The Bachelorette Season 12: A Review (Part 8)

2 episodes to catch up! We’re almost there!

This week is the hometown visits, and I’ve clearly lost my motivation to continue writing. The completionist in me is the only thing keeping me going.

First up is Chase’s hometown, Highland Ranch, Colorado! Chase wants to tell Jojo that she’ll be meeting his mother and father separately, due to how terrible their divorce was, but he doesn’t want things to be awkward. They go to meet his dad first, and Jojo enters an empty house. Dad comes in after some house investigation on Jojo and Chase’s part, and we find out that Dad’s remarried with several step-children. For some reason, Chase takes this opportunity to ask his dad why things didn’t work out with Chase’s mom. Dad basically says that he was overly focused on work and he regrets how things worked out. This seems to be eye-opening for Jojo and she understands more now why he’s so closed off emotionally. So, Chase asks Jojo for some alone time with Dad, which again, seems really odd. Dad leaves without spending alone time with Jojo, again odd. But Jojo seems to be into it. Next is Chase’s mom! There’s mom, step-dad, sister and brother-in-law. Mom takes Jojo aside, and they have some alone time (yay normality!). Jojo and mom are really bonding. Meanwhile, sister and Chase are hanging out, and Chase asks sister for her honest opinion. Seems like sister is just as emotionally messed up as Chase, which is good validation for him, but seems like he’s very confident about his feelings for Jojo. Mom and Chase are having alone time now, and Mom is the cutest little mom! She seems to really like Jojo, and she asks Chase if he’s ready to propose, to which he responds that he absolutely is. He says that he’s “definitely falling in love with Jojo”, which seems a bit slow, but great progress for the dude! Good job buddy!

Next up is Jordan in Chico, California! Jojo’s super adorable when she sees a bunch of deer! She freaks out and it’s super cute! Jordan takes her to his high school first, where she gets to meet his football coach. Already, anytime Aaron (his brother) gets brought up, things get super weird. Regardless, Jordan’s super excited to introduce her to the rest of his family, which is a good sign! Jojo is considerably more nervous to meet Jordan’s family that she was to meet Chase’s family, which I’m going to say is a bad sign for Chase. So we have mom, dad, brother, and brother’s girlfriend! She seems to really love his family, but Aaron not being there really seems to bother her. Luke pulls Jojo aside, and the first thing she bring up is Aaron missing. Luke mentions that it pains the whole family and it seems like neither Luke or Jordan gets along with Aaron at all, which is a bit of a twist for me, since I anticipated Jordan would be the only one with problems. Luke mentions that Jordan is one of the people who has the most integrity. Next up, Jordan and Luke have their alone time, and Luke asks if Jordan is ready to get married, to which Jordan quickly responds yes. Luke says he really likes her, which seems to mean a lot to Jordan. Jordan and Dad are talking alone now and Dad mentions it’s the first time he’s ever seen Jordan this happy with a girl. Next is Jordan and Mom, and she’s very excited for him. Jordan mentions that he’s really missing Aaron, and he regrets that Aaron wasn’t there for such a special moment. Meanwhile, Jojo’s telling the camera that she’s really scared that Jordan isn’t going to always want to be there for her, and she parallels it to her situation with Ben, saying she wants to say “I love you” back to Jordan, but doesn’t want a repeat situation. Again, none of this happened with Chase, so I’m going to say more bad signs for Chase. Jordan is naturally confused with Jojo being scared again. He tells the camera that his feelings for her grew exponentially after she met his family and he’s ready to get down on one knee and he wouldn’t do that “just to see where this goes”.

