Eric's Hometown
We kick things off in Baltimore. Eric has never brought a woman home, which at first would seem like a red flag, but when he discussed his upbringing, didn't necessarily concern me. His cousin makes an appearance at the basketball court and gives a lovely speech about Eric. Once the cousin is awkwardly dismissed, Eric talks again about his upbringing. They head over to Aunt Renee's house. Despite his tough upbringing, Aunt Renee lives in a really nice building. Maybe it was Aunt Verna, not Renee. My apologies Auntie, no disrespect intended. Verna and Rachel talk about her being the first Black Bachelorette and Rach says love doesn't have a color, implying she's going to pick a white guy.
Eric uses this time to explore his issues with his mom. Conveniently they've worked everything out though. Neither of Eric's parents seem to know what to do in this situation. Despite Eric's attempts to tell both of his parents that neither of them were there for him growing up, they both say "you turned out pretty well so I guess it worked, huh?". I think Eric wants to love Rachel but I don't think he luuuuvvvvvssss Rachel. Either way, this is a boring hometown date. That being said, Eric's family overall was lovely. No real issues around race or poverty level were discussed. Dean's family is obviously going to be last. My guess is Peter is next.
Bryan's Hometown
I was wrong, we get to meet Bryan's family in Miami next. Bryan and Rachel spend the day making out and wandering around Miami. Bryan's the only son, which makes this whole mamma's boy thing even more of a red flag. And Bryan blames his ex for not getting along with his mom, not the other way around. Awesome. AND (another and), Bryan won't tell Rachel he loves her until he meets his mom (although I thought he'd already told her he loved her but there are so many guys, who can keep them all straight)? So the red flags are abundant.
They get to the house and his mom looks miserable and quickly downs her first glass of wine. Who's the chick in the blue dress? His sister? His mom pulls Bryan aside to ask him what Rachel has that she doesn't have. Mom's clearly not thrilled with this whole thing. Rachel's talking to the woman that might be his sister but isn't identified about Bryan's last girlfriend and how this poor ex didn't get along with the mom.
Finally it's time for Rachel and Bryan's mom to talk. Rachel gushes about Bryan. Despite the grilling and threatening to kill Rachel if Bryan isn't happy, Rachel seems to pass her inspection. Mom keeps calling Bryan the "love of her life", which is super creepy. Despite the build-up, the whole interaction is pretty benign. As a result, Bryan declares his love for Rachel and she swoons.
Peter's Hometown
Next we head to Madison, WI for Rachel's date with Peter. Rachel is of course nervous about the walls that Peter has built up. Rachel and Peter meet up with his friends first. At one point Peter bragged that most of his good friends are black. O-kay. Peter seems oddly detached with this whole thing. Peter pulls his guy friends aside and the three of them have what I'd guess is the most open conversation about his feelings for Rachel and being terrified about proposing to her. His friends struggle to find words of wisdom since they don't usually talk about this stuff but they do tell him not to "f*** it up."
Unlike Bryan's date, we're introduced all of the people at Peter's parents' house. Peter's mom reminds me of Nick's mom for some reason. When Peter's mom and Rachel talk about Peter, his mom doesn't necessarily see Peter proposing. At the end of the day Peter and Rachel both talk bout how happy they are. It's all happy happy happy. He of course doesn't declare his love for her and I think Rachel's disappointed about that.
Dean's Hometown
And now the moment we've all been waiting for. And I say that in a, "let's watch this trainwreck in action and feel bad yet not be able to take our eyes off of it" kind of way. Dean meets Rachel in a random field in Colorado. He's clearly nervous. Dean hasn't seen his dad in two years. Dean's taking a page from Raven's hometown and gets the ATVs out. Let's see if they make out in the mud. Dean's immediate family hasn't been together in a room in eight years. ABC must have paid the family a nice chunk of change to do this. Dean has two brothers and a sister. His dad has changed his name to Parumrup and is a sikh. His stepmom's name is Sintartar. Dean's only met her twice.
Dean and Rachel talk through his dad issues. The big moment finally arrives and I feel bad for how Dean is clearly dreading this. Parumrup kicks things off by banging the gong to cleanse everyone. Parum, as Rachel now calls him, gets a little misty-eyed when talking about Dean's mom. He serves some sort of vegan/vegetarian dish for dinner, which Dean doesn't eat, claiming "he already ate". Parum is told by the producers that he needs to pull Dean aside and speak to him. Rachel gets pulled aside by his sister and she's also a hot mess (I didn't say that very nicely and I shouldn't be snide because it's sad, but I'm going to be snide anyway). Things go back to Dean and his dad and poor Dean tries to confront his dad but it doesn't go very well. Parum's dad admits he wasn't there for any of them after Dean's mom dies because he didn't know how to do that.
After the break, Rachel tries to talk to Parum, who isn't very interested in talking more. They talk for about thirty seconds and he walks off. The whole thing is beyond awkward but Rachel handles it as well as she can. Rachel comes back in to talk to Dean. Dean and Rachel are talking inside the house and Parum is peeking inside wanting to go back inside but not wanting to deal with the cameras. Rachel tells Dean she's falling in love with him. Which she might have done to make him feel better? Rachel drives off and leaves Dean in front of his dad's house. Where is Dean going now? Because he can't possibly be staying at his dad's house, which seems to be in the middle of nowhere.
Rose Ceremony
Rachel talks about how hard it is to say goodbye blah blah blah. Chris comes in with his usual iciness and asks what's so hard about this week. Is it me or does he seem extra pissy this season? In the interest of a montage and having a voiceover to play while the guys are shown getting ready, Chris asks Rachel to go through each guy. I'm not a huge fan of bow ties unless it's with a tux but Dean looks cute. Chris doesn't really comfort crying Rachel because he doesn't seem to care.
Rachel gives the usual speech about not wanting to make the wrong decisions yadda yadda yadda. I think Eric's getting the heave ho this week. Or Peter.
No shocker, Bryan gets the first rose. My guess is Dean is next. Ohhhhh Eric gets the second rose. She told Dean she was falling in love with him so it's Peter, right? WHOA!!!!! I guess not. Poor Dean, getting kicked while he's down. Making him confront his dad when he was perfectly comfortable keeping those feelings bottled up.
Dean calls her out on telling him she's falling in love with her. But he's only 20 so he'll recover. However, despite the bow tie I think he's wearing skinny pants, which isn't a good look. Dean's pissed. As he probably should be because I'm shocked too. Like Adam, he thinks Rach made a mistake. You know full well that's going to come up in the After the Rose special.
Next week
I thought it was Fantasy Suite week but I always mix up "Fantasy Suite" week and "Meet the Bachelor/Bachelorette family" week. Whatever week it is, Rachel's family grills the guys. Looks like fun! Will Rachel's dad be "working" again?
Bracket Update
I haven't mentioned the bracket in AGES. After a strong start, Amanda seems to have dropped out. Shannon's in the lead and I think she's won. Alyssa's in second and may or may not overcome Shannon. Alyssa is proof that you don't need to watch to do well! I'd be open to a BIP bracket but not using the same site. If you have recommendations on a different bracket site, send them my way!
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