Disclaimer: Everything down below are my personal opinions. I'm in no way affiliated with any corporation, especially The Bachelorette or ABC.
Picking right where last episode left off at, Eric storms in and calls everyone into the room and tells them to mind their own business because HIS NAME IS IN THEIR MOUTHS. I see where he's coming from. How can they really expect to build a relationship with Rachel and realistically go far if they're so busy worrying about what everyone else is doing?
I'm not sure what set Rachel off, but before the rose ceremony she got extremely emotional about being a black woman, afraid of what her actions will cause people to say. It's hard to see her like that. She's kept her composure remarkably well and done a fantastic job of speaking her mind and keeping it real without reverting into the "angry black woman" stereotype. Like I said, I don't necessarily know what set her off but I know that she has a right to feel the way she does. Rachel, girl, if you're reading this just know that you've been nothing but a class act all season. You've served up realness, fierceness and kindness. Also, let's be real. All you had to do was be better than Jojo and...how could you not be better than Jojo? Side note: did y'all see the eyes she was serving Chris Harrison when he came over trying to get her to talk? I was praying that white man got out of there before she unleashed on that ass.
ONE ON ONE (Dean)
"I'm ready to go black and never go back." I think that pretty much sums up why I have not seen it for Dean since the season has begun. He's been nice and pleasant, but that one comment just left a bad taste in my mouth. Call me extra but I also started looking at Rachel sideways a few weeks back when she told him that she wanted to be the first one to make that comment to one of the white guys. It's a seemingly harmless joke but you can never really be to careful. I felt as if Dean's comment was an introduction to a painfully cringe worthy season, considering that the show isn't great with dealing with black people. As I said before, aside from the comment, I haven't had an issue with Dean so far this season. Maybe it was Dean calling Lee a racist, more on that later, or maybe I just saw the light but I really started feeling Dean. This week something just seemed to spark while watching Dean and Rachel interact. They have this genuine chemistry that feels effortless. When he told Rachel the story about his mother it felt like the most genuine moment I've ever witnessed on this show. It didn't feel contrived or forced, just genuine. I usually hate watching one on one dates but I enjoyed it and was really happy to see Dean get that rose.
GROUP DATE (Alex, Anthony, Peter, Bryan, Jonathan, Adam, Matt, Kenny, Lee, Iggy, Eric, Will, Josiah)
The group date occurred on a boat, starting out with a horrible dance and an even worse slew of horrible rapping. Side note, was I the only one that heard that lily white man (Peter) say that Rachel was "from the hood" during his freestyle? I have no idea why he thought that was okay, or why Rachel didn't address that with her one on one time with him. I didn't want her to fight the man, or anything, just let him know that things like that are not cool to say. The rest of the date is fairly light hearted, with a spelling be that didn't do much but show us what bad spellers some of the guys are. I've liked Josiah thus far but I guess he's a bit like the macaroni and cheese at Panera bread. Good when you start eating it but after about six bites it's just way too much for you to handle. He took his shirt off, flexed his moobs, did push-ups with Rachel on his back and by the time he tried to Marvin Gaye at the spelling be I was SO over him.
After the date, Gossip Girl tells Rachel that he questions Josiah's personality. Josiah is annoying, yes, but he's once again inserting himself into a situation that has nothing to do with him. He's there to build a relationship with Rachel, but based on what we've seen so far, all Rachel knows about him is that he doesn't have any shame and will spill all the tea about the house to her. When confronted, he once again says that he was "asked" about tension going on in the house when he clearly goes out of his way to deliver her a monologue about a specific person that he doesn't trust. Obviously she's going to ask him who it is, but what Iggy failed to mention to Josiah was that he set her up to ask that question. I think he lives for the confrontation because every time he tattles to Rachel, he comes back and tells said guy that he was just talking about him. Josiah goes OFF in the confessional delivering one of the best lines of the episode, "With all due respect, Iggy's a bitch." And says a bunch of outlandish stuff like Iggy "shooting up steroids in the nuts." I don't know about you, but I never need to picture that. Ever. Not once in my life did I ever ask to picture that. Josiah, WE ARE ON YOUR SIDE. BE QUIET SO WE CAN STAY THERE.
