Monday, March 9, 2015

Bachelor Finale: Whit's World, Party Time, Excellent...

Here we go.....a virgin who's never seen semen vs. a woman who handles it on a daily basis.  What's a guy to do?  I'm thinking he picks Whitney, but that's just a guess.  Maybe her voice isn't as annoying in person?

Live from Bachelor Arena in L.A., Harrison and his army of women spectators are fired up and ready to go.  Single guys, if you want some good odds, either buy a ticket to the Bachelor finale, or hang out on the street outside right when the show lets out.  Harrison doesn't do his typical stroll through the first few rows of the audience asking for their predictions, he just throws out to the perfect place to fall in love/propose, Bali!

Or not.  Chris is bringing the women to Iowa for the finale?  The women got to go to Albuquerque, Deadwood, and now Iowa....for the second time. Worst Bachelor locations ever.  I get that Chris is super paranoid about his hometown, but he really took it to extremes.  Whitney gets the first crack at winning over the family - and boy are they a farming family.  Everyone's wearing plaid (including Whit) and there's pictures of combines and crop dusters on the wall of the kitchen.  The decor shows the evidence of a small midwest town - There's probably one furniture store in town, and if you want a sofa, you get to choose between the ugly green or the loud flower print.  In the Soules family, you just buy both and pretend they match.  Forget ordering something online, because free shipping only extends to within fifty miles of the warehouse, which is 200 miles away.  Whit cries and wins the family over instantly.  When the girls ask what the difference between Whit and Becca is, Chris can't put into words what he likes about Becca. He starts a lot of sentences he couldn't finish.  She's just....when I'm with her....she's athletic.....

She's athletic? That's what you come up with?  Let me translate for Mushmouth - She's hot, and I had to bring someone who wasn't Whitney back here.  Chris' mom asks why Whitney loves Chris, and she says "I want someone to call mom."  So the fact that he has living parents make him marriage material?  Flattery clearly works with mom, because she's ready to adopt Whit regardless of what Chris thinks.  Becca has a real uphill road ahead of her.  This is going to be a whole lot of awkward.

Before that though, Chris has guy time in the traditional Midwest farm garage, which is essentially a giant warehouse that everyone with more than an acre of land from Wyoming to Indiana has on their property.  It's where you park your lawnmower, snow blower, combine, backhoe, and any thing else that you guy buy at Cabelas/Menards/Lowes/Home Depot.  I don't know how those stores stay in business, because I swear every Midwesterner has their own mini hardware store out in their garage/warehouse.  Need a 3/4" hex bolt? Don't worry, I've got some out in the shed?  One year, Jonah asked for tools for Christmas.  He got a few from us, but we were at my wife's sister's house, and my brother-in-law loaded him up with an extra set of safety glasses, a couple screwdrivers, a flashlight, and a couple other things.  Just had extras lying around he could spare.  Lying around is a bad term.  These were the ones that were in the garage attached to his house, because they weren't worthy enough to get a place in the warehouse.  Anyways, the men of the family say "dude's really screwed if he can't see Whitney's the one."  Good luck Becca!

The women say they're going to give Becca a fair shake.  When asked if his realationship with Becca is on par with Whitney, he says "we're both on the same page, but logistically, no."  What the hell does that mean?  "Just trust me family, I love these girls EXACTLY the same, even if it looks like I have no interest in her, because LOGISTICS."

While Whitney opted for bringing flowers, Becca brings food.  Advantage, Becca.  Becca is talking about her impressions of Iowa, and Mama Soules is either really drunk or really faking her reactions. Becca says "what do we do on the weekends, go to the post office?" and Mom reacts like the crowd at a Benny Hinn sermon.

Becca continues to say "I'm not ready to get married and have kids and move to Iowa, but I love Chris."  Which would be great, if you know she wasn't on a television show that is on a pretty strict timeline.  Mama tries to counsel Becca and tell her that she needs to tell Chris how much she loves him, but Becca clearly isn't ready to get married or move to Arlington.  Becca is so completely out of her depth right now.  This is why you shouldn't go on a show that ends in marriage when you've never held hands with a boy.  You wouldn't go on a reality show that involves diving off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean if you don't know how to swim.

Back from commercial, Harrison teases a "shocking twist" that has never happened on this show, but first we have to watch a couple boring dates where Whitney probably cries because her love is so vast and Becca probably cries because she doesn't know what love is.  Chris says that the hotel in Dubuque is the perfect place to relax because it's the last time they see each other before the final rose ceremony.  That is not a reason, Chris.  That's like me saying this couch is the perfect place to blog about this show because I'm sitting on it right now.  It's FATE!