Next is St. Augustine, Florida for Robby! She says she’s super excited to meet Robby. He asks her to whistle, and a horse drawn carriage comes bustling in! They take a carriage tour through the town. She says she has moments where she feels like she’s falling in love with him, but other times where she feels conflicted, mainly because of his previous relationship. Robby’s very optimistic about how he thinks that nothing can go wrong, which leads me to believe that things are going to go very wrong. We move over to his hometown, Jacksonville, where Jojo says she’s super excited and nervous to meet his family! Jojo meets a lot of people. Mom, Dad, sisters Grace and Katie, Katie’s husband Tyler, and brothers Micheal and Patrick. Goodness. Honestly, their family is super adorable, and apparently they think the same thing. Robby and his brothers get some alone time, and they love her immediately and say that she fits in perfectly. Mom and Jojo are hanging out and Mom asks if Jojo has any questions, and she immediately asks about his ex, and she’s concerned he didn’t take enough time for himself after the breakup. Mom says Jojo’s basically got nothing to worry about. Jojo tells Mom that she hasn’t told anyone yet, but she’s falling in love with Robby. HOT DAMN. That’s unexpectedly happy news! Now Robby and Mom have some time, and Mom has some bad news. Apparently, ex’s roommate is spreading rumors that Robby broke up, so that he could go on the show. Mom says she knows that that’s not true, but she needed to let Robby know, and he already knows she has concerns about it. 100%, I believe him. That is the face and voice of an incredibly honest man, and I hope to God that Jojo sees that. Robby walks in on sisters and Jojo, to interrupt and tell her the news. It seems that Jojo’s not taking it well, and seems like she’s not believing him. My heart is dropping right now, because I really want her to believe him. We find out her that their relationship was already on the verge of ending, but Robby called it off when she slapped him during an argument. He hasn’t spoken to her since. Honestly, kudos to him! She’s really not handling it well, but she’s being super open with him and he’s being very open right back. She ends up telling him that she trusts him and she’s going to try not to worry about it.

Next is Burnet, Texas for Luke. Dude walks in looking like he came right out of a Western. She mentions that she likes him a lot, but she wants to see more emotional depth out of him. They pull up, and apparently there’s a party being thrown for them! Mom, Dad, sister, and 15 other people are all there! She mentions that she’s a little overwhelmed. Luke and mom are hanging out and mom doesn’t seem as excited as the other moms, but maybe that’s just her personality? Dad is next, and he seems to really like her. He says once he knows that she’s in it, he’ll be ready to give her his whole heart. Like everyone else, Luke says he’s ready to tell her that he’s falling in love with her. Again, a little late on the train, but that’s fine. He tells her that he can see himself spending the rest of his life with her. Somehow, it brings Jojo to tears, and she says she wishes she could spend more time with him and the thought of leaving is making her cry. He tells her he has a surprise for her, and he’s got a little path of candles leading up to a rose-pedal heart, where he tells her that his whole heart is his.

And that ends the hometowns! Now Jojo has to make a decision about who stays and goes. I’m still confident that Chase goes, but it’s between Robby and Luke which one goes. I really hope Robby stays personally. He’s just such an amazing guy. This weeks rose ceremony weirdly takes place in a plane hangar. Robby arrives first, followed by Chase, Luke and Jordan. I have a sneaking feeling that Robby gets eliminated and he becomes the next Bachelor. Either him or Derek or James. I’m telling everyone right now, there’s no way in hell I’m going to document that. Just know that it’s going to be more drivel. I’m also anticipating Jojo to have a hard time with this decision and probably has a breakdown. Lots of crying, woe is me, no decision being made and the guys probably feeling like they are going to throw up. One guy has to go home. Let’s see!

And oh my gosh, before the ceremony even starts, she tells the camera that she thinks she has to say goodbye to Luke! I didn’t see that coming! Also there’s 3 roses, so only one person gets eliminated!

Rose Ceremony!

First Rose: …And Luke says he wants to talk to her??? Luke takes this opportunity to tell her that “I’m in love with you” and he wanted her to know that. …well then. Cue breakdown? Yup! Cue breakdown!

Oh….I guess they’re not going to do the rose ceremony this episode? Next episode! Let’s go!

RB’s Psych Corner

There isn’t much here to analyze from the guy’s perspective that I haven’t already said. What I do want to point out is the importance of editing and how it affects my understand of the relationships. After this latest episode, I was confused as to why she would get rid of Luke before Chase. At the end of the episode, as a type of post-clip, there was a scene of Jojo and Chase building a snowman, and it immediately all made sense. Their sense of playfulness, comfort-level and banter is something that hasn’t been shown in any of the main clips, even on their one-on-ones. Although I maintain his family is a little weird, and he’s probably not a good fit for her, she’s obviously genuinely happy with him on a deeper emotional level, which is something I don’t see with her and Luke. Essentially, this is where I’m going to put my disclaimer that even though I’m analyzing the hell out of everyone, a lot of that relies on accurate editing, so with the exception of Chad, I want everything to be taken with a grain of salt and realize it’s an analysis of what I’m shown, not what I’m naturally able to see. That being said, Chad is still crazy and I’m genuinely worried about the reunion show.

Next episode! Let’s go!