Episodes 5 & 6
Oof. This week really made me think long and hard about how much longer I can write these. While these recaps are always quite a bit of work, I usually kind of enjoy it because there’s so much I want to analyze and say. But right now my rehearsal schedule is nuts, which has meant spending every spare minute this week on this colossal recap. And it’s bad enough recapping 5 hours’ worth of this show, but when those 5 hours are loaded with such awful, non-feelgood material, it’s downright depleting. :(
I’ll quit my bitching and moaning, but go easy on me if I didn’t get to something you felt I should have.
This week was too much!
LAST WEEK, CONT’D
Rewinding a 5 whole hours, we’re taken back to the Rose Ceremony where Alayah’s still around and has in her possession that infamous Group Date rose. I had so many issues with this evening, it was tough to even know where to start. First, it bears repeating that what we’re shown is a mere slice of what actually occurs, so given how overwhelmingly long and painful this “Cocktail Party” felt, imagine how it must’ve felt to have BEEN there.
Case in point, in the following two .GIFs, notice the women’s magical seating switches (indicated by arrows), and imagine for a second being in that room, made to talk about this for so many hours that you could switch seats multiple times and the same conversation would still continue on.
The women are embroiled in yet another heated (and likely forced) Girl Chat, where Victoria F tells Alayah to “stay in her lane”, followed by what is now becoming a standard dose of profanity…
I know Victoria F wasn’t the one who threw the first non-in-lane-staying stone (Sydney gets that honor), but I still find this statement extreme considering Victoria F is obviously in that same friend group as Sydney and those rules evidently don’t apply across the board. (According to Victoria F’s logic, wouldn’t Alayah then be well within her right to “f-cking come for” Sydney?) Further, it’s obvious Alayah wasn’t “coming at” Victoria F by revealing the Chase information. Like I said last week, it’s plain as can be that she thought the Chase thing was common knowledge in the house. Further, just from a logical standpoint, why the hell would Alayah, after getting back on the show by the skin of her teeth, immediately start stirring things up? She would obviously try to lay on the low side, hoping to just get by and stay out of everyone’s line of fire. If the other women focused less on automatically despising her and everything she does, they might realize that. But, of course, they can’t not focus on her, because whenever they might try to seek a distraction, the topic of conversation inevitably will be brought back to her.
Case in point, notice the women’s reactions, namely Lexi’s, when Peter comes to take Alayah for yet another chat…
Lexi’s frustration speaks to the hours upon hours of talking about Alayah, to Alayah, about Alayah and Peter’s relationship, Alayah’s rose, whether or not Alayah’s there for the Wrong Reasons. You can see how the circumstances would cause someone like Alayah be perceived as so much more of a villain than she actually is, based on the the fact that her presence—not anything she’s actually doing—makes everything about her and causes the women to sit there, having their time wasted for so many hours, days, weeks.
If you’re expecting me to go easier on Peter in this recap, you’re sorely mistaken. I continue to take issue with so, SO many of his choices. Exhibit A: The fact that Peter even sends Alayah home here. His argument for bringing Alayah back was that he didn’t want to listen to other womens’ opinions and be influenced by them anymore, yet by sending Alayah home two days later, he re-makes his original mistake. He never spent any time with her in between, never exploring the very “connection” he felt inspired to re-pursue at the Group Date. I get that he partially made sending her home about how hard the other women’s hate was for her, but that should have been HER decision to make, not his—especially given it was the way in which he brought her back (that godforsaken Group Date rose) that made things extra hard on her in the first place.
Exhibit B: The fact that Alayah apologies to Peter (ugh!) and HE DOESN’T APOLOGIZE BACK…
Let’s be clear: PETER made this so damn hard for HIMSELF (and all the other women). HE is the one who bought into rumors, who got “influenced” into making a decision he didn’t want to make, who then wanted to undo that decision and did so in the worst way possible, yet then continued to allow women speak about one another in a way that would influence him yet again. Throughout it all, there has been a severe lack of apology on Peter’s part. In addition to the above, he didn’t apologize to Alayah when asking her to come back on the show (something I pointed out last week and which she deserved), and he didn’t apologize to the other women for wasting all their time until they (rightfully) called him out for his bullshit. Basically, he doesn’t appear to realize how his own actions are connected to the domino effect of drama in the house, something that he a) SHOULD realize, but at the very least, b) should APOLOGIZE for. I get that the dominos are set in their positions by production, but so far Peter has consistently been the one to knock over that first tile.
