BB8 is great
Big Brother 8 continues to be one of my favorite things -- and guiltiest pleasures -- about the summer TV season. Sure, Rescue Me is better for drama, Damages is better for intrigue, and Mad Men is off the chain when it comes to set and costume design and character development. But pound for pound, the adventures of the houseguests on season 8 has been sure to please TV.
The last couple of weeks have seen the rise and fall of Evil Dick and his daughter Daniele, and I love it because Dick is probably the most identifiable guy in the game (for me). I say that not because of his rock and roll lifestyle, though I admit that's cool for a guy his age, but his balls-to-the-wall approach for the past few weeks has been great.
From the start, Dick's strategy has been to intimidate the hell out of everyone else in the house, and he's done a fine job on that account. But he's actually played the game much smarter than many other people in Big Brother history has, because he recognizes that subterfuge and careful strategy aren't his strong suits, and doesn't bother to deal with them at all. Instead, he goes full throttle, telling people exactly what's on his mind.
When he went up on the block this week, it became apparent that either he or Daniele were being sent to the sequester house, and he's said from the start that he'd sacrifice himself to get his daughter ahead in the game, as I think any parent would. And Daniele has taken a strong approach by trying to distance herself from her dad and shock people in the house into a level of sympathy with her that they've been able to deny thus far.
So Dick's just gone off the deep end -- this year's sociopathic version of Chicken George -- by making sure that everyone in the house is so alienated and terrified by him that they're sure to send him packing come Thursday night.
But as Dick points out, how many times these season has the pawn been sent packing?
And that's the sheer brilliance of America's Player -- it's a complete Joker in the card deck that makes up this game. I can't say for sure for anyone else, but I voted 10 times for Eric to evict Dustin rather than Dick. And it's not because I want Dustin out -- I just want the water muddied for the other players, to have them thrown off their game. Why? It's fun. Look at all the havoc it's wreaked so far -- Jessica, Dick and others have been thrown into paranoid curveballs because of it.