Episode 9
I’m not going to lie, I am THRILLED we’re at Episode 9 and there should only be a few more weeks of this. It feels like it has both flown by yet also gone at a snail’s pace.
This is the last recap I’m sending out from Victoria, BC! We’ve done 3 shows, just 1 to go. It’s been nearly 5 weeks and I am so ready to be home. :)
LAST WEEK, CONT’D
Last week left off with Madison having a post-Rose Ceremony chat with Peter. This was so spoiled in the previews that what she had to tell him was really no surprise, but I still wanted to capture it as a .GIF because it’s worth noting that you can see the majority of this statement actually come out of her mouth…
I didn’t want to comment on this until we fully saw the words come out of her mouth—I didn’t want to make assumptions based on possible frankenbitten voiceovers. On first watch I was still ever-so-slightly wary of the fact that we don’t see “move forward in this” come out of her mouth—I wouldn’t put it past production to take Madison’s concerns and mold them into an ultimatum-ish statement. However, there’s enough evidence throughout the episode to suggest this is what she meant, even if it’s not what she said verbatim.
As daunting as it can sometimes be to write about meatier topics like this (I have to be in the mood to take them on), I really do enjoy watching moments like the above. It raises several interesting talking points: Was Madison wrong to put Peter in this position? Should she be more accepting of his predicament given the format of this show and the fact that she signed up for this? Is the above even really an ultimatum, or a mild threat, or neither? Was it Luke P-esque? (As I said over at Flare, I don’t think it is.) It’s just nice to talk about more than Victoria F’s antics or a bunch of young women spewing rumors about one another. No matter your views on Madison’s religious beliefs or her “standards” for Peter or even whether or not you believe in traditional monogamy, the above sparks a legitimate conversation and that in and of itself is refreshing for this season. I’ll circle back to this discussion later.
The scene closes with Peter expressing just how much Madison means to him, a moment that had me laughing out loud…
It always kills me how leads can say this with no irony or awareness of how absurd a statement this is. Don’t get me wrong: I actually do think Peter likes Madison the most and is probably picking her. But to qualify those feelings with her being the FIRST woman he told he was falling in love with is… um… not convincing.
GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA
The women fly to Gold Coast, Australia (jealous!) to continue their “journey” with Peter, and it rapidly becomes clear that despite the many examples of obvious producer puppeteering we’ve had to witness so far this season, they were just getting started. I groaned at the timing of Madison’s following voiceover with Hannah Ann’s arrival at THEIR SHARED hotel suite…
Ugh, this was sick. For the record, on my season, I clearly remember being told by a producer in Episode 6 that, from Hometowns onwards, it would get better. Not better in terms of “feelings” for the lead, of course, but better in terms of being forced to live and constantly chat with roommates who are dating the same guy as you. (I was really starting to lose it in Episode 6, living with and being forced to have staged chats several times a day, day in and day out. That’s not to say I was on bad terms with any of the women, but when there’s no escape EVER, trust me, you start to unravel.) This producer told me I only had to make it one more week, through Episode 7, before I could experience the relief of Hometowns and finally going through the rest of the process living alone. What I’m getting at is producers fully KNOW the impact forcing these women to continue to live together has, and that’s not even taking into account Madison’s issues with Peter having sex with the other ladies.
What further makes this sick is how it’s obvious the women had NO CLUE what was planned for them. They naturally assumed their living situation would be just as every other contestant’s was before them. Thus, I enjoyed this quick moment that not only showed Hannah Ann’s humor, but that also pulled back the curtain…
I love how she outright says, “I had no idea what I was walking into.” You can just imagine a producer nudging her towards that door, saying, “Ok, there’s your room. Why don’t you check it out?” Meanwhile, Madison was there by the window, mic’ed and ready, yet completely clueless as to what was about to transpire. My original suspicion was that Madison was told she was filming B-roll (given that close-up shot of her looking pensive), but since B-rolls aren’t necessarily mic’ed, it’s also very possible she was just told to wait for something to happen. If anything, she probably expected Peter to stop by, not a couple of roommates.
HANNAH ANN’S OVERNIGHT
For Hannah Ann’s overnight date, Peter takes her jet-skiing followed by a standard beach make-out sesh. Hannah Ann tells Peter she was bothered to see Peter having a difficult time, that she imagines it’s hard for him to “compartmentalize each connection”. I’ve got to say, Hannah Ann is really great about thinking of Peter’s position, his feelings, just generally considering his emotions and well-being. It’s possible it’s just what we’re shown, but it feels like she does this more than the other two remaining women.
