“The Most Dramatic Bachelor Finale Ever”

This episode begins with Chris Harrison announcing that there could be a wedding tonight after the final rose. Neil Lane is in the house, as are both girls’ families and a cheesy wedding arch covered in, you guessed it, red roses.

But first, we go back to Jamaica where Ben, sporting some “edgy” facial hair, will repeat himself over-and-over about how confused he is at being in love with two women for the next two hours.

I get that this whole “being in love with both women” is part of the ruse and thus part of the job but Ben comes across as a real simpleton.

As the audience though, we’re supposed to buy into the whole idea that Ben doesn’t know which person he’s “more in love with” until the last hour. It’s a ridiculous concept. He knows.

Ben’s mom is not impressed that he has told two women he’s in love with them, and that she has to basically lie by omission when she talks to them both.

“It’s really disturbing to me” – Ben’s mom.

Lauren tells Ben’s mom, while they hold hands, that she is ready to get engaged, her hair extensions blowing in the wind. I wonder if Ben has even seen Lauren without those extensions? I feel like this could lead to buyer’s remorse.

JoJo arrives to meet Ben’s parents with a much smaller floral arrangement than Lauren. This is a red flag.

“He’s my best friend” – JoJo to Ben’s dad.

JoJo gets a better edit with Ben’s parents than Lauren did as the producers attempt to manipulate us. We’re onto you.

It’s final date time and Ben is super stressed on his date with Lauren. Lauren suddenly realizes that Ben could be in Love with JoJo as well. Just now.

“I prayed a lot over these past few days” – Ben.

They have an emotional goodbye and Lauren is spiralling, in tears, after he leaves.

“Bye, beautiful.” – Ben to Lauren.

I think Lauren was the front runner until the overnight dates where he had a reeeeaaaally good time with JoJo.

Ben is still praying for clarity when he meets JoJo the next day.

“Hi, beautiful.” – Ben to JoJo.

They encounter a local while driving down a jungle road and Ben quickly speeds away.

“Baaaaaaaaabe!” – JoJo to Ben every five minutes.

JoJo asks Ben if everything is good and he tells her that’s a loaded question and she starts to freak out.

“I’ve been scared a few times in my life”  – JoJo.

JoJo seems more aware of the situation she’s in than Lauren.

That night, after talking on the couch and Ben and JoJo close themselves in the bathroom where they have a “private conversation” caught by their microphones.

JoJo asks Ben if he loves Lauren too and he says yes.

“I’m so tired of competing” – JoJo, unaware she’s on a game show where you compete with other women for one dull dude.

Ben says goodbye to JoJo and leaves, holding a mystery stainless steel item, leaving JoJo in tears as well.

The next morning is D-day. Ben meets with Neil Lane and his briefcase of rings. He chooses a gaudy, fuggo ring.

At this point Ben is definitely playing up his relationship with JoJo more that his relationship with Lauren.

We see the girls in their “proposal dresses” and JoJo definitely has the getting dumped dress on, she looks like a Dallas beauty pageant contestant compared to Lauren’s classic electric blue, floor-length column dress which is obviously meant to say “wife material.”

 JoJo arrives at the altar and starts her vows to Ben, they both look like they might throw up.  

Then it’s Ben’s turn and he utters the proverbial “but,” and tells JoJo the bad news, that he loves Lauren more.

JoJo has really dodged a bullet. A bullet with boring written all over it.

The saddest thing about this is the stretch limo that JoJo had to ride off in.

In classic dumped girl on the Bachelor finale, JoJo doesn’t let Ben have it like she’s entitled to. It’s textbook Stockholm Syndrome.

“I could’ve married JoJo and been happy” – Ben.

After a lot of boring talk he proposes to Lauren and slips that fug ring on her white nail polished fingers. That manicure would also be a deal-breaker for me.

Then they exchanged a lot of “you’re my person!” “We’re engaged!” “I love you.” And “I’m so lucky,” to each other. It’s pretty nauseating but it also makes you realize that these two boring basics are perfect for eachother.

The Bachelor, you did it again.

As predicted, JoJo was announced as the next Bachelorette.

The Women Tell All Shit Show

This is mostly a clip show and doesn’t advance the actual story so I’ll just give you the highlights.

All the girls you’d completely forgotten about were back, like Lace.

Leah says she and Lauren B. are all good now, after she back-stabbed her on the show. Uh huh.

“Being a mom is my jam.” –  Amanda

Lauren H. brought her chicken, Sheila, which flapped around a bit but mostly perched on her lap. 

Chris Harrison give Jubilee a “you’re good enough” pep talk and some of the women accused Jubes of bragging about being the only “full black girl” to go this far. 

Jamie had her boobs out and attempted to get as much camera time as she could. She’ll wind up on Bachelor in Paradise for sure.

