Just want to bump this thing and let QSF and James Barber know how much I've appreciated their work this season. This has been the most thoughtful, consistent, rational thread on this board. Thanks, too, hatebrigade and the rest of you who've chimed in all summer.Thanks. Even though I don't agree with QSF on some of this season, I still enjoy this thread and the analysis of the season.
The editing for most of this season has been such a bad joke that I still wonder how much better things might have been if they had given a more honest portrayal. They tried their best to make a gap between the cool Donatos and the nerd herdish LNC2, but the main problem there is that D/D were great pals with LNC2 until they saw the infamous banner. D/D do the exact same things that LNC2, or the Nerd Herd did, which is sit around all the time trash talking other people. That's why, as soon as Eric and Jessica went back to D/D, they spent more time talking about how much they hated Jen (or Dustin, or Amber, or Carol, or Kail) than they did about any strategy. The people in the house this season were remarkably similar, no matter how much the editing tried to demonize some and deify others.
This season, the show tried so very hard to rig up their idea of excitement, and actually ended up killing most of the drama. They went from the very exciting, unpredictable week where Kail was evicted to weeks where nothing would happen (minus Jen's last few days in the house). It's still strange to me that Zach, who was supposed to be the easy boot at F5 or F6, is the person who somehow managed to make the last few weeks exciting. Probably because he wasn't trying to make great TV, he was just trying to stay in the game and to win.
I assume Dick will win the last HOH and we'll get our Donato F2, and then we'll get to see the rest of the predictable moments play out (anyone in the jury house who is critical of D/D will be skewered, Daniele will talk about how it's not personal, Dick will say he did the best coup ever, etc.). They would be a pretty good F2, overall. Aside from the rigging, my biggest reason for not wanting see this F2 is because of the double standards they exude and how that plays out in the game. Dick has made a habit out of bringing up the personal lives of people in the game, from Jen to Dustin to Amber to now Zach. But when Jen brought up Daniele's personal life, she was a horrible person and the Donatos were outraged. There's nothing wrong with Dick going on a tirade if he feels he has been betrayed, but if Dustin or Jen ever decide to bring up the rape threats, you can bet that people are going to call them sore losers, bitter, crybabies, on and on. If they dare to vote against Dick, people will say they have no respect for a "real" player, or that they are a bitter jury, even though D/D would do the EXACT SAME THING if they were on the jury and someone like Jen or Dustin was in the F2.
The undertone often seems to be that if anyone in the game but D/D ever have a problem with how they are treated or what is said about them, or ever make a move against the Donatos, that means they are awful and/or self-righteous people. D/D can do whatever they want, say whatever they want, contradict their own words, and that's just strategy, that's just being real, etc.
I think Daniele is the stronger player, but I have no doubt that Dick is the main reason they are popular, and that's who the show most wants to see make it to the end.
I do expect a Donato F2, so I won't be surprised or disappointed if that happens, but until then, I'll still root for Zach. Not because he's a wonderful guy, but because in this season where people were rewarded for bad strategy and punished for good, he has played a pretty smart strategic game in the end stage, which is when it counted the most. I have spent part of this game thinking he was an idiot, and sometimes I still do, but if he makes F2 and wins I will wonder if being an idiot, or pretending to be one, was the best way to survive in this season. He did not have the glowing edit that Eric or Dick often had, he didn't have a chance to establish himself with TV viewers, he didn't have the inside information Eric probably had, he did not have a cushy alliance to fall back on. Yet he has a very strong chance of winning. That tells you that no matter how much they try to rig this game and make it all about who the producer likes best, the structure of the game itself is still what is more crucial.
). QSF and JB had solid analysis all season long (for JB, especially after I
gave him that intial nudge away from the Dark Side 
