After we're reminded that Dan nominated Jerry and his own secret ally Memphis, Ollie gloats in the Diary Room about how he has all of he power but none of the blame, thanks to the deal he made with Dan. Memphis is more succinct: "I think Dan's plan is crap." And fellow nominee Jerry assures us that he's a "fighter." Funny how he keeps calling it that. Dan, meanwhile, insists that his nominations were a calculated risk. I would agree, except for the "calculated" part.
Up in the Head of Household room, Dan doesn't help himself by telling Memphis to continue to "act" pissed. Memphis tells him it's not an act. Dan tells Memphis about the final part of the deal, where Ollie gets to pick the replacement nominee, but he tells Memphis it won't happen. "What if Ollie wins the Power of Veto and takes Jerry off?" Memphis wonders. "Michelle's going home," Dan assures him, with more confidence than I think is warranted. Then he tells the DR that Ollie is an idiot for thinking Dan will actually do what he said he would. Well, Dan, who made Ollie think that? Memphis remains uptight and irritated.
Dan goes to Keesha, who tells him that she thinks he made a mistake. Renny joins them, and Dan sort of tells them that Ollie wanted Memphis nominated and Michelle protected. That tells Renny and Keesha about the Ollie/Michelle alliance, and when they ask what will happen if Memphis vetoes himself, Dan says he'll basically have no choice but to fuck Ollie over and put up Michelle as the replacement nominee. "Oops," he shrugs. Dan tells Renny to trust him, which by this point is having the opposite effect that he wants.
And in the other bedroom, Ollie is telling Jerry and Michelle about the remainder of the deal. Michelle likes the deal, but Jerry is pretty nervous about how this could play out. Ollie promises that if Dan screws him, "Hell will be unleashed on him." How much extra Hell do these people actually have access to, anyway?
Dan calls everybody into the living room, and when they're all there, the monitor tells them about America's Vote in which we (or rather, people who care) voted on who gets a call from home. Except they don't get to find out who it is until tomorrow, because this way it can have the most devastating emotional effect on everyone, and Keesha and Jerry and Michelle can all make pathetic appeals to the DR camera. Too late now, for two of the three of them.
day, the phone in the living room rings. That's right, the PHONE. In the LIVING ROOM. Michelle goes scampering out there, wondering what to do. Try answering it, bonehead. You'd think this would be like riding a bike. It turns out to be Jerry's family. As the other houseguests gather in the living room to listen in, Jerry gets to talk first to one of his great-grandkids, and then his wife, who has Parkinson's. That's Jerry saying that, not me diagnosing her through the TV, by the way. It's an emotional moment for everyone, obviously. Are you waiting for me to make fun of a lady with Parkinson's? Come back week, maybe.
Later, in the HoH room, Memphis joins Keesha and Dan to ostensibly discuss whether Michelle would vote Memphis out. After a few moments of discussion, they agree that Michelle needs to go this week. That means one of the three of them winning PoV, and Dan breaking his deal with Ollie. This is going to get ugly.
With only seven houseguests left, everyone's going to be playing except one of them. After Dan draws Renny and Memphis draws Keesha, Jerry pulls Houseguest's Choice and picks Michelle. That's because he figures that if Michelle wins, she'll take Jerry off the block and Ollie will get to pick the replacement nominee. After not getting chosen to play in the PoV and thus feeling a bit powerless, Ollie goes to Dan to make sure he plans to hold up his end of the deal. Dan, of course, assures Ollie that he will, and then DRs that he would be pretty stupid to do that, wouldn't he?
As the PoV host, Ollie in an orange NASA coverall leads the six PoV players in silver spacesuits into the backyard, which is decorated like Mars, if Mars had a crust of red-orange Styrofoam. It's basically a puzzle challenge with the added wrinkle that they have to fly over the yard dangling from harnesses to get their puzzle pieces and bring them back to the puzzle frame one at a time.
As Dan, Keesha, and Michelle start the first heat, Dan says that his plan is to lose so he can backdoor Michelle, which means he needs Keesha to win this round. Michelle doesn't look like she plans to let that happen, though. Her pulley technique is pretty solid, but the puzzle gives her problems and Keesha ends up winning the first round.
