Thursday morning begins with a wake-up call at 10:00am, and instead of waiting around for the lumps under the beds to move, only to then yell at them the same thing fifteen minutes later, BB decides to play some upbeat, Mexican music over the speakers. The HGs groan in protest, but soon they are all out of bed and the BB day has begun. Whispering galore, Alie and Jun discuss over foaming toothbrushes what a threat Erika is and how nothing short of “a small ***** army and a load of Mac trucks” will stop Alie from winning the POV. Alie also discusses a strange dream she had that, of course, involves none other than Donnie.

As soon as the HGs make their way into the kitchen, they are informed that they are under an inside lockdown. Erika lazes in bed, Robert listens to his Cuban CD, and Alie and Jun rummage through their clothes. “It’s so boring around here,” is the anthem of the morning sung by Alie, and their conversations dwindle rapidly into tediousness. They discuss the flies in the house and a dead one found in a partially-filled margarita glass left out last night; they wonder over Jee’s arrival in the sequestration house and assume that he will hang out mostly with Jack; they list the groceries they get for the week (“real eggs”). Things might have spiced up a bit when the name Dana was raised, but even their ManTroll-bashing has become predictable and, well, just plain sad. They laugh over how she thought she was “the show” and how, until the last day, she thought there would be a BB twist to save her (because she assumed she was so valuable to BB). She is spiteful, she is psychotic, and she will probably only vote for a winner begrudgingly, taking every opportunity to “rag” on them.

By eleven o’clock, the lockdown is over, but nothing of interest is waiting for them outside. It is another bright and hot day in sunny California. Robert heads out to the patio to eat his breakfast, while the women stay inside and finish their meals. Alie and Erika discuss playing cards at the now smaller table. Jun complains that she ate too much.

Once Robert re-enters the house, he makes a beeline for the HOH room and calls Jun in to accompany him. Alone, his words rush out in a hurry: Robert wants Alie out, plain and simple. Even if this means he has to go next week, so be it. He won’t put up Erika anymore—he is superstitious about it now (up twice, targeted both times, but still stayed each time). Alison, on the other hand, is a “***** bitch” and he can’t stand the thought of her winning the game. Jun agrees and basically trashes Alie’s behavior in the house. She adds that the “TV people and others” probably feel the same way and will cheer when they oust her out of the house. Robert admits that he lied to Alie when he told her he wouldn’t vie for the veto, because he will actually do everything he can to acquire it. As Jun leaves the HOH room and heads to the kitchen, past Alie and Erika who are at the table, she smiles and says, “Sigh, sigh, sigh.”

The minutes are ticking into noon about now, and the conversation flowing between the HGs is loose and varied. Alie mentions that her family is connected through marriage to the “Lombardi’s,” “the biggest Mafia family in San Francisco.” Jun mentions that Jee’s mother had her nose broken by an ashtray by Jee’s father, but won’t elaborate on the story except to mention that Jee’s mother had a nose job and that she, if she finds out Jun said anything, is going to “kill” her. Erika works at a bar called “Balboa”; she hopes that her co-workers remembered to pick up her SAG card for her. They agree that they are going to order Indian food for tonight’s dinner. Alison harps on how angry Dana still seems to be.

At 12:30pm, when Alie is called to the DR, the remaining HGs quickly catch up on their weekly strategy and agree that Alie has to go this week. They laugh at how Alison thinks that each one of them wants to take her to the final two. Robert mentions how he told Alison he has no alliance—well, that is, no alliance but their “alliance of three…trying to get her out!” Jun comments on how disgusted she is that Alie’s father told her to flirt inside the house to get farther in the game. They blame Alie’s ego for her losing the HOH competition last night. They also all agree that if any of them took Alie to the end, it could make the jury angry and give their votes to Alison.

Once Jun leaves, Robert takes the opportunity to tell Erika that he is still attracted to her. Apparently he told the DR that “Erika could come in his bed anytime.” Erika doesn’t respond (and you’d think that would be hint enough, but Robert keeps trying). Jun, meanwhile, is in the bathroom with Alie and professing that, if either of them win and use the veto, she won’t even “talk” to Erika and listen to her try to save herself. Alison says the same thing and, feeling smug, they head outside for an outside lockdown.

The afternoon trudges along. The lockdown ends. Jun busies herself with food inside before heading outside to trash Alison with the others. Alison collects melon seeds from inside and then, with Erika’s help, finds places to plant them all over the backyard. Alie and Jun bash Erika inside over food preparation. Alison remarks that “last year’s cast seemed more anal” than them, to which Jun perceptively replies, “We’re just more spoiled.” Alie attempts to help Jun by watching what she eats: as Jun picks up fruit, Alie cautions her; as Jun munches on crackers, Alie tells her to get the low-fat ones; as Jun talks about food, Alie advises her to drink water whenever she is hungry to alleviate the hunger sensation. Just when we think Alie has a marble or two in her brain, we hear a resounding echo from inside her head when she says, “I wish I was anorexic…if I wasn’t too skinny.”

