The Recap
No eviction tonight: this was veto night, and it belonged to a rocket scientist and a liar.
Mallory Aurichio spent the back half of last week falling apart on the block. Then she went to Dee, asked the only question that mattered: who do you actually want gone? and got an answer: "Yash would be a good option." That was all the runway she needed. "I'm Mallory and I've got this," she told herself, and then she went out and proved it.
"Back From The Future" brought the Time Trip theme all the way home: Dr. Will Kirby beamed in on video, Howie Gordon turned up in the flesh, and the story went that Will had stolen the time table on premiere night to build his future empire. Six played: Dee, Mallory, Yash, Taylor, Barrett and Melody - and the aerospace engineer solved the pipe puzzle. Mallory took herself off the block, and Dee had a hole to fill.
She filled it with Ashley Trail, not out of malice, but arithmetic. Ashley has the fewest close allies in the house, which makes her the nomination with the smallest blast radius. Dee kept her head, too: she's privately called Haley "a snake," but she didn't let that itch pull her off plan. The block is now Yash, Taylor and Ashley, and all three get one more swing at Thursday's Block Buster.
But the episode's real story was Jason De Puy, building a house of cards with a smile. He formed The Court Jesters with Drew Campbell and Melody Morris — and it's a fake alliance, a vehicle for going after the three returning reality vets. His target has a nickname: "Big Daddy," aka Rick Devens. "The sooner we get them out, the sooner the game becomes ours," Jason pitched. "I want to take that shot."
There's just one problem, and his name is Drew. Because the newest Court Jester walked Jason's plan straight back to The Crossovers — Dee, Devens, Angela, Barrett and Drew himself. Jason is running a con on a house that already read the script.
And the tears finally cost him. Angela Murray figured out that Jason had been faking cries to work her nurturing streak, and the warmth went out of the room fast. She also called out Haley for trying to stir things between her and LaTrice. Meanwhile Rome and Lyric were up canoodling until 5 AM — though Rome's already sounding a little tired of the spotlight — and Ashley, on the block, ate the first hamburger of her entire life.
Week 1 has a fake alliance, a real double agent, and a nominee discovering ground beef. Thursday can't come fast enough.