After the nomination meeting on Day 10, Nominee Dan does some of his patented metaphor torturing, comparing his and Brian's alliance to a ruined city. The other nominee, Steven, DRs that his feelings were hurt by the nominations, and that Jessie's claim that it's about Steven's "disrespect" in not visiting Jessie's HoH room is B.S. Libra DRs that everyone wants Steven out for the twin crimes of allying with Brian and being a strong competitor. Why just eviction? Why not also fines and imprisonment? And Jessie spends his DR time congratulating himself on his awesomeness. Some more.
Dan has a one-on-one in the HoH room with Jessie, who proclaims his respect and trust for Dan. Dan in turn assures Jessie that he'll have Jessie's back if he gets into power somehow. They agree that the worst-case scenario is for Steven to win the Power of Veto.
Angie comes into the bedroom to find Steven reading alone, sad that people don't like him. Steven thinks the two of the need to get back the power, but Angie thinks that she should probably get as far away from Steven and all other things Brian as soon as possible.
Michelle gives Jessie a pedicure. They flirt. Decide for yourself which of those two statements is grosser.
Memphis has a storage room meeting with Jessie and suggests that eight people out of twelve just isn't a big enough alliance, so he proposes bringing in Angie and Michelle. Later, the two of them approach Angie to propose the three of them plus Michelle as a gang of four. Angie seems receptive. I like how the editors put Memphis's job title of "mixologist" in scare quotes.
That evening (or some evening), a group that includes Steven and Renny sits on the back porch talking about Hurricane Katrina. Surviving the storm is the one thing the two of them have in common, but that's enough for Steven to decide there's a bond between them. That's quite a big tent Steven lives in there.
In the kitchen, Keesha's going off the reservation: "You can't leave," she says to Steven, as though it's up to him. She's willing to not only vote to keep Steven, but try to win the PoV and use it on Steven. Steven warns her to look out for herself as well. I'm starting to think that the entire key to Keesha is that she doesn't like being told what to do. So the first player who figures out that they should tell Keesha to do the opposite of what they want will have an early advantage.
Jessie wakes everyone up to pick PoV players, triggering a montage of people doing their morning ablutions. Fun fact: Renny applies makeup while wearing sunglasses, which explains a lot. Anyway, as always, the players will be the HoH (Jessie), the nominees, (Dan and Steven), and a player drawn randomly by each of them. Jessie draws Michelle. Dan gets Houseguest's Choice and picks Libra, just to be safe. And Steven, just as he hoped, picks Keesha. Jessie appoints Jerry as the host. Jerry DRs that he always thought he'd be a good TV host, if only his voice weren't utter shit. That's a common problem.
While they're waiting for the PoV competition, Keesha for some reason shows her hand to April, Libra, and Michelle in the bedroom, saying that she'd like Steven to stay. And then she gets up and leaves the room, so they can all mean-girl her over being a "floater." A similar conversation takes place in HoH with Michelle, Jessie, and Memphis, and now Keesha's a target. Well, it's starting to look like that PoV is going to get used no matter who wins. But then I've been wrong before, i.e., always.
The veto competition has a driver's license theme, combining everyone's two favorite things: Big Brother and the DMV. Dan DRs that he plans to throw the competition so he can continue to look weak. Sure he does. It's a deceptively simple competition: the six players will be shown a series of vanity plates with nonsense syllables printed on them, and then they have to put them in order by states to phonetically sound out Big Brother vocabulary words. The trick is they have to recite the correct states to score points. They have to honk the horns on the steering wheels in front of them to buzz in, but if they buzz in and they're wrong, they're out. Dan blows the very first question, so he's out, just as he planned (he claims). The tricky thing is that as soon as you buzz in, a curtain drops over the plates, so you have to do it from memory. It's harder than it sounds. Which I'm sure is why Jessie bricks the very same question. Finally, on the third try, Keesha gets it right. When the second puzzle comes up, Steven blows it, so he's out. But Michelle gets it right, so she and Keesha are tied for first. From the bench, Steven is trying to force Keesha to win by sheer eye contact.
