Big Brother recap: A new HOH is crowned, but the nominations look familiar
CBS
This Sunday's episode picks up where last week's live episode left off: with the next HOH competition underway. Facing off in two groups of six, the houseguests must roll three balls along a slanted table and land them in three holes. Three people from each group advance to a final round, where the sole winner is crowned HOH. After surviving last week's vote, Kaysar is on the hunt. He has no other protection in this house and needs to be HOH. So perhaps it's no surprise that he comes out of the gate hungry and becomes the first player to advance. He's then followed by Enzo and David.
In the second round, Dani, Kevin, and Cody advance. What that mostly means is that if there's any chance of the early part of the season getting shaken up, it's on Kaysar, Kevin, or David to win HOH and make some waves. Even then, David is kind of a wild card. He's eager to prove his loyalty to Tyler, and keep tight with Da'Vonne and Bayleigh, so there's a chance he'd just target Kaysar again too. Kaysar, motivated to save his game, once again comes out hot and lands two balls quickly. Before long, Enzo sinks two as well, and then David follows suit. Kaysar is all around the final hole, so close to saving himself and maybe shifting the game, but unfortunately, luck just isn't on his side. Enzo ends up snagging the HOH, and considering how close he is with Cody, the immediate sense is that Kaysar is once again the target and that much of the house will be more than happy to vote him out.
Before getting down to the new nominations, the talk of the house is who threw two votes to Kaysar last week when it should have been unanimous against Janelle. A little flashback shows us that Dani, the day before evictions, came to Cody with the idea of throwing votes and creating some chaos in the house, but Cody wasn't up for it. Now, when Cody comes to her and asks her about it, she denies doing it. The thing is, she's a terrible liar! It's so clear that she threw one of the votes (Enzo was the other because he's been doing it all along), and for what? It's backfiring already. She's still part of The Committee, but the rest of the alliance is clearly wary of her.
What's interesting about the Dani thing, and Enzo's HOH win, is that some of these players keep talking about how they're going to "cause a little chaos" in the house or "keep everyone else on their toes." Enzo brags to the camera when he wins HOH about how he's coming for everybody in the house, that this is his moment to create some chaos. But then nobody does anything! They just keep making the same predictable moves! It's maddening. If you're going to keep going with the majority of the house, just say it. Own it. Don't keep talking about shaking things up and then going right back to the status quo.
There are a lot of conversations going on about certain loyalties and who threw the votes, but the most important conversation of the week — outside of David once again failing to read the game and looking like a deer in the headlights when asked about the votes against Kaysar — is between Da'Vonne and Kaysar. What starts out as a discussion about religion turns into a thoughtful, personal chat about the way racism and division are tearing apart the country. It's a heartfelt chat between two people who understand what it's like to be persecuted based on their skin color. Look, CBS and Big Brother could always be doing more to address racism and bigotry in the house and in the world at large, but airing these kinds of conversations is a start. It's not perfect, but as Kaysar says, it's important.
Getting back to the gameplay, there really isn't all that much going on here. Enzo does seem like he's mostly loyal to Cody and no one else (except maybe Christmas), and therefore willing to shed some other alliance members down the line or target a winner like Ian, but for now, there's simply an easy target out there that he needs to put up, causing the least amount of drama. So, he nominates Kaysar as the main target and puts up Kevin as a pawn. Kevin seems worried, but I don't think he should be concerned. Kaysar is the clear target for just about everyone in the house, and unless the POV changes things in a way that allows a few people to safely swing the vote, he's probably on his way out. Hopefully, this week's veto competition at least gives us something more to talk about, and Tyler or Memphis don't somehow end up in control yet again.
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