Becca gets first shot and winning Chris over for good, and I'd take it as a pretty bad sign that Chris hardly looks at her while he's talking about their future together.  Becca says "I can't give you a timeline of when I'd be ready to pick up my life."  So much for relaxing, Chris!!!  After arguing about timelines for  a while, Chris just flat out asks her why she doesn't think she loves him.  The answer is "I don't know."  Why is she here again? Because sometimes guys like a challenge.  I dated a girl for a while that was really quiet, reserved, and a little uptight, but I was convinced that if I hung out with her long enough, she'd eventually loosen up.  It didn't happen, and our relationship kind of got stuck in neutral for a few months before my decision to hang out with my brother on his birthday instead of spending it with her led to a break-up.  I feel like that's what might happen with Chris and Becca - they'll just kind of hang out together for a while, until some seemingly insignificant or minor thing trips them up and the whole relationship falls apart.

Chris seems to be weighing a lifetime of "pretty good" with Whitney against the potential for "amazing" with Becca.  It's like having $20 and taking it to a friend who says "I can turn that $20 into $100 guaranteed next year, OR give me that $20 and I might turn it into $1,000, but there's also a pretty good chance I'll just take your $20 and buy myself dinner."  It really just depends if Chris is willing to settle for a woman who loves him unconditionally or hold out for a woman he loves unconditionally.

Becca got a hotel date, Whitney gets to harvest some corn.  Makes me think back to when Rachel and I were first dating and I was baling hay in the summers.  She came out with me for one day, and I think she just about broke up with me that night because she hated it so much.  Big gamble by Chris there.  Becca should probably not unpack her bag at that hotel, because Whit gets a tour of Chris' house on her date.  There's no way he pick Becca right?  However, this is the Bachelor, and Harrison's already teasing some sort of jaw dropping moment, so clearly someone's going to do something stupid.  I can't wait to see who it is.

Whitney says that this is their last night together so they need to be serious with each other - and then takes him into the bedroom with a couple glasses of wine  Guess she know what her final argument is going to be:  Remember what happens in this room tonight, because the virgin does not know how to do this.  Or...instead she reiterates exactly what she's been saying for like six weeks about how much she loves him.  Chris then says "I reciprocate those feelings....no matter what happens tomorrow."  Which is not exactly the words every girl wants to hear, but it's the best you get on the Bachelor.

As day breaks over a snow hay field, Chris tell us that he's really excited for today, a day he's been looking forward to for a while.  He then follows it up with "I was hoping for some clarity that never came."  This really sounds like a dude who isn't ready to get married.  Maybe he picks Becca because it's not a "time to get married" situation and he can feel things out.  Maybe this all a bunch of hogwash trying to get us to think he does something other than the obvious choice.

As they roll up to a barn retrofitted to be rose ceremony worthy, I think it's a bad sign that I see a skeleton's face on Chris' tie.  Maybe it's not intentional, but that's what it looks like to me.  That barn might burn down on him!  Harrison again teases something big coming up on After the Final Rose, which makes me grumpy, because I wasn't planning on watching that tonight.

Beck's first out the limo, and they whisper through their hellos like it's a hospital or library instead of a freaking barn in the middle of nowhere.  Chris lets her down fairly well.  I was actually impressed with the way he tells her he's dumping her. No tears, no questions, and only one cliche - the "you'll make some guy very lucky someday." I get the sense the Becca's almost relieved that he's letting her go....she's now off the hook and can go back to not holding hands with people in San Diego.  Chris on the other hand seems slightly bummed that she didn't put up a bigger fight.  In the limo, Becca stares out the window, while Chris stares at a bale of hay out in front of the barn.  The hay bale doesn't want to live in Arlington either, Soules.

This is setting up like Whitney's going to get the "you did everything right, but I love Becca for reasons I can't properly explain to you," then maybe on After the Final Rose, Becca realizes that she IS in love and she DOES want to marry Chris and move to Arlington.

I can't tell if Whitney's voice is wavering because she's nervous or because she's freezing in her bare shoulders dress in a drafty barn in Iowa in the middle of winter.  Whitney bares her soul, and tells Chris how much she loves him and all that stuff, and man it's going to crush her if he says no.  Of course, that doesn't happen, because that would be too much fun.  Chris tells her he loves her, and proposes to her and she says yes and it's all very sweet and I'm actually happy for these two.......

....FOR NOW......

After the Final Rose kicks off with the standard "it's been so hard for us to keep this a secret and now we can let everyone see our love and we're so excited!"  He then talks about how Becca's not ready, and then Chris asks if it would've changed things if Becca would have said she loved him.  Of course it would have Chris!  Might not have changed the final outcome, but it definitely would've altered the decision making process.

Then Becca talks for a while and it's boring, and then Chris says Whitney is the closest thing he's found to his sister which is so insanely creepy.  Let's be honest, we're all here to see Kaitlyn crowned next Bachelorette, right?