And now, a twist: the round is playing for a slop pass for the week. Libra and Keesha are on slop, so this would be a boon for either of them. But whoever wins the slop pass is out of the running for the PoV. This is an easy one, but Libra and Keesha wait each other out, while Michelle tries to tempt them by naming off foods. As you do. After a minute, the buzzer goes off and it's a dead ball. Three players, no slop pass.
The fourth puzzle is a four-plater, worth fifteen points. Whoever gets this will take the lead. Libra buzzes in and then goes completely blank, so she's out, leaving Keesha and Michelle tied with ten points each. Over at the spectators' bench, there's some whispering about Keesha. But we never find out what she would have done, because she blows the question and Michelle's the winner. In their respective DRs, Memphis congratulates his alliance on having all the power, Steven vows to "make some moves," and Dan's like, "Yeah, Steven, you do that."
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Afterward, speculation is rampant about Keesha's motives for passing up the slop pass to stay in the PoV competition. And she doesn't help by apologizing to Steven for losing, right in front of Libra. Steven tells her to watch herself. And later, Keesha and Renny decide that Libra needs to go. Or actually, Keesha decides that, and Renny quietly eggs her on, because Renny may finally be learning how to play this game.
Unlike Keesha, who goes to confront her whole alliance and tell them that she wasn't planning to change any nominations. But she's put her foot in it, because Libra and Michelle are like, "Who were you thinking about vetoing?" Keesha flounders and finally asks, "Do you guys really think I'm that stupid?" Libra simply makes an eloquent gesture.
So later, Keesha goes to HoH to try and turn Memphis and Jessie against Libra, and surprisingly, they seem to be hearing her. In fact, they seem to be seriously considering backdooring Libra right now. I'm not sure where Keesha's clout is coming from all of a sudden. It's not like she's wearing the Hooters uniform or anything.
Keesha continues her anti-Libra campaign, now targeting Renny and Jerry. Renny informs Jerry about Libra's comments about the disadvantage of having both the oldsters on her team during the last food competition, (the editors even insert a clip), and now Jerry's pissed off, too. He certainly doesn't act like the oldest one in the house as he bitches about Libra. He doesn't even act like the oldest one in my son's Montessori school
morning, Jerry charges right into the women's bedroom and confronts Libra, and they are instantly in each other's faces, screaming. The fight ranges through the house, over what Libra said and what someone said she said, and what Renny said Libra said, and Libra's bulling through the house all self-righteous about her exact words (she never said the word "slow") as opposed to her clearly implied meaning (which is "we lost because old people are slow").
So Steven decides it's time to make a move, proposing to Jessie in private that he put Libra up as a replacement nominee. Jessie reminds Steven that he first has to get Michelle on board as the veto-holder. So Steven brings Michelle up to HoH so the two of them can suggest it to Michelle. Steven makes his pitch to Michelle that it's a safe move to put the house in position to ditch Libra, since the votes are clearly in place to get her out of there and everyone will thank Michelle for making it possible. She makes the valid point that he's not exactly an impartial adviser here. But to prove he's not motivated by pure self-interest, he suggests she veto Dan so Steven can go up against Libra for the eviction vote. That's certainly putting his money where his mouth is, which even Michelle has to give some consideration to.
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As Michelle consults the memory wall, everyone seems uncertain as to what will happen. Finally she calls the Veto Ceremony. Steven makes his case first, commenting on the Brian-stank that pervades him. Clever move, that, because the only person who has more of that on him right now is the other nominee. And for his part, Dan sucks up to the "Portuguese princess from Providence." Pardon me while I vomit. But in the end it's all for naught, because Michelle decides not to use the PoV. So thanks, Michelle, for sucking all the purpose out of the last hour.
Dan DRs that Steven's going home now. Steven DRs that he's staying, "If I have to push these people's faces down in the toilet." Well, that should do it. Michelle says that she had everything to lose and nothing to gain by using the Veto. "Do I look stupid?" she asks us. I simply make an eloquent gesture. And Keesha promises to campaign for Steven. Good luck with that.
See who we think will win and discuss the houseguests in our forums. M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, or just e-mail him at M.Giant[at]gmail.com
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