"My heart is beating" -some brilliant commentary by JoJo

And now time to recap the Hometowns episode: where we get to see what kind of families raised men who think going on television is a great way to find a wife.

Chase: Divorce, Divorce, Divorce

In Colorado, or just on a movie set?

First up, we head to Colorado where Chase lives, and it is snowy and beautiful.  JoJo and Chase are going to meet Chase's dad first (since his parents, we learn, had a messy divorce).  Chase decides this is a really good time to ask why his dad and mom's relationship failed.  Then Chase talks to his dad alone (which may have been a better time to bring up the divorce?), and for the first time, I see a personality in Chase.

Next stop: meeting the mom, step-dad, sister and her family.  They're all pretty reasonable, nice people, and it goes well.  Chase and his sister talk about how they were both hurt by divorce and then Chase and his mom cry about love, to which his mom says "crying is not our style."  Chase tells JoJo he's falling in love with her as she leaves.

Jordan: The Aaron Rodgers Story

"the spicy child"

Next up: we go west to Chico, CA where we get further evidence that Jordan peaked in high school since he takes JoJo to his high school and introduces her to random teachers and coaches.  JoJo asks if some picture is Aaron Rodgers and Jordan changes the subject.  "You could tell it hurt him to bring it up," JoJo says, right before bringing it up again while they sit on some bleachers.  He more or less tells her not to bring him up.  So of course, when JoJo sits down with Jordan's other brother, Luke, she brings it up.  Luke says they all miss Aaron and it's hard to talk about and then the rest of the evening is boring because there is no more talk about the Aaron Rodgers drama.

Robby: The Hope Saga

For a total change of scenery, we go down to Florida, where Robby is from.  The theme of this date is Robby's ex girlfriend.  Right after JoJo tells Robby's mom she's falling in love with him, Robby's mom thinks it's a great idea tell Robby that his ex's roommate is putting rumors out into the world.  Namely the rumor that Robby broke up with this Hope girl just to go on the Bachelorette.  Robby breaks up what looks to be a nice chat JoJo is having with his sisters to tell JoJo about this.  He is a little too defensive about the whole thing and even says that he's "here for the wrong reasons" (even if he was quoting someone else).

Luke: Nicholas Spark's new leading man

Red solo cup, I fill you up
Let's have a party!

Time to head to the Lone Star State and into a country rom-com movie starting Luke.  Luke invites what looks like to be his entire town to a BBQ, and then he and JoJo ride off into the sunset on horses to sit on a bench made of hay, and walk through a candle-lit path to a giant heart made of flower petals where Luke tells JoJo his heart is hers.

In Conclusion:

What's more romantic than an airplane hangar?

Time for the rose ceremony and JoJo thinks she knows what's up until Luke pulls her aside to actually utter the L word.  Now that all the guys have told her they love her and none of them look that different from each other, JoJo has a break down and we get the worst image in Bachelor nation: a To Be Continued.

"I'd still take hanging out with JoJo over eating cow intestine" (understatement of the season)

Still in Argentina, JoJo has to decide whose parents she wants to meet.

She starts with a 1 on 1 date with Alex, the only guy left who hasn't had one, which is apparently very clear to other guys as Jordan responds with "now you can stop bitching."

JoJo and Alex have an awkward car ride into the country while the other dudes make up a rap about how Alex is short and JoJo likes the rest of them better.

Then JoJo and Alex dress up like gauchos (supposedly), ride horses, and then spoon with a horse.  JoJo explains that her relationship has changed with Alex and she thinks it has to do with spending time with him, and isn't that how relationships work?

That poor horse

It seems to be inexplicably going well for Alex until he professes his love for JoJo.  He apparently can't read facial expressions because he keeps babbling about how this all feels great and then JoJo sends him home.  JoJo cries because it's hard and she doesn't know what she's doing and why wouldn't Alex make eye contact when getting in the sad van?  Maybe because you just broke his heart on national television just when he thought he was going to finally be like his twin and be married too?