Alayah leaves for a second time, and suddenly the tone amongst the women (not all the women, but you know which ones I’m talking about) takes a one-eighty…
GIVE ME A BREAK. It irked me how the key players in the Alayah-bashing were suddenly all, “Gee, I hope he’s making the right decision”, as though they would have been OK with things if Peter had let Alayah stick around. This is an awfully different tune than the one they sang when he HAD made his decision, the decision to bring Alayah back.
COSTA RICA
The gang travels to Costa Rica and we immediately get a reminder that Kelley is the realest woman of the season…
Gosh, I loved this so much. It may sound like she’s not being #grateful enough, but an overwhelming feeling we all had being on my season and doing all this travel was just this, the sheer exhaustion. I have a paragraph in my journal listing the numerous flights it took to get from Seoul to Vietnam, then from Vietnam to New Zealand. Every time we’d arrived, we had to immediately put on our outfits, “react” to the city and our hotel digs, and then start talking about Juan Pablo again. Oh, and the late nights waiting in line for ITM time and those early mornings of getting mic’ed didn’t stop. I don’t care how excited you are to be somewhere, your body and mind can only take so much. I just dug that Kelley was frank about this, and further, that it was shown!
At their resort, we witness a Girl Chat between Kelsey and—shocker!—Hannah Ann…
I’ve mentioned before that one of the biggest misconceptions about the contestant experience is that friendships remain consistent throughout a season. True colors come out, rooming situations change, and people just learn each other. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Kelsey and Hannah Ann, who are obviously some of the softer, sweeter personalities of the season, would end up actually being sort of friendly, despite Champagne-gate earlier on.
The above is additional evidence of how sad it is that Peter sent Alayah home for a second time (well, for a first time, too). Things change and relationships evolve. He eliminated her not only based on other people’s opinions (versus his own), but further, based on a passing, likely impermanent opinion. It’s not out of the question that Alayah might have ended up not only being able to coexist but even becoming friends with some of the very housemates who spoke ill of her. She would sadly never get that chance.
As Sydney’s date card is read, we get a hint of Kelley’s storyline of the episode, which is that she’s having trouble feeling super confident in her relationship with Peter given it feels like it’s been a standstill for sometime. I found the editing here amusing…
By showing Kelsey and Victoria P during this voiceover of Kelley’s, it tells us that no one is more aware of who the season’s “sob story” contestants are than producers are. More on the sob story thing in a little bit.
SYDNEY’S 1-ON-1
Speaking of sob stories, Sydney’s 1-on-1 date brings a surprising twist, which is that she too had it rough growing up…
I found this VERY interesting given I personally would consider Sydney’s behavior this season to be by far the most Mean Girls-ish (the only one to give her a run for her money is Victoria F). It just immediately stuck out to me as odd that a woman who was horribly mocked and bullied in high school would be so quick to pay it forward and judge others based on unfounded opinions. And look, we all judge people all day every day, but Sydney took it to the next level by bringing it up to Peter, ultimately playing a key role in a woman going home. This experience has the potential to be a huge deal in someone’s life—it can change your career, or it could simply be a valuable learning experience about yourself (which it absolutely was for me)—so to contribute even partially to robbing that from someone else, and for no reason other than the fact that you’re annoyed by the person (it’s not like Sydney was afraid of going home in Alayah’s place or something), is not something to be taken lightly.
Side note: I’ve been torn of late over how much of the “outside world” to include in these recaps. For years now, I’ve tried my darnedest to recap based only on what we can see when we watch the show. When I start opening the floodgates to online articles, interviews with exes, and yearbook photos, it’s hard to know where to draw the line. However, I know full well that some of my recaps naturally can’t be as comprehensive or discerning as they could be for this very reason (eg: I tried to turn a blind eye to the articles/rumors about Jed’s ex-girlfriend, something which would become a problem given he ultimately won the season. Some outside information isn’t as intertwined with spoilers but that was a tricky case for me.) This is where I need your guys’ help moving forward.
