call me ishmael

I didn’t mind it especially since they were setting Coral up to go home even though I thought she won her first match

He does but then he goes and asks Rissa for the final one on one. It’s a bad look. Even John had the sense not to take new girl. Colton and Matt might end of with partners. They do seem the most likely. But I hope whoever they pick knows how to carry the conversation.

I was so happy to see this back! I think that I’ve watched too many midsommer murders because the moment Peggy looked at Xanthe I said “she’s her daughter and we have an incest plot 🫣”. But the whole thing was so well done and no one else had to get murdered like on MM.

Personally, I think that all of the women dating Jay and John should have left. Bringing back mom’s choice says either you don’t really see a future with the women already there or you will do whatever your mother tells you to do. Both are reasons to get out of Dodge. i know they want to be on tv but I bet they make themselves more noteworthy by leaving in high dudgeon than by being eliminated in a week or two. I know it could be a producer decision. But it still is insulting.

Yeah if he told her all that she had reason to be upset. But let’s face it very few of the leads or the contestants really think beyond the moment. I can imagine her making it clear to him what she expected and him thinking “whatever” until it became time for ever. And frankly when she went from baby voice to voice of Saruman I thought he made the right choice. First that was something that said “whoah, who is this person really” and secondly she clearly was really mad that her schedule was getting messed up. And she became really patronizing towards Juliana. Again, completely understandable that she was upset. Do I think he made a mistake? Nope

Even a lie detector wouldn’t matter. She’s told him that she slept with the guy for awhile. David is afraid his friends will look down on him. And he isn’t going to pick Lauren over his friends let alone his sister. Until he gets to the point where his partner is more important than his sister he won’t have a partner. I don’t even want to figure out his relationship with his sister. At this point I suspect that Taylor and Daniel are the only survivors this season. Nick and Vanessa will be in full lecture mode this reunion.

Yes. Of course it might be a nightmare suite episode this year.

I’m curious if there is some editing going on. Clearly, at some point he is indecisive. But what if he is indecisive going from 3-2 and they splice that with a clip of Jesse asking him who to send first. I might be too skeptical but this is the Bachelor.

I think that Carolina demanded to be on his mind too much. I can't really see Grant and Litia working. The only possibility is that he knows that their obvious religious and cultural differences will give them an easy excuse to end the engagement once the contractually obligated period is over. Might be less messy.

You are right. David had no agency in any of this. The moment he was put in the same building as Madison, they were both compelled to lie and cheat. Makes total sense to me.

The problem that Linda poses is that she is far too articulate for this show. If she stays till hometowns she will make everyone else look bad.

Admittedly, we get a pretty edited version. And it’s clear that Nick is a pretty troubled person. But to me the issue with JR and Sandy was the combination of smugness and deceit. It was clear that they lied to their partners about physical contact and connection. And all we saw was them having conversations about the great conversations they had and how they “challenged each other.” But if there was an Olympic event in cliche and pablum they would win it. I thought that Scotty seemed to have a lot of anger that he couldn’t really get control over. But I thought at the reunion he seemed to be working on it. i wonder if people criticized Vanessa. As far as I could see the only reason she came back was to blame Nick for her leaving. Apparently, being criticized by someone melting down is beyond all human capacity to handle.

And of course Hannah cuts him off in mid sentence

I thought it was funny that the episode title was “the tables have turned” by Brittany when you knew she was going to fold. No way was she going to walk away from tv.

Even for them this season was a new low. Jenn seems like a very nice person but there was almost no chemistry between her and any of the guys (I know she and Sam wanted to sleep together but that was because they had nothing to say). So we had to listen to another faux empowerment narrative that then was topped off with Jesse and the producers making her miserable on national TV while Devin sat there looking like a 1930s bowery boy waiting for his appointment with the judge. And I'm sorry but Jesse doesn't get to sit there pretending to be mister empath and then making her watch the proposal while claiming it's because it shows how she took control of the situation. Nope. It's because the show decided that they were going to torture her (they could have shown it before either of them came out if they were going to show it at all). And then having forced her and her family to watch it live it was all laughs to Joan and the Golden Bachelorette! Jenn who??? Either they have to figure out how to make this show understanding that the contestants are all very media wise and using it to promote their brand or it is going to just be disaster after disaster. They lucked out and got a unicorn with Joey. The odds of that happening again are lower than Ari and Becca getting back together (just to fondly remember when pre-finale breakups were still a surprise).