rope from the idol clue. He gets what’s left of the idol that he made. He is using the challenges of the show to turn them into physic problems.

It is revealed that Matty would have won if he were in the final three. Jeff tells people that if they want to be on Survivor, they would have to go to REI and get flint. REI is a good place. I went there before I went to a vacation in Peru. We then get to Jeff kind of wondering how Susie made it as far as she did. We learn that Randy was the deciding vote in getting Bob the win. It was the cookie that did it. Susie seemed to be too non-caring about the cookie, which got Bob Randy’s vote. Sugar is talked about some as many fans seem to like her.

We switch to learning some about Corrine who gets some needed grief about bringing Sugar’s dead dad into the whole mean speech of hers. Corrine at least admits that she is that mean in real life. She likes the boos and was even upset that she didn’t get a more negative edit. We get some to Randy who was also pretty mean, but gets applause. He has the second highest IQ of the contestants this season with Marcus as the highest. This is ironic, of course, since Marcus made a dumb move with an idol. He was not alone in making this move, though.

Randy invited six strangers as his guests on the reunion show, as they are fans of Survivor. He thinks that he has real friends, but doesn’t know who they are. He thinks the IQ test is wrong or flawed. Charlie talks some for a moment about what he was doing in the game. Randy thinks that after applying for the show 15 times, he would be best in the 22^nd season. That would have put him on Redemption Island and meant that he couldn’t have played in the 20^th season, Heroes versus Villains.

Crystal talks about her past and she did win Olympic gold. She also used steroids, which sadly makes sense. Dan talks about his time in the game as well. Ken talks about playing video games such as Super Smash Brothers Melee. He admits that he was cocky, thinking that it was a chess game. He wants to have a girlfriend, but not because he was on Survivor. Michelle talks about maybe dating Ken, but she is having nightmares about a termite wanting to eat her since she ate one. I once had the chance to do this, but did not. Ace reveals that his British accent is real as he lived in London for 8 years.

The top three vote getters for the Sprint player of the season were Matty, Sugar, and Bob. They were the top three in that order with Bob getting the win. He is speechless over this as Jeff speaks for him while Bob is emotional. Matty reveals that he’s still engaged. She now has an LA ring. Paloma then talks some about her time in the game. We also hear from Kelly who was upset, but is still happy that she’s learning from the game. GC wanted to look for food before the challenge. Jacquie felt that this was the best experience and to make sure that she’s not left out, Gillian talks about her time in the game. 

The next season of Survivor starting next year (then 2009) will be in the rugged place of Tocantins in Brazil. This is the highlands of the place. There’s not much else to gather from the reunion show as it ends around here. I have no idea when or if I’m blogging about Tocantins. Don’t hold your breath.

Points at reunion show: Michelle- 1, Gillian- 1, Paloma- 1, Jacquie- 1, GC- 1, Kelly- 1, Ace- 1, Dan- 1, Marcus- 1, Charlie- 1, Randy- 2, Corrine- 3, Crystal- 1, Ken- 1, Matty- 2, Sugar- 1, Susie- 1, Bob- 1.

There’s still more to talk about this season, such as a potential revised ranking of it, and I’ll talk some about other details of it in other posts, be it in random posts or parts on other episodes. I also want to get to some specific rankings of seasons from San Juan del Sur onward. I need to get to the schedule of planned posts for the month of May.

Planned May blog posts 

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Not May	Not May	Not May	Not May	Not May	Not May	1: TV
2: Survivor	3: Elementary	4: Madam Secretary	5: freebie	6: The Good Fight (maybe)	7: The Good Wife	8: TV
9: Survivor (maybe)	10: Elementary	11: CSI: Cyber	12: Survivor (maybe)	13: The Good Wife (maybe)	14: Survivor (maybe)	15: TV
16: Survivor (maybe)	17: Elementary	18: freebie	19: Survivor (maybe)	20: freebie	21: Survivor (maybe)	22: TV
23: Survivor (maybe)	24: Elementary	25: freebie	26: Survivor (maybe)	27: freebie	28: Survivor (maybe)	29: TV
30: Survivor (maybe)	31: freebie	Not May	Not May	Not May	Not May	Not May

I have a special post planned for this blog on Gabon for next week and then I’ll be done blogging about this season. But I am not yet done watching this season. You see, there are two choices that I will not be blogging about. And then this blog will have Sunday’s be occupied by new posts on episodes of the season of Blood versus Water. I know that I have already blogged about that as you can see in the archives of this post. But I am blogging about it again. And it will more than likely be on Sunday that I cover those posts as well. 

