Originally Aired Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Episode Rating: **** (four out of five stars)
Episode Overview: The seven jurors vote to see who wins
Big Brother 7: All-Stars.
Episode Highlights:
- A spectacular ChillTown montage is revealed to the HouseGuests.
- Boogie and Erika take different approaches to questions from the jurors.
- Mike Boogie wins Big Brother 7: All-Stars.
Recap:
After 72 days of
Big Brother goodness, it's time to bid adieu to Julie Chen and her merry band of D-list miscreants. We begin the show looking at Chen (whose wearing her ugliest blouse since...well, last week), as she inexplicably starts high-fiving the members of the crowd. The show just started. Nothing you've done, Julie, deserves the high-fives of strangers. Mike Boogie vs. Erika. Let the build-up begin.
We get an abbreviated season recap before we head to the jury house for the taped entrance of the final juror, Janelle. Her arrival seems painfully staged. You can tell when things are staged by the way the HouseGuests talk, especially someone like Janelle. She is natural in front of the camera when flying off the cuff and being herself, but when "acting�? she is stiff and awkward. This particular entrance is stiff and awkward.
The jurors discuss the final vote. The topics of discussion: "The Merits of Being a Floater.�? "Danielle, and the View from her High Horse.�? "I am Howie's Deteriorating Brain.�? (and, most importantly) "Erika Sucks.�?
Led by Will, everyone seems to have taken a staunchly anti-Erika stance. This becomes more apparent during the question and answer between the jurors and the final two. The jurors seem to use their questions to rail on Erika and her game play. Janelle is especially mean. I can't blame them though; Erika has gotten pretty annoying. Over the last couple of episodes, Erika has begun to take credit for many decisions that had nothing to do with her. She mostly got played the entire game and floated along. Probably all of those jurors played a more active game than Erika, which really has to stick in their craw.
Anyway, Mike answers all the questions honestly, fessing up when he wronged someone, and generally shooting everyone straight. This is a great strategy (the only reasonable one, really) and the jurors eat it up. Erika continues to take undue credit for actions and results for which her influence was negligible.
(This leads to the best subplot of the episode: Every time Erika says something outlandish or takes credit for something preposterous, Boogie stares at her like she just contracted the Ebola virus. Boogie was probably enjoying watching Erika dig her own grave, however.)
The jury is brought to the back yard, in front of the crowd, to cast their final votes. They each give a mini-speech explaining their reasoning behind their vote, but the vote itself remains anonymous, for now. We see a montage of ChillTown highlights, which are pretty funny. No fireworks of note during the speeches.
Julie Chen reveals the votes: Marcellas votes for Erika and everyone else votes for Boogie. No surprise there.
Mike Boogie wins
Big Brother 7: All-Stars. His victory is not too unexpected. ChillTown ran the game, and once in the final four, it's simply a crapshoot. As long as Erika didn't win, I'm happy. Does Mike deserve it as much as Janelle or Will? Probably not, but he's been unfairly portrayed by many
Big Brother fans out there. Boogie has played a damn good game, expertly lying and scheming, even if he wasn't the mastermind.
Well, hopefully we'll be back next year for
Big Brother 8.
-Oscar Dahl