S08.E10-12: Oh Spare Me, Sliding Down Slopes and into DMs & Brides' Last Ride

[snarts]

Aired 2.28.2025

Oh, I so wanted Lauren to punch Dave in the face. The man is a walking narcissist. Good on Molly for being a true girls girl & friend, I loved watching her tell him what's what, mainly because Lauren was way too nice.

I love Monica/Joey and Taylor/Daniel. Hoping they say yes and live happily ever after.  The other two could really go either way.

Glad to see Meg & Mason find each other on the outside.

Was Madison stewing or what? Girl lives to be the center of attention, she's now on a tabloid tour slamming Alex. Meanwhile, he (like Ben) seemingly has a sketchy past. Netflix must purposely recruit problematic people in the hopes there will be viral social media drama to drive up viewership. 

[jabRI]

So hope to never see Dave again on my screen, but the creepiest takeaway was when he told Lauren that his 'sister' was eventually ok with him coming on the show, as long it was just in the pods and he didn't get engaged.   And then never introduce Lauren to ANYONE, and not even delivering a letter.   Sheez, not sure why she put up with him as long as she did.  He CLEARLY had no feelings for her, ever.  He seriously has emotional issues he needs to work through.

[jabRI]

9 hours ago, snarts said:

Meanwhile, he (like Ben) seemingly has a sketchy past.

I don't know, I saw the clip about Alex.  I wonder if he's some kind of fabulist, like he can't help lying.  All these text exchanges, you don't know what's real, in my opinion.  And why lie about being unpopular in high school? doesn't add up for me.

[Starlight925]

My theory on Alex is a case of Arrested Development.

He was the unpopular, unattractive kid in middle school & high school, so his attractions are frozen in time to the girls who made fun of him back then.  Like, see, I'll show you, I can date you now.  Similar to Woody Allen.

Edited March 2 by Starlight925

[jackjill89]

I'm so glad Lauren walked away. She dodged a major bullet. Dave should never have gone on this show. Dude needs to grow up and take responsibility for his life and the choices he makes and not be so reliant on his sister's approval. I get the people want their family to like their potential spouse, but his need for her approval is way over the top. Grow a pair. 

Dave got caught up in the experiment and I think he really cared about Lauren in the pods. However, once they met, reality set in and he was looking for an out. He didn't want to be the bad guy and break up with her, so he kept pushing and pushing so she'd call it off. 

Loved that Molly stood up for Lauren. You could tell Dave wanted her to be on his side. 

[ichbin]

Too much time spent lingering on uninteresting conversations between people this season.  I think most people agreed that we would like to see more of all the people casted in any particular season rather than camera time only being given to the main couples in the beginning, but I don't think anyone was interested in extended scenes devoted to any one couple.  In the end they're just plain folks.  Nobody wants to hear my partner and me blathering on about nothing much either for minutes at a time. 

 

[retired watcher]

I love Molly. She is a great person. And she is on to Dave.

[anniebird]

So, is Dave really a virgin? That would explain so much. 

And I really hope Sara says No at the altar - Ben is way too into a religion that doesn't mesh at all with Sara's deeply held personal beliefs. 

Virginia and Devin have zero chemistry - I could see both of them saying No.

I still think Monica and Joey are a real love match as are Taylor and Daniel but we'll see.

[jabRI]

4 hours ago, anniebird said:

And I really hope Sara says No at the altar - Ben is way too into a religion that doesn't mesh at all with Sara's deeply held personal beliefs. 

I found Sara a little exhausting this last episode.  The poor guy just wanted a drink after work and she started this whole discussion that could not be easily resolved.  Personally not religious, but cannot understand going to a church to watch a livestream service, bizarre to me.  

[LuvMyShows]

On 3/3/2025 at 2:15 PM, anniebird said:

And I really hope Sara says No at the altar - Ben is way too into a religion that doesn't mesh at all with Sara's deeply held personal beliefs. 

Sara was incredulous that Ben didn't know his church's specific stance on LGBTQ+ matters, as though that was a serious knock against him. But I could see someone with different priorities being incredulous that a partner doesn't know if their church practices impact investing (achieving social and environmental benefits). He has an LGBTQ friend, and I think that is the most telling thing.

[LuvMyShows]

Not a fan of Virginia's extremely overly low-cut choices in her wedding dress and her final date dress. It's the kind where so much is showing that it constantly looks like there will be nip slip at any minute, and I don't think it's near as flattering or alluring as covering up the girls a little bit more.

[Rlb8031]

On 3/3/2025 at 2:15 PM, anniebird said:

So, is Dave really a virgin? That would explain so much. 

There is something truly weird about Dave and his family.

• How does a 30-something man rely so deeply on his older sister to make decisions for him?
• How does anything post-pod he's said about his dating life ("My sister said she'd have introduced me to someone if I was looking...") square with his opening comments about his lack of success because he's only dated for superficial reasons?
• Why is he so comfortable using his sister, dad and mom as the reason that he won't move forward? Who does that at his big age?
• Why are you running around polling everyone about who they slept with and when?

[jackjill89]

4 hours ago, Rlb8031 said:

There is something truly weird about Dave and his family.

• How does a 30-something man rely so deeply on his older sister to make decisions for him?
• How does anything post-pod he's said about his dating life ("My sister said she'd have introduced me to someone if I was looking...") square with his opening comments about his lack of success because he's only dated for superficial reasons?
• Why is he so comfortable using his sister, dad and mom as the reason that he won't move forward? Who does that at his big age?
• Why are you running around polling everyone about who they slept with and when?

