Empress1

If she said this (I may have missed it as I only watched half-ish if the reunion), that’s shallow, petty, immature and kind of pathetic, honestly. If she were as strong and independent as she claims to be, she’d wash her hands of him and let karma work it out (or not, whatever). Living well is the best revenge. “It didn’t work out between us. Good luck,” and then get on with your life. He’s no longer her problem, and inserting herself into any new relationship of his is guaranteed and totally unnecessary drama. I’d have blocked her everywhere long ago if I were Brennan. These are adults in their 20s and 30s and there was so much high school-esque behavior on that stage. The women literally went “La la la I don’t believe you!” when anything was said that they didn’t like.

He also could have found her attractive at first and then lost attraction as he got to know her. I think because she’s had casual sex but no relationships, she’s confusing sexual attraction with romantic attraction. They’re not the same (and Brennan wasn’t even attracted to her in any way for more than a day). I do not ask or answer the body count question, so two vs. 50 wouldn’t come up. I’m grown, I date grown men, I assume we’ve had sex with other people before. However, if I were dating a man who’d only had one-night stands, I’d think “fuckboi,” and it would not inspire confidence that he’d be a good partner. It’s a very different way of relating to someone - there’s no compromise required of a one-night stand. (Emily’s “friends” said she struggles with compromise.) You barely have to TALK to a one-night stand.

I think I remember her saying to him early on that she didn’t budget - like, I think we saw that honeymoon conversation. But I agree: if he wants someone budget-conscious, that has nothing to do with how much she makes. Money is a fundamental compatibility issue. I couldn’t date and REALLY could not marry/join finances with a spender who didn’t budget either. This is really the beginning and the end of the story for all the couples, to varying degrees.

There was a moment when Kevin said “sometimes things just don’t work out,” and I kept thinking how different the season would have been if they’d just accepted that. I know it hurts to be rejected, but like… all this because someone just wasn’t that into you?

I don’t think he was slut-shaming her. In one of the Afterparty episodes, he said he questioned if she was ready for marriage given that she had no relationship experience. He mentioned the one-nighters but also said he wondered if she was ready - the one-nighters were part of the evidence of her lack of long-term experience. I think if she’d had one nighters AND some relationship experience (as many of us have) and he focused on the one-nighters, then I think he’d be slut-shaming, but he didn’t do that. He also described her as draining, which I think had more to do with her drinking. We heard him say he found her to be negative (which the show backed up with a clip of her talking shit about Chloe and Michael), and he said this episode that he wasn’t attracted to her (which she said she didn’t believe, which … what?), pointing out that one can recognize that someone is attractive (and I don’t think Emily is particularly attractive) and not be attracted TO them, which is something I say all the time. Brad Pitt has never done anything for me, for example. In other words, I think Brennan disliked a lot about Emily, not just her sexual history. And I’m not even sure he disliked her sexual history; he just questioned if she was ready for marriage, which IMO is fair. It didn’t even sound like she had “situationship” history; it sounded like she’s never had more than two dates with the same guy. Virginia on … wherever that season was questioned herself if she was ready because she’d been single and “promiscuous” (her word, not mine) since college. I think it’s a reasonable concern.

Agree on both counts. She looked bad.

Michael and Chloe are a little older than the rest of the group, and IMO it really showed (in a good way). They seemed much more mature than the rest of them. I’d guess Chloe in particular has very limited interactions with the other women now, if she has any at all. There was an Afterparty episode in which she said that the way Clare was depicting something about her marriage was very different than what Cameron and Brennan, who was also on, were describing. I think Cameron was saying he was attracted to Clare, Brennan confirmed he’d told the guys he was attracted to Clare, and Lauren was like “Damn, Clare told me Cameron told her to her face he wasn’t attracted to her.” She doesn’t seem to be a blind follower, and good for her.

