Big Brother Season 19, Episode 9 Recap

I’m going to be completely honest in this intro. Last week I was pretty down on this season. Bringing back Paul and handing him all sorts of production help made me walk away from the feeds for a couple of days. I just couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t deal with him, and I definitely had issues with how everybody in the house was lapping at his feet.

Paul’s reign ended Thursday night, and so I’m trying to go into tonight’s show with an open mind. (Of course, I do know what happened over the last 72 hours, and I can tell you the majority of what will be shown tonight.) I still have issues with this cast, but the house livened up over these last few days.

There’s no need, however, to really recap the first section of the show. Thursday night featured an endurance competition, and it was the old fashioned “stand on a wall” comp. Josh fell within the first five minutes or so (although CBS claims it was the 21 minute mark), followed by Mark, Raven, Ramses, Kevin, Matt, Jessica, and Dom.

This leaves Jason, Elena, and Alex on the wall. After both girls tell Jason he’ll be safe, he finally drops after a bit of a stalemate. He says he wanted Alex to win anyway. Elena and Alex then talk for a bit, and after a vague promise of safety for Elena and “the people I want protected”, she drops. Elena didn’t want the proverbial blood on her hands anyway. Alex is the new HOH.

Sprinkled through this competition are various looks back to other events from this past week. There’s footage of Cody telling Paul about Dominique and Mark knowing of the backdoor Paul plan. Paul is also freaked out by the extra vote against Ramses (from Christmas), and spends most of the competition questioning everybody. (Kevin’s vote for Ramses was actually a Paul plan.) We also have to endure Paul playing “host” to this event. Not only is he not funny, but the stupid scripts they’re having him yell out aren’t any better.

So what’s Alex going to do? Elena dropped primarily because she knows the whole house wants to get Jessica out. In the diary room, though, Jessica says it’s a “moot point. Let’s shake things up.” Alex, though, seems way too concerned to not piss people off, especially her new buddy, Paul. He quietly asks her if their plan remains.

In the bedroom, Jessica is telling Jason how she wants “revenge” for the people who stabbed Cody in the back. She’ll never come after him, and she’ll never come after Alex. She says that all of the floaters need to band together, or Alex may be the next one out after her. “She’s not making a mark in this game by evicting somebody with zero allies.” Valid point. Jessica thinks Matt and Dominique should be nominated, and Jason agrees. Speak of the devil. Matt uncomfortably walks in the room.

Jason is now talking to Kevin, who is pissed that Alex made a deal that won’t put up any of Elena’s friends. Alex walks in, and Kevin asks why she did that. “I’m going to put up Jessica and  somebody else”, says Alex. Both guys say this is stupid. Mark wanders in and asks if he’s safe this week, and Alex says if “she says you’re safe, you’re safe”. That’s not good enough for poor little Mark, though. He’s now worried about “his future in the house”.

Jason continues to push against Jessica, although Alex reminds him that she was responsible for her being up earlier. Jason’s not happy. “We have to, dude.” She says they have to be as loyal to the big group as they can. “I’m thinking ahead. We need to keep the calm in the house.” She is going to work on convincing them that there’s a “rat” in the house.

Time for Paul to get back to work. He doesn’t care about Jessica or the other floaters, so he needs to target somebody from his side of the house. Step one is telling her that Mark and Dominique are “sketchy”. We see him do just that. Step two is to tell those two what Cody said to make them paranoid. Yep, that riles up paranoid Mark. This big plan is to make them all forget about Paul since his protection will be finished next week. He wants them all to eat themselves up.

Alex sits down with Elena to talk about who she wants to protect, and she names Mark, Raven, Matt, Dominique, and Paul. Oh for fuck’s sake. Alex even bristles at that, and Paul walks in to save the day. Alex talks about how Mark and Dom are “red flags” for her, and Elena says she can’t endorse that. She screams about this in the diary room. Alex says that Jessica is definitely going on the block, but she needs a second person. “As long as Alex sticks to our deal, everything will be great”, Elena tells us in the diary room.

When Elena leaves, Paul again pushes how Dom and Mark “are up to something”. She should “draw that line in the sand and take that shot”. Alex now agrees, so they discuss which of the two should go up. Paul is still pissed at that stupid talk show thing, and she’s a better competitor.

We haven’t had any fluff moments so far this season, so here’s the spot. Ramses kicks the drier door closed, and Kevin is pisssed. He talks about how Kevin is his dad in the house, and Kevin says he’s taking him “under his wing”. There’s more footage of their little back and forths, and I’ll says it’s slightly more entertaining than the usual showmance garbage they love to push on us. (Kevin is growing on me.)

The second fluff moment is Jason and Jessica finally ridding themselves of their “Ve-Toad” outfits. Why this is shown I don’t know.

Oh shit, and now a Raven segment. Please, let’s move on. I can’t with this twit.

Christmas music comes on, so you know what that means. “Christmas is back.” She tells everybody that she had ten broken bones in her foot. “It looked like a bomb went off in my foot.” One bone was even replaced by a donor bone. Jason says he can barely hold the tears, as it was while playing with him that this happened. Christmas begins tearing up as she talks about who she’ll never get full mobility back. “It’ll take about a year to recover. He said that arthritis will set in within one to five years.” There will then be another surgery to fix the arthritis.

Back to the game. Mark is grovelling to Alex, as that last conversation didn’t go as he expected. He asks if Jessica is the target, and Alex confirms that she will indeed be up as promised. He wants to be safe, and promises to keep her and Jason safe. Alex still claims to want to dump the showmances.

Dominique then asks Alex if she can talk, and rattles off how she feels that something is a bit off. Alex sort of says she thinks that they’re solid, but Dom doesn’t stop. She says she “sense some fishy stuff” to get her or Mark out, and feels it is due to “some people or a person that is somewhat insecure as it relates to me and another person’s friendship”. Alex sees right through this crafty-worded speech. It’s Elena, who Dom thinks is jealous of the fact that Mark talks to her. Dom carries on and on and on about the “disconnects”. Alex thinks it’s super-shady to be throwing the names of people from her own alliance out.

Hey, it’s nomination time! Alex’s nominations are Jessica and Dominique. “Jessica, I’m sorry but we just haven’t made a real connection. Dominique, after our one on one you gave me a couple of things when we were talking that set up some red flags, and I want to make it very clear that I did not like some of those things.”

So that’s it, after some of the usual blather from the people involved. Dom feels “betrayed and lied to”. Jessica isn’t surprised, and was prepared. Elena thinks that Alex broke a deal, but she’s happy that Mark isn’t on the block. Alex says her and Paul are going to flip the house, while Paul says “mission accomplished”.

What did you think? Honestly, this episode was so-so (too much filler) but Wednesday’s is going to be fun. Trust me. There’s a house meeting at 5 am!!! What are your thoughts???