Grant's Hometowns: Bachelor 29, Episode 6

It's time to limit how many people can come to the family meeting.

Publishing Note: I’ll be out of the country for the next two weeks. A Women Tell All recap likely won’t happen, and the Fantasy Suite recap will be delayed.

It’s hometown week, and Grant is off to meet the families of Dina, Juliana, Litia, and Zoe. I went into the episode expecting Dina and Litia to shine this week, and that was at least half true.

We begin the episode with a cold open between Litia and Grant, where she shares (again) that he’s the first man she’s brought home that isn’t of the Mormon faith. He has concerns about whether her family will accept him given his tattoos, piercings, lifestyle, and the fact that he’s Black (that last part was unspoken, but I know it was in the back of his mind).

As Grant is getting ready for hometown dates, he lets us know that he cannot move forward in this process without meeting families — some foreshadowing for later in the episode.

Juliana — Newton, MA

Family: Mom Donna, Dad Carl, Sister Dominique, friends Mercedes, Paige, Allie, Uncle Paul, Auntie Chareyl, Cousins Andre and Marco, Candy, Tony, Nicole, Lyn, Liam, Marissa, Alana, Danny P, Vinny, Danna

Grant says he and Juliana have a physical and emotional connection, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the emotional connection is in the room with us. Because we haven’t seen it. Yes, we got the very brief conversation where they both realized they had family members who were addicts, but besides that, everything has been rainbows, sunshine, and care bears. Juliana really doesn’t have a care in the world. It’s kind of juvenile, and she reads really young.

As they’re walking through her hometown, she mentions that her family is well known and that it isn’t often that she goes out without seeing someone who knows her or her family.

Their first stop is a pizza shop. The couple spends some time learning to make pizza like a true Italian American. This was a little cheesy (pun intended) and stereotypical, but I liked it. Pizza making is a good date idea.

Next, they stop at the flower shop and an Italian bakery to grab some treats and flowers for her family — all good personal touches. Even though their day together has been great, Juliana is nervous about bringing Grant home because it’s the first time she’s brought someone home in several years. Her last relationship left her in a dark place, and she knows her family is concerned that this journey will end up the same way, especially with other people still part of this process.

Before meeting the family, Juliana takes Grant through all the people that he’ll meet later that night. And y’all, this was way too much. There needs to be a limit on how many family members can be present at hometowns because what the fuck? Not only does it dilute the opportunity to get to know Juliana’s immediate family, but it creates this expectation off rip that all these fifty-leven cousins and play aunties get to be involved in Juliana’s love life. Absolutely not. Getting along with the family is certainly important, but this? Too much.

Grant enters the backyard of Juliana’s family home and there are dozens of people present and a damn dog. He calls it overwhelming, and it is! I was overwhelmed just watching him. Plus being the only Black man amongst this family in this small ass Massachsettes town?! Nah.

As they toast to the night, Juliana’s dad makes a joke that the people present are only 30 percent of their closest family members. I didn’t find it funny 🙃.

The talks with the family were mostly normal. Juliana and her sister spoke about how safe she feels with Grant, Grant and Juliana’s mother discussed what they have in common and how they’ve connected emotionally, and Grant applauds Juliana’s dad for how he has provided and protected his family over the years, especially since he didn’t get that much from his family growing up.

Based on the editing of the preview, I didn’t think Grant would have such a smooth time with Juliana’s family, but he did. Her father spoke highly of him to Juliana, gave his approval, and even felt that Grant was ready for marriage. He didn’t go into how he could tell that, but that sort of affirmation is not something we hear often from the dads — especially the Italian ones — on this show.

Before they say their goodbyes, Grant shares that meeting his family came with the confirmation that he’s falling for her. Although it felt good for Juliana to hear that, she ends her night nervous that she’ll still get her heart broken. She can’t gauge what he’s telling the other three women, nor what meeting their families will evoke for Grant. A valid concern, but it’s ultimately completely out of her control.