Anyway, it's time for a date with Jordan, who JoJo is still very much obsessed with.  They go to a vineyard and crush grass with their feet and then drink that grape juice, which, ew.  Then there's a hot tub, obviously.  Later, JoJo asks about Jordan's family and he goes into a monologue about how close he is to his family except Aaron (you know, the famous one who's dating Olivia Munn and the reason we all wanted a hometown date for this schmuck), and how football doesn't define him, implying it defines his brother and his brother is the one who's distanced himself from the family blah blah blah.  Then he says he's "so in love" with JoJo and she's all over him.

What a sad tableau

The group date this week is for Chase, Robby, and James Taylor, and the producers either totally forgot to plan it, or the rain really did ruin their plans, because the guys and JoJo had a "slumber party."  We find out that James Taylor's "A-game" is being able to fit an absurd number of french fries in his mouth, Robby really likes saying the words "front-runner," and Chase continues to have no personality.  They all seem kind of drunk and all more or less profess their love for JoJo.  Robby for some reason gets the group date rose and they make-out with a thunderstorm backdrop while James Taylor and Chase pout in the elevator.

Just remember: it was James Taylor's idea to stuff the fries in his mouth

Luke gets the third one on one date this week, and they ride horses and shoot guns.  JoJo says "Luke is for sure a man," so I guess that's a concern she has about the other dudes?

In a surprise twist, Luke doesn't get an evening portion of the date and goes back to inform the guys that the rose ceremony is happening right now, "so, yee-haw."

James Taylor does not get a rose and it's a tearful goodbye for both James Taylor and JoJo.  For anyone who thought James Taylor had a chance, let me remind you what her final four look like and try to tell me she doesn't have a type:

Meet Jordan, Ken Doll Jordan, Country Jordan, and Jordan 2.0

A Tale of Two Chads

(cue horror movie soundtrack)

We open this week's episode on the men having a "funeral" for Chad; throwing his protein powder into the wind.  "Death to tyrants," one bro yells, chucking the tub off the deck.  Everyone's happy, until there's a knock on the door.  Chad is back!  Daniel lets him in and asks how the date went.  Chad says some things like "JoJo broke up with me because I'm too intense" and "Alex wouldn't shut up about me."  Jordan, wanting to be reasonable and give the guy a chance, suggests that Chad should apologize to the group for being such a dick.  It doesn't go over well (shockingly), but there's no violence and Chad leaves, twirling anticlimactically out the door.

Alex returns from the date after an evening with JoJo that was presumably too boring to air, and the guys hoist him on their shoulders, set off fireworks, shove his face in a cake, and have somehow found party hats to wear.

It's cocktail party time, and with no common enemy to bond over, the men begin to unravel.  Everyone sees Robby kiss JoJo out by the fountain and are convinced he did it in view on purpose.  Luke and Alex already have roses and took "seconds" of JoJo time, so apparently any "gentleman's code" they were adhering to was thrown out the window.  Basically, they all get super insecure except for Jordan, who pushes JoJo against a wall barely hidden from the other guys, for a little make-out session.  Two guys end up going home: James F., who I only knew existed because there had to be another James for James Taylor to need a last initial, and Daniel, who went out with a strange monologue about how he has no personality and something about the chances of "getting hit by lighting while.... shaving."

Even Vinny realizes how awful his hair cut was and put on a hat.

Moving on, it's time to leave the country!  JoJo's taking the guys to Punte Del Este, Uruguay, a place she had obviously just learned how to pronounce!  Jordan gets the first one-on-one date where they kiss on a yacht and swim with seals and it's nice and drama free, so instead of watching that, we get to watch some manufactured drama.  Vinny, it seems, has set up a "barbershop," complete with trashy tabloid magazines, one of which so happens to have a "tell-all" article with JoJo's ex-boyfriend, who's name is, you guessed it, Chad.  Chad 2.0 claims JoJo ran back to him after getting dumped by Ben and only broke it off with him (again) to chase fame on the Bachelorette.  Uh oh, seems like JoJo's not here for the right reasons!  The guys overanalyze this for hours.

Back on JoJo and Jordan's date, the two of them sit at a table with food they won't eat and wine they will drink to have some serious discussion.  JoJo is worried because apparently she's met an ex of Jordan's who said he was a cheater.  Jordan claims he's not a cheater and that he wasn't a good boyfriend because he was too focused on a career he wasn't good at, and that was what JoJo wanted to hear, so she believed him and gave him a rose.

