Hi all! It's Hometowns week! The more I think about the women left, the more I'm convinced that Nick doesn't propose. Or if he does propose, I'm pretty sure the relationship is going to crash and burn. Also, since he sent Kristina home, is there even going to be a rose ceremony to kick things off? Isn't it down to the final four for Hometowns?
As the show starts, the girls are still stunned about Kristina's departure. Corinne in particular is feeling insecure. Relax ladies, it's all going to be okay. Nick visits them, roses in hand. Corinne comments that he comes in with the roses but she doesn't know how many he has. Apparently she can't count very high because it would be pretty hard to hide three roses (since Raven already has one). Nick has four roses even though Raven already has a rose. I can't wait to meet Corinne's family and to watch Nick interact with Rachel's family, even though that seems anti-climatic at this point.
Raven: We kick things off with Raven's hometown in Arkansas. Raven, I've said this before but I was wrong about you. I completely stereotyped you based on how the producers portrayed you in the very beginning as an Arkansas hick. You're funny and witty. I hope to see you on a future BIP. Raven and Nick head up to a grain bin only to have the fuzz show up. Turns out it's Raven's brother. That seems to kills Nick's plan to make out with Raven on the grain bin so they go four-wheeling in mud. They eventually get stuck and Raven takes off Nick's clothes and they have a mud/water fight.
They both clean up and head home to meet Raven's family. Her mom awkwardly announces that Raven's dad is cancer free. Despite her brother seeming like a bit of a good old boy, her parents seem alarmingly normal. Nick asks Raven's dad for his blessing even though he can't commit that he'll even end up with Raven. Raven's dad seems to consider his daughter a piece of property (they ARE in Arkansas, after all), so he's amenable to handing his daughter off to Nick. There isn't talk of a dowry, or at least it wasn't shown. At the end of the date, Raven chickens out on telling Nick she's falling in love with him, which is for the best because he can't say it back anyway.
Rachel: Nick next heads to Dallas for Rachel's hometown. Despite him telling us during Raven's hometown that his chemistry with her was amazing, his chemistry is also amazing with Rachel. Rachel takes Rachel to church. Nick is clearly uncomfortable. Rachel and Nick get a special call-out. They go to brunch and discuss how they're an interracial couple. Rachel tells Nick her dad won't be there because of "work obligations", which I translate to, "he doesn't want to be on this idiotic show".
Rachel brings Nick home to meet the fam and it turns out her brother-in-law is white. I don't remember his name but I'm not sure he's ready to give up his token status. So as much as they discuss race, clearly Rachel's not the first one to bring home or even marry a white dude. It turns out the BIL's name is Alex and he's an odd duck. Rachel's sister Constance is clearly skeptical of Nick. Nick talks about how great looking Rachel is to her sister and Alex, which is lovely, but my guess is they want to hear about her other qualities that he likes, which he doesn't articulate very well. His conversation with Rachel's mom goes a little better, but that could just be because she's a little more polite and a little less weird. I loved the question about the red flags. To my chagrin, Nick answered it better than I thought he would. Apparently Rachel and Nick have had multiple conversations about being a bi-racial couple. Who knew? According to Rachel, the day is perfect.
Corinne: When Nick meets up with Corinne, she announces to Nick that they're going shopping. Nick feigns excitement. According to Corinne it's a very exclusive mall in Miami. Good for her. Insert shopping montage. Nick's fashion show is basically a demonstration of all of Juan Pablo's outfits from his season. They blow almost $3,500 in one store alone. Corinne doesn't have to take herself too seriously since she's so loaded. Corinne proclaims her love for Nick at lunch.
Corinne's family is so happy to see her, which is cute. Her dad is a piece of work. I love him already. They live in some high-rise in Miami. Corinne totally lies about the girls holding Raquel against her and that THEY called her the nanny. We all know that's a lie. Raquel gets to eat with the family for once, which must be awkward for all. Corinne's dad makes everybody eat his olives (that sounds dirty but it's true). Nick chokes his down and lies and says it's the best olive he's ever had.
Raquel and Nick have a talk. She's a very sweet woman but doesn't beat around the bush with Nick. Corinne's dad (Jim) has a heart to heart with Corinne to make sure that Nick makes her happy, even if Nick ends up being a stay-at-home dad. Corinne says she doesn't mind being the breadwinner, which I assume means she's on Jim's payroll for as long as he continues to employ Corinne. I'm not sure that Nick's comfortable providing for Corinne now that he knows how expensive her tastes are.
Next up is Jim and Nick. Jim is teaching Nick how to hold a glass. I see where Corinne gets her annoyingness (not a word but hopefully you know what I mean) from. Nick's definitely supposed to be impressed with the scotch and I'm not sure he is, but he humors Jim. They have a bizarre conversation about Corinne. Don't worry, Jim, as far as I can tell, those that get the title of "Bachelor" or "Bachelorette" seem to do okay for themselves.
Corinne and her mom have an awkward conversation. Corinne's mom seems a little out of it. If I had Raquel to raise my children I'd probably be a little out of it too. Jim gives Nick his blessing and thinks Corinne is "the lid to Nick's pot". Admittedly, the whole thing went better than I was expecting. I'm a little disappointed that her dad didn't grill Nick more.
Vanessa: Nick meets up with Vanessa in Montreal and it's raining. Hopefully this isn't foreshadowing for the day. She's taking him to meet her students. Way to start off easy, Vanessa. The students clearly love her. The whole gang makes a scrapbook of Vanessa and Nick's dates. It turns out that Vanessa's parents are divorced so he gets to struggle through two family meet and greets. Lucky!
They walk into a ton of family. It's not intimidating at all. Actually it probably isn't that intimidating for Nick, who has a large family himself. Vanessa's family seems to be the most skeptical of them all. Mom's not impressed with Nick's answer of what it is about Vanessa he likes so much. They're all concerned that they haven't talked about where they're going to live. Her family clearly loves her a lot and her brother and sister are very protective of her. I could make a snide comment about her brother's outfit, but maybe fashion in Canada is different. I'm not sure what happened with her past break-up, but it was clearly ugly.
Vanessa's sister brings up some valid points that Vanessa doesn't want to hear. And after all that, they still haven't met her dad yet. His dad asks Nick the same questions her mom's side of the family asked and his answer is just as vague, although this time he did say something other than she was so beautiful. Ha! Vanessa's dad is awesome. While the rest of the dads we met gave their blessing to Nick pretty quickly, Vanessa's dad refuses. It is awesome to watch Nick stammer in this conversation. I'm disappointed that Pat eventually gave Nick his blessing. In talking to her dad, poor Vanessa is so happy that Nick asked Pat for his blessing that I'm not sure she realizes he did the same thing to the other dads. Oh wait...there she goes. I don't think Nick knows who he wants to be with at this point, so it's best to cover all of his bases.
Pre-rose ceremony: The gang's back in New York and given that there are only a few minutes left, it's clear that we're not going to find out tonight who isn't going to get a rose. Corinne's feeling great while Raven and Rachel feel bad for not sharing their "twu wuv" feelings. Vanessa's not feeling great and wants answers. You think she's going to Nick's room but we find out that the woman knocking on his door is...Andi! WTF is she doing there? Is she promoting something new? Are they "friends" now?
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