The following contains spoilers for the finale of Survivor Season 43.In a season that has felt fairly predictable in a lot of ways, the Survivor 43 finale managed to be much more unpredictable than most people probably expected. It was an emotional finish to the season in more ways than one, from the fire-making challenge to the aftermath of the final vote. The final outcome was definitely unexpected, by both the cast and by a majority of the viewers, apparently. Part of that may be down to the edit and what it left out, but for the most part, this episode did a pretty clear job of tying the threads of everyone's journeys together, whether or not fans feel the winner deserved the prize.
The three-hour finale (which, though it's a Survivor staple to have these long finales, is way too long for any one episode of a TV show to be) starts with the remaining five players exploring their new camp where they have been sent to spend the last few days in the game. The point of this was to give them an additional challenge by putting them in this uncomfortable environment, but not a lot of time was dedicated to showing why it actually challenged them in any way, so it ended up feeling pointless.
The players are given a word scramble that they must figure out to give them a clue to find a hidden advantage. Karla figures it out first and sets off, but is hindered by her ankle injury. Owen is the next to solve it and also runs down to the beach with her, trying to find the advantage. They both find the tree it's hidden in, kind of at the same time, and Karla manages to snatch the advantage away just before Owen does. He doesn't take it well, as it feels like yet another moment in his underdog story where something good slipped right through his fingers when he needed it.
However, just like his story to this point, he pushes through and still manages to win the Immunity Challenge, despite Karla's advantage, which takes him to the Final Four. The scramble to decide who goes home starts, and it's basically between Jesse and Karla. However, unbeknownst to everyone else, Jesse still has an idol (that was technically Jeanine's idol to begin with), which he reveals at Tribal. Karla tries to downplay her own threat level in order to save herself, but it doesn't work, as she is voted out by the tribe - but not before she, in a move that is delightfully petty, throws an arbitrary vote toward Jesse so that she can break his perfect streak of never having his name written down.
Cut to the final Immunity Challenge, where the remaining four are battling it out for a guaranteed chance at winning in the Final Three. It's a tight battle between Cassidy and Owen, but Cassidy manages to pull it out in the end. This also means that she has to decide who to take with her to Final Three, and who to send to the fire-making challenge. Fire-making for Final Three is controversial among fans, as many feel like it's a terrible way to decide the finalists. This episode is a good example of why - a player could have a fantastic game and get taken out only because they couldn't get a fire to catch, which many fans feel is entirely unfair and left more to chance than anything.
Cassidy obviously wants to send Jesse to fire, because he's the biggest threat, but she has to decide whether Owen or Gabler would be the better choice to go against him. Owen and Gabler both want to do the fire-making, as it's something they can add to their Survivor resume in a last-ditch effort, which also makes it seem like neither of them thought their game would be strong enough to win without it. In the end, Gabler and Jesse face off, and Gabler beats him fairly easily. It's a very emotional moment, and it does feel unsatisfying watching such a good player go out in this kind of way, especially when he's so emotional about it.
The editing for this episode, and for the season as a whole, in hindsight, was strange. The players who got really good edits that showed off their gameplay didn't make it to the end, and the edit of the actual winner was devoid of any sort of hint toward their eventual win. The winner got a really goofy edit, and seemed to be positioned as the comic relief character, which might have been a way to throw the audience off the scent, but it just led to a really unsatisfying - and frankly, baffling - end. It just feels like the players who should have won, and who the show was leading you to believe would win, were booted off too early.
At the Final Tribal Council, the three remaining players - Cassidy, Gabler, and Owen - all get to make their cases to the jury about why they should win the million dollars. Gabler's main argument is about his social strength - how he was able to make alliances with basically everyone and he never had his name written down. Cassidy points out that her game was played from the top almost the whole time. She was never blindsided, she knew exactly what was going on at every vote and was always on the right side of them. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Owen's whole story is that of an underdog. He was at the bottom a lot of the time, and watched a lot of his alliances get voted off. Through it all, he still managed to stay afloat and claw his way to the Final Three, which is why he argues he deserves the win.
All three have decent points, but in the end, the cast decides to award Gabler with the win, in a turn of events that would have shocked most fans if you'd told them the outcome even a couple of weeks ago. To his credit, he reiterates that he's going to donate all of his prize money to veterans, which is a historical decision and an incredibly selfless act, so it's hard to even be mad about his win for that reason. However, the show didn't do a great job of informing the audience of why he was a good player, as the jury members all seem to know something we don't.
Survivor is a reality show, but it's specifically edited to tell a certain story, and Gabler's story this season was about a guy with a really big heart who bumbled around a lot, not someone who outwitted the rest of the cast. Gabler's game wasn't terrible, but there were so many other players that were given the typical "winner's edit" that it felt like a blindside on the audience when he won. Unexpected twists are fun, but not when they come at the expense of wrapping up a narrative in any sort of satisfying way. While the finale was entertaining to watch, it produced an outcome that's likely to be controversial amongst Survivor fans for a very long time.