Zoe — New York, NY

Family: Sister Faith, Aunt Cherise, Uncle Dave, and best friends Kat, Mere, and Alex

We are in the Big Apple meeting the family of a woman that Grant probably hasn’t even spent a full 8 hours with one-on-one. When he realized he had to send Carolina home, he should’ve just opted to have three hometowns.

I guess since Zoe hadn’t had a one-on-one, she decided to go all in on the one she planned. Grant and Zoe are doing a wedding photoshoot for BRIDES magazine as an homage to Zoe’s modeling career. I know this type of date happens almost every season, but as a hometown date? Is that not a little too on the nose? I respect the game Zoe is playing, but I would never. This was way more intimate than any fake bridal photoshoot these women would be forced to do on the second week of this experience.

Ultimately, planning this date was a bold move. It was going to force Grant’s hand either way. He was going to leave the photoshoot being able to see Zoe as a wife, his wife, or he was going to realize that this was not his woman. It’s not lost on me that she had a chance to plan almost whatever she wanted for her time with him, and instead of planning something that allowed him to actually get to know her more, she chose something so incredibly superficial. She’s spent so much of the season maintaining that she isn’t just a pretty face and has layers to her, and I think we could’ve seen that better in a date where she’s taking him through her typical day in the city, not this fake proposal and wedding photoshoot.

To this day, I maintain that Katie from Zach’s season planned the best hometown date — they were in Austin where she lived, and so they went grocery shopping, picked up some IKEA furniture, and cooked and built it together. Such a nice snapshot of a regular day with this person who might be your spouse. I would’ve loved to see Zoe take that approach.

Before heading into the evening portion, Zoe shares that she cut ties with her adopted parents and isn’t speaking to them at the moment, so he will not be meeting them. Instead, he’s meeting her chosen family, which includes her sister, aunt, and uncle.

Zoe’s friends and sister immediately get emotional when she walks through the door. I always love seeing the reactions of the family in those first few seconds. You learn so much about their closeness.

The first questions Zoe’s aunt and uncle ask are if she’s happy and if he is a good match for her. I like that the questions are framed in a way that centers her and how she’s feeling. They’re also concerned about her getting her heart broken — like most of the families on this show.

Zoe’s conversation with her sister reminded me of me and my sister, just giggling and crying all at the same time. I feel like she’s the most honest with her sister. She confides in her about not getting a romantic one-on-one date and asks her to question Grant on that.

When Faith sat with Grant, she immediately brought it up. She’s a good sister and friend! Grant explained that their connection started later than the other women, but that he was still able to get close with her emotionally in a way that made him feel like they didn’t need a one-on-one. While this answer made sense, it’s still a lame excuse. However, it does support my theory that Grant was only giving one-on-ones to women he already had a clear connection with. Seems he was very invested in going on dates with women he was confident he’d give the date rose to at the end of the night. I respect it. You don’t want to waste time on connections that don’t seem to be forming.

He seemed very comfortable with Zoe’s family. I think that’s for a few reasons: 1) Zoe doesn’t come from a traditional “perfect” family, and neither does Grant, so he was more in his element and 2) they were mostly Black — after being around 30 Italian Americans, I imagine that was pretty nice to experience. Grant answered Faith’s questions quickly and clearly, and it almost felt like his guard was down a bit. We were seeing more of the real Grant rather than his “representative” that we got with Juliana. This tracks too because he says in his confessional that out of all the women, Zoe is the one he feels he can be most vulnerable with. I felt like we didn’t get the code-switch version of Grant (IYKYK).

As they said their goodbyes, they didn’t say they were falling for one another or anything, which might not be a good sign, but his clear comfortability with Zoe’s family made up for that in my eyes.

Litia — Star Valley, WY

Family: Dad Rob, Mom Maurie, brothers Ethan and Jackson, and a bunch of other white people who were there as a surprise.

