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Tag: Hunter

The cat doesn’t come back and it’s a drag on The Bachelorette

Katie Thurston delivers the bad news to the men still vying for roses on Monday’s “Bachelorette”:
No cocktail party for you! PHOTO CREDIT: All photos, Craig Sjodin/ABC

I can understand if Monday’s “Bachelorette” episode made you feel like spitting up a hairball: there was a pointless masturbation challenge; there was one of those lame fake wedding dates; there was a drag queen group date that was conspicuously short on drag; there was more House vs. Hunter drama; then Katie Thurston sent Connor the Cat home early and the other men were as bereft as she was (well, except for Blake).

And then we ended up with a top seven, just a couple of weeks from hometowns, that had everyone going “Huh?” Katie sees a future with Mike the Virgin and Brendan the Hair Quiff?

Well, no, of course she doesn’t. It was just a process of elimination. She told the fellows at the rose ceremony she had no more time for man drama and since Aaron, Tre and James had all stirred up shit by whinging about Hunter, they were marked for elimination. She also ditched the target of the conflict, a.k.a. Hunter, but no big loss there.

The irony is that while everyone on the House Un-Fraternal Activities Committee was worrying about whether Hunter was there for the right reasons, no one was paying attention to Blake, who stole deeper into frontrunner territory with a “Say Anything”-style visit to Katie’s suite while everyone else was still drying their tears over Connor’s exit.

Look out Greg and Michael and Andrew.

The episode began with an odd time waster in which Katie dispatched co-host Kaitlyn Bristowe to tell the remaining 11 men to lay off the “self-love” for a week, which Katie bizarrely described as a “fun challenge” dubbed Operation WOWO.

I have questions. Isn’t a sex-positive Bachelorette telling her suitors not to masturbate a little off brand? How would she know if anyone cheats? Would the camera operators stake out the bedrooms and bathrooms? And doesn’t a challenge imply some kind of reward? What was the point of them avoiding “solo hockey,” as Connor put it?

Ok, I’ve wasted enough brain cells on that topic. Next!

Katie’s first one-on-one date was with Justin Glaze, he of the hyper expressive face (and problematic teenage tweets, from what I read Monday night).

Katie and Justin on their fake wedding day.

The plot line going into the date was that Katie didn’t know if there was a spark between her and Justin or if they were just friends. And what better way to find out than with a fake wedding?

“Bachelor Nation photographer” Franco Lacosta oversaw the faux nuptials, which included the donning of wedding apparel, the reciting of vows they wrote themselves, cake, and lots and lots of kissing, so I guess that answers the question about the spark.

Later, Katie confessed to Justin that the fake walk up the aisle (well, the space between the trees) was tough for her not only because her dad was dead but because he wasn’t her biological father, a secret her mother had kept from her, and now she was struggling to form a relationship with the man she didn’t know while mourning the one who raised her. Yeah, this woman has been through some stuff.

Justin said he wanted to support Katie (what the hell else would he say really?) and there was more kissing, and then dancing and kissing as a musician named MAX sang a song called “Butterflies.” All I know is it wasn’t country music, so bonus points there.

Drag queens Monet X Change and Shea Coulee with Katie and the group date guys.

Time for the group date. All that Blake, Andrew, Michael, Greg, Aaron, Mike, Brendan, James, Tre and Hunter knew going in was that it was about “queen” Katie looking for her “king.” But no Brendan, there was no medieval theme. Instead, two “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” winners, Shea Coulee and Monet X Change, were there. But the men weren’t being asked to put on drag — more’s the pity, Michael was game — but to “throw shade” at each other in a so-called Great Royal Debate.

The date was obviously designed to allow the other men to insult Hunter, but they mostly just got mushy with Katie. Greg even wrote a poem. At least Aaron kind of got it, taking a swipe at Hunter’s short stature by calling him a leprechaun and telling him he couldn’t add Katie’s “heart of gold” to his pot.

Clearly, these guys have never watched a minute of “Drag Race.” Also, Blake said he’d never met a drag queen before and didn’t know if he “should be checking them out.”

Mike, Andrew, Hunter, Blake and Tre take part in the “Great Royal Debate.”

Hunter claimed to be falling in love with Katie. That somewhat contradicted what he told Shea earlier when she asked if he was in love with Katie and he said he was “not in a place where I’ve been able to explore that.”

Hunter’s other offence in the eyes of his fellow contestants was that he told Greg he thought he, Greg and Connor would make Katie’s top four and then denied making a top four list. Like even writing that out, as much as I haven’t been a fan of Hunter’s, really guys? That’s what you’re obsessing over?

Katie warned the men at the after-party to spend their time improving their connections with her, but instead James, Aaron and Tre bad-mouthed Hunter and Hunter was unable to defend himself to her satisfaction. Katie was distressed enough by the drama to throw up, and she cut the party short and didn’t give out a rose.

Co-host Kaitlyn Bristowe and her fiancé Jason Tartick had a double date with Katie and Connor.