Let me explain: I’ve been sent several photos and links that suggest Sydney might not be being truthful in the above .GIF. I’m succumbing to addressing this (whether or not it’s true) because it sparks an interesting conversation about the “sob story”. There’s a strange sort of advantage to having a sob story, whether to last longer, to garner a flattering, empathetic edit, or both. Bearing this in mind as a viewer puts an interesting spin on the usage of sob stories as a whole. I’m not doubting the truth behind certain ladies’ stories (namely Victoria P’s and Kelsey’s) but it’s not a stretch to imagine some contestants fabricating (or stretching the truth on) specifics and leveraging them in order to get the most out of their Bachelor experience. It certainly marks a shift in how contestants could be evolving to keep up, “preparing” for this experience beyond simply borrowing a bunch of cocktail dresses from friends. (Ah, the innocent good ol’ days.)
So, bearing all of the above in mind, is including “outer” factors (rumors/articles/interviews) something you feel I should take into consideration more when I recap these moving forward? To be fair, I did have my doubts just based on Sydney’s own behavior, as I pointed out above, but is that something you’re into or do you prefer that I keep things “pure”, so to speak? I want to deliver on the best writing and analysis I possibly can, but while maintaining a life and not needing to be up on all things Bachelor, all the time. (This isn’t my job, after all!) Let me know in the comments your thoughts on this.
Back at the resort, Tammy sits down to chat with a crying Kelsey and we get a moment that truly made me laugh out loud…
Not going to lie, I burst out laughing at this. It’s not that I think it’s funny to call someone a “dramatic f-cking bitch”, but because it was preceded by “I like her a lot, she’s cool”. My takeaway from this is something I had already suspected: Kelsey’s a bad drunk. None of us can speak to how much she drinks, but we can observe how she becomes when she drinks. Champagne-gate makes a hell of a lot more sense when you assume she’d had a few too many that night.
GROUP DATE
It’s Group Date time again, this time sponsored by Cosmopolitan magazine. Cosmo is a magazine I’ve long rolled my eyes at; there’s only so many teen-targeted articles that can be written about rocking a man’s world in the bedroom. This date didn’t do much to improve my impression of the magazine. The “wardrobe” they provided was apparently skimpy enough to require post-production blurring nearly across the board…
… and the best “model” prize was (painfully) obviously given to the first woman willing to ruffle feathers by kissing Peter in front of everyone. Talk about insulting to our intelligence—don’t they know we’re WAY past this?! Other than some of the women looking downright FIERCE in their photos—here’s looking at you, Shiann and Madison…
🔥🔥🔥
… the best thing to come out of this date was the absurd shoot with Peter and Victoria F, where so much post-production attention was paid to Victoria F’s backside yet Peter’s boner was deemed A-OK…
The combination of his facial expression + body position + bandaged forehead + boner cracks me up.
The evening is where things begin to go awry again. I said last week that if the “villain” weren’t Alayah, it’d be someone else. Tammy began to really lose me here, and I really wish she’d resisted the temptation to throw another woman—no matter how annoying she’d found her—under the bus. Tammy, one of the many women to have been upset about missing out on 1-on-1 time with Peter due to the Alayah debacle, took that very 1-on-1 time (a mere days later) to tell Peter she thought Kelsey was “mentally unstable” and alluded to her having drinking problem. I spoke over at Flare about how wrong this is so will save my breath now. I’ll just sum this up with Hannah Ann’s PRICELESS expression the instant it became clear this was all nowhere close to being over…
We feel you, Hannah Ann.
KELLEY’S 1-ON-1
THANK THE LORD for Kelley. I cannot imagine this season without her. In this endless ocean of shittiness, she’s our beacon of normalcy and decency and maturity and quiet confidence and self-respect. The daytime part of this date was dedicated to furthering the narrative that Kelley is not as invested in their relationship as Peter is (never mind Peter’s ongoing, involved relationships with her housemates). The juicy part came in the evening, when Peter had the gall to question Kelley…
Let’s break this down: This is Kelley’s first 1-on-1 date. The only time we really saw a fair amount of together time with these two was in Episode 2, when Kelley “won” the airport-themed obstacle course and the hotel where they met oh-so coincidentally hosted a Cocktail Party. In Episode 3, she was on the pillow fight Group Date, where the Cocktail Party would revolve around the Sydney vs Alayah saga. She did get 1-on-1 time at that Cocktail Party. That week’s Rose Ceremony Cocktail Party was the Pool Party, where I’m 99% sure Kelley was one of the 8 women to not get time with him. (Given she wasn’t one of the women who would speak ill of Alayah, it adds up.) In Episode 4, she was on the enormous football Group Date with 12 other women, and where Alayah would return—Alayah and Victoria P would end up monopolizing that Cocktail Party, followed by more of the same with that week’s Rose Ceremony Cocktail Party. In short, in terms of fair time (aka, time she didn’t sneak or steal), Kelley has not really had much time, other than sporadic 10-20 minute time slots, to “progress” this relationship. Remember, this is her FIRST ACTUAL DATE.