Pretty sure many guys who were forced to watch this
didn't even notice JoJo's tears during this segment...

Happy about this date, JoJo chats with a producer who shows her the Chad article.  She breaks down and we learn that she is not a pretty sobber. She goes to clear  things up with the guys and begins crying immediately.  The guys clearly can't handle this and tell her it's a "non issue" even though they spent the entire day getting all worked up about it.

Apparently this is what guys do when everyone else is on a group date

For the group date, Luke, Derek, Chase, Evan, James, Vinny, Grant, Wells, and Alex go surfing down sand dunes until it starts raining on them.  They have a cocktail party where Derek gets the group date rose and Alex and Chase decide for some reason they need to confront him about how it's a pity rose and he doesn't deserve it.  But hey, a rose is a rose, and Alex, when you call someone an insecure little bitch, it just makes you look like an insecure little bitch.  His Napoleon complex is running on all cylinders.

Why did Robby pick those swim trunks???

Robby gets the other one on one date this week, and it appears to be the walk around a city and eat street food date.  She makes him try on a hat and tells him he looks like Ryan Gosling and I'm wondering if JoJo needs glasses.  They decide to jump off a cliff because it was about time we had a  physical risk as a metaphor for falling in love this season.  That evening, Robby tells a really sad story about how his best friend was texting while driving off a bridge and that changed his life and then concludes with professing his love for JoJo.  Let's just stop here and appreciate how Robby met JoJo barely a month ago and has only seen her in settings that involve a dozen or so other men competing for her attention and this is their VERY FIRST DATE EVER and he's already dropping the L bomb.

And now it's the cocktail party.  Derek decides to call out Jordan, Alex, Chase, and Robby for being mean girls and they all bro-ily scoff at him.  Chris Harrison comes in to cancel the cocktail party because JoJo already knows which of these losers she's sending home.  They are:
Evan, the frequent bloody nosed pastor turned erectile dysfunction expert;
Vinny, the barber with terrible hair who cut the other dude's hair and now I know why they all have terrible hair;
and Grant, the hot fireman who shouldn't be surprised since he's not white, and just look at this show's track record with black people.

They all cry as they leave. The End.

To Jamaica and Love

"I think we should take advantage of this."

After standing and starting pensively at various bodies of water, Ben collects Caila for their date.  They head down a river on a raft and it is awkwardly silent the whole time.  Caila's apparently just realized Ben is dating two other girls pretty seriously and Ben doesn't know what's wrong.  Cut to the evening portion, Ben confronts her about being uncomfortable and we see that Caila has spent the afternoon rehearsing her "I love you" speech.  Ben is thrilled, because he didn't want to miss out of spending the night with Sex Panther.

"My day is really filled with cuteness."

Lauren's up next, and Ben takes her to a beach where they get to help release baby hawksbill sea turtles and all the girls should be mad, because Lauren B. gets all the best dates.  Everything about this date is super cute and it ends with them kissing in the ocean under double rainbows.  I mean, come on.

That evening they go to some small Jamaican concert so we can listen to a song about love while we hear Lauren's voice-over about how she's afraid to tell Ben she loves him.  Ben is worried that he doesn't know where Lauren stands, even after she just told him she could see a future with him and that she thinks he's amazing and that he's "legitimately" the man of her dreams.  Anyway, they forgo their individual rooms and Lauren ends up telling him she loves him.  And then, Ben says he's known for a while that he's in love with her.  HOLD UP.  He is so not allowed to say that.  But he keeps saying it!  The next morning, Lauren says how nice it is to have mornings with him, and Ben responds, "I do love you."  He broke the seal on the L word and he just can't hold it in.  So this means he's going to send Caila and JoJo home immediately, right?

"It doesn't scare me to tell you that."

Wrong.  Ben takes JoJo in a helicopter to jump into some cool looking waterfalls.  JoJo wastes no time in telling Ben she loves him, and what do you know, Ben loves her too!  JoJo's response is all of us: "What?  Are you allowed to say that?"  Ben soothes her worries with a kiss, but damn, Ben, are you ever digging yourself a hole.