Then dear sweet math teacher Connor, the guy who dressed up like a cat on Night 1, got a one-on-one date, but it was clear he was in danger of getting tossed like yesterday’s kitty litter since Katie was already friend-zoning him.

It would come down, she said, to his kiss.

And no matter how hard date buddies Kaitlyn Bristowe and Jason Tartick were rooting for Connor, Katie wasn’t feeling it. She went to Connor’s room later, in jeans and a hoodie rather than her dinner dress, and told him that no matter how “great of a man” he was there was something missing in their kiss.

And Connor, struggling to hold back his own tears, kept telling Katie it was OK, that it was worth it to have met her.

What was more extraordinary were the reactions of the other 10 men when Connor went to say goodbye. They lined up to hug him; Michael kissed him on the cheek; Greg and Brendan and Hunter wiped away tears; Tre out and out cried.

Their genuine affection for Connor was a nice antidote to all the sniping.

Blake shows Monet X Change and Shea Coulee his strut.

But leave it to Blake Moynes to turn all that sadness to his advantage. As Katie sat in her suite still crying about Connor, she heard music outside. It was Blake doing his best John Cusack, holding some kind of speaker over his head blasting “Memorize You” by Laine Hardy, the song they danced to on their date.

He was there to cheer her up, he said, and judging from the amount of smooching they did in the hallway, in her suite and on her balcony I doubt she was thinking about Connor anymore by the time they were through. As Katie said in her voice-over, “When I’m with Blake I don’t think about anything else except him and I, I’m in trouble.”

I’m pretty sure Blake failed the Operation WOWO challenge when he got back to his room.

By rose ceremony time, Katie wasn’t messin’. She showed up just long enough to tell the guys she already knew what she wanted to do and there’d be no cocktail party.

Except there was another one of those fakeouts when Katie picked up the first rose, and after an inordinately long pause, called Hunter’s name, but instead of handing it to him asked him to go outside for a chat.

Hunter claimed to be “on fire with emotions” for Katie, but Katie didn’t seem particularly impressed. She gave her six roses to Blake, Andrew, Greg, Michael, Mike and Brendan and, of course, Justin already had one, which left Aaron, James, Tre and Hunter out in the cold.

Next week, we’ll presumably get our top four unless we have another one of those “To be continued” cliffhangers.

You can tune in Monday at 8 p.m. on Citytv. And you can comment here, visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter @realityeo

Hunter smash, Blake smooch, Greg cry on ‘The Bachelorette’

Josh, James, Hunter, Brendan, Michael and Quartney take the field for a Bash Ball Battle
on “The Bachelorette.” PHOTO CREDIT: All photos, Craig Sjodin/ABC

Monday’s episode was a perfect representation of the dual personality of the “Bachelor/Bachelorette” franchise, a show that claims to be all about love but so often revels in the baser aspects of human nature.

On the one hand, we had men on the group date playing in a ridiculous made-up sporting event designed to stoke their aggression to the point of physical injury. On the other, we had the antithesis of toxic masculinity when, at the after-party, Michael told the other men about his late wife and his story moved Greg to tears.

That the two frontrunners shared such a lovely human moment made the ongoing aggressiveness of Hunter — who seemed to transfer his win-at-all-costs attitude from the bash ball field to the pursuit of Katie Thurston — all the more annoying. But I’m also aware that I’m supposed to feel this way, thanks to the master manipulators behind the producing curtain.

After all, “The Bachelorette” abhors a vacuum and somebody had to take the place of villain Thomas, sent packing last week, and of Karl before him. Hunter, come on down.

Hunter’s elevation to new public enemy No. 1 by the “Bachelorette” house un-fraternal activities committee was good news for one Canadian: it distracted the guys from hating on Blake Moynes, who made his official debut as a contestant and promptly got the week’s first one-on-one date.

And he made such a good impression on the date that he went from guy who came in late just to piss everyone else off to serious contender. It’s not like there isn’t a precedent for that. I’m sure you’ll recall that Nick Viall went from hated latecomer to runner-up on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s season.

Katie lays one on Blake Moynes as Laine Hardy provides background noise.

Of course it’s possible that Katie just wants to practise some sex positivity on Blake since they were practically rolling in literal hay while doing some horizontal smooching on the day part of the date, indicating some hot and heavy chemistry. But she did say at the end of the night — after yet another country singer got his however many minutes of fame while being completely ignored by the Bachelorette and her paramour — that she could picture herself “walking away with Blake at the end of this.”

The obligatory deep thoughts part of the date had Blake asking Katie why she was so open about being sex positive — a question that I’m sure he thought of all by himself and not because some producer wrote it on a cue card for him.

Katie told him about being date-raped 10 years ago, although she didn’t use that term, and how she developed an unhealthy relationship with sex; one she only began to turn around with the onset of the #MeToo movement.