Another irksome thing (yes, I’m still going) is Peter’s condescending tone in the above clip. From Kelley’s perspective, she hasn’t had the time. Her perspective is every bit as valid as his, yet he shuts her down as though his is fact and hers isn’t. Further, HE and HIS CHOICES are the reasons why Kelley hasn’t felt comfortable “progressing” things. Of course, we’re starting to gather that Peter associates a woman’s willingness to “steal” him first, or to sneak away to his suite for time as an investment in him, as not being “complacent”. I HATE the way he uses this word; to go with the flow, to him, is to be complacent. Shouldn’t he WANT his relationships to develop naturally and in that go-with-the-flow way, given that’ll establish the most healthy, realistic, and fit-for-real-life relationship as possible? (What if a woman simply prefers a man to do the pursuing? That’s an understandable dating style, but based on Peter’s logic this would make the woman uninterested.) I pointed out last week the difference between showing interest and just being an asshole to your housemates; it does not surprise me in the slightest that Kelley (being wonderful) would resist doing the latter. But while Peter hasn’t really made much of an effort to give Kelley her own time and prioritizing her in any way, he’s putting it on HER for not progressing things. This is yet another example of that ever-present power imbalance, as well as the entitlement I feel Peter possesses as the lead, which I mentioned on Flare last week.
Above all (yup, still going), what I couldn’t stand was Peter’s equating Kelley “just having fun” in this situation to her not being invested in their relationship. NEWSFLASH: The early stages of a relationship SHOULD BE FUN. Just because Kelley’s not fraught with anxiety and crying all the time doesn’t mean she’s not into him. Peter mistakenly correlates the women’s stress levels with jealousy and thus an investment in him, when frankly they have nothing to do with one another—especially in this environment with so many intentional stressors. Further, jealousy is a terrible trait on which to base someone else’s interest in you. We all know those people who get upset when their partners don’t get jealous—that is NOT a healthy, sustainable factor to seek in a relationship. It just means they’re the jealous type, which speaks far more to their insecurity than how serious they are about you.
In case Kelley hadn’t already won me over, she cinched the deal when she said the following…
YES. YES. YES. What I love so much about this is that Peter was somehow insinuating that Kelley, in her lack of melting down, her lack of “stealing” time with him, her lack of aggression and anxiety, was somehow the one who wasn’t “ready” for a commitment. Kelley rightfully pointed out that it was in fact Peter who was displaying indicators of not being ready, running around like a chicken with its head cut off, “rewarding the drama” even if he didn’t mean to, simply by giving it any of his (very finite) time. I’m sorry to say I also couldn’t stand Peter’s response (I told you I wasn’t going to go easy on him). Note his head shake, like he feels misunderstood. In response to this, he says he “already explained” himself, which is such a cop-out. He’s treating Kelley’s concern with the same broad stroke he used to treat every woman’s concern, as though his vague “explanation” about not being wishy-washy is a one-size-fits-all response to any woman’s beef with his choices thus far.
In my humble opinion, by the time Peter “explained” himself, it was already too late. He had already proven he doesn’t have the confidence in his own judgment to disassociate interpersonal issues between women from his relationships with those women. This isn’t even advanced thinking—any lead who claims to be ready for marriage and children (and especially having himself been a contestant in that stressful situation) should be able to recognize this difference. In this scene, it became clear that Kelley is simply on a different level than Peter; we plainly saw what actual maturity and confidence look like, side by side with what it doesn’t look like. It’s funny how I gave Colton such a hard time last season, running between his women in his paranoia about being played, yet in retrospect he was a downright CHAMP in comparison.
KELSEY TALKS TO PETER
I don’t usually love it when contestants sneak over to a lead’s suite but I fully supported Kelley’s decision to do so here. She was right to want to nip in the bud the suggestion that she’s unstable and an excessive drinker. You could tell she did this in as low-key a way as possible, of course promptly undone by the fact that Peter would give her a rose, revealing to the women what she’d done. For my own sanity, I have to assume Peter was encouraged by producers to give her this rose. It’s too terrible a decision in terms of automatic ensued drama for me to believe it was solely his idea. Just let me have that! I’m going to go insane otherwise!
