It really almost seems pointless to talk about anything that wasn’t the Greg date and subsequent argument, doesn’t it? Like, is anybody going into work today, or discussing with their friends, what happened on Justin’s hometown date late night? Or what she did with Blake? The answer would be no. I’m not gonna dismiss them completely, but I’m not gonna spend a hell of a lot of time on them either. It just wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things last night and it’s not what people are talking about today. But I do have a few thoughts on what they did:
-With these bubble seasons, creating a “hometown” date for the guys just isn’t working. Family? Yes. Bring them in. But the silliness of saying, “Hey, I’ll bring Canada to you. Lets drink some syrup and ride a moose” seems awfully reductive and almost insulting. Granted, nothing they could’ve done on any of these dates would truly re-create Canada, Baltimore, or New Jersey. But relegating these dates to what they’ve been doing isn’t doing them much justice either. While the things they did on Blake’s Canada hometown were different, we literally just saw this same exact thing last season when Serena P. brought “Canada” to Nemacolin. They did geography and ate poutine. Last night they played hockey and downed syrup. Same difference. As I mentioned when updating you on Michelle’s season, the plan was to go back to regular hometown dates. I do not know if that changes now due to the Delta variant. I guess we’ll see as they get closer to hometowns. But that was the plan.
-The idea that Greg was “watching” Blake’s hometown from the balcony seemed forced. I know he said he “caught a glimpse” of their date and it upset him, but nothing about that scene made it seem like he actually witnessed anything. All it showed was him out on a balcony and you heard audio of Blake and Katie. That doesn’t mean he saw anything. I’m guessing he didn’t. And if he did, he maybe saw them walking. If he saw the date, we would’ve seen a wide shot where you could see him watching it. I didn’t buy that for a second.
-You know what was missing from Blake’s hometown date when his family came? Brendan. Being the close friends they are, I think that would’ve been pretty hilarious and somewhat Inception-like if Brendan was part of Blake’s hometown. Would’ve seemed appropriate and blew everyone’s mind.
-Blake’s sister just spit the facts when she spoke with him. It’s what a lot of people watching the show have said about Blake from the beginning. He was ALL IN on Clare. Guy was buying books on Alzheimer’s hoping to get on her good side. Then Clare leaves and he’s ALL IN on Tayshia. Then months later he’s ALL IN on Katie. It’s absolutely a fair question to ask when it comes to this guy. Is he really in love or is he just in love with the idea of being in love, and being a couple from the show and what comes with that? I guess we’ll see in the coming months.
-I can’t really say that I got much of a taste of Baltimore for Justin’s hometown. I know, shocking right? Unless Lamar Jackson would’ve shown up in New Mexico and bounced 20 yard out patterns to Justin and Katie, I wasn’t really feeling the BMore vibe on that date. They rode by some bad art on a wall which was supposed to represent Graffiti Alley, and then they ate crabs. Well, at least they didn’t give each other crabs, so that’s a start. Aaaaaaaannnnnd, yep. That’s what we got for Baltimore. Talk about doing the bare minimum. Geesh.
-Even if you didn’t know any spoilers, there were 2 things about Justin’s hometown that worked against him. 1) His parents didn’t show up. That’s never a good thing. 2) During a conversation with his buddy, Katie reveals to him, “Justin has kind of been a slow progression.” And in the history of the show, in Bachelor terms that translates to: “He will be the next one eliminated.” You know, unless Greg eliminates himself. So while Greg technically finished 3rd this season, we all know who was going home if Greg didn’t self sabotage.
Speaking of Greg…ok lets get to it starting on the next page.
