Big Brother 15: So Close

Episode 24 – August 21, 2013

There were a few things last night that were sooooo close to happening.  Let’s talk about them!

Helen Was So Close to Find Out She’s Being Played

It’s pretty clear that Helen is the target, except for Helen and Elissa.  Helen knows she’d be a fool to feel safe BUT because she’s got such a great “final 3” deal with Andy and McCrae, she’s feeling pretty good.  But then there were the interactions with Andy throughout the episode where she realized that he isn’t actually doing much to save or help her out.  She had a conversation with Aaryn up in the HoH room and unknowingly came soooo close to getting Aaryn to jump to her side.  Elissa, after the Veto, plays the world’s worst game of Charades to make sure Helen knows what’s up.  Soooo much was being said and not said but honestly, there’s not much she can do at this point.  Honestly, the only hope she has, which I think is not coincidental, is to fight her way back into the game via the new twist of an eliminated player coming back into the house.  I’d speculate conspiracy a la the Coup de’Jeff, but that’s just me being crazy.

Elissa Was So Close to Losing the Veto

It was the old favorite Power of Veto competition:  OTEV!  This competition inevitably finds houseguests violently competing against each other as well as performing unexpected feats of athleticism.  Case in point: Elissa.  I know Rachel had to have been cheering when watching this, as Elissa FINALLY won something.  And it was pretty damn impressive too, from her amazing come-from-behind defeat of Helen running up the waterfall, her causing Andy to ram head-first into the log obstacle, and her just narrowly edging out Spencer to pull out a Veto win.

Aaryn Seemed So Close to Flipping Because of Amanda

Mt. St. Amanda (thanks, McCrae) nearly destroyed her alliance with her behavior.  First, Amanda basically taunts Elissa with the fact that Helen is going home regardless of whatever anyone tries to do.   Mainly it’s a threat to keep Elissa in line and bully her to do whatever Amanda wants.  Then when it’s wine o’clock, Aaryn recalls the days of yestermonth when there was a big kerfuffle about the drinking of the wine before the Have Nots could partake.  Ah, memories of the time when Aaryn was a raging bitch.  Amanda recalls her own part in alerting people to what had happened and Aaryn for some reason flips out on Amanda and calls that bitchy.  I guess alcohol will do that to ya, as I don’t see what about what Amanda did was necessarily bitchy.  Regardless, this causes a spat between the two and even after going up to the HoH room, Aaryn is livid at Amanda.   Andy does his best to calm Aaryn down and to prevent her from blowing up 3AM, as that would definitely ruin his game.   Aaryn reflects that she would much rather work with Helen than evict her, but I honestly don’t see how that would work after detonating 3AM.

In the end though, Aaryn decides that turning on Amanda at this point isn’t worth it.  I had high hopes throughout the episode that she would, as let’s face it, Amanda is steamrolling her way to a final 2 finish and even though I still like Amanda, it would be great to see her have to fight.  At this point, even though she was relentlessly nominated by AmericaMVP a few weeks ago, her game life has rarely been truly at risk.

Is Amanda’s game a sign of a true mastermind?  I don’t know.  I mean, clearly the house is reluctant to target her directly – only America has done that.  Is that masterful gameplay?  Her relationship with McCrae is a flashing red target and everyone just ignores it.  As Aaryn drunkenly was saying to Andy,  before they know it, it’ll be Amanda and McCrae as the last ones standing.  When Aaryn mentioned she wanted to resume control of her game, I was so excited.   But alas, while being so close to a dramatic turn of events, sobriety (and the noted lack of a CBS promo advertising something dramatic happening) triumphed.

Does Helen Have a Chance?

You know, Helen always has a chance.  It’s an extreme uphill battle, and it’s likely 99% against her staying in the house, but Helen has a lot of stamina and will do what it takes to stay in the game.  But here are the votes out there:

Amanda, GinaMarie, Andy, Elissa, and McCrae

Elissa is definitely voting against Spencer, while Amanda and McCrae are definitely voting against Helen.  Could Aaryn somehow save Helen by influencing GinaMarie and Andy?  Sure.  But Andy seems pretty gung-ho on 3AM so it would take a lot of schmoozing.  But let’s not pretend that couldn’t happen.  I’m resigned to Helen leaving though.  And highly skeptical of this twist.  Guess we’ll see what happens tonight!