I’ll close with section this golden quote of Peter’s…
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ROSE CEREMONY COCKTAIL PAR—JUST KIDDING
Because this show works like clockwork and not a single event is allowed to occur without maximum manipulation anymore, the Cocktail Party is cancelled. Chris Harrison arrives to tell the women, “Earlier today, he got the clarity he needs.” Why couldn’t he have just said, “Peter has the clarity he needs”? Since everyone knows Kelsey went and spoke to Peter that very afternoon (because, remember, Peter gave her that damn rose), this wording subtly but distinctly throws Kelsey under the bus, worsening an already dicey situation for her among the women. In other words, even if this Cocktail Party was always going to be canceled (Episode 5 Cocktail Parties sometimes are), anyone nervous about getting a rose was going to blame Kelsey for not having time that night.
Note how there’s no Cocktail Party yet there’s plenty of time for the women to sit and stew with each other longer. This brings with it the priceless gift that is Sydney’s sanctimony…
OH. MY. GOD. Do I even talk about this? Can I bear it? No. I can’t. I’m not going to make it.
Thankfully, Tammy does the deed for us all by instantly mentioning the Alayah thing. Although I have my issues with Tammy she will forever hold a piece of my heart for having said the following in this moment…
First, HOLY COW these people have mouths on them. And this is coming from a self-described potty mouth! I may start swearing less if only because I’m so repulsed by some of the behavior this season and I want to be as opposite to whatever that is as possible.
Aside from the chilling way Sydney retaliates, note how she believes the Alayah saga unfolded. She’s playing the semantics game, convincing herself that the fact that she didn’t actually utter Alayah’s NAME to Peter when she first threw her under the bus means she didn’t talk shit. This is the ultimate example of not taking responsibility, of sidestepping blame, of not accepting her critical role in an unsavory situation. You guys know I always try not to judge people based on their showing on this show because I know full well filming can bring out the worst in someone. But, at least based on Sydney’s on-air showing, I honestly cannot remember disliking any single contestant as much as her.
I’ll close this episode with a shot that stood out to me. As Lexi departs, you can visibly see the divide in the house, exactly who belongs to which clique…
In case you were wondering.
SANTIAGO
Whew. Okay. Episode 6. I can do this. I CAN DO THIS.
We’re now in Santiago, Chile, and things should be off to a good start. A clean slate. Right?
No. Mykenna’s upset that she hasn’t gotten a 1-on-1 date—a standard reaction ANY person would have for not getting one by Episode 6—yet is viciously mocked for it by none other than Victoria F…
Don’t miss the cross around her neck. I’m sure God approves.
First, I REALLY dislike how Victoria F does impressions of people when talking shit about them. She did this to Alayah’s face when she confronted her about the Chase Rice story. Now she’s doing it behind Mykenna’s back in an ITM. There is just no need for this. It’s just so deeply, maliciously mean.
OH, and let’s not forget this is the same woman who has cried a LOT in this season so far, due to her feeling insecure, the very thing Mykenna is feeling. Does she really think that if she hadn’t gotten her own date by now, she wouldn’t be melting down in the exact way Mykenna had been?
Victoria F is right about one thing: If Peter really DID want time with Mykenna, he would have made it. But the kind of drawn-out, extremely public rejection Mykenna is suffering is a tough enough pill to swallow on its own, without the added ammunition of Victoria F ruthlessly mocking her.
HANNAH ANN’S 1-ON-1
It’s amazing how Hannah Ann, the season’s early frontrunner and the one seemingly primed for villain-dom, is now one of the season’s best women. There’s not much to say about this date other than the fact that a) Hannah Ann looks like Mother Teresa next to Sydney and Victoria F, and b) it’s official: Until a woman melts down, Peter won’t believe she’s either invested in him or ready for marriage.
Case in point, this date revolves around Hannah Ann’s young age and the fact that she’s never “been in love” as somehow indicating her readiness, or lack thereof, for marriage. Yet, the second she breaks down in tears and tells him the magic words, that she’s “falling” for Peter, all is right with the world again…
Peter, again equating a woman’s state of distress in this situation with what must mean a genuine interest in him, is appeased…
GoOD DeTecTIVe WoRK PeTEr
GROUP DATE
The women are taken to the set of a telenovela, where the women dress up and act in a soap opera with Peter. This was a genuinely funny date and proof that we don’t actually need manufactured conflict to be entertained. MORE OF THIS PLEASE.
