"fake boobs, fake asses, and fake cheeks"

Changing it up this year, Rachel gets a Hometown Date!  Which means her family get to meet three men instead of two.  Rachel springs this on the guys who still think Fantasy Suite Dates are next.  Rachel lets them know her sister is very pregnant and can't travel and not-so-subtly hints they should think about asking her parents for their blessing to marry her.

Meet the Family #1: Peter

Rachel takes Peter to a baby store to pick out gifts for her nephew and soon-to-be nephew.  They are super cute.  They head to Rachel's parent's house and Peter pulls her aside before going in to inform her he is falling in love with her.  Then, inside, he gives a speech to the family about how he came to realize he was falling in love with her.  Peter wins over the entire family.  Rachel is concerned he won't propose.  Rachel's mom likes that Peter won't ask for her blessing until he's 100% sure she's the one.  Rachel's the only one who doesn't think Peter is the best.  We see Peter playing with her dog and nephew and ovaries exploded all over America.

Meet the Family #2: Eric

Eric and Rachel go to Union Tower and drink champagne.  Back at the hotel, Peter tells Bryan he doesn't like talking to Rachel's other boyfriend while her other boyfriend is at her house with her family.  Peter does not make it a secret that he dislikes Bryan, and I am here for that.  Meanwhile, Eric is crushing it with Rachel's family.  He's very honest and talks about his difficult upbringing and acknowledges lack of past serious relationship experience.  He gives a pretty heartfelt speech to Rachel's mom about family and love and gets her blessing when he asks for it.

Meet the Family #3: Bryan

Bryan and Rachel wear there matching watches and he gets to meet some of Rachel's friends.  Rachel tells them she thought he was a douchebag (her words, not mine- though I agree), but that has changed, obviously (for her, not me).  Then Bryan meets the family.  They are skeptical of Bryan and grill him pretty hard.  Rachel gets "low-key annoyed" and they tell her she's reacting emotionally.  Rachel's sister tells Bryan it's a little concerning how profusely he expresses love for Rachel.  He responds by telling her he loves her family, and her sister reminds him he's known them an hour.  Bryan gets the blessing to propose, though, but that's because Rachel's mom trusts Rachel's decisions.

Spain

They go international for the last couple weeks of this journey.  Eric gets the first Fantasy Suite date, and they get a helicopter ride and wander and hike on a beautiful Spanish coastline.  They eat dinner in a castle courtyard where Eric tells Rachel how much she challenges him emotionally and loves her and all that.  He get's the Chris Harrison "you may forgo your individual rooms" card, to which Eric says "that guy is awesome."  They go have sex spend some one on one time away from the cameras, and we next see them getting coffee together in the morning.

Peter gets the second date, and Rachel takes him to a winery where get sang to by the wine maker and are given their own private mini wine cellar.  Rachel says she wants a proposal and Peter says he sees an engagement as guarantee to get married and he only wants to do it once.  It's about to get serious when an adorable little girl comes to lead them to stomp some grapes.  And then make out while stomping grapes.  That evening, they revisit the proposal disagreement and the episode ends with Rachel crying.  But in the previews, they show Peter at the rose ceremony, so one can only assume they make-up enough to take it to the Fantasy Suite.

The most dramatic hometown yet!

Baltimore, MD with Eric

We start on the east coast, where Eric invites Rachel to play some basketball- which she enthusiastically does in heels.  A person of undefined relation to Eric (friend? cousin? brother?) shows up to say hey and Rachel asks when Eric last brought a girl home, despite Eric having told her (and us) like a thousand times he's never brought a girl home.  His friend replies, "uh, prom?"

Then Rachel gets to meet Eric's parents and aunts.  They all warmly welcome Rachel and seem pretty tight knit and caring despite Eric's reportedly difficult upbringing.  Eric has a couple of amazing heart-to-heart chats with his parents, who both acknowledge the difficulty of Eric's childhood and admits they may not have been the best parents, but also let Eric know that they do love him and are very proud of the man he's become.  It's surprisingly real and deep for this show, and for once I actually believe that this show can help people grow.  I mean, when Eric was fighting with Iggy a few weeks ago, I was convinced he wasn't mature enough for Rachel, and now I'm totally Team Eric.

Meanwhile, Rachel talks to Eric's Aunt Verna, who asks about her experience being the first black bachelorette.  Rachel talks about how she feels pressure from both sides and that she's just trying to do the same thing the previous bachelorettes have been able to do without so much judging: and that is being selfish and finding the person she loves, which has nothing to do with color.

Before she leaves, Eric tells Rachel he loves her, and explains that that means he really cares about her and Rachel wishes he didn't explain that.