The girls all gang up on Olivia, who reveals she was bullied severely as a child and was now being bullied on social media. 

The Twins still have beef with Olivia, she apologizes to all the girls on the show who felt wronged by her.

Chris Harrison asks Lace to go on Paradise. Of course she’ll go. 

Some guy has a tattoo of Lace on his side which he shows to her after taking his shirt off. This cannot be real.

Caila is dragged on stage and made to watch her flashback reel with Ben, including the recent break up, which she’d never watched before and seemed like she was not over it at all, whispering her answers to Chris Harrison. 

Chris Harrison is practically salivating over Caila still being in emotional pain over Ben, he loves it.

Ben comes out and and says he’s more in love than he’s ever been and “would marry that woman tomorrow if I could.”

If Caila is named the next Bachelorette I’m boycotting.

Nothing spells romance like the revolving door that is Overnight Dates

This week we travel to the country of romance, that’s right, Jamaica, (huh?) where the re-branded “fantasy suite” dates, now known as “overnight dates,” will take place.

For many, myself included, this is the definitive episode of the series, where all the things that scream creepy sexism and male privilege are presented to viewers as if they’re kosher.

Ben begins with a montage where he reminisces about the ladies, saying that Caila’s fears that she can’t love are basically a deal-breaker and that seeing Lauren for the first time was the closest he’d come to love at first sight and that he looks at her with “googly eyes.” He then says when he’s around JoJo he feels more himself than ever but her brother’s were huge cock blockers.

Ben kicks off his pre-overnight date woo-ing with an Apocalypse Now meets Deliverance-themed float down a river on a bamboo raft with Caila, who’s not exactly a barrel of laughs today.

Since they’re in Jamaica, Ben should smoke some ganja with all the girls so he can see who’s good and who’s bad on weed. This is an important thing to know about your future spouse.

Ben, in one of many v-neck t-shirts, describes his relationship with Caila as, “the deepest relationship I have.” Maybe he smoked some ganja on his own.

There’s lots of “so-and-so and I’s relationship,” throughout the episode, as if that’s a thing. At one point Ben also pronounces “especially,” “expecially.” 

Ben and Caila stop in the middle of nowhere to eat some jerk meat with their fingers while they talk about feelings. Caila’s probably really excited for Ben to sex the other two girls on this trip, which is really romantic. No wonder she’s in a bad mood.

Later Caila does what she does best, attacks Ben with kisses like an over-excited puppy dog. It seems a bit annoying, like you’d like it at first but then it would get to be too much and you’d want to put that puppy back on the floor.

I wonder if Caila is as enthusiastic about other things as she is about kissing?

After confronting Caila about why she was being such a Debbie Downer on their river boat date, Caila says a whole lot of words followed by, “I’m in love with you.” Awkwardly, Ben just smiles and kisses her.

They retire to their suite, with Caila already de-robed and just in her bikini as fireworks are going off outside – an over done trope of this show meant to celebrate the romance being cooked up.

The next morning we see a close-up of Caila’s manky sandals on the floor – another much-loved Bachelor trope, alluding to the sex that’s been had.

Caila tells Ben she loves him again but he doesn’t say it back. SO AWKS. 

Next up, Ben and Lauren have an eco-themed date, releasing baby turtles into the ocean. Ben acts like he’s never seen a turtle before. Actually, maybe he hasn’t.

Lauren, who’s also agonizing about wanting to tell Ben she loves him, let’s him know that she’s struggling being in a contest with two other girls. 

“You are legitimately the man of my dreams” – Lauren to Ben.

Ben and Lauren head to their suite at Sandals All-You-Can-Eat Resort where Lauren finally tells Ben she is completely in love with him, making what they’re about to do palatable for viewers because we haven’t advanced at all from the Victorian era.

Ben admits that he has also been in love with Lauren for quite some time now, then these two huge dorks lie back and swap “I love you”s for the next five minutes which is nauseating.

The editors are really ramping up Ben and Lauren’s story at this point but we all know there’s a twist coming next week so I’m bracing myself.

Just to let you know that these two also probably boned, we get a close-up of the Lauren’s dress and shoes on the floor by the bed and Ben’s clothes strewn about, even though she’s dressed and has done her hair the next morning, while they kiss over their breakfast tray.

“Ben’s my person.” – Lauren. 

Last but not least, because she’s the best, Ben and JoJo get the dramatic chopper ride over the island. Yet another romance-inducing trope the show is known for.

JoJo also tells Ben, in a round-about way, that she loves him and he gives her the ILY back. She’s so shocked she says, “what?” and starts to cry.

JoJo calls Ben “babe” exclusively from this point on. I hate to say this but JoJo seems a bit thirsty, to be honest, which is weird because she’s attractive and has the most going on.