The evening becomes mainly about Tammy suddenly (and rather unexpectedly) gunning for Mykenna. I talked about this over at Flare so I won’t say much here, except to express my disappointment that Tammy did this. Given she was such a favorite this season, I really wish she hadn’t succumbed to her irritation with others (or the encouragement of producers) and done this. There are already so few women to genuinely like and root for this season, and by attacking Mykenna, Tammy moved her own name from one list to the other. That said, I will give Tammy credit: This woman is ANYTHING but fake or two-faced. She says what she thinks, for better or for worse. I still wish she’d kept her opinions about Mykenna, who was harmless, to herself. It wasn’t the best look.
One more thing to note: Kelsey jumped to Mykenna’s defense against Tammy, and was also seen comforting Mykenna earlier in the episode when Mykenna hadn’t received the 1-on-1 date. Remember, Kelsey went on the offensive with Mykenna in Episode 2 over Mykenna “stealing” time she didn’t really need. Yet another reminder of how much relationships change over the many weeks of filming.
At this Cocktail Party, the first of two major shockers (to me, anyway) occurs, which is Peter sending Victoria P home. While I wasn’t super surprised by this in the grand scheme of things (we all saw him see her differently in light of her “collective 3 hours” story being debunked by Alayah), I was expecting Victoria P to just last way longer. Further, look at the body language at the start of this 1-on-1 time…
…. versus how things look a bit later, with Peter being suddenly so indifferent to Victoria P that he’s just fine knowing this would be their “last conversation”…
I definitely do not think Peter intended to send Victoria P home here, but she’s the one that wanted to talk about their stalemated relationship. I appreciate and do give Peter credit for just acting on this moment and not dragging things out, most likely waiting to send her home at that week’s or the following week’s Rose Ceremony. However, it’s still interesting to observe how automatically touchy-feely he was, stroking her in some way or another from the onset, and it got me thinking that leads must all be coached to do this. Notice how, no matter the woman or how early it is, the lead is ALWAYS giving positive reinforcement in the form of physical touch, even if he ends up sending her home that very night. One of the many little ways in which contestants are meant to have their expectations built up for maximum blindside potential.
VICTORIA F’S 1-ON-1
It’s Victoria F’s second 1-on-1—before either Mykenna’s or Natasha’s first—and Peter takes her to ride horses and, as we’d learn later, eat lots and lots of meat (despite her vegetarianism). There was a moment at the start of this date that I wanted to point out…
I find Victoria F’s way with Peter to be note-worthy, how she seems in a perpetual state of feeling nervous and overwhelmed, and vocalizing it. I mean, I get being a bit nervous for a 1-on-1 date that’s being filmed for national television, but it’s interesting how she always leads with this, regardless of the circumstances. She plays up a certain meekness, helplessness, or discomfort, like a modern day damsel in distress.
This tendency resurfaces later in the evening, when Peter tries to corner Victoria F about her feelings and she goes into yet another state of leave-the-dinner-table-worthy anxiety. But notice how it WORKS. Victoria F was the only one to get off the hook for not crying and telling Peter those trusty magic words (“I’m falling in love with you”), ultimately securing the rose anyway. I have to admit, as difficult as this evening conversation was to watch, I kind of enjoyed how she didn’t go into the expected territory of telling Peter what he wanted to hear simply to make it further.
2-ON-1 “DATE”
Not much to say about this date. It was proof that production isn’t even hiding its involvement anymore. Tammy and Mykenna are at odds? Then let’s insert a 2-on-1 date here, despite it making no sense in terms of relationships or season timeline. If I weren’t already at my wit’s end with this season, I might be amused by the unsubtlety.
The problem with this date is that we didn’t get to know either woman well enough to really feel invested in her or her relationship with Peter. There was nothing on the line because it was already obvious Peter wasn’t taking EITHER relationship seriously. It just felt like a forced waste of time. Frankly, the best thing to come out of this “date” was this hilarious shot of Mykenna (a possible Direct-Look-Into-Camera?) zooming out to reveal Tammy talking shit about her one room over…
ROSE CEREMONY
The second shocker of the episode for me was Peter sending Sydney home. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Sydney fan. But given how into her Peter seemed on their very recent date, in addition to her “best kisser” crowning, I would have thought she was making it quite a bit further. This was also proof (for the millionth time) of how the Bachelor is meant to lead on his women, further making Peter’s ongoing demands of their commitment to him irksome.
