Welcome to week 3 of The Bachelor recaps. The evening starts out by wrapping up the rose ceremony from the previous week (you can read that recap here). We were left with the drama between Queen Victoria and Marylynn when last week’s episode ended. Honestly, Victoria has to be planted by a producer because there is no way she is for real. Unfortunately, Marylynn does not get a rose, along with a couple of other women.
With Marylynn out of the picture, Queen Victoria has decided to turn her attention to Sarah. Three dates are taking place this week: two group dates and one 1:1 date.
First Group Date
The date card says “Today is a surprise for everyone.” And Matt has been compared to Frozone in the past, but his outfit on this date makes me understand why people make that comparison.
The ladies are met by Ashley I., and they will be writing their own love scenes for Matt – and will have to read them in front of a live audience. The live studio audience just happens to be….. drumroll please: the other ladies in the house. Chris Harrison looks a bit too excited to be hosting this part.
Anna is up first. “Of all the things that were lacking, I know my mans Matt James is packing,” wins Serena C. some points in my book (it was clever, okay?). Our girl with the vibrator, Katie, is up next. And, it was a little R-rated…. Queen Victoria is up next. Hers was actually pretty funny.
The evening portion of the date is up next. Meanwhile, the second date card arrives. Serena P. gets the one on one date. And Sarah is slowly becoming unhinged at the thought of Matt building relationships with the other women. So, she takes matters into her own hands, and decides to join right in on the evening portion of the date SHE WASN’T INVITED TO. I have second-hand embarrassment. The women who actually were part of the date were (rightfully so) upset that Sarah is using up their time to get to know Matt.
Then, Sarah decides to address (WITH THE OTHER WOMEN INVITED ON THE GROUP DATE) why she crashed the date. And the women go in on her. Now, Sarah feels assured after talking to Matt, but feels like she has a target on her back with the other women. Katie is really growing on me. She understands how how to address conflict head on, but in a relatively respectful manner.
Rachel gets the group date rose. I don’t know if Matt doesn’t quite know how to read the room, but the women all look super upset – and he does nothing to address that. Come on, Matt. Do better.
The Bachelor: One on One Date
Matt shows up to take Serena P. on her group date, but he wanted to address the Sarah situation with the group of women. But, he notices that Sarah isn’t sitting with the group. AND HE GOES TO FIND HER TO TALK. Read. the. room. Sarah was one of my personal frontrunners, but even I’m annoyed for the other women at this point.
And also, I’m not loving all of Matt’s turtlenecks. This is the second time this episode they have him in one. Matt and Serena P. go horseback riding and a picnic for their date. Happy to see Matt out of his turtleneck for the evening portion of the date. Matt reveals that he’s never been in love before. Now, let’s unpack this a bit. I respect his reason for saying that he’s never been in love before and that it probably would have been a different answer if you would have asked the same question of a younger Matt. Maybe he is more ready than I thought. Serena P. gets the rose. and after he gives her the rose, he’s back in the hot tub. The same hot tub he was in with Bri last week. (file this under things that make you go hmm…)
Meanwhile, back at the house…
The ladies are still upset with Sarah (who seems to be hiding out in her room). She finally decides to join the other women they second group date is announced. Sarah apologizes to the other women for her absence and for interrupting the group date. The other women proceeded to lay into her. I don’t like how the other woman ganged up on her. I understand why they are upset, but she apologized – let’s grow up, accept her apology and move on.
Katie and Sarah have a heart to heart. Sarah shares about her dad’s terminal illness – and Katie shares that her dad passed away in 2012. I really like Katie, and respect that she came in to check on Sarah. After their conversation, Sarah decides to self-eliminate. But, not before she shows up at Matt’s to share with him that she felt very pushed out by the other women in the house.
The episode ends after Sarah goes home, but not before we get a sneak peek of next week’s episode. Spoiler alert: it looks like five new women are showing up to meet Matt.
