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Now that BB13 is over, I thought it'd be fun to discuss some of the stuff that happened in the season void of the bias that usually dictates discussions like these. With that in mind, I'll try to ebb away from talking about anything that can be seen too subjectively as it relates to the players themselves.
1. Newbies vs. Vets
I really disliked this element of the game. The new kids may have had the numbers, but EXPERIENCE is a much more important factor in this game. All of the vets could acclimate quickly to their environment. The newbies could not do this. Rachel and Brendon had a major advantage over everyone else in this dept. as they had just got out the game a year ago. It probably took them no time to go right back into this mode, as evidenced by their behavior and how both of them realized over the first few weeks (and afterward in their interviews) that they were playing the game, in some form, like it was still BB12 despite different situations, cast mates, and twists.
A prime example of experience being important is the first few HoHs. Most of the time, one might want to throw the first HoH. That would have been fine if the vets weren't around. This year, however, the first HoH was very important for the flow of the game. Also, who would want to go up against comp beasts like Rachel, Dani, and Brendon; the social butterfly Jordan and her beau Jeff; or the chaotic and hard hitting Dick on their first time in the game? No sane person that's for sure.
2. Alliances
I was really impressed that one of the power alliances in this season was all female (plus Lawon). That rarely happens. Even more impressive is that Dani's unnamed alliance (though it has many fan created names) never turned on each other, never had any in-fighting, and were good competitors in their own right, even if they made huge mistakes time and time again. I sometimes found myself questioning their social game due to them spending all day in the HoH room, but it was endearing to know that, for once, the females this year (minus Cassi and Shelly for obvious reasons) were able to stick together and not turn on one another. The same thing can be said for the late blooming duo of Jorchel, which was a nicely balanced team.
3. Men vs. Women
For the most part, the women were the power players this year. From the manipulative games of Shelly to the competitive streaks of Rachel, Dani, Kalia, and Porsche, it seemed destined that a woman would win, especially by the time we got down to the final 8. The men, on the other hand, didn't have the greatest showing this year with most of their wins coming in the form of vetoes and split between 4 male players the whole game.
Surprisingly, most of the women held some form of noticeable power this year. Of the 7 women in the house, 5 of them won HoH or veto (71%). Of the 6 guys in the house, 4 of them won veto or HoH (66%). If we include Dick in the equation, the guys' stats drops to 4/7 or 57%.
4. Competitions
The comps this year were a odd mix of nostalgia and interesting. Some time during the season, I had an odd feeling that they were just going to recycle competitions from BB12, BB8, and BB11 because of the vets being in the picture, and for the most part, that is what happened, but they did switch things up a bit this year. We didn't get a morph challenge at all, for example, and they cut down on the quiz challenges and overloaded on skill and endurances. Oddly missing were the purely physical challenges that were peppered all throughout the other seasons and typically involved ropes. For the most part, we didn't get to really appreciate the challenges because too many people wanted to throw them or just downright sucked at them. Next year, they need to aim for a cast that has a higher appreciation for 500k so their competitive drive kicks in and they FIGHT for their chance to get the money.
5. Overall
In general, this season was a mixed bag. It was nice seeing some of the vets again, but ultimately, most of them were tainted for me in some form as they all fell back into their respective season roles. Some of the things I wanted to happen, like a full out endurance battle between Rachel and Dani or Rachel/Dani dominating the house competitively, never had a chance to happen, and by the end of the game, all the life had been drained from the show because most of the big characters were gone, and Rachel can't be entertaining without someone to bounce off of competitively and/or personally. The newbies turned out to be a giant miss except for, perhaps, Dominic who brought life into the house and actually wanted to be there and compete. It's a shame none of them really got that opportunity or just willingly gave it up. Also disappointing was the editing of the show as it was obvious that they wanted certain things to happen but didn't have the material to make it happen. We were overwhelmed in the early season by Brenchel vs. JJ, then it became Rachel vs. Dani, and we ended it on Jeff vs. Dani, and it's sad that these were the storylines that stood out on a show with FOURTEEN (or THIRTEEN) CAST MATES. Apparently, those other 8 people on the cast just didn't matter outside of being supplementary characters. Unfortunate for them.
So, what do you guys think?
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BB13: Retrospective
