THOUGHTS AFTER WEEK NINE

• I am not going to spend a lot of time on the women tell-all because it is a disastrous episode of TV. Here are just my 10 bullet point thoughts.
  • Sha-Nay-Nay is still a terrible person, but the women were also ruthless to her and the ridiculing of her dress was terrible.
  • The episode did not touch on Sha-Nay-Nay’s belittling of Elizabeth enough and how vindictive she really was toward real issues
  • Sarah didn’t say much but then handled herself fairly well. It was not an utter disaster for her.
  • They really gave Teddi a Bachelorette edit…but I have zero interest in that.
  • Sierra talked WAYYYY to much for someone who did not have a connection with Clayton in the slightest. She was giving an audition for paradise
  • Jesse Palmer did a good job hosting. He knew his duty and he used silence like a weapon like Chris Harrison used to do.
  • All of these women seemed to know what happened with fantasy suites and the finale, and that adds a bit more excitement for me because they were so vocal about it.
  • Everyone was saying Teddi was in the black Bachelorette dress…but so was Elizabeth.
  • Clayton look incredibly uncomfortable. He did not want to be there and he did not have a good time.
  • Did Eliza say a single word? Like, a single one?
• Alright, so now let’s get into the fantasy suites and how Clayton utterly fucked himself.
  • CLAYTON YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT.
    • We know going into this episode that Clayton says he is in love with the three women all at the same time.
      • Has not only dug himself a six foot grave, but he has dug it 18 feet because with every single date and mistake he has made his funeral in the public eye worse.
    • So here is the thing, let’s sit down for some analysis here, in particular what happens with Susie.
      • Can Clayton be falling for these three women at the same time? => Yes, in theory that is plausible and passable.
      • Should Clayton tell them all that he is felling this way towards them? =. No, this is where he made a misstep.
        • I understand that Clayton wants to validate the feelings that the women are having towards him, but he needed to be smarter about doing it. He is not wrong for wanting to give back with what the women are giving him, but do it in a different way.
          • Why doesn’t Clayton share more personal stuff to show that he is trusting them more? We do not know a lot about him and unless the show is just not allowing us to see that side of Clayton…the small-town man has not reached past his own inner fences
      • So Clayton slept with Rachel and Gabby. That is before we get to Susie.
        • We ABSOLUTELY knew that Rachel and Clayton were going to be intimate. Rachel also knew it as well and she was not necessarily shy about it .
        • Was a little surprised that Gabby and Clayton got physical, but again, I do not have a problem with it. The physical relationship does matter. Physical chemistry is a thing, even it is not just sex in terms of physical stuff.
        • Clayton is right to give himself over to the process, but he is wrong in thinking that he is immune from fault for his actions.
          • Now Susie enters the fray.
      • Susie was very vocal about the fact that she is not comfortable with Clayton sleeping and spending the night with other women. She sees sex as a very intimate thing between two people who are committed to each other. That unfortunately, is not how Clayton approached the week.
        • Again…nothing is necessarily wrong with either mindset.
        • After Susie has the best one-on-one day date with Clayton at the crazy ass Iceland spa…things get down to the nitty-gritty at dinner.
          • Clayton professes his love for Susie…but the aftermath is not what he expects at all. Susie asks if he is in love with either Rachel or Gabby…to which he replies that he is in love with all three of them in some sort of special way.
            • Again…not the answer that Susie wanted.
          • Susie then asks if Clayton was intimate with the other women before her…and Clayton doesn’t necessarily hide from it saying that he did sleep with someone…eventually he says that he slept with both Rachel and Gabby.
            • Susie makes it known that she sees this as a dealbreaker. Even though she loves him, she has this value instilled in her about physical intimacy that she can not deviate from.
              • Clayton DOES NOT take this well AT ALL. You can see the anger steaming from his face and Susie is explaining that she didn’t tell Clayton of this because she wanted him to embrace the process as he deemed necessary.
                • Clayton says that is unfair to him because how is he supposed to know? Well Clayton, guess what, you kept secrets about how you feel and your intentions…someone else keeping themselves guarded for the sanctity of their own mental and emotional process is bad?
              • Susie walks off to gather herself, as does Clayton. However, Susie is upset, and Clayton is just angry.
                • Clayton is saying he feels invalidated in all different ways, and he is saying that what Susie just did made their whole relationship non-consequential. WHICH IS AN INSANE TAKE.
          • Clayton has no idea how to disagree about being disagreeable when it comes to emotional problems or compromises. In all honestly, I think both Clayton and Susie have valid points about how they interpret fantasy suites, how they value physical connection and what it means to them. They have the right to feel and act the way they did.
            • What Clayton ROYALLY fucked up was his reaction to Susie’s interpretation. He got angry. He got pissed. He got rather vindictive. He could not see the forest through the trees that Susie had he have different points of views and they are not reconcilable at this time. That is life. That is timing. That is just what the real world is. Sometimes, life happens and things don’t work out.
              • I have to think that Clayton has never had this life experience before and he had to learn about it on live TV with millions of people watching. It is not an easy lesson to learn and it is not fun to watch yourself fuck up. I have had this fuckups before and it is cringe to look back on them. It is amplified for Clayton.
          • Susie handled herself well in this scenario. The only think that she could have done better is take as much blame as she did, because she did nothing wrong. That may just be from the fact that she is the minor character in Clayton’s journey so she feels guilty for possibly ruining it, but in reality she did not do anything wrong. She stuck to her guns, had moral fortitude and values, and stuck by them.
            • Susie has a massive leg up now to be The Bachelorette. She was wronged by a man who misunderstood her and put too much pressure on herself. Now she can be the main character of her story if she becomes the lead of the show.
      • Alright, let’s now just touch on some of the random thoughts on the fantasy suite episode.
        • Helicopter date for Rachel has been done before with Susie…and the dune buggy date with Gabby is not original either
          • Rachel spent more time looking at Clayton in the helicopter rather than looking outside at the landscape.
          • Gabby did end up embracing the dune buggy and it was hilarious to watch her scream and squeal.
        • Iceland looks GORGEOUS. I want to go there.
        • Susie looked GORGEOUS (yes, I used it again) in her green dress.
        • I am very much looking forward to Clayton’s dad giving him the riot act on the finale. He seems to be speaking a lot of sense that Clayton has forgotten.
        • Gabby had such bad messy bed hair when she walked back in with Rachel and Susie there. It was very funny when it was acknowledged and then the cut to Susie’s “oh gawd why me” smile.
        • Gabby’s dresses are the least elegant of the women and that is who she is. She is the most personable of the bunch.
        • Clayton is going to pick Rachel…but he and Gabby are the most compatible.
          • Gabby seems to really go after Clayton next week.
        • Do we think that Clayton just ends up alone?

POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK NINE

2. Rachel

(Last Week 2)

1. Gabby

(Last Week 1)

The finale of Clayton’s season of The Bachelor begins tomorrow, Monday, March 14th at 8 PM. There is also an episode on Tuesday…so get ready for four hours of drama. Let’s see if Clayton gets a happy ending.

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