THE START

• So now we are in Budapest, Hungary. This is a beautiful place and the epitome of romance…according to Zach. Because every single place is that they go to. We learn that this place is the birthplace of magic as well. A real looker of a place.
• Zach gives another little debriefing with Jesse to talk about the state of anyone.
  • The few things learned from this one-on-one talk is that Zach does feel some doubt with Kat, and he fears that time away from Greer will have affected their relationship. I would like to say a “no duh” to this.

KAITY ONE-ON-ONE DATE

• Kaity gets a second one-on-one date. Everyone is happy for her…except for Kat. She again begins to have a melt down and says that she feels “not chosen”. Well Kat, you were not chosen. So…how are you going to deal?
• I do not like Kaity’s outfit. I am sorry, the twisted mid-drift look is just a bit too much.
• The two get to go to the Budapest Castle Hill Funicular and overlook the city from the top of the building. It is very pretty. We can acknowledge that.
• The vibe up to this point is just a tad off? I am not sure if it is just Emma and I who notice, but just seems like things are a bit forced.
• There is a cute moment atop that kinda breaks the ice, at least to the viewer. Zach mentions that they don’t know a lot about each other, and that he wants to know more. He asks Kaity her favorite color, and Zach reveals that his original last name was “Shacklecross.”
  • This is one of the few things that we know about Zach. He opened up voluntarily and shared us a fact about him, not just his personality.
    • This is a major talking point. Knowing how one acts and how one interprets things is part of getting to know someone, sure. But also important things are favorite color, favorite TV show, favorite movie or favorite food. We get some of these small fun facts in the bios at the start of every season, but we see very little of it once the show actually begins.
  • So this may prompt someone to know someone’s middle name…which always comes up on hometown dates.
• Now we have this typewriter where Kaity and Zach supposedly write each other’s poems. I just don’t think they wrote their own poems.
  • For one, Kaity spelled her name wrong.
  • For two, Zach seems to be a slow typer.
  • This is just me being a conspiracy theorist because believing anything in this show is hard sometimes.
  • I would like to have a typewriter but a small one that could act as just a decorative bit on a desk.
• The dinner portion has Kaity and Zach goign to the older bathhouse in Hungary. It is a visually stunning building, no doubt about that. The actual bathhouse portion could maybe use a little bit more lighting for the camera’s sake, but maybe Kaity and Zach want the dark shadows to themselves.
  • Do you remember when Zach asked Kaity to stay with her in the museum on their first one-on-one? Did they hook up then? Do we know? Do we think?
• Kaity tells Zach about how she has not had a traditional father figure in her life.
  • She did not meet him after he first left until she was 16 years old, and that led to a natural fission between her and him because milestones were missed.
  • Kaity’s mom did remarry, but then that man left when she was in eighth grade. She has lost two father figures. That is tough.
  • This story is both incredibly depressing and empowering. Kaity and Gabi are the two most happy-go-lucky people left, and for Kaity to have this positive outlook after everything is kinda crazy.
• Kaity is going to hometowns. There was never a doubt.