I mentioned over at Flare that I never would have imagined Hannah Ann would become a favorite of mine but she really has shot to the top of my list. It feels like Hannah Ann’s destiny early in this season was to be a villain: the repeated Night One stealing (which, given the rest of her behavior this season, seems producer-influenced), the First Impression Rose rewarding all that stealing, Champagne-gate suggesting she was calculated and/or cruel, the fact that she’s a working model and would be on all these modeling themed dates where she would presumably shine and make other women jealous. Thus, it’s all the more impressive that Hannah Ann is an easy favorite at this point; it means she consciously took control of her own narrative—something more difficult to do than it seems. It’s not like you can just seize control—you can only remain cool as a cucumber (not easy in this environment), well-liked among the other women (enough where no one feels inspired to talk shit about you), and just generally dodging drama. Taking control to prevent becoming a villain requires a certain degree of passivity, something that is hard to pinpoint, and something incredibly difficult to execute in an environment that constantly encourages proactivity and aggression. In short, Hannah Ann isn’t just a pretty face—she is SMART. We’ve seen evidence of her great sense of humor over the weeks, but she’s also just easygoing and chill.
Speaking of easygoing, during this beach chat Hannah Ann tells Peter, “Whatever happens this week, I just want you to know that, like, I will still be here… I will put forth that sacrifice and that understanding and that patience.” This was SUCH a stark (and rather specific) contrast to Madison’s views. It was also completely unnecessary to even discuss (it’s almost a given at this point that you simply accept what the lead does during Fantasy Suite week), so much so that I have to wonder if a producer subtly steered her towards talking about this. Nothing overt, just a “Peter’s under a lot of pressure, it’d probably be good to let him know you have his back.” It’s an interesting—and highly probable—thought to consider.
Peter has me yo-yo-ing hard. On one hand, I see the good in him. It’s obvious he has the best of intentions and is just a good guy with a good heart who means well. About once an episode, he’ll do or say something that I totally agree with and support, and I’ve been making a point of singling those moments out in this recaps. However, on the other hand, he continues to do and say things that drive me, excuse my French, FUCKING NUTS. Thus, throughout this recap I have a delightful series of observations entitled: Things Peter Says And Does That Make Me Cray™. My only regret is not starting this sooner in the season.
Exhibit A of Things Peter Says And Does That Make Me Cray™ takes place during the “dinner” portion of Hannah Ann’s overnight, when Peter decides to tell Hannah Ann about her father’s words of warning against using the L-word…
Are you KIDDING me. NO. THIS IS CLEARLY NOT WHAT HANNAH ANN’S FATHER MEANT. This had me groaning as I furiously typed in my notes: “Hannah Ann’s father OBVIOUSLY meant: tell her you’re falling in love with her ONLY if you’re 100% sure you’re going to PICK her. NOT: tell her you’re falling in love with her only if you’re truly falling in love with her.”
The difference here is distinct. One is about Peter making it about HIS feelings (an unfortunate trend of his), while the other is about considering and mitigating HER feelings. The irony is, Peter thinks he’s telling Hannah Ann he’s falling in love with her to make her feel at ease. After the above moment, he says, “I don’t want you to worry about us.” Last week, in the context of telling Hannah Ann’s dad what he intended to tell her, he said, “I don’t want her to have any doubt about that.” Clearly, Peter has good intentions here; he wants to appease Hannah Ann, to make her feel safe and secure. But THAT SECURITY IS ONLY BENEFICIAL IF HE CHOOSES HER. Otherwise, it’s literally the polar opposite: it’s harmful and cruel. I could not STAND how Peter didn’t read between the lines of Hannah Ann’s father’s warning when it was pretty damn clear what he meant. It just bugs me how Peter obviously seems to think he knows best, how his feelings for Hannah Ann and how he thinks he should make Hannah Ann feel somehow trumps HER OWN FATHER’S wishes. I just can’t. I’m so frustrated with this guy. Facepalm after facepalm.
For the sake of my sanity and because we’ve still a ways to go (give me strength!), I’ll close this date on a lighter note…
Gotta love the little meta moments when folks reference the ridiculous details of the very show they’re on. It’s clear Hannah Ann knew the Fantasy Suite date card was coming (after all, she didn’t ask what it was—she immediately referenced it as “It”!), but she wasn’t sure where, when, or how it would appear. It also very much reminded me of Peter’s own Fantasy Suite card reveal…
VICTORIA F’S OVERNIGHT
Peter meets Victoria F and immediately addresses last week’s drama involving his ex’s accusations about Victoria F, and by “addresses” I mean he apologizes, blindly sides with her, and tells her he trusts her and has her back. Now, I do think it’s nice for one to stay loyal to his partner and always have her back, but frankly, Victoria F didn’t really do much to earn this trust. Not only did Victoria F never even attempt to explain her side of this story (as far as we were shown anyway), she retaliated angrily and if anything, gave him reason to be MORE wary than he was to begin with. I’m not saying she should entertain every claim made against her, but as I said last week, if she were completely innocent, it’d be easy to respond without exploding. And it’d be one thing if she was accused of unsavory behavior by another woman in the house, but when it’s by an ex of his whom he’s known for many years, it felt like a pretty big oversight to let her off the hook without even the flimsiest of explanations. At any rate, the way he glossed this over further solidified my opinion that Peter just wants to explore this relationship in the bedroom and not much further. As Kara hilariously put in the comments last week: “Peter kept Victoria because Little Peter wants the Fantasy Suite.” 😂 (Totally stealing “Little Peter” for the rest of this recap, by the way.) I’m not saying Peter doesn’t legitimately care for or about Victoria F, but if he was really planning on proposing to her and a person he knows in real life raised these alarming concerns about her, there’s no way he wouldn’t be more perturbed by them.