The second round is Memphis, Jerry, and Renny. Both Memphis and Jerry are highly motivated to win, but Renny's having too much fun with the astronaut suit (it reminds her of Mardi Gras) and the flying to be much of a competitor. At one point, Jerry drops a piece and has to struggle to pick it up with his feet, since the harness won't let him bend down far enough to reach with his hands. Memphis ends up winning, so he's going to be up against Keesha for the PoV, which couldn't have worked out better for Dan. Ollie, however, is thinking this couldn't be working out better for him. In the end, Memphis wins handily against Keesha. With the PoV medallion in hand, Memphis suddenly trusts Dan (even though he doesn't have to any more) and says that the two of them, plus Keesha and Renny, have the power now. Ollie DRs that he's expecting Dan to replace Memphis with Keesha or Renny, who are in for a surprise. But Dan DRs that it's Ollie and Michelle who are about to be shocked, which is their fault for believing him in the first place. Oh, silly, silly Ollie and Michelle. The paradox of this whole situation is that the more dickish Dan acts about this, the more he has a point.
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Up in the HoH room, Dan and Memphis have a discreet celebration and discuss the phase, which is primarily the pissing off of Ollie. Keesha comes in and Dan tells her there was another part of the deal, but he lets her hang instead of telling her what it is. Renny comes in and learns along with Keesha that one of the two of them was supposed to go up, but he's going to nominate Michelle instead. He just needs them to keep his plan a secret until the PoV meeting, and promise to have his back if shit starts going down. I don't know if the three of them can cover that much back without making up a schedule.
Ollie, meanwhile, is still worried about Dan going back on the deal. Dan tells Ollie that he's trying to talk Memphis out of using the veto, and Ollie tells Dan that he wants Keesha to go up. Dan claims to Ollie that he's still planning to keep his word, but reiterates in the DR that Ollie is an idiot for thinking that.
Now that Dan has put himself in a position to make any number of mortal enemies at the upcoming PoV ceremony, he's come up with a cunning plan to distract attention from himself: he's going to make everyone say who they think should be the replacement nominee. So one at a time, in the privacy of the HoH room, he enlists Michelle (who would name Keesha) and Ollie (who balks at agreeing to name Renny in the meeting, until Dan reassures him that the deal is still on). Then he wants Keesha to say Michelle, and she's fine with that, but when he asks Renny to say Ollie, she asks, "Why would you want to do that?" You fucked up again, Dan. Renny and Ollie are tight. But of course she comes right on board once she hears that Ollie's going to be saying her name. So that's Dan's little fuse lit. This will work out great as long as Renny never finds out that Ollie only agreed to say Renny because Dan basically extorted him to.
Memphis calls the veto meeting, and goes through the motions of letting Jerry make a case for using the veto on him. Jerry just congratulates Memphis on his win and sits back down, and Memphis says he's using the PoV on himself. No surprises so far. So now Dan is supposed to pick up a replacement nominee. I'm absolutely mortified at the suspense I'm feeling when Dan takes the floor. He tells everyone that before he picks a replacement nominee, he's going to make them play a game called "Replacement Nominee Roulette." Ollie and Michelle already see this going south, but they let Dan explain his rules: the four possible replacement nominees will each be asked who they think should be the replacement nominee, they have to tell the truth, and anyone who declines to participate will be the replacement nominee. Dan calls on Michelle, who says Keesha. Ollie says Renny. Keesha says Michelle, and Renny says Ollie. Dan makes a little speech about betting, and concludes, "Ollie, you lost the bet. Michelle, go on the block." So obviously it's a very tense veto meeting that Memphis gets to adjourn after that. I'm not sure I would want to stand in front of those people, in the mood Dan just put them in.
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Michelle is so pissed in the DR that you can barely understand what she's saying with all the bleeping. The only thing that's clear is that she's got Dan figured out: he's a plant. That...actually would be the only thing that would make sense to someone in Michelle's position right now. Dan congratulates himself on making a big move after weeks of passivity, and as we see Ollie throwing giant lollipops around the house and knocking stuff down, he DRs that Dan's disrespect will be "rectified" before he leaves. Good luck with that.
Double elimination coming up on Thursday. Think Dan would have made his "big move" if he'd known about that?
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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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