GROUP DATE

• Going to say this first. Ariel looks so good in that orange dress. It is really not fair at all. Not even remotely close to fair.
• Alright, moving one. Charity, Ariel, Gabi and Kat are all walking into a theater with strobe lights and a dark atmosphere. There we meet Labib Malik, who is a self-described mentalist and magician.
• This group date involves…Zach not talking at all?
• I really hated this group date. Before I even get into it, I gotta say that I was just against it. It is the ladies being put in a chair and put into a vulnerable headspace.
  • This is just a substitute for the therapy dates we have had in past seasons, disguised for some magic and mentalism.
• The heart trick is cute, and Gabi gets it on her hand. I wonder if this was a choice by the magician, by Zach, or by the producers? What is the significance? I want to know.
• So now Labib is going to read everyone’s mind. Time to get emotional.
  • Gabi starts off and gets the easiest question. She describes herself as a glass box in a desert, which leads to Labib writing down two words “Safety & Comfort” which were the two words she was thinking about.
    • Gabi has the most genuine take on this by cursing. She is freaked out but not i a destructive way.
  • Ariel sits down and Labib brings about the idea that Ariel likes to protect her heart at any cost and she is a mystery
    • Is being a mystery bad? I do not like that being a negative thing. Nothing wrong with a little air of mystery in someone. Keep someone on their toes.
  • Charity hops in the hot seat and it is revealed that she has been cheated on and her exes infidelity has left her hurt and somewhat cautious. All understandable things.
    • I do appreciate how we just have someone being cheated on. I mean poor Charity. Don’t get me wrong. It sucks. But it is nice that it is actually this simple.
  • Kat takes the stand, and her balance begins to crumble immediately.
    • She confesses to the fact that she has thought about walking away from the process before because it has been really hard. She also says “she thinks” she is ready to have Zach meet her family.
• The after party is not filled with too much drama. With four women, there is plenty of time to share. (Oh, it is here I should say that Brooklyn got the second one-on-one date.)
  • Ariel sits down with Zach and begins telling him about her family. Her dad seems like a fucking hoot. She says that her dad thought The Bachelor was just a bunch of orgies. I want to meet this man because I bet he has some crazy stories.
    • Zach eats all of this up. He loves it.
  • Charity is up next and she makes it known as best she can that she is ready for engagement.
    • Charity returns to the group with a smile on her face. Her biggest one since her one-on-one date.
      • Here is my hot take. I think Charity ends up winning the entire thing.
  • Gabi is having a stressful time and she references her super ADHD. She’s worried that her roaming brain and crazy shifting life walk will scare him away. Zach doesn’t seem to mind at all and he really does seem moved that Gabi opened up about it.
    • Zach ends up with Gabi against a wall and they are making out. That is pretty hot. Won’t lie. Emma was impressed.
  • So then there is Kat.
    • She admits that she is having a hard time and she admits to sometimes looking for a way out of hard situations. That is why she thought about leaving the process. But easier isn’t always better.
    • Kat hoped that this vulnerability and apparent make-up with Zach would be enough to get the group rose.
• WRONG! GABI GETS THE GROUP ROSE!
  • I thought that after Ariel lightened the mood with the stories of her dad that she would get the rose, but Gabi got the hot make-out shots so I called this one happening.
  • Oh, who would have guessed. Kat is upset again and letting anyone know.

GREER RETURN (AND GOODBYE)

• So Greer is back. She is happy to be back. She is optimistic. She wants to grow her relationship with Zach.
  • Meanwhile…lets remember that Zach was pretty open about there being a lack of time with Greer and that the connection will have suffered from that.
• Greer says it has been THREE WEEKS since they saw each other? Holy shit.
• Greer has to know that her going to his hotel room just to talk is a goodbye. That is why she dressed really good for it. She knows, she knew it.
• The mid-drift is really in style. Kaity wore it on her one-on-one and Greer does here. The style is just everywhere.
• We knew this break-up was happening. It is inevitable. She was on the chopping block BEFORE she got COVID because of their awkward Zoom conversation (where Zach was in more of the wrong I’d say), so this was just the inevitable popping up.
• Greer was a whisper talker when she was crying. She did not want her voice to crack at all.
• We did not see Greer with the other ladies. I think that was probably for the best. No need to stir up their nerves more. We did not even see Zach address it with them, and nor did we see a producer tell anyone or anything. It was almost like it was just swept underneath the rug.
• To those asking why she was flown all the way from wherever to whevever just to get shutdown…I mean what are we talking about here? This is the show. This is The Bachelor. We are here for the breakups.
• Greer will be on Bachelor In Paradise.