Well, now it's time for your twist -  Britt somehow weaseled her way into this thing, and they're going to let the guys decide which of the two they want to make out with for a few weeks before probably getting dumped by.  Good times.  Britt's gotta love the fact that, judging by the reactions of the Bachelor Arena crowd, nobody really wants her to be there.

I don't think these girls like each other, so this ought to make for a good first episode that probably will be a three night, two hours a night extravaganza.




Monday, March 2, 2015

Bachelor: Women Yell All

Spurred by people calling me "soft" and "LeBron-like" for quitting on the blog midseason, I'm back to blogging.  Unfortunately, I'm back the week of the Women Tell All, which - well.....like every other "special" episode in the Bachelor universe - sucks.  It's commercials on top of commercials on top of recycled material on top of six women yelling at each other at the same time.  Oh, and Chris² head out to "crash" viewing parties.  Just the biggest crap ever.  There's absolutely no way these women decorate their house and put together tailgate worthy meals every week.  I will buy that there are small groups that "woo!" and drink every time he kisses someone, but for the most part it looks like really drunk, probably desperate women willing to make fools of themselves on national television.  I might tweet at them and invite Chris Harrison and the next bachelor/ette to come watch with me while I blog on my couch alone with a Pepsi and a blanket - that might be some pretty compelling television, as I say "dude, seriously?  Do you think anyone aside from those super drunk ladies at the fake viewing parties is buying what you're selling us right now?

When Chris introduces the ladies, and I like how they put all the girls nobody remembers in the same quadrant where they aren't going to get in the camera shots of anyone we really want to hear from.  Trina?  Megan?  Nikki?  Samantha?  All in a row together.  We get some recaps of stuff that happen - some funny stuff, mostly all the mean things the girls said about each other so that they are primed to be super-bitchy to each other.  Carley comes off looking the worst, which is funny, because during the show, all her comments seemed to make sense and was exactly what everyone else at home was thinking, but all spliced together at the same time, make her look super awful.  Britt is crying, and it's hard to pay attention, because Samantha's super revealing shirt with bits of sheer material is pretty distracting.

Britt confronts Carley, which leads to every woman talking at the same time, to the point that Harrison has to pull Britt up to the "hot seat."  I guess this was to rescue her, but it didn't really make it better.  It turned into Britt yelling at Carley, Carley trying to explain herself, Britt interrupting her before she can ever get to her point (one of which was "if you read Chris' blog..." which just made me  so sad for all these women who dated this guy and then have to log on to People.com to find out what he really thought about them after the episodes air) and then all the other women chiming in.  Jillian calls Britt the most beautiful person inside and out, which I really saw no evidence of either way.  Also, I figured out why Britt never showers - it's because she cries so much she is able to bathe in her own tears.  Another hilarious moment occurs when Britt starts telling us how she has apparently devoted the better part of her life to the betterment of children.  She's built ORPHANAGES! She coaches SOCCER!  Her occupation is listed as "waitress."

Ashley Kardashian tries to explain how they heard Britt say she was in no rush to get married, and Britt jumps in to say that she needs to love herself as a single person before she let someone else love her or something like that, which really sounds like EXACTLY what Ashley just said, but for some reason the audience applauds her.  Britt then claims that she'd still be on the show if it wasn't for Carley, which....what does that say about Farmer Chris?  She then directly addresses Carley by saying "I don't want to say you were jealous" which means "you were so jealous of me."  Britt loves playing a victim.  Her entire argument is discredited by the scene where she cried because she was afraid of heights and then has absolutely no reservations or anything about getting into a hot air balloon, which is the most terrifying height related activity you can do in my opinion.

Back from commercial, and Britt is still crying.  Or is she?  Has anyone seen one tear?  It looks like there might be some condensation under her eyes, or maybe it's just glitter.  I can't tell.  From a victim to a widow....bring on Kelsey!  Side note, I listened to a half hour interview with Kelsey this afternoon, and she was every bit as arrogant in that as she came off on the show.  She referred to herself in the third person and all that jazz.  After Kelsey's little video recap, she doesn't wait for Chris to prompt her, she just rolls into her "I'm feeling betrayed...." and on and on.  She then talks down to all the women, saying they didn't like her because she can be condescending and "use big words" as if the women all hate her because she uses the word condescending.  She then says "I don't think I'm better than these women - how do you evaluate humanity?"  She can say she doesn't think she's better than the other women, but she clearly thinks than she comports herself in a better manner than her.  She's one of those people that has wine parties and makes sure to invite people from different ethnic backgrounds so that they can talk about how open minded and diverse they are and how the rest of the world is so close-minded.  I imagine she has lots of conversations about gentrification and other "big picture" problems in the world without ever really doing anything to combat those issues.  Chris Harrison finally realizes that he needs to actually earn his paycheck and shuts the women down from interjecting because he realizes this group is about one angry comment away from turning this into an episode of Jerry Springer.