"Lee's kind of a...bitch." Now I don't know about you, but that's my tagline for the season. It's almost cringe worthy watching how discussing Lee was being throughout this entire episode. Watching him in the scene, then watching him in the confessionals were all just a bit much for me. He clearly like to antagonize people, he likes bringing out the worst in people and seeing them at their worst. It's a horrible trait to have and it's something that Rachel will hopefully pick up on. His first offense, of the night, it stealing Rachel away from Kenny after he already had time with her earlier in the night. Don't get me wrong, I'm on Kenny's side, but the way he went about confronting him was just all wrong. He didn't have his words together, sort of just incoherently yelling at him and calling him and liar and snake. What Lee did was crappy, but Kenny didn't make the situation any better by having an unfocused one-sided shouting match with him. I feel like next week when he gets the bruised face, it's gonna be like when Mike and Ronnie were yelling at each other on Jersey Shore and Mike got SO mad that he smacked his own head into the concrete wall. Lee just feels like a bully that got left in the dryer too long, he can't hurt Kenny. But for some reason I'm just picturing Kenny hopping up and down mad and accidentally falling off the balcony or something while Lee just takes more shots.
Transcript of their fight:
Kenny: YOU'RE A SNAKE
Lee: Why
Kenny: YOU'RE SNAKING ME
Lee: How
Kenny: YOU KNOW WHY
Lee: Okay but where
Kenny: JESUS LORDT HELP ME
Lee: Um
Kenny: YOU'RE THE WORST
Lee: Lol huh
Kenny: FUCK YOU
Transcript of their fight:
Kenny: YOU'RE A SNAKE
Lee: Why
Kenny: YOU'RE SNAKING ME
Lee: How
Kenny: YOU KNOW WHY
Lee: Okay but where
Kenny: JESUS LORDT HELP ME
Lee: Um
Kenny: YOU'RE THE WORST
Lee: Lol huh
Kenny: FUCK YOU
The real testament of Lee's character comes up when he's telling Rachel about the situation. It's not a lie that Kenny was raising his voice at him and getting upset, but what he obviously fails to mention is that he was egging him on, going as far as saying "You know, I love the guy!" He was doing things on purpose to make Kenny get angrier and angrier. He admitted it in the confessional, and he even admitted it to a few of the guys in the house. I don't know if it was the beat drop of the background music or the tension in the air but I gagged on my water when Kenny finally cut the crap and called Lee a liar to Rachel. Kenny's pulls Lee to the side on the balcony and that's where the episode ends. I, personally, want to see Lee get thrown off the roof (and survive...). Lee's kind of, just, ...a bitch. He reminds me of an unfunny, uncharismatic, uninteresting and not muscular version of Chad Johnson.
Some of Lee's most cringe inducing lines:
"I'm not willing to make peace with Eric."
"I get tickled when I smile and an angry man gets angrier."
"I don't like Kenny. I'm gonna find joy in smiling and crumbling his miserable world."
"I can say some shit about you guys any day of the week! I'm the only one with the balls to say it."
EPISODE GRADE: B
-Thank you to ABC and E online for the pictures!
-"The only people I've see Lee pick fights with are guys that he's not used to seeing on a daily level, from a cultural perspective." I could feel that shady producer fixing up her neck and smiling when she asked him what he meant. Dean basically telling her "Stfu you're playing games you know what I meant" was oddly the highlight of the episode for me.
-Thank you to ABC and E online for the pictures!
-"The only people I've see Lee pick fights with are guys that he's not used to seeing on a daily level, from a cultural perspective." I could feel that shady producer fixing up her neck and smiling when she asked him what he meant. Dean basically telling her "Stfu you're playing games you know what I meant" was oddly the highlight of the episode for me.
| RACHEL LINDSAY IS A NATIONAL TREASURE AND WE MUST PROTECT HER AT ALL COSTS. |