Blake made the right expressions of sympathy and understanding. There was more conversation, but we didn’t get to hear it. Had to fit in the rose hand-over and the slow dancing and smooching.

On to the group date.

Katie, being a good sport, pretended that 12 dudes were going to play a game called “bash ball” in tribute to her volleyball-playing days and not because the producers wanted them to actually bash each other. More bizarrely, the training and game were overseen by two “athletic legends,” “Bachelorette”/”Bachelor in Paradise” alum Wells Adams and resident franchise photographer Franco Lacosta.

I don’t feel so bad now about not being able to identify the sport in last week’s promo since it was a combination of rugby and basketball — played in wrestling singlets?

Here’s Hunter during bash ball, not hitting anyone, though Quartney and Connor are down.

The segment was edited to make it look like it was all Hunter’s fault that the guys were thumping the crap out of each other, but it was Justin who hit Michael from behind, knocking the wind out of him, leading to the medics being called and prompting Katie to end the game. Mind you, Justin did feel “terrible” about it and apologized.

Hunter, on the other hand, said on camera, “Personally I love the aggression level, I’m not gonna lie. I was laying hits left and right, but I’m here for it. Yeah. I love that.”

During the after-party, Hunter was more focused on laying cards on the table, or more precisely photos of his children. He told Katie he’d never introduced his son and daughter to a woman but wanted her to be the first.

“That is like the sweetest picture I’ve ever seen,” Katie cooed about a photo of Hunter lifting his daughter into the air, and then she kissed him.

Cute as the photo might have been, it’s hard to believe there wasn’t some producer intervention involved in Hunter beating Michael and Greg to the date rose, particularly since there were already rumblings from Aaron and others about disliking him.

Poor Michael, besides being physically injured, had just endured marking his late wife’s birthday without his family for support, although he assured Katie he was comforted by the fact he and Katie had something special. Seems more rose-worthy to me.

And when Michael told the other men his story, Greg hugged Michael with tears streaming down his cheeks. “I had no idea and he walks around with a smile every single day,” Greg said later, still in tears. “And knowing how I’ve just worried about the smallest things, he just puts life into perspective.”

Michael’s exhortation not to waste the finite time available encouraged Greg to tell Katie he was “completely crazy” about her. “As hard as it is, you are so worth it. I just know in my heart that you are.”

But sure, give Hunter the date rose.

“I don’t know what she sees in him,” said a disappointed Greg. Honestly, that makes two of us.

Yes, I wish I had a photo of Katie and Andrew on their date too,
but you’ll have to make do with a picture from last week.

Next up, Andrew S, the faux Duke of Hastings, got a one-on-one date but left his fake British accent behind. For one thing, he was rattled by the fact Katie was leading him into the woods in the dark. When Katie put a plug into a socket I thought there was going to be a mini carnival like in Matt James’ season but no, the “Bachelorette” budget was only good enough from some icicle lights and pink envelopes containing silly suggestions like “Show me your signature dance moves” and “Imitate the sound of an animal in the wild.”

Amid the silliness there was time for smooching, which checked the chemistry box, and Katie and Andrew delved further into their shared backgrounds as children of divorce and, in Andrew’s case, an absentee father who did some jail time.

So they were agreed they wanted the opposite of a broken family, a “forever kind of love,” but there was a potential deal-breaker for Andrew as a Black man dating a white woman: would Katie feel the same way as his ex, who worried about having strangers ask questions about her biracial children?

“I think our love could be so beautiful and our children would be just as beautiful as that love,” Katie said. “All I want is to have a beautiful family regardless of how they look.”

That answer made Andrew happy. The next stop was the hot tub and a rose and “seeing” themselves falling in love with each other as opposed to actually doing it.

And then something really unexpected happened: the episode ended with a rose ceremony rather than a “To be continued” bumping it to the following week. Not that there wasn’t some drama.

Hunter once again wore the blame. With his rose on his lapel, he had visions of hometowns dancing in his head, not to mention the one-on-one he had yet to receive. He spirited Katie away for some stargazing, champagne and strawberries, and you know what happens when men with roses take time with the Bachelorette before the rose ceremony: the men without roses get pissed.

James interrupted Hunter’s monologue so he could tell Katie he had feelings for her (like, duh?) and she rewarded his boldness with a kiss. Then James, Aaron and Tre teamed up to berate Hunter for being greedy.

Hunter’s response? “Guess what? I’m focused on Katie, I don’t give a shit what they think.” Thanks Captain Obvious.

Katie gave roses to Greg, Aaron, Michael, Connor, James, Justin, Mike , Brendan and Tre, cutting Andrew M, Josh and Quartney loose. The other guys showed their appreciation for Quartney by applauding him as he left.

It seems a safe bet there will be more Hunter drama next week, although the end-of-episode promo was of the “coming this season” variety with clips of various people crying and being confused and Katie threatening to go home, so yes, “the drama continues.”

You can tune in Mondays at 8 p.m. on Citytv. And you can comment here, visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter @realityeo


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