Forrest got ripped off. I've got nothing but respect for Whitely, but that guy was the best skater in the show. Not everyone's nice and down or able to skate anything, and the fact that he took his criticism to heart was pretty unexpected for me, made me respect him and go from hoping he wouldn't win to cheering for him.
I would have bet that two of the finalists were going to be Reuben and Forrest. I also thought the last spot was a toss-up, and that whoever got it had no chance of winning. I wouldn't have been too disappointed if Reuben had won, he held it down, but the third guy taking it didn't even cross my mind.
John got the high sticker - that and the frontside boardslide on the sketchy rail at the Morrisey church - but besides that he didn't get anything memorable for me (and bombing a hill into a building isn't a gnarly trick, it's just stupid). Reuben got his with the ollie at Quimby and the kf 5-0, gnarly stuff, and I was stoked on his skating. But I was more into Forrest than Reuben.
Not only did Forrest kill it the hardest at that double set with the bigflip, back 360 and switch tre, but Reuben skated it too and only got a double flip. And at the stairs in Oakland John got a fakie ollie; Forrest dropped a switch backside heel, which is a lot burlier by me. And personally I think that out of the two tricks at Clipper the three flip grind was more gnar. To me when it came to spots he skated Forrest ran the shit.
And Forrest had a bad tape? Are you kidding me? He did tricks I wouldn't be surprised to see pros do - Kickflip 360 down a big set, bigflip and back three a gap Trapasso switch flipped and switch heeled, and nollie front crook Hollywood High. The only entry I was more stoked on was Stain's.
All I gotta say is that I want to see what Forrest does in the future; he killed it. The other guys might be more well-rounded, but Mr. Edwards is raw. Yeah that was long and a rant, but whatever.