S08.E16: Reunion, Part 1

[izabella]

On 10/8/2022 at 1:48 PM, realityplease said:

Having now viewed episodes I missed - Wow.  Shep played Taylor.  And Taylor?  Sweet, naive, & stubbornly fixed on her dream guy (I know, hard to believe considering that it's - well, Shep - but her dream, nevertheless.)

I agree with your whole post, and this part made me wonder if women who are older than Taylor avoid Shep as much as he avoids them.  Women with more dating experience would likely see through him and would be less likely to fall for his games for long.   Kathryn's right.  He's become Thomas.

[1011101010001]

5 hours ago, izabella said:

He's become Thomas.

Which is why he stills speaks of Thomas with affection.

[ZettaK]

On 10/8/2022 at 6:40 PM, ProudMary said:

I could very well be misremembering, but I thought Shep did use the word "love" to Taylor when the group was on St. Simon's Island. Shep was drunk and spouting off to Craig (and Whitney, I think) while Taylor and Austen were in the kitchen (with Olivia? Naomie? not sure on the third person) playing a drinking game based on Shep's ravings. When Shep came into the kitchen, I could swear he drunk whispered in Taylor's ear that he loved her more than he'd ever loved anyone. 

I'm not racing to go listen to that episode again because I honestly don't care all that much. 😄

Shep said he loved Taylor during the Georgia trip. I watched the last two episodes (before the reunion episodes) a few hours ago On Demand.

Edited October 10, 2022 by ZettaK
Wrong name.

[1011101010001]

9 hours ago, ZettaK said:

Shep said he loved Olivia during the Georgia trip. I watched the last two episodes (before the reunion episodes) a few hours ago On Demand.

I hope you mean Taylor.

[realityplease]

11 hours ago, ZettaK said:

Shep said he loved Olivia during the Georgia trip. I watched the last two episodes (before the reunion episodes) a few hours ago On Demand.

Thanks much for doing the digging!  (Clearly, you mean Taylor, not Olivia.) I stand corrected.  And it shows even MORE basis that Shep played Taylor.  When he didn't pull the trigger upon their return from travel - and she clearly wanted commitment  - even using the "L" word wasn't going to be enough.  She wants marriage - he wants to remain the f-boy he's always been.  She wants more than he's willing to give.  He's not willing to give enough.  THE END.

[Kiss my mutt]

Shep is a cad but I’m glad he ripped off the bandaid so Taylor can move on and not waste more time with this douchebag. I was really disappointed that she accepted Shep’s offer and knew it would be the end of them but maybe it was for the best because it gets her to move on. I’d like to think that she will be the “one that got away” but Shep is an emotional imbecil and infantile in relating to others or being able to deal with complexities in relationships. 

[Sun-Bun]

Shep did say at the reunion “I’ll always love Taylor.” Which was a rare mature comment from him and despite him being such a cad who deserves Taylor’s anger, I thought he took Taylor’s tirade like a champ. 

I’d bet that Taylor was likely banking on Shep making a surprise marriage proposal while on their whirlwind international romance tour.
I almost don’t blame her for chucking her job to go tour the world on her rich boyfriend’s dime—she’s young enough to bounce back from that and find another job and she at least gave what once seemed like a promising commitment her all. Too bad she didn’t see the writing on the wall earlier though…like most of us here agree, this is where her young age/inexperience shows.
 

Madison was so damned pretty once, but those piano teeth, excess fillers in her face/lips and that awful spraytan have ruined her looks. It pains me to see how she, Naomie, and Kathryn have gone so nuts with unnecessary facial procedures at their young ages. Taylor and Olivia will catch up with them soon enough. 
 

Poor Venita. I actually enjoyed her stylish presence and think she’s so pretty and could’ve been a fun addition to this cast, but she obviously wasn’t meant for the cutthroat drama of reality television.
Watching how both of her friends so quickly ditched her onscreen was heartbreaking—she didn’t deserve that and it really made Naomie and Madison look like even bitchier mean girls than usual.
Not to mention there was the cruel way Olivia so immediately dismissed her this season—it reeked of white female privilege and made me so uncomfortable to see cast members openly treating her that way. Hope she’s happier now that she left close-minded little Charleston for the bright lights of the Big Apple.