Miami, FL with Bryan

Rachel is obsessed with Bryan, and is excited to be in a place that screams Bryan.  Apparently Miami is "hot, steamy, sexy, and sometimes speaks to you in Spanish."  They play dominoes, eat food, and dance some salsa before going to meet Bryan's family.  Bryan's mom is obsessed with him.  She gets teary eyed when talking about how "a women that separates him from me would be terrible" and tells Rachel (albeit sort of jokingly) that if Bryan's not happy she'll kill her.  I'm really not surprised the mom was the issue with Bryan's last girlfriend.  When Rachel talks to Bryan's sister (?), she uses the word "demise" a lot when talking about how his last girlfriend didn't mesh with the family, which was a little ominous, but Rachel didn't seem to notice.  Bryan of course says "I love you" and if he doesn't win, it's going to be really hard for whoever does win to watch Rachel be all over Bryan all the time.

Madison, WI with Peter

Peter takes Rachel to a farmers market and then to a bar where she gets to meet some of his friends.  We get to see Peter chat with his bros who tell him "don't fuck it up" because of course they like Rachel, because who doesn't?  Rachel meets Peter's family and we get to see him be adorable with kids, which is encouraging to Rachel.  But then his whole family pretty much tell her that he might not be ready for marriage.  Commitment, sure, but marriage, maybe not.  They kiss goodbye, and Peter doesn't say the L word, which is cause for concern in Bachelor world.

Aspen, CO with Dean

Dean and Rachel ride ATVs for some much needed fun before a very stressful hometown visit.  Dean hasn't talked to his dad in two years, and I wonder why he even agreed to see him for the first time on national television.  But he did, so here we go.  His dad has converted to Sikhism after his mom died so they all sat on the floor and he played his gong.  Rachel, being great in every situation, gamely eats the food and smiles and nods, though Dean looks like he'd rather be literally anyplace in the world besides at his father's house spurning a bowl of mung beans.  Dean's dad sends everyone out so the two can talk, and Dean confronts him about not being there when he needed him most.  It was uncomfortable and didn't really resolve anything except now Dean's feelings are out there which is the first step, right?  Anyway, Rachel tries to talk to his dad, which kind of fails, and then she goes and snuggles with Dean who says he's falling in love with her.

Dallas, TX with a Rose Ceremony

Back in Rachel's hometown, Dean gets sent home, which is sad, but look at that face:

I think he'll be okay

Looks like next week, everyone gets to meet Rachel's family, which should be fun!

Curveball, dude!

This week, we get almost a standard episode: new location (new "great place to fall in love"), some dates, and then at the end of the episode, while we have no rose ceremony, there is no "to be continued" and all of the roses for the week are given out.  To get started, Rachel meets the men at their hotel suite to inform them there will be three 1-on-1 dates and one 3-on-1 date this week with 4 roses to be given out whenever she pleases.  Much to everyone's displeasure, she takes Bryan on the first 1-on-1 date.

Brian gets to drive Rachel off to an expensive watch store in a Bentley.  They drink champagne and try on matching watches with black leather bands to which Bryan says, "I like black" and Rachel goes, "DOooO yOoOUuuu?" and then Bryan attack-kisses her while the poor watch salesman stands by and endures it.  They then drink champagne and ride a boat.  Over dinner, Rachel want to really talk to Bryan and understand why someone so perfect is still single.  She asks about his upbringing, and he tells her how he was sent to an all boys school because he asked for an earring and there's got to be more to that story.  She says she went to private school and Bryan asks her to describe her uniform which creeps me out, but apparently not Rachel.  Next, they talk about Bryan's last relationship and he basically describes his a Rachel's (passionate, hot and heavy in a very short amount of time, met family super soon...).  For some reason, his mom was an issue and the two broke it off.  Rachel doesn't seem to notice any red flags and gives Bryan a rose.

We see the men back at the hotel speculating in pairs about how they want to get a 1-on-1 this week because duh.  Adam wants to be "the broom that sweeps [Rachel] off her feet."  He won't be able to attempt to be a cleaning apparatus quite yet, though, since Dean gets 1-on-1 date number two.

Dean and Rachel go to a Catholic church in old town Geneva to listen to a French service, though it would seem neither of them are Catholic or speak French.  Then they wander around and dance adorably to a street performer.  Rachel keeps trying to get him to open up about his emotions and Dean deflects with mature questions such as "do you believe in the tooth fairy?" and "what's your favorite dinosaur?".  Rachel is frustrated, but luckily they have the evening portion of the date for Dean to redeem himself.  Which he does; he opens up about how he's not sure about Rachel meeting his family since he doesn't have a great relationship with them.  Rachel says she's not looking for a family just like hers and gives him the rose.

Much to Adam and Matt's dismay (because Adam and Matt are people on this show that apparently know Rachel and may in fact have been dating her?), Peter gets the final 1-on-1 date.  Rachel takes Peter in a helicopter to the Alps.  They dog sled and then sit shivering in the snow until they realize they should cuddle for warmth.  Over the course of this date we learn that Peter considered leaving, he's never dated a black girl before, and that his last relationship ending made him really sad.  He clearly gets a rose, which leaves Eric, Adam, and Matt on a brutal 3-on-1 date.

Rachel takes the three remaining bachelors on a boat ride to France where we see her talk to Matt for the first time since his limo entrance probably.  He says he can still picture them together and Rachel kisses him, then cries and tells him how he reminds her of herself and that she wishes things were different but she has to say goodbye.  It's an awful lot of emotion for a guy we've never seen.  He takes his glass of champagne and leaves.