Here’s a reminder of what the current list of shows that I watch on DVD happen to be. They are the shows of Charmed season 6, Flashpoint season 3, Matlock season 1, Power Rangers season 1 volume 2, Survivor: Gabon (this show), and recorded shows on tape. I will be Blood versus Water that will be the one replacing this in due time. Stay tuned for posts on that. Next week will be a special post like you will see from now on going forward and with new seasons too. You will find out what it is in exactly one week. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.

The Ron Clark Story Recap of Ron Clark

With this movie now on my Wednesday list of things to watch (but could potentially be watched on other days, depending on what else might happen or change with the movie watching lists) then I might as well keep track of when I see it in this blog post. This will be the only other time that I plan to write a recap of this movie. While I’ve covered the whole film before, now I will only cover just the perspective of Ron Clark. Then, while when I roll this will still affect blogs in future years, I won’t have to write any more about this beyond what’s already been written. I can just watch for fun again.

 

I wound up rolling this movie and seeing it on 4-7-2021. That was a Wednesday since that’s when this movie was on the list at the time. Since watching a Survivor choice of any sort means updating my TV blog most of the time, that is why you didn’t see my Survivor blog then. I don’t even try to keep you readers updated most of the time as to why this blog is updated on certain times through all of this hiatus of the show. You’ll see posts when you see them.

 

We begin in North Carolina with Ron ready to be introduced to his class. He talks to a kid in the hall who has learned something. After four years at the school, people are bringing in tables from the rain and he is doing what he always does. He started as a temporary teacher, but wanted something permanent. But he wants to leave to help New York public schools.

 

While at New York, he wants a list of the public schools in Harlem. He looks for a job in teaching and gets a job at a restaurant in the meantime where he meets a woman named Marissa. There is also a person there named Jason working there too.

 

Ron shows up to a school where a teacher walks out of his class, quitting after getting into issues with a student who was hitting him. Ron wants to start right away. Ron is given the opportunity to be with an honors class, but he instead picks the lowest performing class that has the lowest test score, being quite wild and crazy. He tells Marissa about them, his new class.

 

He meets various parents of the students. One of them steals from his mother. He has a student from India. He also talks to Shamicka who has some issues with her family life. He arrives for his first day and is dismissed in a way when he tries to talk to another teacher.

 

The class is unruly, but he tries to take control of it. He introduces his first rule: we are a family. The class does not seem to work as well. I could never understand why in this movie or possibly in reality they would put all of the lowest performing students in one class. Do they want them to continue to fail? After seeing his car vandalized, he seeks to take control of his classroom. His principal does not like it and considers it vandalism himself.

 

After talking some with Marissa, he introduces other rules during his class. But it does not seem to go over that well. He talks some with a student who notices another named Julio taking bets as to whether or not he will stay.

 

Ron talks some with the lunch ladies before he gets the class to stay in line in order to get lunch. Since he say Shamicka cut in line, the whole class doesn’t get food until she admits the truth. Later, he sees that the room is vandalized and he talks to the class about it.

 

He sees people jump roping and wants to join, but this is ignored for now. He sees Dashawn and another student fighting. Ron is worried since Dashawn has two strikes already. Ron gets Dashawn to go back to class. Later, at his restaurant job, he becomes an official New Yorker by getting angry.

 

Still, things are not going well for him as no one except one student did their journal. He gets angry at Shamicka and moves her desk around causing him to leave the building. He meets up with Marissa and they do things in the rain. He explains what went on that caused him to leave.