Great questions! I'd be interested to know what is going on.

[anniebird]

On 3/4/2025 at 7:40 PM, LuvMyShows said:

Sara was incredulous that Ben didn't know his church's specific stance on LGBTQ+ matters, as though that was a serious knock against him. But I could see someone with different priorities being incredulous that a partner doesn't know if their church practices impact investing (achieving social and environmental benefits). He has an LGBTQ friend, and I think that is the most telling thing.

I think the real problem is that Ben kept glossing this over - he sounded very disingenuous to me when he said that he didn’t really know what his church’s stance was on these social issues. These were very important issues to Sara and he wasn’t taking that - or her- seriously. If you’re even the least bit mature (and Sara is) you’re going to put the brakes on.

[NeenerNeener]

Spoiler

So only 1 couple actually got married this season too. Pretty consistent with previous seasons. I don't watch The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchises because almost none of those work out so I may be dropping this one too. 

ETA: this should have been in the comments for the next episode. After awhile they all sort of blend together.

Edited March 9 by NeenerNeener

[ichbin]

What was up with the sister theme this season? Sisters factored into so many couples!

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 3/4/2025 at 1:40 PM, LuvMyShows said:

Sara was incredulous that Ben didn't know his church's specific stance on LGBTQ+ matters, as though that was a serious knock against him. But I could see someone with different priorities being incredulous that a partner doesn't know if their church practices impact investing (achieving social and environmental benefits). He has an LGBTQ friend, and I think that is the most telling thing.

Think of it this way:

For someone who is passionate about their church and goes routinely, one would think that person would know what the stance of the church is on most issues of the day, or if the church has taken an issue.

It's hard to imagine that in the year of our Lord 2025 (or 2023 or 2024, whenever this season was actually filmed), that a church has not taken some public stand on LGBTQ rights. This is not some narrow issue that rarely comes up. This is a relatively big deal. 

It should be apparent to a regular attendee of a church whether the church's position is "God loves us all, gay or straight, makes no difference, and we welcome everyone" or "Love the sinner, hate the sin" or "Let's not talk about gays and lesbians and pretend they don't exist" or "Gays and lesbians are taking our country straight to woke hell and must be stopped" or whatever.

For a regular attendee to claim that he has no idea where along the spectrum of these types of beliefs probably means one of a few things:

1. The person is actively lying about his knowledge of the church's stance to cover up that it is a "Gays and lesbians are taking our country straight to woke hell" kind of church.

2. The person is actively lying about being an active church goer, because after a while the subject would come up.

3. The person is strangely oblivious what is going on with the church. which is supposed to be a big part of their life.

4. The person is not taking the subject seriously and was trying to dodge discussion about it.

I can't really think of a positive or neutral explanation for how someone would be ignorant of what their church's stance is on LGBTQ issues in recent times. Like I could see 20 or 30 years ago, or in some small cities now, it never coming up because you didn't have "those" people and because the broader culture tried to keep more silent about LGBTQ issues.

17 hours ago, NeenerNeener said:

I don't watch The Bachelor/Bachelorette franchises because almost none of those work out so I may be dropping this one too. 

Sorry to be a scold, but you should not mention specifics about how many people got married in this thread because that doesn't happen in this episode and is a spoiler.

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 3/6/2025 at 10:17 AM, Rlb8031 said:

There is something truly weird about Dave and his family.

• How does a 30-something man rely so deeply on his older sister to make decisions for him?
• How does anything post-pod he's said about his dating life ("My sister said she'd have introduced me to someone if I was looking...") square with his opening comments about his lack of success because he's only dated for superficial reasons?
• Why is he so comfortable using his sister, dad and mom as the reason that he won't move forward? Who does that at his big age?
• Why are you running around polling everyone about who they slept with and when?

Not disputing that the weirdness overall, but:

It's certainly possible that Dave was dating for superficial reasons prior to going on the show and didn't tell his sister about a change of heart that he wanted to have a serious partner. And that had he told her that he was now ready for a partner that Sister had candidates in mind for him to make a serious connection with that she didn't try earlier since she knew he was in superficial mode.

I think in past seasons people making it to the resort have had curiosity over who slept together and did things like ranking the couples as to compatibility and evaluating where their relationship is by using other couples as a measuring stick. Obviously, that doesn't really matter: if the show somehow managed a season with 4 Lauren/Cameron style couples, it is no reflection on the fifth, and same with if they did 4 of the more disastrous ones. But I think there's a little gossipy bitch in all of us, and I don't see curiosity on this point to be abnormal.

Speaking of which, I don't have a very good sense of who did do it at the resort. Any guesses?

Edited March 8 by Chicago Redshirt

[SoMuchTV]

9 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Sorry to be a scold, but you should not mention specifics about how many people got married in this thread because that doesn't happen in this episode and is a spoiler.

Thank you for mentioning that. When I read the post you referenced, I was afraid this show had finally rotted my brain to the point that I completely forgot what happened. 

[NeenerNeener]

Sorry. I watched them back-to-back and they just blended together.

[Mercolleen]

On 3/3/2025 at 6:53 PM, jabRI said:

Personally not religious, but cannot understand going to a church to watch a livestream service, bizarre to me.  

Thanks for clarifying ... I kept searching the stage / altar for evidence of life.