BB18 Episode 20 – August 3, 2016
<–Previously, I caught you up on a week’s worth of crazy
As Paul & Paulie’s Bromance Alliance kicks into full gear, there’s a lot to unpack in terms of how bro-y this season has gotten, but there’s also the key point to realize, which is that DaVonne is in trouble.
I think the extended stay in the house has really been getting to everyone, and we’re hitting that mid-point breakdown so often seen in Big Brother.
DaVonne’s Predicament
Usually those who make it through that mid-point and don’t get evicted snap out of it, but it’s those who can’t shake it (and believe you me, I know I’d fucking snap if I was in that house for that long in those conditions) who usually get targeted and evicted. And DaVonne? You in danger, girl. She hasn’t gone full-crazy but the drama she’s found herself involved in these last few weeks certainly has left a lot of collateral damage. Bridgette is full-on out to get her, as is Nicole.
This smile alone from the end of the episode makes it clear that Nicole is fully on board the Evict DaVonne train.
What makes the situation so bad for DaVonne is that I don’t think she realizes how much sentiment there is against her, especially amongst her “allies.” Paulie is wildly on board getting rid of her, Paul seems ambivalent but willing, and the rest of the house is probably leaning towards getting her out since she is such a force of nature. Bridgette is a non-entity in comparison and can be a useful vote in your pocket since she’ll likely do whatever you say. And Paul just played DaVonne brilliantly in setting up her nomination, in that she knows it’s bullshit, but she doesn’t grasp HOW MUCH bullshit it is. Man, Paul is definitely the superstar of this season and it looks like he has a nice clean road to the Final 2 at this point with everyone else being mostly idiots or useless.
The Zakiyah Love Train is DONE
Paulie is having a breakdown of sorts himself, in that he no longer wants to have some woman breathing down his neck all the time and just wants to hang with his bros. And he’s not so subtly pushing Zakiyah away more and more, to the point where as they seem to be reconciling and making up after a pissy fight, they bring up strategy and he tells her about getting rid of DaVonne, and she thinks that Paul should go.
GIRL. What ARE you thinking? You know full well how close Paulie is to Paul. Why on God’s green earth would you ever bring this up to him in this manner, so soon after you guys were sniping at each other. BAD MOVE, and you WILL feel the repercussions of that quite soon it seems. Because of course, Paulie is looking for ANY fucking reason to cut Zakiyah loose and free him up to bro out, and ding ding ding, you provide him a wonderful one. Paulie immediately runs to Paul to sell Zakiyah out, and Paul is of course ready to send her out next week as who needs that kind of saboteur around?
The Emerging Bro-Out
It’s funny, usually the Bro-Alliances form immediately at the beginning of the season, then of course get exploded when they’re way too cocky and the house targets them. But here, the Bros are reforming at the mid-point of the game and look to have a firm hold on the game….
But the boys are starting to make a comeback. Add Paul to the picture above and you might start to see who is running the house. Victor, amazingly, suddenly seems super safe to stay in the house. That’s almost unheard of with returnees. I don’t see him making it to the Final 2 regardless, but still, pretty impressive for him. That Frank/Bridgette targeting really helped him out, as did Paul coming into his own in terms of power.
The Unfair Veto Comp
This competition, like last year’s, is patently unfair. Women just aren’t as fast as men in sprints, even if they are just like 15-foot sprints. But whatever, it is what it is, and we must have the narrative that Paulie wins Veto and gets off the block instead of Bridgette.
Corey fucking up first though is pretty damn funny, as he did a false start on the very first heat and almost fell completely over. Corey is an amazingly useless player. He’s still nice to look at, but man, there is just nothing there.
And so Paulie wins Veto, and doing so means he can facilitate the path forward for his primary goal of getting DaVonne up on the block and out of the house this week.
The Veto Ceremony
Paul is in a good spot and he knows it. He wants to finish the job of getting Bridgette out right after Frank, but his buds want to use the opportunity to backdoor DaVonne. He’s preparing for either situation, by being nice to Bridgette and telling her enough about the plan to oust DaVonne to make her think he trusts her. We know that Bridgette really doesn’t trust him but she knows she has no other options. But if DaVonne does go home, Bridgette may be a new ally for him, or at the least, feel indebted to him. And he then tries to smooth the waters with DaVonne before the Veto Ceremony, warning her that likely he’s going to put her up since he needs a stable presence up on the block and someone who won’t freak the fuck out.
As you can see, she may not freaking the fuck out, but she’s definitely not a happy camper. And yet, DaVonne still doesn’t seem to be aware that she’s likely going home, telling us that she just needs to keep working to make sure Bridgette goes. Yes, you do, but you REALLY need to work on saving yourself more than working on Bridgette. Really.
Status & Standings:
Head of Household: Paul
Nominated for Eviction: Bridgette & Paulie
Power of Veto Winner: Paulie
Veto Used? Yes, on himself
Replacement Nominee: DaVonne
So can DaVonne survive this? Can Zakiyah avoid being the next nominee next week? I kind of think DaVonne is done, and next week of course all depends on who wins HoH. If it’s Paulie, then we all need to prepare for some shit to go down. And to briefly mention Michelle, let’s just hope she doesn’t crack even more, as that girl is going nuts. Like, literally.