-We had quite the start to the show. No, nothing completely spectacular. Just that Zach was showering – again. And if we’re skipping to the last 30 minutes of the show, Sean Lowe joined Zach for another talk, this time on the morning of the rose ceremony. I know Sean is the only Bachelor to ever marry the final woman he chose, but man, this segment was quite pointless. He literally sat there as Zach went over the four hometowns he just went on, you know, the ones we all just watched too. And gave his rundown on how they went, even showing us clips, you know, of dates we all just watched in the first 90 minutes. They couldn’t have used that time and dedicated it to more footage of hometowns? Really? You know what the funniest part of the whole interaction was? Sean telling Zach, “I wish I could help ya here…” Exactly! Sean has never spoken to these women, never met them, and never had any interaction with them whatsoever. So there’s nothing he can offer to help Zach make his decision. None. It’s not Sean’s fault. They asked him to come on, he accepted. Lets just put this on the producers because it really was a pointless segment.
-You know what they did last night that I don’t think they’ve done in a while? They actually showed the hometowns in the order they were filmed: Gabi, Ariel, Charity, and Kaity. So Gabi was up first, and lets face it, this date was memorable for one thing. Them putting their fingers in a hole and declaring it warm and sticky. Jesus people. Get your mind out of the gutters. OF COURSE they were talking about drilling a hole into a maple tree and digging for syrup. By the way, I didn’t have the faintest fucking clue that’s how you got syrup. Hey, learn something new every day I guess. With that said, Gabi put Zach to a taste test that he failed miserably. Like, wasn’t even close. However, I realized I would’ve failed to. Literally the only syrup I’ve had in my life is your every day, garden brand variety Log Cabin or whatever is on the table at IHOP. Sorry for not being a syrup snob, but dammit, those taste damn good to me, so I’ll stick with them.
-Like, is this a major thing that I’m missing out on or something? Gabi seemed to think it was sacrilegious that Zach chose the most common brand of syrup as the one that tasted the best, which is exactly what I probably would’ve chosen. If that means that someone’s going to look down on me or dump me because of it, so be it. I still like the same syrup now than I did when I was a little kid. And oh yeah, that little syrup packet that McDonald’s gives you for your hotcakes and sausage? To die for. Can’t beat that. Yet, I know some of you are clutching your pearls (especially the Elnicki family) right now saying how dare I even consider that part of the syrup family. That’s not REAL syrup. Dammit, it is to me. Let me enjoy my bootleg syrup please and thank you very much.
-Ariel’s hometown focused on her brother who tried to challenge Nate Hartsock for most skeptical in show history. While her brother Bobby was really doubting Zach and this whole process, and clearly being put up to it by production I’m sure, he really wasn’t anywhere close to what Nate did back on Sean’s season. That guy was in a league of his own. And lets be honest, Bobby asking Zach if he knew Ariel’s middle or when her birthday was really isn’t all that important at that time. No, he probably didn’t know that. But IF Zach were to have picked Ariel in the long run and end up getting engaged to her, 100% he would’ve gotten around to that and remembered it for the rest of his life. So the question didn’t really fit for this particular scene. Him not knowing her middle name or birthday at this stage in the game doesn’t mean he doesn’t care or isn’t in to Ariel. Far from it. But I get that Bobby had a role to play, and that was to be Nate Hartsock 2.0. He tried but it didn’t quite work. We’ve seen way more skeptical family members over the years than Bobby. Good effort though. A+ for trying.
-The biggest positive to come out of Ariel’s hometown date was the show actually making her Judaism a focal point of their relationship. I can’t remember a time in show’s history when they’ve ever done that, so when they actually took the time to show it, you gotta applaud them for it. Jason Mesnick is Jewish and I don’t remember it being brought up once on his season. I’m sure we’ve had other Jewish contestants in the 14 years since his season, but none either talked about it or it wasn’t shown. They really made this hometown all about her Judaism and that’s just not something this show ever does. Will Zach have fit in ultimately or been willing to? I guess we’ll never know because he didn’t choose her. To say that played a role in his decision to let her go, only he truly knows the answer to that. All I know is that this was a first for the show, especially on a hometown date, so gotta give props where props are due. Especially in this day and age with all the anti-semistism attacks happening.