As the two make out in a helicopter, our Bachelor serves up Exhibit B of Things Peter Says And Does That Make Me Cray™…
You guys knew I’d be making a .GIF of this. This is an obviously juvenile viewpoint and in my opinion proves that Peter isn’t quite mature enough for marriage. Either that or he IS mature enough for marriage and he’s justifying keeping Victoria F around for as long as he has, for Little Peter’s sake. Neither is a great look, but for what it’s worth, I happen to think the latter scenario is just as likely as the former. I say that because he doesn’t seem “bored” by his relationships with Madison or Hannah Ann despite them not giving him the “fire” (aka, the constant conflict) that Victoria F has.
I’m about to yo-yo back in Peter’s favor now. When Peter asks Victoria F to pinpoint things about her last relationship that have caused her to behave the way she is with him (a claim SHE had made, not him), she does her usual “I don’t know” + finger-hair-brushing routine. I appreciated that Peter HELD HER TO IT and pressed her to not cop-out of answering…
It was too long to make a .GIF of the following (my 20MB image limit doesn’t tolerate Victoria F’s ellipses), but after the above moment of Peter pressing further…
Peter: I’m not saying it was right, but there was a REASON you didn’t feel good enough.
Victoria F: I mean, I just didn’t feel good enough because it made me, like…. I don’t know…… just….. question everything, I guess? I don’t know…. Like, does that make sense? Is that even…... anything? Like……………………….. I don’t know what you want.
I can’t tell whether Victoria F leans into this ditsy persona or if it’s really who she is. She doesn’t actually seem dim to me—she’s shown moments of being quick-witted—so I have to wonder if it’s just a serious lack of self reflection. It’s almost like she’d heard someone say their past relationship had caused them to behave a certain way, or a friend told her her ex didn’t make her feel good enough or made her “question everything”. It’s like she heard those generic expressions and then parroted them out without actually considering the whys or hows of how they applied to her experience.
After this brief shining moment of Peter’s, he goes back to his Things Peter Says And Does That Make Me Cray™ ways. Exhibit C…
There are not enough facepalms in the world for this statement. Struggling during what should be the honeymoon period of a relationship is not something one should “appreciate”. Easy does not monotone make. A challenging relationship is not the same as BEING CHALLENGED in a relationship. That is all.
Victoria F proceeds to cry in her ITM about how much she loves Peter now (all it took was him agreeing with her, unconditionally siding with her, never questioning her, and telling her how great she is). I think I’ve mentioned before (I forget where and I can’t be bothered to look!) that I was explicitly refused tissues during teary ITMs. (It wasn’t like I just wasn’t offered them—I ASKED and was refused.) It would appear some things don’t change…
Isn’t it sad when a contestant on a very successful reality TV show has to resort to looking for a clean spot along the floor-grazing hem of her own dress with which to dry her tears? You’d think this was Survivor or something.
The following morning Victoria returns to the hotel suite for what has to be the most vapid exchange we’ve ever heard…
I laughed SO HARD at the above. I immediately put my headphones in Andy’s ears so he could also have a laugh. The above is so cartoonish it seriously sounds like a line from Mean Girls.
Also, it makes me sad that we’ve not yet outgrown considering being called “skinny” a compliment. I don’t love imagining young girls watching this show and hearing anyone, especially someone as tiny as Victoria F, saying “thank you” to being called “skinny”. :(
MADISON’S OVERNIGHT
It’s finally time for the meat of the episode: Madison’s long-awaited overnight date. Shocking nobody, hers is last.
The two climb to the top of the tallest skyscraper in Gold Coast to the tune of gems like “Today is really big to see if we can grow our relationship to higher heights or it could all come crashing down.”