 

After the weekend, it turns out that Ron is back to teach his class. He has a bunch of milk to drink. He will only do this if people are quiet. He tells Julio to do the tapping to signify this while he learns them about grammar. He does drink the milk. I’ve always found this part dumb.

 

Seeming to make inroads with his students, he wants to learn how to double-dutch in order to teach his kids about what all they need to in the future. He talks to Mr. Turner, the principal, about this. He then talks more to his boss about it. Ron promises that all of his students will pass. Later, we see him with a cake while everyone is there to celebrate something. He wants them all to light a candle and this is to show them that they are united.

 

He wants to teach them the then 42 presidents in order. While at his apartment, he notices that there is beat boxing in the background. This inspires him to do a rap of his own to inspire his students after they all fail the test and he does a rap but the version we hear only covers the first three. I could tell you all of the now 46 presidents in order for memory.

 

After the first three of George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, the rest of them that we have had are James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K Polk, Zachery Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford B Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Dwight D Eisenhower, John K Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Richard M Nixon, Gerald R Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, Bill Clinton (42^nd one or current at the time), George W Bush II, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.

 

 Back to the movie, Ron noticed that Julio had stolen so he orders them to have private study sessions outside of class. He also wants Dashawn to meet at a coffee place. Dashawn considers going there, but doesn’t. Julio still meets with Ron. During this time, he also talks to Shamicka. He goes to her apartment, but things do not go well with her mother who wants Ron kicked out. After seeing that he could help her child, she relents and lets him stay teaching the class.

 

A fight breaks out between Dashawn and Julio. Ron is brought into mediate and helps Dashawn out some later after class. Later, Ron gets a cough and seems bad. He goes to a hospital and is told that he has pneumonia. Despite this, he still goes to class. But he passes out after they first think that he was making a joke. From home, he records four hours worth of videos every day in order to play during class. The principal assists the class with these recordings. He knows the students well enough in these videos to call out some of their behavior.

 

Ron is concerned about the test scores that his students will be doing in the future. He says that they have done well thus far, but is upset that the scores on their current test were bad. He is glad that they were following his rules. Ron talks to Dashawn and gets his student to do the right thing. He also talks to a student who wants to be a doctor. He is nervous on the day of the test. It seems that the students have varied reactions to this as the kids might have done well.

 

Marissa shows up to where Ron lives and is unsure of what advice he should offer her. They do kiss as she is unsure of what to do in her life as the scene is cut short. Ron then hands out envelopes to his students as they all go to the Phantom of the Opera tonight on Broadway, something that all of their parents agreed to, according to him.

 

Ron is concerned about Dashawn when he isn’t at the play. Ron goes after his student and sees the work that was done. Ron then finds Dashawn in the street, crying. Ron stays to help Dashawn since Dashawn was beaten up by his foster father, sending him to a new home. Ron talks to his boss about this and his boss promises to find Dashawn a place.

 

At the end of the year, Ron gives awards to his students. He is told that this class tested higher than any other class, including the honor class. He tells Shamicka that she got perfect scores in both English and Math. Me is glad for her. She is then giving him a reward on behalf of the other students in this class. We learn that his students did well and he learn that his book, The Essential 55, was a best seller. He also got to open The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta. I wonder what the total 55 rules are since we did not see them all in the movie. Maybe I’ll have to get the book and read it some time.

 

While I do get annoyed at the romantic subplot since it goes nowhere and is such a non factor that they could have removed it without removing the character in question related to it, what is annoying about it is a change known as straightwashing. As shown on Survivor, Ron Clark is clearly gay. Yet the movie seems to portray him as straight. This is a problem. It is not as bad as whitewashing or at least it might seem that way since we don’t know if it is as wide spread or not.

 

That’s all for this blog post since there really isn’t too much else to say. I wonder who else might show up on Survivor based on a show or movie that I have on DVD. I do know that Wyatt Nash has made quite the name for himself as an actor, leaving behind his old Survivor identity. And I think that I have a cousin who is into Chase Rice’s music so I might have to check that out at some point too. It was just nice to have this in my existing collection when Ron appeared on Survivor. And it wouldn’t have happened if my mother got me the right thing the first time. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.