HOH-itis – Page 2 – A Piece, of the Sky

If production had called the violation, in the heat of the moment, fine. But there is a statute of limitations here, like in sports. Production can’t go back and reset the entire week, after-the-fact. That wouldn’t be fair to everyone. ‘Fairness’ is also relative. We live in a “random,” quantum world and a game, as a controlled environment, can mitigate that randomness, only so much.

The moral of the story is that no matter what twists are thrown in: battle-backs, power-apps, hacker comps – bad players will be bad players and skillful players will be skillful players. It will always come down to how one plays the game.

I blame Scottie for the absolute blow-out of this week. Scottie was the best one, to come back in, from the jury house. However, Foutte is going to Foutte (that’s a new verb now) – so, even Foutte’s best player is the worst player, in a house of mostly Level 6 players.

Scottie just wasted this opportunity. From the time he came back in, championing #Scyler, you knew Scottie was going to bungle this. He was ‘just happy to be here.’ But that’s not enough! Even if you don’t have a traditional goal, you must still have a goal. You have to be motivated by something.

Scottie is a super-fan, but it seems like he is simply watching the show, from inside the house! Scottie just didn’t have that groundbreaking, epiphany moment, like JC had last week, when JC knew that he didn’t just want to make Final Four or Final Two, but he wanted to win the game. Second-best just isn’t going to cut it.

Speaking of JC, if I had known JC was so smitten by Tyler, I wouldn’t have rated him so highly. JC is still hanging on, by his fingernails, to the ledge of my Final Five, because JC and Brett are beginning to make plans, but JC needs to realize that Tyler, Angela and Kaycee don’t owe him anything.

Yes, JC stuck his neck out, and worked as a mole, collecting information for Level 6, from Foutte. But, as I highlighted in my last analysis, JC hasn’t had to touch the block and he hasn’t had to take on the ‘face’ of the organization, as HOH. Level 6 and Tyler essentially shielded JC from going home, during the first month. JC holding his work, for Level 6, over their heads, is already rubbing Tyler and Angela the wrong way.

JC also keeps confronting Tyler about this Tangela nonsense. As I alluded to, last time, what do you think Tyler is going to tell you, JC?? Tyler is never going to admit that #Tangela exists! Every time JC asks Tyler those mega-obvious questions Tyler is going to deny, deny, deny. Never, in a thousand years, will Tyler ever say ‘yes’ to your questions, JC!

Yes, it is a bad strategy for Tyler to continue to claim Tangela doesn’t exist. Tyler should just own it and say ‘Yes, what are you going to do about it?’ Then Tyler can move on and go back to the game, because Tangela has really distracted him and made Tyler mush – highly strategic mush, but still mush.

However, as long as Tyler continues to obfuscate, he’s not going to give JC a different answer. The time for talking is over. It’s time for JC to do something about it! Get over this crush on Tyler, JC! Tyler isn’t going to take JC to the Final Two! He was never going to take JC to the Final Two! JC is finally understanding this, but by the time JC and Brett act, it may be too late.

Which brings us to Brett: as the Trickster archetype, Brett is actually more of a beta person or an omega person. JC needs to take the lead here. The problem is that the two of them are both wringing their hands, like Hamlet, afraid to make a move!

JC and Brett keep hoping that someone, like Hay or Sam, can be tricked into not targeting each other, and can be convinced to take out Tyler or Angela, instead – for JC and Brett. But these two have to recognize that no one is going to do it for you! There are only about three weeks left in this game. Three weeks to half-a-million dollars!! Wake up! Take out Tyler, the huge sitting duck.

The #JODY game rears its head again – this time between Fessy and Brett, instead of Tyler and the evicted Swaggy.

Sam and I are both tired of a conventional game, on the part of everyone, who is not Tyler or JC. I too, like Sam, am ready to stomp metaphorical, strategic “mudholes” and turn this game upside down, just to keep it interesting.

Faysal is a lumbering giant, both physically and mentally. Kaycee went back up on the block, just like during Hay’s HOH, and Scottie is 99.99% going home.

As I mentioned earlier, I ship Hay and Brett. Hay is a disappointing player, but as a person, she deserves a better significant other, than Fessy. Don’t be too vulgar but drop a bomb on Fessy’s intentions of ever winning Hay’s heart, Brett!

Back to Hay’s game: extremely disappointing. Fans of the game or independent fans, are just aghast at how fast Hay could go from hero to zero. This week has been a wake-up call not just for the weakness of Scottie’s game, but Hay’s as well.

One can only look back and see that during the intermediary period, after Swaggy left and when Bay was unofficially running Foutte, Hay had some clever ideas or instincts, but she would rarely voice them, outside the DR, much less, act on any of them.

Hay’s passive gameplay has followed her into Fessy’s disastrous (for Foutte) HOH week and is a major reason for the utter collapse of her own HOH week: RS going home.

The Mind Flayer (Stranger Things fans, rejoice), that is JC, continues to live on. His Hive Mind, has jumped hosts. Still, JC has a good point: even dedicated, hardcore Tyler fans are nervous about this whole #Tangela experience. I like them as good friends, but personally, I don’t see the showmance material.

On a game level, almost any kind of showmance is distracting. In the first Season of Survivor, on Borneo, Richard Hatch was very taken by the quirky and handsome Sean, but that was only in his heart. His brain voted Sean out without a second thought and Hatch won the million dollars.

I am not surprised that Bay and Swaggy didn’t survive game-wise, even though they seem to love each other, as people. And of course, I have never put much stock in Hay or Fessy, as players, or ever been excited, on a game level, for their showmance. Neither Hay, nor Fessy, are in my Final Five.

Tyler is a strong player; if his game immune system has been compromised by Tangela (Pokémon?) he isn’t showing any symptoms – yet. He reassured JC, not to take this Tangela nonsense seriously, and if Tyler really is bi, this may be a relief, for JC, on a personal level too. JC doesn’t like the females on his men. He broke up Fessy and Kaitlyn, and JC has never been a huge fan of Fessy x Hay.

Angela liking Brett, that way, seems highly unlikely. I don’t see it at all. So, I hope JC doesn’t try to sell that ocean-side property, in Kansas, too hard.

Lines are being drawn. With Foutte, all but in a free fall, it’s time to look toward the endgame. The great mental war between JC and Tyler, is just beginning, like Professor X trying to outsmart Magneto.

Brett is a funny character, a paragon of the trickster archetype, but compared to the depths of Tyler’s game-mind, Brett is just a very pretty face (dump him Sam). JC, defeat Tyler. Come up with a better line and entangle Tangela in your gladiator’s net.