During dinner, Ben confronts JoJo about her brothers, and she convinces Ben they'll get along and that they were just being protective and were uncomfortable with the situation.  That settled, they head inside to their hot tub and champagne and sex.

"I thought I'd be getting engaged in a week and a half."

Ben gets a day to collect his thoughts and is kind of realizing the L word was not a great thing to have said to two girls, but that's a problem for next week.  This week he just has to break up with Caila.  Caila, meanwhile, wants to surprise Ben because she misses him, but she does not get the reaction she hoped for.  It pretty quickly becomes clear that Ben is going to break up with her.  She takes it well, all things considered.  He walks her to the car, but before it can drive away, she yells wait! and hops out to ask Ben if he knew on their date (ie did you just want to sleep with me), and of course he claims he didn't know until he was able to reciprocate the "I love yous" to the other girls.

The "this is completely new information to me and I definitely
did not just hear a different girl say the same thing" look

And because apparently more than one rule can't be broken each episode, we still have a rose ceremony.  Each girl comes in alone and tells Chris that Ben reciprocated their I love yous (as if he didn't already know).  They stand around and make awkward small chat about why Caila isn't there and how there are only two roses until Ben comes out and still hands out the roses, dramatic pauses and everything.  They have an awkward group hug and both girls give toasts while the other glares.

Next week, we get a break from Ben's "I love you" disaster for Women Tell All!  The return of the twins, Olivia's mouth, and presumably a heartbroken Caila.

"These donkeys have some sick haircuts"

We return this week to Shawn and Nick's useless bro-fight.  Okay, we get it, you hate each other.  And Nick, if you think being Eskimo brothers with someone is not a good thing, then I have bad news for you because I'm pretty sure you just became Eskimo brothers with your worst enemy.

"Best sleepover ever!"
Ben and Kaitlyn have an overnight date riding horses and staying in a castle.  It's adorable and Ben says all of the right things, including the L word.

Ben is way too wholesome for Kaitlyn.

"Golf is a lot like love..."
Thanks, Shawn, we haven't heard a cheesy love metaphor in a while.  Kaitlyn takes Shawn golfing for their overnight and then, in a one-sided game of truth or dare, makes Shawn run around the golf course naked.  I guess the producers were feeling guilty about the lack of pool parties and gratuitously shirtless men and were trying to make up for it.

Return of the black box.

Over dinner, Kaitlyn brings up everyone's favorite subject: Nick!  She then decides to end the conversation abruptly with the invitation to forgo their individual rooms.  Because kissing seems to be Kaitlyn's (so far successful) strategy to not have to actually talk about anything.

Nick is lurking when Shawn emerges the next morning because apparently he didn't get enough of angry Shawn after his own fantasy suite and they proceed to argue unproductively again, but in Nick's room this time.

Shawn wins the champagne chugging contest.

In a predictable rose ceremony, Kaitlyn cries and sends drama-free, perfect, ridiculously hot Ben home (to presumably be the next Bachelor)  and Shawn and Nick readjust their pants 18 times and avoid eye contact because apparently they aren't allowed to leave.

Next up: Utah for "hometowns," probably so people on the internet can make fun of polygamy.

"I'm totally in love with you.... so, yeah"
Nick has a thousand siblings and his family is very concerned to the point of tears that Nick has made a huge mistake going on this show.  Again.   Nick tries to soothe his mom's worries by telling her that "[Kaitlyn]'s great at making out."  He also drops the L word on Kaitlyn and tells her that they "should make babies someday."

"What the hell's going on.  This is nuts."
We learn that sisters are Kaitlyn's jam because she has 7 of them, and then she actually gets along nicely with Shawn's sisters.  Shawn's dad is quite skeptical of the situation but that doesn't stop Shawn from also dropping the L word to Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn's confused and there will definitely be lots of tears and drama in the finale.

Next week, though, we get a break from the Shawn and Nick hate each other show for Men Tell All!  Are JJ and Clint still together?  Is Ian still a pompous asshole?  Did Joshua's hair grow back?  Has Kupah reevaluated his relationship with fireball?  Has creepy Tony married a bonsai yet?  Has Jared shaved his sad attempt at a beard?  Hopefully we'll have answers, come Monday!