Hometowns: Bachelorette Season 18, Episode 7
Tough conversations, an unexpected I love you and deeper connections.
It’s my favorite episode of the season, hometowns! This is where we really get to know these men and see how the connections might work in the real world. I know we’d like to act like meeting your partner’s family isn’t a deciding factor on if we stay with them long term, but it totally is. Ain’t nobody trying to sit at Thanksgiving year after year with people who don’t fuck with you and vice versa.
We start with Tayshia and Michelle talking about what to expect for the week. It’s the first time we hear the pandemic referenced, which is kind of wild. The hometowns will all be taking place in Minnesota because of the pandemic. Knowing what we know now, that was probably a good call. Apparently, they traveled completely for the upcoming Bachelor season, which is exciting, but also feels reckless and gives me baby colonizer vibes. But, I’ll have a whole season to share my opinions on that.
Michelle says she was hoping for one solid connection and is surprised that she has four relationships that she’s really invested in. Tayshia says the men will reveal themselves in front of their families, they can’t hide who they are. She also encourages Michelle to ask the families if they feel their son is ready to be married.
Back at the hotel, Nayte says he’s nervous because he’s never introduced anyone to his family. I’d love to know why people come on this show and allow this to be the first time their family meets a person they’re interested in. That feels like a red flag, at least to me. Meeting a family member’s partner for the first time on national TV, knowing they are dating three other men, and that if all goes go well, they’ll be engaged in two weeks, seems like a lot, way too much actually. Your family basically has to treat this person as if they could be a family member forever because they could.
It seems like there are two types of families, the kind that’s close enough and normal enough where you feel ok bringing your partner around even if you’re casually dating/newly exclusive, or the type of family that ain’t trying to meet nobody unless you’re talking wedding and babies.
Brandon
Brandon is up first. Michelle says Brandon is one of the strongest connections that she has, but she is dressed like she’s sending him home. We later see that her outfit choice makes sense because they are going skateboarding. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Brandon and his brother Noah spent their time learning to skateboard growing up. They loved it so much their parents got involved too. I thought this was so cool that his family just dove into this hobby with him.
Michelle and Brandon walk up to a very questionable garage that is actually a skate park. They put on knee pads and helmets and we proceed to watch Brandon fall again, and again, and again. He blames his nerves and Michelle’s presence on his abysmal skating abilities. Michelle doesn’t seem to mind, they share lots of kisses and Brandon runs down who we’ll be meeting later in the evening: his dad David, Mother Carmen, and his brother Noah (who delayed leaving for the military to meet Michelle).
Time to meet Brandon’s family, his brother says he wants to know if she can really see herself with Brandon for the rest of her life.
Michelle is looking GREAT in her red dress. I haven’t said much about her clothing this season, but she’s bodied every fucking outfit she’s worn on this show. Wow wow wow, stunning. I’m also pretty sure I saw her rocking the bracelet Brandon gave her last week.
Noah, Brandon’s brother begins asking about first impressions, Brandon shares his limo exit was him on a bed so that Michelle would know what it would be like to wake up next to him each morning. Michelle admits she lowkey counted him out because of this, but now they look so comfortable together.
Noah doesn’t waste any time getting to know Michelle. They go chat and he’s keeping it real and is clearly so protective of his brother. This is how I would be as well, but meaner. He asks how Brandon is different from the other men she has left and Michelle says that she’s never had to question what she was getting from Brandon, there’s a lot of trust between the two of them. Noah also asks if Michelle can see herself with him for the rest of her life and she says 100 percent.
Next, we get Michelle and Brandon’s dad having a total moment about fishing and basketball! This was so cute to watch how comfortable and confident Michelle was with David, Brandon’s dad. I loved that Michelle was asking questions to see how the families would fit together too, I loved every moment of her conversation with Brandon’s dad. The comfortability is telling. This was the point in the episode where I began to question if Brandon would be the last man standing. I’ve slowly started to see how that could happen and this meeting of the family made it even more clear.
When sitting with Carmen, Brandon’s mom, Michelle says “I truly love who that person is,” talking about Brandon. This felt like Michelle admitting that she loves Brandon, even if she didn’t realize it at the moment
The family joins together at the end and they admit they enjoyed meeting Michelle. Michelle says she’s never met a significant other’s family where she could see how well they’d all fit together.
As the night ends, Michelle tells Brandon she’s falling for him. At this moment, I wondered what her strategy was. I believe last week she told Nayte she was falling for him. Is she reserving I love you for one guy? Or is she just going to say how she feels as she feels it? It’s very clear Brandon is ready to marry Michelle TONIGHT.
Rodney
Underdog Rodney is up next and we totally skip over where he’s from. Instead, we’re leaning into his limo entrance and his lack of apple knowledge. They’re headed to an apple orchard and are looking for a “First Kiss” apple.
Rodney strikes me as someone who is shocked that he’s dating someone like Michelle, so much of what we’ve gotten from him has been self-deprecating and I don’t like that. He’s cute and goofy, a big teddy bear, he seems great!
