And then Tom really pisses me off by saying that Ian "just made a third strike," which is an annoyingly wrestling-coach thing to say, really, and makes it sound like he's getting ready to give Ian a time-out. This time, Tom is upset because of (and I'm totally not lying) Ian's use of the words "try to take" when he described their "gentleman's agreement." He said he was going to "try to take" Tom to the final three, Tom insists that yet another similarity between life as a Jedi and life as a reality-show contestant is that there is no try; only do. It's completely stupid, of course, because you can never guarantee someone else's trip to F3. All you can do is try. All Tom could do for Steph was try, right? You can't force somebody to F3 single-handedly. Ian clarifies that he didn't mean "try" in a tentative way, and agrees that the agreement was F3 for sure. Ian says that he's not sure, while they're talking trust, that Tom should be taking the nearly ousted A-Jenn's word over his. "It's not Jenn's word I'm listening to," Tom says. "It's your words I'm listening to." And he's got Ian there. Everything Tom thinks he has to be angry about is coming directly from Ian at this point. At least at this point, it is. It is also this moment when you can feel the Tom/Ian parental-disappointment dynamic settling in. ["Nothing like a dad to make you feel guilty. Not my dad, of course, who is perfect. (Hi, Dad!)" -- Wing Chun] Because Tom knows that Ian idolizes him, and whether he knows it or not, he's on the scent of how potent it would be as a way to manipulate Ian to withhold his friendship and approval. Ian is using Tom for a barometer of being a good person (for good or for ill), and I think Tom is figuring out that Ian is very easily devastated if Tom acts disappointed in him. Not so much mad -- disappointed.

"I never intended on going back on Tom," Ian says. "I never intended it." Which isn't really true, based on the confessionals, but again, the kid is playing, and I don't begrudge him that. Jeff now wants to discuss everyone's faces. "Tom looks angry, Katie looks hurt, and Jenn looks delighted." A-Jenn grins. She insists that she's just happy that it "stirred up some things that needed to be out." Because all she really wants is for everyone to be honest and true, and she just thinks people should know what really went on, ta-dum-dum-dum. Oh, barf. Jeff asks Katie why she's so hurt, and Katie gives a totally hilarious explanation of how Ian is all about Tom, Tom, Tom, and why isn't he thinking about her, huh? What about how she feels? What about her, Ian, huh? Katie turns to Ian himself to say that Tom seems pretty unhappy and might vote against Ian. Ian assumes that this means he would go; Katie says that's not necessarily true. In that case -- you guessed it -- it will be all about Katie's vote! That's right, as it turns out, the feud going on between Tom and Ian just serves to make Katie more critical than she already was, if such a thing is possible. "I just have one question for you," Katie tells Ian. "Have you lied to me in the last twenty-four hours?" In other words, she wants to know whether he lied to her when he said he'd vote out Tom. "No," Ian finally answers, knowing he's in trouble but not having a good way out. Because if everyone knows what's being asked, there's certainly no right answer to that question.