[ZettaK]

7 hours ago, MrBuhBye said:

I hope you mean Taylor.

Yes. I edited. I was posting very early in the morning. Or I momentarily confused the two blondes. I'm blonde btw!

5 hours ago, realityplease said:

Thanks much for doing the digging!  (Clearly, you mean Taylor, not Olivia.) I stand corrected.  And it shows even MORE basis that Shep played Taylor.  When he didn't pull the trigger upon their return from travel - and she clearly wanted commitment  - even using the "L" word wasn't going to be enough.  She wants marriage - he wants to remain the f-boy he's always been.  She wants more than he's willing to give.  He's not willing to give enough.  THE END.

Yes, I edited my comment.

[LakeGal]

I hope Taylor comes back next season with a cute younger boyfriend.  I want Shep to have to socialize and watch Taylor with another man.  Maybe Taylor will become his "girl that got away" like Thomas had that beer caterer girl or whatever she was that he talked about getting away.

[Starlight925]

I, too, would bet that Taylor was hoping for the romantic, Rom-com moment of Shep dropping down on one knee in front of the Eiffel Tower with a 3.5 carat Tiffany diamond.

Instead, she got an aging, sloppy-haired, drunk do-nothing pal to bum around Europe.

So she comes home, meets with a cosmetic dermatologist to get fillers & Botox (am I the only one who noticed the stark contrast from her adorable next-door looks to becoming a clone of these other women?).

And she reads him the riot act on the Reunion.  While I empathize with her feelings, and Taylor, if you're reading this, I validate your feelings.  

But if they were truly broken up when Shep did his cross-country tour of sleeping with even more women, then unfortunately, it's none of your beeswax.  

Get thee to a therapist, stat.  Figure out what drew you, and kept you, tethered to this 12 year old boy in big boy pants, for 2+ years.

[1011101010001]

13 hours ago, Starlight925 said:

But if they were truly broken up when Shep did his cross-country tour of sleeping with even more women, then unfortunately, it's none of your beeswax.  

There are odd people who are offended if you date someone else too soon after breaking up with them.  

[Natalie68]

On 10/8/2022 at 5:32 PM, chlban said:

I thought Taylor embarassed herself. All the name calling as if the women are at fault was off putting. Wasting 2 years was one thing, but she totally lost me when she quit her job to travel with a guy that clearly had no plans to ever marry her. That was obvious with Shep's reaction to the pregnancy "scare", and I honestly think she was trying to get pregnant to snag him. Not my kind of woman. Kathryn probably said the most on point comment I have ever heard from her when she said Shep has turned into Thomas. I still can't stand her though. Madison is just awful but I am a little surprised there wasn't more conversation about her accusation that Olivia had slept with Thomas. Kathryn, of course, certainly noted it, I bet she did some questioning after the reunion. I believe Olivia, but Madison throwing that out there is just who she is.  She used to be pretty, before all the botched work, but she is one ugly, mean Narcissistic biotch. Good luck to her future husband. Sad the show is over, but it has been all season. Wondering if they are even going to mention Pringle?

I saw it a different way.  She was saying WHORE a lot because that is how Shep may view them and that is how he made her feel.  Not that she considered herself one.  Quitting her job was SO STUPID!  Women should never give up their power to support themselves.  Your survival shouldn't be in the hands of someone else.  At least not until you can fully trust them.

[SuprSuprElevated]

I saw the job quitting thing a little differently.  I saw it as an opportunity to travel and see some of the world (let's not kid ourselves, on someone elses dime) that she may not have been able to otherwise.  We all have big plans, until life happens.  In the work environmnt that currently exists, she was probably justifiably confident that she would be able to be re-employed in relative short order.