Monday, June 29, 2015

Reality TV: The Bachelorette Season 11 Week 6 Recap and Thoughts


When we left off last week, Ian was insulting Kaitlyn tens ways to Sunday. This week started off with that conversation yet again, lucky us. The rest of the guys think Ian deserves some time with her, but Nick knows all and is worried that Ian may say something regrettable. Nick knows this because he had a conversation with Ian about his feelings and realizes how this will probably go down. Kaitlyn tries to hold her own against Ian and gives him somewhat of an earful, so go her! So after Ian disses and ditches, we see him be the deep and thoughtful person he has explained himself to be:


The rest of the group, having seen Ian leave, questions why guys keep leaving or keep being sent home before the rose ceremonies can happen. My answer to that is the drama is high on this season (Ian's blow up isn't even the biggest moment of drama in this episode) which means not only are guys dropping left and right, but the whole freaking format is screwed up (more on that later). So Nick, knowing what he knows about Ian, goes to comfort Kaitlyn, and blah blah go away Nick (again with mentioning movie quotes!). Shawn goes to do the same while Nick and Kaitlyn are together (probably prodded to do so by producers), sees them kissing, and gets upset. The rest of the guys are upset that they haven't gotten time with Kaitlyn and nervous it will hurt their chances at the rose ceremony. When the rose ceremony commences in front of The Alamo, Shawn B., Nick, and Ben H. already have roses. The names are called and the two that go home are Joshua and Justin. The group then learns they will be heading to Ireland and there is lots of cheering, and we see Joshua being sad. At least we'll see him soon in paradise!

Once in Dublin, Ireland, Kaitlyn arrives at the boys' suite to say that the one-on-one date starts right then, and her choice is Nick. The chilly mood in the room drops about thirty more degrees as Nick readies for his date. Shawn is especially stone-faced and even the other guys comment on how Shawn will be the most upset out of any of them that Nick was chosen. Kaitlyn and Nick walk around Dublin and we see again how afraid Kaitlyn is of birds as they run into a pack of pigeons in a park. They watch some street performers, Nick buys Kaitlyn a claddagh ring, and they visit a pub. They obviously have great physical chemistry, which persists even through their dinner at an old, ornate church (inappropriately so, IMHO). He gets the rose (duh) and here is where things really get going: Kaitlyn and Nick go back to her suite, and eventually, to her room where cameras do not follow. There are a lot of sounds, but as usual, the editing here is heavy-handed. Throughout, we get shots of Shawn and some of the other guys discussing Kaitlyn and Nick and their date, clueless as to what is going on (of course, these conversations could have happened during the day and not during Kaitlyn and Nick's private time - editing is magic after all).


We next see Kaitlyn out on her balcony the next morning and she is clearly talking to a producer, but they are filming her maybe through a window? There is something covering half of the screen, possibly a curtain (or it could have been added later). Of course we don't hear anything the producer is saying, just what Kaitlyn is saying, and it she is questioning her own actions of the previous night, wondering if it, and by "it" I think she means coitus pre-fantasy suites, has ever happened before. She goes through the reasons she feels guilty - mainly the fact that she has relationships with other guys going on in addition to Nick. Interspersed here we have Nick talking to some of the guys and Kaitlyn saying how awful it would be if he spilled the beans on their extended date, which Nick sort-of does - he says she invited him back to her suite but doesn't really elaborate. Then Joe says that Shawn also got extra time like that with Kaitlyn after the second group date. As a viewer, this was news to me because it hadn't been shown, so this revelation kind of takes Nick down a peg as he realizes he's not the only special one in the house. When the rest of the guys come in in preparation for the group date, Nick recounts his one-on-one date again, this time saying his after-date time with Kaitlyn was "intimate." The thing is, we don't actually know when he says this - if it's with the couple guys before the rest of the group gets there or after. There is no shot that shows Nick saying those things and also shows who else is in the room. All the shots are close-up on Nick, and then cut to the other guys. So he could have just told J.J. and Joe that and not the group, but editing makes it appear he was telling the whole group.

So the group date begins (J.J. and Joe have been chosen for the two-on-one date so they are left behind) and the clue was in the form of a poem that involved death. When the guys arrive at their destination, Chris Harrison tells them that Kaitlyn is dead for the day and the guys have to eulogize her while she lays (laughing) in a coffin. This is a pretty morbid date. Of course the guy who lost his mom was picked for this date (Ben Z.), so his eulogy was more heartfelt, but the rest of the guys tried to have fun with it and are pretty funny. The group then goes to the Guinness Brewery and Kaitlyn gets some time with each of the guys. The night goes pretty well with each of the guys until Kailtyn has to give out the group date rose. She gives it to Jared, and this just sets Shawn off. While Kaitlyn and Jared go get a private concert from The Cranberries (that song is still stuck in my head!), we see Shawn fuming and talking to a producer. He is miffed she picked Jared to get the extra one-on-one time (but as I said on Twitter, she can't give the roses to the same couple of guys or it would reduce the drama), and he talks about how she said he was the the one during their extra time after that second group date. Evidently, Kaitlyn dating other guys by picking them is going to drive him away and he says multiple times that he just can't do this. He ends up going to her hotel room later to talk to her because he is so bothered. While I understand his frustration, it's not a good look. At least he's consistent because he's been saying how he'd fallen for Kaitlyn night one, so he must have it pretty bad. Kaitlyn thinks he's coming to talk to her about her time with Nick, so we get shots of her in her ITM crying about how she made a mistake and then she says she can't do this anymore. And that's where the episode ends.


So we officially got rid of Ian and we lost Joshua and Justin. AND, not only do we not get the first rose ceremony in Ireland this week, we also don't get the last Dublin date! They spent so much time on Ian and then on Nick and then that last little bit on Shawn that everything else was smooshed together or left out entirely and this episode felt oddly short. While I'll give them credit that the drama has been at peak levels this season, I hate that the format is so screwed up. This week's list:

Guy I'm most disappointed/appalled by: still Ian
Funniest: Tanner (because of the funeral thing)
Guy I felt bad for: still Joshua and also Ben Z. (because of the funeral thing)
Guy I think currently has the most chemistry with Kaitlyn: Nick
Guy I wish would get more screen time: still Joe
Most surprise appearances: the producers


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