And in case you were feeling remotely sorry for Sydney in her departure, I’m sure her referencing herself in the third-person for the millionth time squashed that…
I don’t love how pissy this season’s recaps are sounding, but truthfully I don’t know what else to say.
This season sucks. :(
As always, my initial takeaways and Top 4 frontrunners can be found over at Flare, HERE (Episode 5) and HERE (Episode 6).
THE FASHION
As is often the case when I’m in the weeds, this week’s fashion section took the hit. Although I have a TON of requests here (it actually might be a record week), I still wasn’t able to get to a lot of them.
Requests
Mykenna’s Lovers + Friends dress sells HERE.
Victoria F’s Danielle Guizio mesh corset is sadly sold out (HERE).
Madison’s floral Zara top is sadly sold out (HERE).
Kelsey’s Gigi C “Charlie” swimsuit sells HERE.
Hannah Ann’s Norma Kamali swimsuit sells HERE.
Mykenna’s Agent Provocateur swimsuit sells HERE.
Hannah Ann’s h:ours mini dress sells (super on sale!) HERE.
Kelley’s Forever 21 pants are sadly sold out (they’re not even listed on the site anymore).
Sydney’s superdown dress sells (SUPER on sale!) HERE.
Mykenna’s Lulus jacket sells HERE.
Sydney’s Lulus jumpsuit sells (on sale!) HERE.
Mykenna’s Princess Polly sweater sells HERE.
Mykenna’s Lovers + Friends jumpsuit sells HERE.
Best/Worst Dressed
I have two second runners-up for Best Dressed. First up is Madison with her Group Date bikini…
In a sea of gorgeous women in swimsuits, Madison managed to stand out big time. This swimsuit on her, paired with her hair style was, as Peter aptly put it, Jane of the Jungle in the best way. She looked so gorgeous. Madison’s Montce bikini sells HERE.
My other second runner-up is Mykenna with her Episode 6 Group Date look…
I can often gauge how much I like a look by how distracted I am by it, in a good way. Every time I saw Mykenna on my screen I strained for better looks of this dress. I love how feminine it is, while the color is unexpected and fresh. Best of all, this dress is a major deal, a perfect example of a budget dress looking expensive. It looks like it could be by LoveShackFancy (a brand we saw Becca Kufrin wear a lot) but without the ballpark $400 price tag. Mykenna’s Happy Sailed dress is a total steal, HERE.
I have two runners-up for Best Dressed. First up is Kelley with her 1-on-1 dinner date look…
A classic LBD, but with a twist. This dress is obviously sexy but still in excellent taste as it’s more about the unexpected asymmetric detailing than just the baring of skin. It reminds me of something we might’ve seen Vanessa Grimaldi wear on Nick’s season. I do wish Kelley had worn her hair up (this dress begs for a Victoria P-esque tousled ponytail) but I’m being picky. Kelley’s Tiger Mist dress is sold out in Black but is still available in Red, HERE.
My other runner-up for Best Dressed is Madison with her Episode 6 Rose Ceremony look…
There have been a lot of slip dresses this season but I LOVED this one. It’s so elegant and understated, not too clingy nor too loose, and with a subtle pattern for interest. It feels timeless but modern at the same time. The creamy color is magic on Madison, and perhaps surprisingly, I even love that she wore her hair down, swept to the side like this. Madison’s Bec & Bridge dress sells HERE.
This week’s Best Dressed is… drumroll…
Natasha has such a unique, off-the-beaten-path personal style. She never looks like she’s trying too hard but always looks polished and put together. She understands the art of wearing her hair back to highlight her styling choices, as perfectly executed with this look. This look, especially paired with the fringe suede jacket, gives off such cool-girl vibes—you want to BE this girl. Natasha’s dress is by ANGL but I couldn’t find it anywhere online. Closest alternative (and look-for-less) I could find sells HERE. Her Understated Leather jacket, which you may remember from the Revolve Group Date, sells HERE. Both her earrings and necklace are by Aldo but I also couldn’t find them online. I found decent dupes for the earrings HERE and HERE, and for the necklace HERE and HERE.
Worst Dressed
No Worst Dressed this week!
There were a couple of looks I didn’t love, but nothing so offensive that it warranted my time and effort to single out.
Until next week, fellow pandas!
