“I recognize that tree.” This is a line from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, a play about two people forced to replay the same moments and days waiting for the title figure to arrive, though he never does. On tonight’s episode of Big Brother 8, that same theme plays itself out as, for the third straight week, the same two people are nominated, though we’re left wondering if either will ever go home.
For all its assets this season (completely insane houseguests and tons of conflict and controversy), the actual “game” aspect of the show is getting quite dull. Daniele won the endurance Head of Household competition from last episode, and the nomination ceremony was a replay of the last two weeks. Defying all odds, the homophobic multiple business owner Kail and the obnoxiously self-obsessed Jen are becoming sympathetic, simply based on the amount of crap (and iced tea) the other HGs dump on them,
Hanging Tough
We resume with the HGs hanging upside-down during the endurance HoH competition, covered in fake bird crap. Amber is the first to fall off after six minutes, resulting in crying. In flashbacks to the post-Nick eviction, she cries some more. Daniele and Dick are sad about seeing Nick go, despite the fact that they both voted for him to be evicted. After one hour of hanging, it’s down to Jen, Kail and Daniele. Dick starts talking about how Daniele wants it more than anyone else (a lie, as I suspect the two who’ve spent the last two weeks on the block want it more). Dick then taunts the heck out of Jen and Kail, calling them derogatory names and bashing Kail’s Christian values, which upsets Jameka.
Everyone is dumping on Jen, and it’s a tough call. Yes, she’s crude and mean, but it’s hard to get on board the Jen hate train when Dick is so mean to her. She falls off, and Kail and Daniele reach an agreement. Daniele promises Kail won’t go home, but every time Kail brings up not being put up at all, Daniele sidesteps that promise. Pretty sneaky, sis. Kail drops, and any hope for the game to suddenly become interesting is shattered.
America Ruins the Game
During the HoH competition, a banner flies over the backyard, and to the show’s credit, they included this rather than try to hide this fact. The banner says that Eric and Amber are liars, which instantly raises everyone’s suspicions about the extra vote for Kail to be evicted in the last two weeks. It’s bad enough for Eric that he had his game strategy ruined by the America’s Player voting, but now outside influence hurts him even more. Also, upon seeing the banner, Amber cries. That’s three times before the first commercial break.
The banner causes an inquisition. Amber swears on her daughter’s life she didn’t do it. Eric tries his best, “You don’t think it was me, do you?” Daniele has her sights set on Eric as the mole, and despite his best efforts to deflect blame to Dick, no one is buying it. Dick is all proud about how he knew it, which is a clear lie since he trusted Eric a lot just last week and was sure it was Nick. Their reasoning is faulty (they think Eric was a fifth member of the Ms. Robinson Alliance). Later, Eric tries more to save himself to Dick, and Dick explodes. Dick again loses points by claiming the high road despite arguing that he doesn’t have a specific suspect, even though he firmly believes Eric is the leak.
Jessica: One Easy Nut to Crack
Dick and Daniele bring up their ideas to Jessica, Eric’s closest friend in the house, informing her that the plan is to use the Power of Veto to put up Eric as the backdoor nominee. She promises to say nothing, so the next scene is, of course, Jessica telling Eric all about this plan. Eric puts up a lot of bravado, but really, what can he do to stop this plan? It’s hard enough for him to play the game, but now America’s Vote is to decide who he promises to take to the final two. This whole America’s Player thing is not worth it, because he’s not winning a lot of money with it (he’s yet to complete five tasks), and he’s probably going home soon, if not this week.
Let’s study the problem of the AP twist for a second. Even if Eric accomplishes his goal of getting someone nominated, it doesn’t count unless they stay nominated, even though he has no control over that. His vote for eviction only counts if that person goes home, which, again, he has no control over. He definitely knew Nick was going home last week, and so voting for Kail didn’t even accomplish his task, so why do it? It’s unfair to him – he voted for Kail to be evicted, which was America’s Vote, so why doesn’t it count as a victory?
“Third Time’s a Charm”
The episode ends with, of course, the nomination ceremony. I’m shocked, because we usually get a food competition on the Sunday show, and I miss those awful puns the producers come up with. “Mission: Im-Pasta-Bowl” was perhaps the greatest one ever, by which I mean the worst.
Daniele nominates Kail and Jen. Her rationale against Jen (she asked for it, not liking the way she interacts with people) makes sense. Her rationale against Kail (a tough competitor) is yet another lie. Kail can’t play her way out of a paper bag, and is no real threat. Of course, Daniele’s plan is to backdoor Eric, so we’ll see how that goes on Tuesday.
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-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of BigBrotherCaps)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
