So, I may not have posted this in a timely manner, but it is getting posted before the week 3 episode. As I said last week, I’m determined to recap this entire season, so better late than never.

My Takeaways

1. The first date of the episode is a group date, where everyone is given a “style” of wedding and the girls will take wedding photos with Nick. An example of the wedding themes are beach wedding (Corinne), fairytale wedding (Taylor), 80’s wedding (Vanessa and her equally voluminous bridesmaids), and shotgun wedding (master of dress-up, Alexis, who follows up on last weeks dolphin costume with a baby bump). For a jealousy inducing date like taking wedding photos, the girls are friendly towards each other and oddly (outwardly) happy when another woman kisses Nick. That is, all the girls except Corinne.

Corinne is the real star of this date, and if you play any type of Bachelor fantasy, has real Chad upside when it comes to scoring points. While all the girls are talking and laughing together, Corinne is sitting on the corner or the couch, drinking wine, and scowling. She is mad about other girls kissing Nick, talking about Nick, and also that she has to wear a bikini top when Brittany gets to be topless. Don’t think that stopped her. When it was Corinne’s time to have her “beach wedding” with Nick, she decided it would be a topless beach wedding. She even asks Nick to hold her boobs. There’s nothing like going to second base on a first date…..on national television…..in front of 10 other women.

Unsurprisingly, the photographer decides (the producers decide) that Corinne and Nick had the best connection, and she would get to spend additional one-on-one time with him. Luckily for us viewers, there is still an evening portion of the date with the other women, so we continue to get to know them and not just Corinne. At night, Corinne steals Nick first. She isn’t a favorite among the women, so the side-eye taking place is real. In Corinne’s defense, someone had to be the first one to talk to him.  What someone doesn’t have to do is steal Nick again. And again. In all my years watching the Bachelor, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the double steal before. On her third steal, Nick is in the middle of a conversation with Taylor. After talking to the women about Corinne’s behavior, Taylor decided that she is going to interrupt Corinne to continue her conversation. Corinne takes this very personally, saying “she re-interrupted me, which I think is very rude.” Watching this, you almost can’t believe that she is serious. Then again, she keeps referring to herself in the third person, so maybe I can believe it.

Before Nick gives out the date rose, Corinne gives a monologue about how she “can’t stress this enough” that this experience is going to be awkward and you have to put yourself first and go after what you want.  Personally, I thought watching her slur through her “advice” to the other women was awkward, since all of them handled themselves with more grace that Corinne. But to each their own I guess. It seems to Nick’s own too, as he gives the group date rose to Corinne.

2. Danielle got the first one on one date of the season, and it was generally uneventful. Danielle seems so normal for this show. She’s extremely soft-spoken, smart and sweet – Lacey even says that she is happy Danielle got the one on one date because she didn’t even know girls could be as nice as she is.

On the date, Danielle and Nick take a helicopter to a yacht and spend the day on the water. They talk about their upbringings in Wisconsin, and their date seems so normal. I think Danielle reminds Nick of his friends and family back home, and I imagine that familiarity is a comfort in a crazy situation like the Bachelor.

At dinner, Danielle shares with Nick about her tragic past relationship. She was engaged about 5 years ago, and unfortunately her fiancé died of a drug overdose. Nick is incredibly understanding, as I would hope he would be, and made Danielle feel ok about telling him this. She mentions that many of her former relationships ended shortly after she shared this information, but I don’t think that is going to happen here. I think Danielle is going to be around for a long time.

3. For the second group date, Nick took the women to the museum of broken relationships. Everywhere they turned were items that people left behind once their relationships were over, and Nick even contributed the engagement ring that he had picked to give Kaitlyn. The big activity for this date was for the women to “break up” with Nick, in a bit of role play.

Most of the women had fun with the activity, turning Nick into an alcoholic, cheater, or someone who doesn’t floss. Liz, however, took the activity very seriously, because she feels like Nick has been avoiding her. During Liz’s “break-up”, no one but Christen knows that what Liz is saying to Nick is the truth, instead of a fictional dramatic role play. Earlier in the week, Liz shared with Christen that her and Nick have a history, spilling all the details of them hooking up at Jade and Tanner’s wedding. I’m sure having something that you feel you need to get off your chest but are unable to is stressful while on the Bachelor, and I think Liz did a good job picking out a person with whom she could trust this information. Some women might use this against Liz, or use it to “blow up Nick’s spot” but Christen keeps it to herself.

Christen’s jaw was definitely dropped.

During the evening portion of the date, Christen admits to Nick that she knows about him and Liz.  Fearful that Liz has told more than one woman, Nick finally decides to address the Liz situation. They have a discussion, which ultimately comes back around to the fact that if Liz wanted to get to know Nick better, she could have just asked Jade for his number. Nick asks Liz to leave, citing that he has relationships with other women building that he doesn’t want to jeopardize. I don’t think that Liz’s intentions coming on the show were un-pure, but I also don’t think Nick trusted them.

After showing Liz out, Nick decides that he needs to come clean to the women. He sits down with the remaining women and tells them that Liz has left. He tells them that he had met her at Jade and Tanner’s wedding. Then, as the episode is ending he says, “Liz and I had sex that night.” Cue dramatic music and TO BE CONTINUED. You’re killing me Bachelor producers.

Best Tweets 

On #thebachelor you can show tits, but you can't say tits. https://t.co/UkukDRV6Vs

—
Raven (@ravengates09) January 16, 2017

if i had a dollar for every time jade and tanner's wedding was mentioned i could buy corinne's business #TheBachelor

—
elise (@eliseleary) January 10, 2017

Don't be disappointed to be a bridesmaid. Bridesmaids already have had success with Nick, just ask Liz. #TheBachelor

—
Michael G. (@MichaelGarofola) January 10, 2017

Best Dressed

Unfortunately, the fashion just wasn’t there for me tonight. With the lack of a rose ceremony and so much focus on Corinne and Liz, I wasn’t able to get a good sense of what the other women were wearing. Plus, there were just SO MANY CROP TOPS. I did love what Danielle wore for the dinner portion of her one on one.

I thought it was a successfully bold choice to wear a jump suit on the one on one date.  As you probably know, I’m a sucker for an open back, and the leather-y material that you can get a sense for in the close up shot makes this jumpsuit look extra luxurious. Danielle’s jumpsuit is Cavanagh Baker, and is unfortunately no longer available as it was part of their Spring/Summer 2016 collection. I found some similar black jumpsuits here, here (I’m obsessed with this one and pray that one day God will allow me to look good in a jumpsuit) and here.

Again, sorry for such the late post! I’d love to hear your thoughts on Episode 2 and predictions for Episode 3. You can always find me @third_and_girl or in the comments!

xo
Em