She was a fellow, so I assume her position wasn’t funded by the district. Kind of like being a temp made permanent - as a temp you’re employed and paid by the temp agency, not the place where you go to work. Once made permanent you’re employed by the place where you go to work, so you’d get all the employer’s benefits, perks, etc.

Funniest moment of the episode. Sheryl Lee Ralph is amazing.

She so clearly does not. She was basically like “The fuck is this?” and she was right. “Let me go back to my life with my senior dogs and leave these kids alone.” Emily is pretty shockingly un-self-aware. Her “friends” called her selfish to her face and behind her back on TV when she told them she was getting married. Her coworker implied that Emily hooking up on business trips wasn’t unusual. When Emily was like “pretty sure my friends didn’t call me selfish or say I had one night stands,” I was like, well, I saw them do it on TV so I assume they had no issue telling Brennan. She said she wouldn’t apologize for who she is, which is an immature POV in and of itself. I don’t think one-nighters warrant apology. What consenting adults do is their business. I do think that Emily just isn’t a nice person, is a brat (the way she spoke to Kevin was rude and uncalled for and she’s spoken to Keisha the same way, and I’m glad neither of them took her shit), and I see why men don’t seem to engage with her for more than a night. When you behave badly you need to own it and apologize and she seems incapable of doing that. And I think men will continue to engage with her that way until she does some growing up. Again - some of her friends don’t even like her. She’s kind of a bitch. I stopped watching in favor of Abbott Elementary. It was unpleasant to watch.

Okay, “Temu Shein men” had me rolling. Well-played, Lauren. (She did call them all ugly, which I disagree with, but that line was funny.) Clare has got to be under five feet. Lauren towers over her.

Emily is an asshole and Brennan is right, she needs to grow up. She’s 30 acting like a bratty petulant teenager. I think she thinks it’s cute; it’s not.

Agreed. It would have been kinder because it would have head off the begging she was doing - if she knew he wasn’t attracted to her (and she probably did know, even if he didn’t say it, given how much he rejected her), she’d know there was no use asking for intimacy. Said it before, say it again: I’m not begging any man for sex unless begging is part of the sex. It was awful to watch. Yeah, nothing about Austin said “wild” to me either.

I have a family friend who came out in his late 40s/early 50s after 20ish years of marriage and three kids. He’s married to a man now. (His ex-wife was deeply upset, though they’re okay now. The three kids are grown and there’s at least one grandkid. The three kids were teens when this all happened and were cool with their dad’s sexuality from jump.) Did a relative of Eddie’s set them up or did I make that up?

I know some foster parents. Fostering can happen that fast. I kept thinking, this never came up? I guess she hid it, but then she was so casual when it came out. It was really weird. Buck is really just so cute. Love that he’s got such support. Hated Maddie’s wedding dress. It made her look dowdy even with the impressive cleavage she was sporting.

I laughed. She was like “I don’t really like them like that so whatever.” She’s also older than they are and came across as more mature - the women in pink came across pretty badly, in my opinion. I also laughed that the women were in pageant attire and Cam was in a hoodie. I’ve never understood why the dress code for reality show reunions is “pageant.” Yeah, I’m a straight woman so it’s moot but I find Emily wholly unappealing. She’s not particularly attractive, she’s immature, she’s got a nasty streak, and she’s too old for her drunk antics. She has some growing up to do. Genuinely asking how this is cruel? I thought she was just over him, which is what’s supposed to happen (eventually) when you break up. Like “I’ve got some distance on the situation, I’m good with it now, speak your piece.” Neither of them should want to be in a position where one can hurt the other - Michael even said, after the rest of them were nastily sniping at each other, that he hoped he didn’t inspire that level of hatred in Chloe. I did not and do not believe for a second that Austin was ever attracted to Becca. Absolutely nothing about his interactions with her indicates any romantic or sexual attraction.

