I don't dislike The Brigade alliance, and instead tip my hat to them for the way they played the game. Since week 2 they were able to control how the house was going to operate, and they did it flawlessly. Even when they had two members of the alliance in the hot seat were they able to keep their composure and - thanks to another twist - NOT lose a member. They showed up any other alliance in Big Brother history by having a week 1 deal between 4 players that stuck throughout the entire season, was never exposed until they chose to expose it in the second to last week, and had 3 of their 4 members reach the final four, with the same three reaching the final 3. It's incredibly impressive for a Big Brother alliance to do this, and they did it very well. Having watched the feeds religiously last summer I can say this without feeling like I'm gonna have to second guess myself later on. And as well, the better player of the alliance won the season, so that as well works out.
But then, at the same time, it was because of The Brigade that BB12 takes a turn for the worse. For one, if you didn't particularly care for the alliance, you will end up hating BB12. They own the power all season, minus one minor hiccup where Matt almost left, but didn't because lolproduction. Because they were able to effectively have every person in their alliance reach out and pull the blanket over another person NOT in their alliance, they had a huge power radius circling around them all season, that would always result in the person next to them - not in the alliance - getting the boot. This happened with Hayden/Kristen, with Lane/Britney, and then, at one point, they were even able to incorporate Brendon into one of their many sub-alliances, encouraging him to stear clear of Enzo/Hayden/Lane, and instead go after Ragan/Britney (and Matt, who was being distanced by The Brigade midway into the season). The Brigade had a lockdown on the votes since week 2. They won 7 out of 11 HOH competitions, while 3 of the other 4 were won by Rachel/Brendon. Betweeen Hayden/Lane/Enzo, only 2 votes were cumulatively cast against them (Matt had 6).
Which then brings me to another point of BB12: the "evil" alliance. In many seasons of Big Brother, an "evil" alliance will spring up at some point in the house. This is the alliance that a majority of the house, as well as editing, as well as America deems to be the bad guys of the season. These are the players that we'd love to see FALL HARD at some point, hopefully by the good guys. Mind you, not everyone in the house is a good guy or a bad guy, some can be neutral. Anyway, in BB12, we had an "evil" alliance, an early shomance between Rachel and Brendon. Brendon wasn't so much evil as he was an idiot, whereas Rachel was definitely trashy, sloppy, and a menace to everyone else. They became the lightning rod for everyone else to go after. The problem was that the people who won HOH's were either Brigade members or Rachel herself, and initially The Brigade had decided on not going after Rachel/Brendon because these two menaces would be targeted by everyone else, so why not keep them around and keep the heat off The Brigade? This idea lasted all the way to the jury, where Matt finally decided to get rid of Rachel. Brendon then had his HOH usurped by Matt thanks to the stupid Pandora's Box twist (one of my least favorite twists), where nonentity Kathy left. Brendon was then tamed and The Brigade resumed their natural course of plowing through the game.