Julie welcomes us to Day 21, and reminds us that the double medical emergency shown last night really gave everyone a new perspective on the game and each other and meaning of life itself. And then Julie actually uses that stupid "Operation Condor" phrase of James's, reminding us that Alex/Amanda and Matt/Natalie are nominated for tonight's eviction, and Joshuah and Sharon have declined to use their PoV.
So now either Alex or Matt is going to leave, breaking up the big Boston/New York alliance. Alex declines to campaign against his buddy Matt. Who in turn seems to have no such compunction.
Amanda wakes up the morning, and seems to be off slop, the doctor having instructed her to eat five times today. Everyone seems very solicitous of her. Perhaps they'll even spin their eventual eviction of her as being motivated by concern for her health.
Outside, Matt secures Adam's support for the upcoming vote. And on another day, Allison sits and eats cereal while watching Matt and Natalie lift weights together. And then she realizes that Matt and Natalie are a threat, and that this might be a good chance to get rid of the two of them. And so, because Allison is such a strategic master, she goes up to the HoH room to campaign for that idea with a bunch of people who are hanging out up there. Adam doesn't want to abandon "Operation Condor," but James is only too happy to switch over to "Operation Bro-Down." Where to I sign up for "Operation Shut Up, James"?
Matt then assigns Natalie to campaign for them with Sharon and Joshuah, promising that Natalie and Matt will never nominate Joshuah and Sharon. Okay, here's what's bugging me about all these alliances and promises people keep making: there may be twelve people in the house, but since they're playing as couples, there are effectively only six players, and five by the end of the episode. Two weeks in, it's already the beginning of the end. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Anyway, Josh and Sharon are noncommittal, but as soon as Natalie leaves, Josh draws a finger across his throat, a gesture which the editors strip of any context to make us think it means something.
Ryan and Allison discuss the situation as well. Allison is still saying that this is a good chance to get rid of Matt and Natalie, and then Alex and Amanda can go week. Because long-term plans like that always hold up in this house. By that logic, Ryan and Allison would be going home tonight.
Diary Room Vote Discussion #1 features Sheila and Adam talking about which couple they should boot. Oddly, I'm not feeling any suspense.
Julie communes with the houseguests over the living-room video monitor. She asks Amanda how things are different for her in the house after everyone watched her flop on the floor like a landed trout. Amanda says that she and Allison have gotten a lot closer. Regarding Allison, Julie asks how her life-threatening allergic reaction affected...Sheila. Regarding the big fight we saw between Sheila and Allison last night, Sheila says that she confronts people when they're talking behind her back. Which Allison may or may not have been doing, because there hasn't been any evidence of that on the show. Julie gives James his props for helping Amanda and staying frosty during the crisis. Just as calm as he was last night, James says he thought Amanda was going to die and was ready to give her CPR. As for Alex, he allows that he's glad to have Amanda there. Which I believe, because the alternative is probably finishing the game with Jacob as his replacement partner.
So now it's time for the HoH competition. The remaining four couples (not counting outgoing HoH couple James and Chelsia) are in game-show configuration in the backyard. The quiz is going to be about the love-related literary quotes hanging on the walls all over the house. The women will all play first to determine the female winner, and anyone who gets a question right gets to eliminate someone else. Sharon runs away with it, eliminating first Allison, and then Sheila on the first two questions and dinging Natalie on the last one despite mispronouncing "Dostoevsky." Men's turn. The way this will work is that the winning male will go up against Sharon to determine who gets HoH. Ryan is in the game for about five seconds, buzzing in to guess that the quote "If I love you, what business of it is yours?" is from Oscar Wilde. That's actually a decent guess, and I would have gone with that option if I didn't know from watching the show that it was actually Goethe. I guess I can't fault Ryan; I've been writing about this show three hours a week, whereas Ryan has only been living in the house for the past five hundred hours or so. Anyway, Ryan's out. Joshuah takes the lead, recognizing "Love is a battlefield" as a trick question, because it's from Pat Benatar and not on the walls at all. He also gets the last one right, and that's a full sweep, putting Joshuah and Sharon in the HoH spot for the week. I'm trying not to be surprised at the evidence that they're the only ones in the house who read, but it's not going too well for me.
Back from the ads, Julie talks to a jubilant Joshuah and Sharon, who say they spent some time studying the quotes on the walls. Sneaky fuckers. Julie then turns to Matt, who crows about Boston beating New York, and then has to bring it right down to talk about how much he'll miss Alex. Julie plugs the upcoming week of episodes, promising a big surprise for week's evicted couple. I can't wait, can you?
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