In the evening, Madison addresses the elephant in the room and, in doing so, shows how she’s different from last season’s Luke P…
I spoke about this over at Flare so I won’t go into too much detail here, but remember, Luke P did not even RECOGNIZE how his judgmental expectations of Hannah B’s Fantasy Suite actions could be perceived as an ultimatum. Madison, in even pointing out how she’s not trying to give an ultimatum, shows that she’s truly not trying to control what Peter does. If anything, you get the sense she wished she hadn’t needed to say anything at all, but she was trying to nip in the bud something she knew would bother her deeply. The above clip shows an awareness of how what she’s saying could be perceived; she’s going out of her way to explain why it’s about how his actions would make her feel, not necessarily how she feels about his actions.
Madison once again makes it clear that she would struggle to move forward in their relationship had Peter slept with someone else that week. He responds, “You’re telling me you’d give up a forever with us because of something that happened this week?” This response rounds out Things Peter Says And Does That Make Me Cray™ with Exhibit D. I found this reply to be subtly but distinctly manipulative. He’s downplaying the importance of sex that week (making it sound insignificant compared to a “forever” with them) and putting the onus on HER (that “forever” being something she would so callously “give up”), despite the onus VERY MUCH having been on HIM. Also, if “something that happened this week” was so irrelevant, why did he have to go stick Little Peter in women he wasn’t planning on proposing to, FULL WELL KNOWING Madison would be incredibly hurt by it?
The fact of the matter is, Madison’s religion, virginity, and views on sex aside (they truly have nothing to do with this conversation), her reasoning is at its core not remotely unreasonable…
Basically, to be A-OK with the above, you’d have to be:
a) accepting of the fact that there IS INDEED a power imbalance and Peter is allowed to flaunt his role as Bachelor to enjoy sex with multiple women (something, with his Bachelorette fame, he easily could have stayed home to do).
b) deeply confident in your relationship, not remotely jealous, and in terms of monogamy/exclusivity, pretty open-minded.
At this point, despite the fact that I’ve always thought Peter feels the most strongly for Madison (I’ve had her in my top spot over at Flare since the premiere), I have to imagine that he just isn’t choosing her at the end of all this. It would simply make the most sense if he picks Hannah Ann. He told Hannah Ann he was falling in love with her despite her father’s wishes. I’ll put it this way: if he doesn’t choose Hannah Ann, he has shamelessly led her on to an unnecessary extent. Crucially, he dismissed Madison’s crystal clear (and, in my opinion, perfectly valid) wishes for this week. Perhaps the side of me that got so frustrated with Peter’s actions here is just too attached to the fact that I think Peter’s picking Madison? Maybe I’m reading this all wrong and he’s just not as into her as I think? At the end of the day, Madison’s following ITM sums it all up better than I possibly can…
As always, I’d love to read your thoughts on this matter. Do you think Peter favors Madison but just couldn’t keep Little Peter in his pants? Or has Hannah Ann overtaken Madison in this race? Or does Peter REALLY NOT KNOW who he’s choosing? More importantly, should there be a @LittlePeter Twitter account?
That’s it for Episode 9! As always, my initial takeaways and frontrunner breakdown can be found over at Flare.
THE FASHION
Requests
Peter’s UNTUCKit shirt sells (on sale!) HERE.
Madison’s Finders Keepers tank is sadly sold out (HERE).
Victoria F’s Reformation top sells HERE.
Ok, so this isn’t ground-breaking by any means. I just really like this top. Like, a LOT. Like, if it were still available I’d have put my life on hold to order it immediately. The thing about button-down shirts is I often find them too long, too fitted, too oversized, too sheer, too opaque, too casual, too office-y…. I love how this one gives the look of being tied in a knot but without the bulk that actually tying a knot adds. I love how it has those elasticized 3/4 length sleeves give the look of rolled up sleeves but without the tightness/restrictiveness rolling up sleeves can cause. Ugh, you guys, I want this shirt! WAH! It would seem you guys agreed with me because this was BY FAR the most requested item of the week. Victoria F’s Zara top is tragically sold out (HERE); the best alternative I could find sells HERE. Her Agolde shorts sell HERE.
This week’s Best Dressed is… drumroll, please…
Even I’m a bit surprised by how much I liked this dress. If I’m honest, if I saw this online, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. It’s kind of basic on the model; just another pale pink floral dress. However, on Hannah Ann, this was positively sublime. The dress just floated so beautifully on and around her as she walked. I love the high neck and the exposed back, and while I’m not usually a hi-low hemline person, this dress has me reconsidering that. It looked like it was in constant movement, like a fluffy pink (yet somehow not over-the-top) cloud. She looked like a raspberry mousse dessert, and I really mean that in the best way! My only beef? You know what’s coming… think about how gorgeous a tousled chignon or low-do would have been with this. I just found her hair slightly too casual for this dress, but I’m being super picky. Hannah Ann’s Michael Costello dress sells HERE. I sleuthed for a look-for-less but had no luck. :(
Worst Dressed
No Worst Dressed this week!
Until next week, fellow pandas!