BROOKLYN ONE-ON-ONE

• Here we have Brooklyn. The past couple episodes have featured her being frustrated with Kat and fighting on Charity’s behalf. Besides that…there is not much.
• This is just a hangout date…kinda of what Kaity had as well? Aren’t these two dates kinda one in the same?
• Brooklyn and Zach get on bikes…and does Brooklyn know how to ride a bike? Is the bike too big? Are the brakes broken?
  • Brooklyn is constantly using her feet to break and help turn. This was like me when I had to ride a broken bike for a while. It is a dangerous ride.
• Brooklyn and Zach get to a hot air balloon, and this is where I know things are going terribly wrong. The conversation was really shallow and forced. Kaity and Zach had prompted depth with the random facts, but Brooklyn i dancing on the surface of the water. Zach isn’t asking any followup questions or really asking any hard hitting questions at all.
• Then Brooklyn and Zach go into a warm bathing pool…for the public use? Why are there so many public people there with them?
  • Much like Ariel and Zach at the naked spa, there is an older couple in the pool that Brooklyn and Zach talk with. They are playing chess, which is pretty damn cool, but again this being in a public setting is just very strange to me.
  • They are chanting “kiss, kiss, kiss” – this is too heavy handed
  • There is a fuck ton of steam which at least is a cool visual.
• So now we get to the dinner portion of the one-on-one date.
  • Brooklyn’s dad is not in the picture. Something in common with her fellow blond Zach dater Kaity.
  • Brooklyn talks about her grandfather who raised her. Similar to Gabi.
  • After her past relationship which she described in painful detail on their first one-on-one date, Brooklyn promised to not bring a man home unless it someone she was completely confident in that she could see a forever with.
    • At this statement…Zach needs to leave to take a moment to breath and think.
      • Uhhh yikes, that is a bad time. Never a good omen.
      • Zach says that “If I’m not feeling sure, who am I to be in that house?”
      • This is Zach thinking things through to a really sad final point. He doesn’t feel the utmost confidence and he doesn’t want to break Brooklyn’s promise for her.
        • This is actually a hard realization for Zach I think. Brooklyn knows what is happening when he leaves to think, but it is still hard. Not easy at all.
  • Brooklyn gets sent home, which means her suitcase needs to be picked up…
    • The ladies are shook. They are so incredibly shook. Hugs for days with those in the hotel on the couch.
      • I just want to know if the producers always tell them to gather on the couches at the end of one-on-one dates, or if they only do it when the women gets sent home.

COCKTAIL PARTY & ROSE CEREMONY

• Skipping the cocktail party. Good. Just get to what everyone wants.
• If there was a cocktail party, do we think that there would have been a different choice for Zach? Do we think the same person would be getting sent home?
• In this rose ceremony we have Kaity and Gabi with roses already. They are sitting pretty. Well standing pretty. You know what I mean.
• A rather predictable rose ceremony. I, and the world, knew that Zach was not going to send home Ariel. He affirmed everyone’s suspicions by giving her the first rose.
• When it comes down to Kat and Charity…yea I am happy and biased that Charity moves onto hometowns.
  • I have never been a a huge fan of Kat, before or after the stealing Zach for a kiss incident. She just seems a bit selfish. It is not in a malicious way, but it was always a little around her.
  • Kat also had the biggest “I knew this was coming” realization.
  • Also Kat asking “Why?” to Zach right away is something not everyone does, so major props to her for watching to hear that right away
• The final four does contain mostly people who were free of drama for the majority of the show. The only one that was kinda caught up in it was Charity, but that was because Kat is the one who started it.
  • Charity did have that dig thought during a hotel hangout session that kinda sent Kat over the edge and unleashed Brooklyn last week.
• In the previews…
  • Is Zach going to have any good hometown dates? It really doesn’t seem like it.
    • Ariel’s brother made out to be the big bad.
  • Zach is 100% going to sleep with someone in fantasy suits when he said that he wasn’t going to and that is going to cause major chaos and I am all for it and can you tell I am excited about it because I just keep on extending this sentence to get the max effect regarding the awkwardness that is going to ensue when he has to tell everyone?
    • Perhaps One of the ladies will be more upset that there isn’t sexy time and that will make him angry or cry? Highly doubt it.
  • There is the women tell all…which is a thing…that I am not very excited for.

(MY) POWER RANKINGS

No. 4
Charity

(Last Week No. 3)

No. 3
Gabi

(Last Week No. 4)

No. 2
Ariel

(Last Week No. 2)

No. 1
Kaity

(Last Week No. 1)

ELIMINATED: Kat, Greer, Brooklyn

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