I was a few episodes behind and then someone in my TL posted something Oliver Stark wrote, which basically said he was proud of the storyline and for those in his DMs telling him it ruined the show, they could kick rocks because he didn’t care. I was like “wait, what?!” and got caught up. I’m into it. As someone said, Buck has long been someone who kind of operates on vibes, so I can see him being like, let’s see where this goes. It’s cute seeing him with a crush. And at the end, when he was basically laying it out that he had a crush on Tommy, I was like, well, yeah, kiss him, Tommy. Like, I’d have made the same move based on the info Buck gave him. It didn’t read platonic to me at all. (I haven’t liked any of his interests since Abby, so we’ll see how this one goes.) The mom who killed her son was heartbreaking. When she said “You’re not saying …” as she put it together, I welled up. I don’t watch The Bachelor - was that the real bachelor?

Totally agree. “They haven’t texted us at all!” To say what? Y’all broke up! They don’t like you! Y’all aren’t friends! Emily was like “who gets therapy at night?” and I thought “… people who work during the day.”

She told him she no longer wanted them in each other’s lives. I think last night was producer-contrived, although they weren’t all there so either of them could have opted out, but if Lauren gets along with the rest of them, why should she stay away?

I have plans to have a boudoir photo shoot done, but I’d never do it on TV and I won’t consent to the photographer even using them on her site or social media. I did kind of chuckle when Emily was taking pictures of Becca - Becca is a professional, Emily is not, and it showed. I also didn’t realize you could show thonged asses on Lifetime. I’m on the record as being supportive of Michael’s style but those shorts were very unserious. Agree, for a few reasons. For one, it makes the marriages feel much lower stakes. The couples used to have to find and pay for their housing if they weren’t going to move into one or the other’s place, so they had no choice but to talk money. Also commute - I like your place but it’s really far from work, etc. When they just move into a place the show provides, it feels less real. The show inched toward that at first by giving the couples a lump sum so we’d see discussions about what to do with it. Without these discussions, the marriages feel much lower-stakes. I also think the hive mind of Becca, Emily and Clare is pretty destructive because they’ve convinced themselves that their exes were villains, when a) they had hands in the demises of their marriages, and b) at the root of it, the men just weren’t that into them. It happens every day. I once ended things with someone and my friend asked why, and I paused and said “I just didn’t like him that much.” I didn’t say that to him when I ended it, but it was the root of it. It’s very, very often the root of it when something this short ends - as they got to know each other, someone realized they weren’t into it. Brennan can’t stand Emily. Austin’s whatever with the producer is inappropriate but he also clearly wasn’t attracted to Becca. That doesn’t make them villains; it make the couples incompatible. I don’t think the way Clare, Emily and Becca are spinning things is helpful for them in the long run. I love DGAF Lauren. When she was telling Orion about himself, I was here for it.

I’ve decided that this is my last year in my apartment, though I really love the space, because I don’t want to pay more in rent than I’m paying now and the rent goes up every year (nowhere near that much though). I’m hoping to buy, but if that doesn’t work out I’m going to rent something cheaper. If my rent increased $350 I’d assume the management company wanted me to leave - that’s a HUGE increase. I don’t know what Michael can or can’t afford (I really wish the show would got back to showing finance discussions), but I would for sure balk at increased housing costs when combining incomes should alleviate financial stress.

She really did. She/Janelle James looks great in white and I liked the loose waves in her hair rather than the bone-straight look.

And in tech, Michael’s appearance isn’t unusual. He’s not in a buttoned-up industry like law or finance where he has to be in suits - likely at least in part because he knows himself well enough to know that that’s not his thing.

Obviously we didn’t see the whole thing, but based on what we saw, I’ve seen better drag shows. I’d rather make a bottle opener too. Did I miss a reference to this on the show - did she say something?

She looks great. I laughed through the whole thing. Jacob getting hit all those times, the (adorable) little girl sprawled on the floor after Ava blocked her shot, Tariq, Barbara scoring of the wrong basket … I howled.