For the third (?) time this season, Michelle is getting blindfolded and apple tasting again. At this point, this season needs to be sponsored by the United States Apple Association (which I totally Googled). It was this moment where I thought if Rodney made it to fantasy suites, I expected to see blindfolds in their suite. What a missed opportunity.
In Rodney’s interview with producers, he says he’s falling in love with Michelle, but we don’t see him say it to her (yet).
As the day winds down, Rodney asks Michelle if she had fun, she says she laughs so much with him. Rodney and Michelle’s dynamic reminds me of mine and my partners. We are constantly laughing and making fun of stuff around us. It’s so fun to see on TV and in a process that isn’t so rushed, makes for a great relationship foundation.
Headed into the evening, we learn we’re meeting Rodney’s mom Carrie, and his stepdad, Tyree. His mom says she’s afraid about how deep Rodney might be into this relationship. She knows he’s excited, but doesn’t want him to get hurt.
Carrie says she and Rodney are best friends and this is where I wanted Michelle to tap out. I can’t with mamas boys, especially ones that cannot do anything without consulting their momma. These types of men are not my favorite, sorry 🥴. I don’t get the vibe that this is how Rodney and his mother are, but she is definitely protective of him. Personally, I am not interested in being in competition with my man’s mom.
Michelle and Carrie sit down to chat and Michelle shares that there’s a level of playfulness with Rodney that she doesn’t have with the other men. Carries doesn’t seem impressed by this. She’s worried about her son being heartbroken and wants to know if Michelle sees herself creating a life with Rodney. Michelle essentially takes a really long time to kind of say yes, which is not good news for Rodney.
When Carrie sits down with Rodney she shares her worries about him getting hurt. Rodney assures her that it’s a risk he’s willing to take. He says he’s falling in love with Michelle and his mom starts crying. I was annoyed by this, mostly because I assumed the tears were not ones of happiness, but worry. I don’t have kids, so I can only assume it is hard to hear your son is in love with a woman you don’t really know. I guess I took for granted that everyone’s parents would be like Michelle’s and truly trust their child’s decision.
I appreciated what Carrie said at the end, she says if Rodney is respecting the position Michelle is in and the decision she has to make, she must as well.
As Rodney and Michelle connect at the end of the date, he bulldozes through saying he’s falling in love with Michelle. She looks down and then kisses him, but doesn’t say anything back. This is telling.
I’ve said this before, but I believe Rodney and Michelle could be great friends, or even with more time in the real world could seriously date, but with such a shortened timeline, I don’t see him being the one that gets down on one knee. Also, I think Carrie and Michelle would be fighting to be number one in Rodney's life and that is not the move.
Joe
Minnesota Joe, my personal favorite, is up next! I just want these hometown heroes to choose one another so badly.
Seeing Joe for this date, I realized he’s worn the same thing all season: dark bottoms and some version of a white shirt. We love a man with a tried and true uniform. I feel like adult uniforms are severely underrated.
The couple is at Hopkins High School. Since Joe got to see her high school, he takes her to see his. There is still not a scenario for me where I’d willingly go back to my high school and share it with my partner, but love this for them!
They’re walking around the school and Joe is pointing out different things he remembers from his time there. They get to this random spot that has little significance to us as viewers, but we all had that spot in high school where couples who looked so in love would make out. He takes her to this spot and makes out with her.
Next, they head to the gym, which is set up to look like prom. This was so freaking cute. Michelle said in her poem early in the season that she was picked last for prom, we learn Joe never went, so he wanted to use this opportunity to recreate that moment with her. She says this date makes her feel like Joe really sees and understands her.
They take photos in the photo booth, they look like the cute light skin sports couple from my local suburban high school. It’s hard to gauge if Joe is actually having fun. he’s so straight-faced and even his smile is barely a smile. He’s stoic.
Michelle calls the date a fairytale moment. By the end of the date, I decided that Joe definitely hates the cameras, he might love Michelle, but he does not fuck with these cameras and that’s why he seems so uninterested, at least that’s what I’m telling myself.
At the end of the prom, Joe says he sees a future with her and has feelings for her, but he still ain’t say he loves her or is falling for her, Michelle picks up on that.
During the nighttime portion of Joe’s hometown, we’re meeting Joe’s mom Julie, his dad David, his brother Dan and Dan’s wife Hanna (apparently a super cool woman that Joe thinks Michelle will like).
Right off the bat, I’m not fucking with Hanna, she is giving too much main character energy when she is clearly an extra. She says it’s weird for them to be meeting someone he’s in love with, but they’ve never met. His mom sneaks in a response saying that if Joe wasn’t serious, he probably would’ve self eliminated, which was interesting insight. Many have speculated that Joe self eliminates, he’s so quiet, I could see why people would think this, but I also feel like we would’ve gotten different previews if this were the case.
Michelle reminds us that Joe reminds her of her dad and brother, she also says she really wants to know where Joe is at with his feelings.
His family looks like they don’t fit together, none of them look alike. Is it just me? Joe is fine and his family is just…not.