As 3:30pm rolls by, the HGs are subjected to another outside lockdown. Robert is missing for the first few minutes of it, and Jun takes the opportunity to mock his upcoming nomination speech: “As HOH, it is my duty to put two of you bitches up.” They then discuss how someone behind one of the glass mirrors was overheard exclaiming that he could see Jun’s nipple. Robert is outside now, and the conversation lolls over nominations. There will only be one key in the box, Jun points out. They laugh that the HGs who win HOH get voted out the following week (Dana, Justin, Jee)—though Jun’s laughter must be a little strained. Jun then switches topics when she mutters, “Carmen must hate me.” When Robert agrees that she must, Jun adds, “I fed your man at least. And he’ll be coming back to you more grammatically correct than ever!”

Robert gets called to the DR, and though he says he will return shortly, it is not until twenty minutes later that he calls everyone for the nomination meeting. The women gather in “stony silence” (thank you FuggyBootnling) and eventually the feeds cut to FOTH. Just over fifteen minutes later, they return. Though there is little, if anything, being said in the house, someone notices that Erika’s key is visible on the memory wall. This leads us to believe that Alie and Jun have, in fact, been nominated. It is not until sometime later, however, that we actually hear from anyone’s lips that this is indeed the case.

Robert, of course, is “hyped” that he and Erika will hopefully be in the final two now. He jumps around in cheerful enthusiasm as he talks to her about this, but she only looks tired and non-responsive. He again approaches an area obviously uncomfortable for Erika when he tells her that she can nap in the HOH room anytime she wants, that she needn’t even ask him for permission. Again, she doesn’t really say anything, but as poster I_Should_Be_Working comments, “Her face is not exactly at peace with all of this.”

The evening slithers along now, slow and steady. The HGs get their Indian meal and dig enthusiastically in to the naan, samosas, chicken curry, basmati rice, and chutney (to name just a fraction). During their feast, Jun comments that “there are people obsessed with this; they do summaries,” and I shake my head and laugh. Doing updates and summaries does not mean we are obsessed with them, though I suppose it could be easily misunderstood that way (uh, yeah). They finish up and happily pat their bellies—or they take their satiated moments afterwards to bash Erika, how little she eats and how thin she is (yes, that would be Alie and Jun). They also comment on how Erika and Robert’s lives are “breaking down” (apparently they both used to be much more successful than they both are now).

After dinner conversation: When Jun was seven, she walked into her parents’ bedroom on a Sunday morning and caught her mother giving her father a “pre- church hum.” Alie also caught her parents getting it on when she was young, but her mother explained away her screaming by saying she had a “charlie horse.” Erika, too, had a similar experience: “I was, like, what are you doing?” Erika also tells the others about how her and her friends used to sneak out at night and get caught. She admits that she was very rebellious because her father was never around to punish her and her mother was always too busy working or being with her boyfriends. Thankfully, she adds, they never got into “drugs or alcohol or anything.” “We were just lucky,” she muses.

More bits of convo: Jun tells the other women that New York has a problem with squirrels and rats interbreeding: “It’s not a regular rat tail, it’s fuzzy…the whole underground is their kingdom.” New York is a city, she says, that never sleeps. Alie admits to Erika that she feels no need to talk to Robert anymore, even on a “friendly basis.” She also insists that Erika needn’t worry about her (meaning that if she gets the veto, she won’t evict Erika; of course, Alie is saying the exact opposite to Jun). Erika, in return, tells Alie that she won’t evict her; she even says that she told Robert this. And on and on it goes (for a better recount of their conversation, check out the updates for Sept 4th—but really, it is just lies, lies, lies. What ~is~ interesting to note is that the poster who updates this conversation comments that there is an obvious underlying hostility present).

By midnight, Alie and Jun have snuggled into bed, while Robert works on Erika outside. He is adamant that Alison must go this week. His arguments are the usual: she doesn’t deserve to get to the final two, they can’t trust her, they’d look like “assholes” if they took her along, she’s too strong of a player, etc. They agree that they will have a better chance at the final HOH if up against Jun instead of Alie. They agree that they cannot really trust either Alie or Jun. Nothing new, nothing too interesting.

Though everyone settles into bed for the night by half past midnight, within an hour all three women have gathered in the bathroom to discuss strategy. They wonder what each of them would do if a cash offer is presented to them soon. They chatter about everything from Nathan (“he is a baby; at that age, I was working two jobs and paying bills,” Jun remarks) to the video of their skit (Jun assumes all of the sequestered HGs liked it but Dana). Erika, having trouble sleeping, heads off to the LR to lie down on one of the couches. Alie talks with her briefly before she finds Jun in the LoveRoom and does what she loves to do: trash-talk Erika. She lies to Jun and tells her that Erika is “pressing her body against the window,” trying to eavesdrop on them (Erika is actually lounging on one of the chairs). She then comments about the veto competition on the morrow, “It’s going to be so ***** ugly.”

Finally, as two o’clock rolls around, all the HGs are in bed, but tonight is not a night of pleasant dreams and restful sleep. No one seems to trust anyone, everyone seems stressed about the POV competition tomorrow, and tonight’s sleep is fitful at best. Until tomorrow then, good night.