Why the fuck do they have Grant’s Black ass in this small, white, likely very conservative and evangelical town? I know Litia can’t help where she’s from/where her family lives, but production has had these people pop up anywhere and call it their family home or hometown. They could’ve done the same here. Was Salt Lake City not an option?

I believe Litia is originally from Utah, but she shares that they’re in Wyoming because that’s where her family calls home nowadays.

The couple is riding horses around what I assume is Litia’s family property. Within the first few minutes, Grant remarks that he’s typically a city boy, but being a country boy for the day with Litia feels good. Meanwhile, Litia is worried about whether Grant will be able to see himself embedded in her Mormon family. They take a break from riding horses, and Grant admits he’s never met a Mormon person before and that it’s new for him — which makes him curious but not nervous. He does share that he’s cognizant of how a person’s religious beliefs can affect a family dynamic. His mom was very religious growing up, and that came off as strict and restrictive, so he wants to make sure that isn’t present in his marriage and the family he’s creating. A fair expectation.

Again, we need a limit on the number of people who can come to these hometowns. Because at first we meet Litia’s brothers and parents before meeting another 40 fucking people. I appreciated that Litia’s (step) dad mentioned that he knew it was a lot, especially one-on-one. He also admitted that they would accept him even though he isn’t part of their faith. He just cares that Grant has faith and values. It seemed like before agreeing to go on the show, Litia prepped her family members that this guy isn’t Mormon but seems to have a faith practice. Sounds like that was good enough for them.

Hearing Litia’s dad talk about her wanting to get married and have kids, especially since she’s ‘getting up there in age’ — y’all, she’s only 31 — made me realize that for the Mormon faith, she is quite “old” to be unmarried and with no kids. I’m sure that adds pressure to her finding a mate and starting a family.

Grant’s conversation with Maurie, Litia’s mother, also drove home that there is no expectation for him to be Mormon. She also made sure to press that Litia is ready for kids immediately. After hearing the dad already say that to him, it felt like a bit of a biege flag. This process is already rushed, and you don’t get to see all facets of someone before saying yes to a proposal, so I imagine it would be tough to rush into a marriage and kids right away.

I’ve mentioned before that I know very little about the Mormon faith, and everything I know is from reality TV, but this was probably the best portrayal of Mormons I’ve seen. I think that was intentional. I think there’s been a lot of not-so-great press about the faith from Housewives and other Hulu/Netflix/TLC reality shows, and this was a great opportunity to shift the narrative a bit. I think many religious institutions use media to shape narratives all the time. Maybe Litia’s family saw this as an opportunity to do that for Mormonism, especially since they’ve got a daughter who is a woman of color bringing home a Black man for the first time. I appreciated how openly the family talked about their faith and not having expectations of Grant to convert, but it felt a little forced. People from different religious backgrounds end up together all the time. My hope is that Grant is asking more questions about Litia’s expectations of how faith is discussed, expressed, and taught to their children if they were to choose one another. In some ways, we got more from her family members on this subject than we’ve gotten from her.

Finally, there were several moments of Litia and Grant admitting to different family members that they are falling in love with one another. Litia particularly has been scared to share her true feelings, especially before overnight dates where she knows that he will likely sleep with other women, even though she doesn’t plan to sleep with him. I loved her mom’s response. She encourages her to keep an open mind and be honest and focus on their connection rather than trying to control what he does with any of the other women. Solid advice.

As they debrief on the famous random bench that is always available after a hometown, Litia admits that she is falling in love with him. Unsurprising. I would’ve liked to hear more about why she feels like it’s never worked with Mormon men in the past. Is there a specific reason her previous relationships have ended? Another question I hope Grant digs into in the time they have left.

Dina — Chicago, IL

Family: Friends Enrita, Courtney, Miranda, Chantelle, and Lauren

Grant is in the best city in the world — Chicago! Chicago is where I’m based, and moving here has been, hands down, the best decision I’ve made in my adult life.

