Advertisement

‘The Bachelorette’ Season 16, Week 7: Wait, This Episode Was Basically Perfect

Photo credit: Craig Sjodin
Photo credit: Craig Sjodin

From Cosmopolitan

Because she’s been there and done that, literally, former Bachelor contestant/tear fountain Ashley Iaconetti is recapping this season of The Bachelorette for Cosmopolitan. With insider insight as well as a clear eye for what’s going down both in front of and behind the cameras, she’s got a whole lot to say...and you’re gonna wanna hear it.

This post contains spoilers for last night’s (11/24/20) episode of The Bachelorette.

This episode was perfect. It gave us everything we crave and nothing we don't, like overly cheesy, flowery language.

For starters, Ivan and Tayshia's one-on-one date will be forever memorable. There wasn’t meaningless chatter about what they were doing or where they were going. There wasn’t any ooh-ing and aww-ing or repetitive, vague excitement. The conversation was powerful and emotional. It didn’t feel like we were watching two people date on a reality show. It felt like we were getting a glimpse into a date between two people getting to know each others' souls. Ivan was impressively vulnerable and graceful when speaking about his family and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Usually the show doesn’t discuss current events. It’s often intentionally produced so that the only time stamp on it is from the fashion, hair, and makeup styles. This topical conversation that means so much to both Ivan and Tayshia made the date feel so real to us as an audience and allowed for a greater bond between the two of them. I adored how the conversation evolved naturally and the show allowed it to breathe. It felt like a longer-than-usual date conversation in the best way.

My mom even said, “This connection feels so real. Why aren’t there more conversations like this? I guess they don’t film them.” I told my mom everything is filmed, it’s just a matter of what’s chosen to be shown. I think the show should include more conversation about culture. I’m not necessarily saying they need to get political, but even airing some chats about favorite movies or food can add to the sense of realness. It’s a shame you didn’t see the moment during BIP2 I recited a whole scene from Titanic in an effort to woo my movie buff husband.

In addition to Ivan's date night, I also loved the vulnerable (but not corny) scenes with Bennett and Demar. Bennett broke from his (non-violent, of course) Patrick Bateman-type character for a sec and got teary over a broken engagement in his past. Demar discussed his fear of divorce after having been a child of it twice. I wish we saw more of what Tayshia had to say here since she’s been divorced herself.

We must give credit to Tayshia for the strength and ease of the conversations we're seeing. She is effortless in this role of Bachelorette. She's a total natural in this unnatural environment.

Another element that made not just this episode great, but has added to this entire season, is Chris Harrison’s amped up air time. You guys have been able to see a more humorous, less buttoned up version of Chris, and those of us who know how funny and candid he can be are so happy this side of him is being revealed. It’s so great to have scruffy, drink-in-his-hand Chris on display.

This episode, we saw the fun the show had in sending Ed to the wrong room, which ended with him having a nightcap with Chris. (Side note, can you believe Ed made it farther than anesthesiologist Joe?!) A couple weeks ago we saw him crashing Brendon and Tayshia’s date with margaritas and lemonade. These scenes bring levity and BIP-feels to the main show, which sometimes takes itself too seriously. I suspect these additional scenes for the ringleader are because Chris is on set 24/7 with the quarantine sitch. Keep them coming, please!!

We can deny a love for drama, but we all know we have it. Arguments over adjective use (like we saw last week) don’t satisfy our desires. If there’s no decent reason to be fighting, I think I speak for us all when I say I’d rather watch moments like Eazy saying Blake needs to go to church for his orgasm sounds. I love that this episode had more funny moments than fury. We got just the right dose of conflict when Noah told Tayshia that some of the guys were accusing her of giving him a rose to stir the pot. This rightfully struck a chord with her. She expressed to the group of men how angry she was that they’d doubt the authenticity of her choices. When Tayshia exited the room, the men were puzzled. Apparently no one besides Noah had heard of this type of chatter. So did Noah make this up to get the other guys in trouble? We won’t know until next week. It does seem sketch though.

You Might Also Like