The girls finally get their moment to attack, and Kelsey is way outgunned.  She tries to hold herself to her own high standards, but she doesn't do much to combat the onslaught of verbal abuse.  The real star of this show is Ashley Kardashian's reactions to everything Kelsey says.  If she had been able to show this much variety and range of emotions with her face during the show, she might've been able to stay a little longer, but alas she only showed two faces - pouty face and tongue down Chris' throat face.  Kelsey tries to explain her "my story is amazing" comment, but it's too late for her.  Everyone's already made up their mind on her.  A great moment comes when she tells Ashley that it was very hurtful for her to imply that her husband was a figment of her imagination.  Jillian has appointed herself defender of everyone on the hot seat, and Britt, having just been eviscerated herself, says "you better be 100% sure before you say something like that, because it's really mean."

Up next is Mesa Verde Ashley!  Her highlight reel might be the first one in the history of the franchise that I wasn't annoyed to have to watch.  Ashley gives probably the most honest hot seat interview ever, talking about how bored she was, and how it's hard for her to not be silly when the cameras are on.  She's like that friend every single one of us has that says something just to see how people react, only she's way better at it than anyone you know is.  She knows exactly what's going on, but she's got everyone believing she has no grasp of reality whatsoever.  Harrison begs her to come on Bachelor in Paradise, and her reaction is "it's so weird.....that we're on TV."  True statement.  She never gets to respond, but I'd be shocked if we don't see her down in Tulum or wherever they send the people this season.  Other current season girls I'd like to see down there include Jade, Ashley Kardashian, and maybe Carley.

Jade gets her moment, and it's pretty much all about her having naked pictures taken of her at one point in her life.  If she wants to do some nude modeling again, I'm pretty sure she's got a pretty good shot of making quite a bit of money off of that.  She does say that Chris told her when she left that "it wasn't because of your nekkid pix" which means that "it was totally because you posed nude, you tramp."

Kaitlyn is up next, and why is she wearing a crop top?  Also, she's got more makeup on than she ever wore during the show...she looks like Melanie Griffith or the Joker.  I'm not liking this new look Kaity.  She's still kind of sad, and I don't like sad Kaitlyn.  Fun loving Kaitlyn is one of the best people to ever be on this show, but now we get cliché Kaitlyn, who talks about letting her guard down and being authentic and talking about how her being funny doesn't take away from who she is, whatever that means.  I will say that it's pretty evident that she's not ashamed of anything that happened on the show, which is further evidenced by none of the other girls calling her out for anything.  I think she had the easiest time on the hot seat despite being the one that came the closest out of any of girls there to actually getting married to Chris, and that's probably because she's not pretending to be anything other than who she really is and not holding back with any of her answers.

Finally, Prince Farming comes out, and we get crying Britt heading out to reenact her full length feature film length hug from the first episode with Chris.  She then goes on to say that she understands why he would've believed Carley, at which point Chris tells her that she didn't go home because of what Carley said.  Britt then says "Of course I don't think you're that small-minded."  Just an hour ago she said that she believed that she went home because of Carley's comments.  DOES SHE NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS EXACTLY WHY ALL THE WOMEN HATE HER?  I'm actually shocked that the women all had the restraint not to call her out on this right on the spot.  Incredible.

Caitlyn gets the chance to say her piece, and really the only thing that comes out of it is her asking Chris why he didn't extend the same courtesy to her the he showed Becca or Andi showed him and pull her aside and not make her stand through what is going to be a rough moment for her.  A reasonable explanation, and his response of "I kind of played that one on the fly, which was not the best way to go about things" is equally reasonable.  The civility everyone is showing each other would make Will McAvoy proud, but it makes for pretty boring TV.

Jade gets her chance to ask why he doesn't love her, and like Britt, she needs to be close to him to talk to him.  Kaitlyn was able to have a conversation with him without running out to hug him, showing she's in a more stable emotional state than the rest of them.  They then yap at each other for a while, and the only interesting moment is when Jade questions him on why he agreed to see the pictures when he said it was awkward, and that they could've saved looking at them for "some time special."  Like the fantasy suite, perhaps?

Bloopers come up, and the animals are funnier than any of the people.  A little creeped out that Whitney just lets her dog hump stuffed animals all the time and then says "that's what she does?"  How do you get anything done when your dog is just openly humping stuff in front of you?  I don't think I could sit there and eat my cereal and read the paper while my dog is staring at me and grinding on Buzz Lightyear, but she makes it seem like that's a normal day for her.

Ugh....three hour finale next week.  Not looking forward to that at all.  My guess is Whitney wins, because I think Kaitlyn went home only to add drama because she was the clear #2 over Becca but wasn't going to top Whitney.