‘Big Brother 27’ week 8 review: The river runs with Vince’s tears

Karma always comes to collect in the Big Brother house. Week 8 of CBS’s Big Brother 27 was a perfect example of this, as all the chips of someone’s bad gameplay were cashed in. Sometimes the pieces don’t fall right away; it’s a slow domino effect that eventually knocks everything over. In the case of Week 8, a string of bad luck was the undoing that finally unleashed all the buildup.

The test or the tested.

If you can believe it, Keanu’s Head of Household (HOH) reign wasn’t the complete disaster you’d expect it to be. Don’t get me wrong, he made his share of bad moves, and we’re going to talk about it! But from an overall look, he attempted to stand his boundaries, repair the damage, and set himself up for the future. Like repairing his relationship with Rachel was a great move, and arguably, one that he needed to do asap. After failing to convince Vince to backstab her, Keanu chose the right approach to admit his mistake and come crawling back for her forgiveness. His position was a lot better by having Rachel on his side.

Also, steering his HOH reign to eliminate a target benefited him immensely. Typically, we wouldn’t need to call this out because, obviously, they’re playing a game for $750,000, and they should be prioritizing themselves to win. However, the houseguests of Big Brother 27 have continually baffled us by nominating and evicting their allies, so the bare minimum shines brightly this season. Keanu nominating Morgan and Mickey, both people who aren’t working closely with him and want him out, would help him in the long run since they wouldn’t be around to target him. Keanu kept his eyes on his goal. Well, at least in the beginning.

Where his HOH stumbled came from his surprising moral stance. Why nominate Vince to “send him a message”?! Vince was never going to learn that lesson; he’ll always cry, apologize, and then backstab you either way. All that nomination did was potentially evict one of his closest allies. If Big Brother 27 has taught the houseguests (and us as viewers) anything, it’s that nominating your allies is a foolish and detrimental move. Heed this lesson, future houseguests: please stop doing it!

The editing tables have turned.

Speaking of Vince, Week 8 of Big Brother 27 has finally started exposing his true gameplay style in the episodes. Did anyone else notice the subtle shift in his editing tone? He transformed from being a lovable strategic threat to a whimpering manipulator and *alleged* emotional cheater. I loved how Keanu, Kelley, and Ava all called out how Vince has played a scared and manipulative gameplay, risking and betraying his allies with little protection. Even Lauren can’t ignore how much Vince has done her dirty this summer. We rarely see Big Brother do such a strong heel turn on a player; frankly, it’s refreshing to keep the accuracy of the story.

One such area that has stayed in the gray zone has been Vince’s friendship with Morgan. They’re having an emotional and light physical affair, right? Fans have dubbed their friendship/romance a “cheatmance”; unfortunately, their actions haven’t deterred the truth from this. Both may claim to just be friends, but they’re always hugging and touching one another, as well as making suggestive comments or doing baffling actions. An emerging showmance isn’t usually something that needs to be addressed, but it’s become a talking point for the houseguests, one that could see them as a threat. Plus, Vince has a relationship back home, so that’s making things very messy for superfans in the know.

Between the two, Morgan needs to get her head in the game and trust her intuition vs. her heart. As mentioned above, Vince has betrayed every single ally he’s had during Big Brother 27 – no one has been spared from his gameplay. Hopefully, she can learn this lesson before it gets her evicted. If she were to ever find out that Vince and Keanu schemed to get her to use the Power of Veto (POV) on Vince instead of herself, that might be the thing to shake some sense into her. Vince doesn’t have her back.

A way with words.

The big debate of Week 8 was the question of Keanu’s word. Specifically, did Keanu promise safety to Ashley if he had promised it through Rachel? He said Rachel was safe, and he confirmed that he wanted to keep Ashley safe, too. The only thing that changed was that Morgan (his original target) had won POV, so he needed to find a backup regardless. However, the need for a replacement doesn’t take away from the words he said.

This situation was an interesting case because he was so adamant that he didn’t say Ashley was safe 100%. I disagree with his standpoint. He may have changed his mind after the fact, but he uttered those words. His intentions were known to Rachel, especially in his attempt to repair bridges with her. Keanu made a huge mistake as HOH: if you’re going to betray a deal, you need to follow through and evict that person.

Leaving them in the house only keeps a person who has a fractured relationship with you, especially one who wants to now target you. Ashley and Rachel made it known that they’d be upset. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Ashley leverages that betrayal to push Keanu’s name as a future nominee. She has every right to do so; Keanu betrayed her.

Mickey’s luck runs out.

Mickey’s eviction was a culmination of many bad moves and errors. Which, unfortunately, is a surprise because she started Big Brother 27 on such a strong note. For a while, Mickey was one of the top frontrunners to win the game; she had great connections with everyone and a good game mindset. And sure, we could pin this down to Morgan winning the POV, or Vince winning the BB Blockbuster, as to how Mickey ended up as the eviction option. But that wouldn’t do her story justice for why it all toppled down.

The problems started unfolding after her HOH reign, and by the time of her eviction, Mickey’s “reality” of Big Brother 27 wasn’t the real reality. She thought she was the alliance leader, the one making all the strategic decisions that everyone blindly followed. She discarded her allies (Jimmy, Morgan) in favor of trying to build new ones (Rylie, Vince), completely ignoring the damage she caused in the process. And the way she spoke to the ones she thought she had (Will, Ava, Ashley, etc.) only drove a stronger wedge between them.

Mickey didn’t realize that her entire game had shifted and moved on without her. She might’ve considered something was amiss, but by then, it was already too late. If she had taken a breather and apologized to her allies, there was a world where Mickey could’ve been in the Judges alliance. However, because of those past decisions, she wasn’t in the room or considered for creating that group. Being HOH didn’t change Mickey – it merely allowed her gameplay style to be seen, and her social game to be hurt in the process.

Overall.

Week 8 of Big Brother 27 created a complex round of surprising gameplay decisions and interesting player beats. When we thought houseguests would zig, they zagged instead. Week 8 was lighter compared to the chaotic drama of rounds past, but Keanu’s HOH run didn’t disappoint with the reality TV fun. And with the houseguests making one last powerful move before jury, Week 8 achieved an enjoyable finish to cap off the pre-jury phase.

Big Brother 27 airs new episodes on Sundays, Wednesdays & Thursdays on CBS.

Justin Carreiro

Justin is a fun-loving geek living in downtown Toronto, Canada. He’s an avid TV buff, movie fan, and gamer. He’s written for publications like Entertainment Weekly’s The Community, Virgin, TV Fanatic, FANDOM, The Young Folks, and his blog, City Boy Geekiness.