House of Dreams, Episode 13: Home Sweet Home

Before getting started on this week’s review, a recap of the remaining builders:

• Viveca, the well-educated juggler who found she really likes massages.
• Mike, our outgoing bartender seeking the path to maturity via home ownership.

The Grand Jury consists of:

• Sherrill, a.k.a. “Grandpa Jones.”
• Homeless Tony, he of the wonky shoulder who got voting advice from Above.
• Matt, whose plans for the house changed as the reality of winning got close.
• Flor, the ever-plotting former-lawyer and the owner of a really evil laugh.
• Naomi, an artist who is a very trusting person.

On with the show! We begin with the usual recap, this time of the whole season. I’m not recapping this stuff; read the recaps on this site if you missed something. Finally George gets to the previous episode to remind us: Viveca and Naomi voted Mike into the finale, eliminating Flor. Mike then chose to take Viveca to the final with him, eliminating Naomi.

Even though I was rooting for Naomi (and her mom) to get the house, my opinion is that Mike did the right thing. He realized he could not win against Naomi. We didn’t need a repeat of Survivor: Australian Outback, where Colby avoided a sure win by choosing Tina over Keith in a similar scenario.

As George finally concludes his eight-minute introduction, he reminds us, “Left standing at the end of this epic struggle are two very unlikely finalists: Mike, the unpredictable bartender whose brash behavior ruffled many feathers, and Viveca, the Ivy-league educated circus juggler whose strategy of staying ‘under the radar’ brought her all the way to the end. One of them is about to win the House of Dreams.”

OK, on to this week’s activities and let the games conclude. With only two players, no key ceremony and no building tasks, I wonder how A&E will meet the challenge of filling the whole hour?

Day 46:

We begin as usual with reactions from the two remaining builders on being in the finale. With Flor’s elimination last week, Mike is really stoked about having beaten “the queen of the campsite, my arch enemy.”

The day starts with mail. The mail says that they need to go to the cow pasture. Here they find a reward – a helicopter ride of the area so they can see the house, the town of Harmony, and the surrounding area. Neither has ever been on a helicopter before, and they are really excited about it. I have been on a helicopter (once) and that initial take-off, that is one spooky feeling. Anyway, the house looks great, if a little remote from the nearest beer store.

At camp, the two remaining builders are talking. Viveca is happy to have “15 new friends,” but Mike tells her “I have news for you, sweetheart, you didn’t make 15 new friends. Kiss my ass with your frickin’ heartsy-heart stuff.” Nice, Mike. She’s figured this out, realizing some jurors are going to have trouble deciding between “the bartender and the juggler.”

The builders retell their bios. Viveca lives in New York City in an apartment with her boyfriend. She has her undergrad degree from Harvard and a graduate degree from Yale, and left corporate America to work for a non-profit circus. It involves inner-city kids and hospitals. Gosh, Viv, this is nice but you could have gone to State U and bought a house with the difference! She seeks the security the house will offer her while she works on creative projects and follows her (circus) dreams.

Mike lives in Orlando and has been in and out of school for a while. He grew up with his single mom and it sounds like he had a humble but decent upbringing. Mike wants to use the house to “start a family, have kids, and make roots.”

Next scene, we see both players wearing red hats. George is back for one last time at the door to the stairs. Well, you have to see this door in the middle of nowhere to get that one, but it’s where the key ceremonies were held. After a recap, he brings out the grand jury, one at a time.

As Sherrill comes out, we see a confessional and learn he’d like to see the builder’s family and/or friends live in the house.

When Tony comes out, he was surprised to see who was remaining. “We have the playboy and the circus. Who do you want to have the house? I don’t know that yet,” he muses. I guess they didn’t all go to a “loser lodge,” unless Tony has a really dreadful memory about who was living in the other hut.

Matt is next. He felt that he and Viveca “had similar tactics. In many ways I feel like she slipped under the radar, and made it pretty far.” Stunning deduction.

Perhaps George could have locked the door at this point, but no, Flor comes out and we hear that she intends to, “say and do whatever I want, without thinking that it will come back and bite me. I really have no love for anyone, so… kill them all.” This is accompanied by a throat slash and a cackle. Wow, we were seeing the “restrained” version of Flor up to now?

Naomi is last. She says, “There is a side of me that wants to get pissed off. And there is another side of me that says, “I was a fool. I’m angry because I trusted.”