Life’s a Cruise: Bachelorette Week 4
We start back up where we left off: HAYDEN trying out the old “he said, she said” except we have already seen the footage of what really happened last week. He called Gabby “rough around the edged” and made her cry. When called out for the way he phrased his rejection, HAYDEN then called Gabby and Rachel “bitches” for being upset, comparing the two Bachelorettes to his ex. And it sets the tone for the episode.
Apparently, this season we’re entirely skipping the typical domestic travel and scripted excitement over Cleveland, Ohio. The guys head to France and after multiple seasons of all-in-one locations seasons, I’m excited.
The girls re-hash last week’s traumatic rose ceremony in a French coffee shop and it’s giving Sex & the City, talking insecurities and men and romance under the Eiffel Tower.
Unlike other seasons in the past, this international travel trip is giving budget. Instead of the lavish hotels and constant travel and exploration, the men will be staying on a cruise when not on dates. That will also be their primary form of transportation. And it is OBVIOUSLY sponsored. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was free. And after all the drama with airlines the past few months, I don’t blame them (although this seems like an absolute NIGHTMARE). I stand corrected, though. This season IS giving Cleveland, Ohio vibes.
JASON and TINO get the next two 1-on-1 dates. Kissing in the streets in the rain. We are definitely in Paris. But Rachel is putting way too much pressure on the atmosphere, essentially tasking the city with solving her romantic insecurities. But I like how normal the date feels, making crepes and shopping for berets. Rachel does get the confidence boost from TINO she’s after, consistently telling her how much he likes her. Meanwhile Gabby and JASON are goofy yet forgettable in my book. They seem to like each other a lot, but there’s not a lot of substance to their date.
When the girls pull a “bathroom break” in the coffee shop after the day-portion of their dates, an obvious ploy to gossip about their dates in the other room, I laugh out loud. But I am pleasantly surprised at how the guys were mutually gushing about the girls. It was sweet. We don’t often see that kind of genuine almost-secret gossip from the men about the lead.
I get Clare Crawley vibes from Rachel. I feel like TINO is an automatic contender, similar to Dale. Every other man more has to compete against the image of him than against each other. I would not be surprised if he’s in the final two. They have a talk about their future, which I think is important at this stage in the game, weeding out incompatibilities before developing feelings.
Gabby and JASON bond over therapy during their night portion. When Gabby said “She just doesn’t have the tools to love me back” about her mom, it nearly killed me. But the night ends with a kiss (or two) and I feel okay about JASON. I was a bit nervous at first, with the repeated “oh he’s shy and hasn’t opened up” lead-up within the episode, usually looming an elimination. I predict Top 5.
On our first separate group date, Gabby’s men fight to test their testosterone in a boxing match for her love. And in an interesting twist, Rachel’s men watch the match and Rachel gives her moral support and advice for Gabby during the competition. We see MEATBALL again, which I’m surprised hasn’t been addressed since he left last week. Seems like he re-joined the group off-camera. I would have been interested in seeing how that played out.
I’m not super sure why Rachel is so upset about her guys watching the boxing matches. I understand she feels very rejected after the last rose ceremony (I’m sure added on to by producers), but she is quite literally on the other side of the room and she invited them to watch. If she wanted it to be a double date, she should have made it that. I think part of her obstacles with her guys is that she doesn’t always communicate what she wants but rather expects them to satisfy her inner thoughts.
Rachel’s date shows a bit more of what’s important to her, which is romance. She gives off a way more serious and stable romantic energy to me, whereas Gabby is also looking for a friend. Her men dance in front of each other, deliberately put their armpits in her face for a smelling preference competition, and read prose about their hopeful future.
LOGAN is giving red flags, taking the time to mention how he’s still attracted to and thinking about Gabby during the boxing date. After his own romantic sniffing date, he takes time to pull aside Jesse and make a plea to get on Gabby’s team. He adds that he doesn’t want to “add to the laundry list of disappointments” for Rachel, assuming that she would be heartbroken. It’s a bit presumptuous to me. I think she’d be upset given her fragile state but I don’t think I’d be about him personally. More the continued rejection from the group of men supposedly vying for her love.
At the cocktail party, HAYDEN pulls out pictures of his cancer-ridden dog in an attempt to cover up his wafting douchebag energy, saying that Gabby and Rachel “don’t hold a candle” to his ex earlier that week, but MEATBALL doesn’t let it slide. Rachel gives a genuine evil smile after hearing of HAYDEN’s gossip and I love this energy coming from her, knowing that she’s caught him in a lie. Neither Gabby nor Rachel are women to let a man get away with treating them like shit and it’s honestly refreshing from a Bachelorette. I feel like there’s typically so much pressure to give contestants the benefit of the doubt. After a confrontation from Rachel and flat-out lies from HAYDEN, she sends him home. She’s not having any of his apologies.
RACHEL: Tino, Tyler, Aven, Meatball, Zack, Ethan, and Logan.
GABBY: Jason, Spencer, Nate, Erich, Johnny, and Mario.
I do like what they’ve done this season about hiding the men with roses so that we get their reactions as the others are pinned. I think it adds an extra layer of suspense, something that can honestly get stale as the season go on. I’m excited to see where this season goes without any real remaining villains.
