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Bidz05 wrote:

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James Barber wrote:

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Skipping over the Boogika shit, I keep thinking back to BB8, the last season where I had the feeds, and I would have to work hard to find a conversation which did not involve making fun of vaginas, talking about crusty panties, accusing someone of being a molester, using details from personal conversations for psychological warfare, accusing someone of having sex with their daughter, or making random threats. It got worse and worse and I kept wondering if there was ever going to be any change. There wasn't, and when I realized this mess was going to be rewarded by the show, I decided to just root for those who were more honest in their toxicity. Dick was pretty damn honest and for that season, he was a worthy winner.

I didn't watch tons of BB9, but what I did see was a variation of BB8, with a more likable winner thanks to the sleazier nutjobs canceling each other out.

Spoiler [+]

So after three seasons where mostly vile actions were put on a pedestal, I thought that's what BB had basically become. Finding the least repulsive person and hoping they would not eventually make me hate them, or that they would be able to leave the house without being a walking breakdown.

I didn't have very much hope for this season when Steven and Angie left. Aside from Renny, many of the others were almost a faceless horde of screaming women and UTR men.

That didn't start to seriously change until around the week of Jessie's eviction. I hated what the AP task became in BB8 and I was wary of another Eric situation, but what Dan did to Jessie was just such good-natured stupidity. Then came the Judas and burn in hell and get him fired, and my martyr/underdog weakness kicked in. I had no idea how he could survive that week, where even his allies in the house believed the worst of him and threw him around as a target.

I never thought he would not only survive, but thrive, and end up dominating much of the last half of the game. And that he wouldn't change at all, or would change for the better. Or that he would manage to form an alliance with the only remaining sane, funny people in the house, and with them would kick out every single nutjob. He took a house that flipped out when he looked in a mirror or didn't cut his hair, and managed to shape it to the point where no one in the house barely even spoke to each other unless he was around. MKRD not only helped to save the season, but they also helped bring Big Brother back to "my" BB, what I thought it would never be again. Strategy, fun, quirkiness and intricate moves, instead of caricatures throwing shit at each other while trying to figure out who will be the next Janelle/ED/James/etc.

There are a lot of things to criticize him for -- cocky, goofy, cheesy, not quite as clever as he thinks he is, and I don't agree with some of his political views. Still, it's been nice to be able to find a HM where the extent of the horrible things he's done in the house amount to yelling in the DR, or no longer hiding his beer, or no longer wearing a cross, or doing a stupid roulette wheel, or going along with silly ideas about a clothing line or speaking gigs. I don't have to watch him and wonder how the hell I'm going to stomach rooting for him in a way beyond, "Well, at least he isn't ____" or, "He doesn't like ____."

Based on the way he's been in the house, I think Dan is a decent person, but he's not someone who goes around reminding people of who in the house is good or bad. He was always respectful to everyone, no matter how they treated him, and even the trash he talked was pretty low-key compared to what we've heard on BB. He's been a good model of showing instead of telling. He didn't need to go to the DR and yell to us about MOJA being "bad people", he just took them out of the game. The idea that he fucked them over and now they have to decide whether to give him, at the very least, 50K for it is amusing.

He's also been a good focal point throughout the season. We've seen him change as he needed to change, yet his basic personality stayed the same. He and Steven were both stabbed in the back the very first HOH and there wasn't much reason to think he'd stick around after Brian and Steven left. He managed to survive, and to stay to the very end, being personally responsible for the exits of those who screwed his alliance over in the first place. Since he never became a nightmare as he gained power, the situation never changed to him somehow being as bad or worse than Ollie or Jerry, and his eliminating them from the game had all the more satisfaction.

I don't know and don't much care what Dan will be like outside of the BB house, but in the house, he was fun and a constant source of entertainment, both strategically and silly ways to pass the time. He embraces the cheese unabashedly. He actually made me get invested in the show again and whether he wins or loses, he reminded me of why I love BB. I think BB was lucky to have him, along with some of the others they cast this season, and very lucky that he wasn't one of those booted out in the early weeks. I can't imagine what this season would have been like without him.

(No spoilers, I just put the rest in spoiler tags to keep from stretching the thread too much with a repeated quote. - MG11)

This... is perfect. Well said.