That evening Rachel chats with Adam and Eric.  Adam says a part of him is falling in love with him and that he wants to bring her home.  Eric says she'll be the first girl he brings home and that he hasn't had the best relationship models in his life.  Rachel goes with her guy and gives Eric the rose, which is good because Adam went from "who?" to "ugh you're annoying" incredibly fast in this episode.  He spent his limo exit complaining about how big of a mistake Rachel was making; good riddance.

Next up: hometowns!  And this season looks like it might actually be the most dramatic hometowns ever!

"I'm in wifey mode right now"

Apparently wifey mode means breaking 9 dude's hearts, because that's what happened this week on The Bachelorette.  We started this week in Hilton Head, SC and ended, after a quick jaunt to Norway, in Denmark.  And we ended with a Rose Ceremony!  It's a miracle!  But more on rose ceremonies later.

Week 4, cont.

We start this episode mid-week 4 in Hilton Head, mid-group date.  Lee and Kenny are having a little spat.  Rachel gives Bryan the group date rose and Kenny congratulates him on not being a "bitch-ass dude" and then calls Lee a bunch of names, but mostly "bitch."  The other guys look on sort of uncomfortably, but mostly amused.

Next up is the most awkward 1 on 1 date ever with Jack Stone.  Jack is convinced he's falling in love with Rachel, and Rachel is just dodging kisses left and right.  Long story short, he gets sent home.  Back at the mansion, Will is giving Lee a lesson on race relations re: the word aggressive and it's use in profiling black men.  Lee doesn't really get it, but good on Will for opening up a conversation.

In normal Bachelor fashion around this time in a season, Rachel cancels a cocktail party and goes straight for the rose ceremony.  There's an attempt to make it dramatic, but after eight previews promising a Kenny-Lee 2 on 1 date, there's zero suspense.  Iggy and Jonathan go home, but not after Jonathan tickles Rachel one last time, which gets a laugh and applause from the rest of the guys.

Week 5

The gang heads to Norway where they meet Rachel in a bar so she can whisk Bryan away to make-out first while rappelling down a giant ski jump and then at dinner where they sit in front of untouched food and Bryan tells her he's falling in love.  Shocking no one, Bryan gets the rose.  The group date this week is a bit more entertaining.  Adam, Dean, Anthony, Peter, Matt, Will, Alex, Josiah, and Eric get to play handball in leotards, which, if you were wondering, is not the uniform of choice for actual handball players.  In the evening, Rachel gets read a love letter from Alex, a Prince lyrics embroidered purple scarf from Matt, and an allegedly three hour hot tub session with Peter.  Will gets the rose and Peter starts second guessing his connection with Rachel apparently forgetting that she was literally just straddling him in a hot tub and he has nothing to worry about.

Now for the dreaded two on one date with Kenny and Lee.  We see Lee getting ready by lifting weights and polishing his cowboy boots.  We get to see Kenny facetime with his adorable daughter and he cries and she tells him to have a great date.  It is beyond adorable and I would totally watch a show where Kenny's daughter helps him find love.  No one likes Lee, but everyone is worried Kenny will ruin his chances by letting Lee get into his head.  The date is not really a date- they go to some remote Norwegian forest where Rachel talks to each of them individually, Lee lies about Kenny being violent, and then we get like three minutes of Kenny walking back to confront Lee before another To Be Continued graces our screen.  Luckily, there is only one day to wait before we see Rachel tell Lee she doesn't trust him and she and Kenny helicopter off.  But not before Kenny yells at Lee one more time.  Rachel's evening with Kenny goes well, and he gets the rose.

Again, there is no cocktail party, and Rachel sends Anthony and Josiah home at the rose ceremony.

Week 6

Not travelling too far, Rachel takes the remaining nine suitors to Denmark where Eric gets the first one on one date.  They drink champagne, they hot tub, they talk about past relationships.  It's a pretty standard one on one, and he gets the rose.

For the group date, Dean, Kenny, Bryan, Alex, Matt, Peter, and Adam get to play Viking.  And by play Viking, I mean row a viking ship and then fight each other.  Kenny and Adam both get hit pretty badly in the face, which explains all of the previews where they insinuate Lee gave Kenny a bloody eye.  In the evening, Rachel kisses everyone and sends Kenny home.  It was a way more mutual get-sent-home than usual, especially at this stage.  Kenny doesn't feel sure about this whole situation and being away from his daughter is hard.  Rachel doesn't see Kenny at the end, so they decide it's best he go home.  For the third time, we see Kenny cry on the phone with his daughter.  Anyway, Peter gets the group date rose to end the evening.

Will gets the second one on one date in which they go sightseeing in Sweden and talk to an old Swedish couple about relationships.  Rachel's feeling only friendship toward Will, though, so he goes home.  With two guys down already this week, the rose ceremony is short and only Alex gets sent home.  Inexplicably, we see Matt and Adam still around despite having seen no interactions they have with Rachel.