Right away, the vibes are off. Dina has some difficult news to share with Grant — her family doesn’t approve of this journey, so Grant won’t be meeting them. He is understandably disappointed, but I love how he pivots to asking about her. She says she has feelings for him, and her family not wanting to be part of this process doesn’t change that. She’s excited for him to meet her friends and thinks they’ll ask tougher questions than her family likely would’ve.

They’re spending the day at Jack’s Pumpkin Patch, which didn’t look that fun, but I’ve been, and it is quite fun.

Dina’s friends show up, and she immediately starts crying. Their presence — especially in the absence of her family — is so special to her. Her friends ask her if she’d be willing to accept a proposal without her family meeting him, and she says their blessing is important.

Grant asks her friends separately how getting to know the family might work or affect the relationship, and they encourage him to keep trying and putting himself out there so he can get to know her more and her family and eventually be accepted. Dina’s friends made sure to let Grant know that not meeting the family was more about how the family feels about dating and less about how they feel about Grant specifically.

I appreciated Dina’s friends going to bat for her and trying to encourage Grant to keep hope alive, but the fact that none of her family members were willing to show up for her speaks volumes. It also made me wonder if they discussed hometowns at all before Dina went on the show. If I were going on a show like this, my family potentially meeting the person I met on reality TV with cameras around would have to be a conversation before I said yes to the experience. At least, if love/a relationship is what I was going on the show for.

Dina left the date wanting Grant to meet her family even more, but it felt like Grant left the date disappointed in the opportunity missed to meet them in that moment. Both understandable feelings.

Gut Checks

As the week of hometowns comes to a close, Grant takes some time to sit with Joey, the last Bachelor, for guidance and advice. Joey says hometown week is when the pieces start to come together, and overnights are where things really begin to make sense. He encourages Grant to not make assumptions and to keep an open mind as the next few weeks unfold.

While Joey and Grant talk, the women are having drinks on a rooftop, debriefing their hometown dates. This felt somewhat less awkward than these debriefings normally do. No one was quite bragging about their time together, they were just recapping how it felt to see their families interact with Grant. Of course, this is made Dina feel insecure because her family didn’t show up for her in the way she wanted them to. She says that at the last minute, her family made a joint decision to opt out, so Grant met her close friends instead.

Grant shares that he’s a bit worried that he didn’t meet Dina’s family and the problems that arose from that. Joey had an interesting POV on this. He said problems arising in this process are kind of nice because they give you an understanding of how you might work through difficult things in real life. Before departing, Joey encourages Grant to trust his gut. Then, we get some foreshadowing (in my opinion) when Grant says his biggest fear at this point is making the wrong decision. Perhaps Grant chooses the wrong woman in the end — or the fear paralyzes him completely and he ends up alone.

The women are gathered on stage in a beautiful theatre back in Los Angeles, each nervous about how the next few moments would go. Before handing out the first rose, Grant shares with the women he’s committed to seeing the journey through and finding his person. Litia gets the first rose, followed by Juliana and finally Zoe — which would’ve surprised me at the beginning of this episode, but there’s been such an emphasis on family all season. I imagine not meeting Dina’s, especially so last minute, made it hard to continue with her in this process.

Dina takes the high road in their final conversation. She tells him that she’s ready to be married and start a family, and she’s encouraged that she was able to get so close to him. In her final confessional in her car, she already seems at peace. She only wanted the rose tonight if he felt confident giving it to her, and since he didn’t, she knew it was the right choice.

Next week is the Women Tell All, and I’ll be on vacation in Europe. I’m not that upset about missing it. If you’ve been here for a while, you already know it’s my least favorite episode each season. I’ll still be out of town the following week for the Fantasy Suite episode, but I do plan to watch and recap — it’ll just be a little delayed. So, thanks for rocking with me through that!