I don’t really buy that Ben loves JoJo but they’ll definitely take things to the next level tonight.

Ben throws a roadblock up in the way of needing to have her family’s support, meaning her weirdo brothers.

“Hearing Ben say I love you has been one of the most incredible life moments.” – JoJo.

Later, they make out in their suite’s extra large hot tub before taking it to the bedroom where Ben pulls the curtains closed on us. Rude.

The next morning JoJo exclaims, “you gave me so much more than I expected yesterday.” Little does she know he also gave the same thing to Lauren. 

Ben says goodbye to JoJo and walks off in his capri sweat pants to do some thinking.

Ben, echoing the words of every bachelor before him, says that, “it’s so weird to be in love with two women at the same time.” 

Calia’s intuition is broken and she decides to pay Ben a visit. She thinks Ben is in love with her, but really he’s about to break up with her.

This being taped is really Ben’s saving grace because I think we all know Caila is the type of person who would want to talk about exactly what went wrong between the two of them for the next two days.

As the car takes her way she completely unravels, whispering to herself over and over again, “I thought this was it, I thought this was it.” The weirdest aspect to this whole thing is that as cooked as it is, the reactions of hurt feelings are real.

The episode ends with both JoJo and Lauren telling Chris Harrison that Ben told them he loves them while he feigns surprise. 

WHO WILL GET THE FINAL ROSE?! TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!

Hometown dates: Four girls, one dull dude and lots of crazy

The first awkward hometown date with Amanda is in Laguna Beach, even though she lives about 30 minutes inland in the daggy suburban enclave of Rancho Santa Margarita. Home of hideous, matching, side-by-side, faux-mediterranean tract-style houses.

Ben meets Amanda’s brats who are dressed in identical outfits with identical hairdos. Already pretty weird. It’s like she’s trying to trick him into thinking there’s just one kid.

They’re also wearing mini gladiator sandals which is basically child abuse.

My two-cents here, from personal experience, is you have to be ALL THE WAY IN to want to take on someone else’s kids. So unless you’re the “prize,” AKA The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, you’re not picking the person with baggage. You’re just not.

After a day that involves crying toddlers in a minivan it’s pretty clear Ben is all the way out.

Next stop is Portland to meet Lauren B.’s family. This is by far the best date of the four and Lauren’s family seem the most relatively normal and likeable.

They go to the Whiskey “Libary,” as Lauren calls it, where Ben probably orders a Jack and Coke.

Later, with her family, Ben tears up talking to Lauren’s sister about how lucky he feels. He then rests his head on Lauren’s hot sister’s shoulder. Another reason he’ll pick Lauren.

Lauren tells her sister that she thinks Ben is her “person,” one of the cringiest things you can say.

Next stop is Hudson, Ohio to meet crazy Caila’s family. Wow are we in for a treat here.

First off she takes him to her “special bench” where they have a special kiss, like they’re 14. Her “special bench” isn’t even a bench, by the way. It’s a swing.

Then she takes him to her dad’s toy factory where they build a plastic toy house replica of their future marital abode. I don’t even know what’s happening.

Finally Ben meets Caila’s parents. Her Filipino mom has adult braces and her brother’s a little kid (accident). When we meet Caila’s dad, who I’m fairly creeped out by, the whole toy factory thing makes sense.

After some very awkward conversations, including one where Caila’s dad is uses the term “microwave fame” to Ben and some talk with a strong Christian vibe about how marriage is a commitment for life, Ben escapes.

Next stop is Dallas to meet JoJo’s fam and the whole thing seems cooked to me, starting with the tragic long-stem red roses and letter from her ex-boyfriend, begging her to get back together with him, followed by lots of pacing around talking to herself, crying and finally a phone call to Chad just as Ben is arriving.

JoJo’s brothers are creepily over-excited to see her when she and Ben arrive at their parents’ house. Also, they’re huge weirdos.

After lots of awkward and confrontational conversations in different rooms of the house, JoJo’s oldest brother calls Ben out for brainwashing the women and not having the same feelings for JoJo as she does for him. I mean he’s right but that’s how this thing works.

Ben is clearly never stepping foot in that house again. JoJo is now a front-runner to be the Bachelorette.

At the rose ceremony, the final rose comes down to Amanda and JoJo and baby voice, predictably, is sent packing.

Amanda, angry that she’s only being told now that she’s not going any further, also doesn’t realize that’s how the show works.

The most depressing part is that Amanda had said she would say yes if Ben got down on one knee tonight.

Ben is a big baby, crying after she leaves and saying “I can’t talk about it.”

Next week is the ultra-weird, misogynistic “fantasy suite” dates, stay tuned!