Joe and his father David go chat. His dad says they look like a great couple and encourages him to express himself to Michelle. Then we get silence, uncomfortable silence. I have never seen a Black father and son have nothing to say to one another especially after not seeing one another for weeks. They are on national TV, meeting his potential wife, and he ain’t have NO questions?
When Michelle sits down with Joe’s mom Julie, she shares the story Joe shared in their one-on-one. His mom says Joe opening up about his injury is big because it was a huge loss for him and for the most part, Joe shut down and didn’t share much with the family.
Hanna’s back and asks Joe about his feelings for Michelle. Joe says he’s falling for her and ready to propose, which is wild. Hannah says it seems like Joe has been articulating his feelings more, so that’s a good sign.
At the end of the date, Joe says his feelings are getting stronger and that he is falling in love with her. I am shocked she said nothing back (that we saw), absolutely shocked. I want to believe that we’re being faked out by production and they just didn’t include her response.
This is likely as much excitement as we’re going to get from Joe, he says in a year he could see himself married, starting a family, and living a cute ass Minnesota life.
Nayte
Nayte is last up for hometowns and as he and Michelle walk towards one another neither one of them looks excited. It felt awkward at first, but I think that’s just because they started filming when they were still so far away from one another.
We learn Nayte lives in Austin, Texas, and likes to go to the park and paddleboard. I’m so upset. All this height and this man paddleboards? What was going on in Canada where he was? Not even hockey? I refuse to believe that this tall ass man goes paddleboarding multiple times a week, in hot ass Texas or in cold af Canada. Nayte, stop lying.
Nayte says it’s easy to picture Michelle with him in a city he calls home. He’s talking about ATX, which is interesting because I feel like Michelle has made it clear she wants to stay in Minnesota. Makes me wonder if they had different conversations.
We start to hear a little about what to expect from Nayte’s family. He says his family isn’t super touchy-feely, they don’t say I love you often, if at all, and he’s never talked to his parents seriously about any woman. He says they just don’t have that type of dynamic.
I find it so interesting that we’ve heard a good amount about everyone else’s family in the final four throughout the season, but little to nothing both Nayte’s outside of episode one. Maybe he feels some type of way because his family doesn’t measure up to Michelle’s, so he just doesn’t talk about them, or maybe they’re not that close.
Then, Nayte says a bunch of phrases that aren’t I love you, but are close to iy. He says he’s head over heels, he’s falling for Michelle, he’s crazy about her, Michelle says all these phrases right back to him, usually a good sign.
I get Tyler C. vibes from Nayte. He is incredibly hot, but based on what Michelle talks about wanting and needing out of a relationship, I just don’t see how she actually thinks Nayte could provide that. I think Nayte has a lot of emotional growing to do, but I also see him as someone who is really open to it (more on that later). In my mind, Michelle is thinking with certain body parts when it comes to Nayte, and can you blame her? Look at this man.
During Nayte’s hometown, we’re meeting his mom Leanna and his (former—I believe Nayte said he and his mom split recently) stepdad Charles.
Michelle is nervous to be the first one Nayte has introduced to his family, she says it’s a bit of a red flag and she wants to know if they feel like he’s ready for an engagement.
Charles says he’s there to support Nayte and is prepared, to tell the truth. Leanna brought a gift for Michelle’s students, candy from Canada! I thought this was very sweet and thoughtful.
We learn that Nayte was the first one out of the limo, I don’t remember this, but he says he was nervous and we’re reminded he got the first impression rose. He tells his mom he’s so happy he said yes to this opportunity.
Leanna and Michelle take some time to connect first. Michelle says she and Nayte connect on so many different levels. Leanna asks if Michelle’s end goal is to leave in an engagement and this is the first time we see Michelle say she just wants to do what feels right at the end of this experience. An interesting, but realistic answer. I guess throughout the season we’ve seen more emphasis on her finding her soulmate, her life partner, and less about a ring/wedding/engagement, which I think speaks to maturity. An engagement lasts a moment, weddings are a weekend at most (in American culture) the lifelong commitment is kind of the priority that often gets lost.
Nayte sits down to talk with his mom and says it’s weird because he and his mom have never talked about girls growing up. I just want to know why, what was missing growing up? Leanna asks Nayte if he’s ready to propose and he essentially says no. He’s not going to do something he doesn’t want to do. This is honest, I didn’t like his answer because of what it means for Michelle, but I completely respected the honesty. How many people get so bogged down by the thought of having to propose/end in an engagement that they talk themselves out of the whole thing?
It’s likely time to do away with the engagement ending on these shows. Let us see them living together for a bit instead like on Love is Blind, or maybe film their happy couple weekends. Does it have to be an engagement after 10 weeks? Couldn’t we make room for that on other Bachelor Nation shows (i.e. Bachelor in Paradise)? Two people who truly find love and are in it for Instagram fame will definitely come back and let you film their engagement, wedding planning, etc.
Michelle and Charles take some time to chat and Charles shares that Nayte always kept his relationships to himself. He also says he’s not sure Nayte knows the difference between being in love and being in a committed relationship. Charles isn’t sure Nayte could get to the point where he’s ready for an engagement at the end of this, but I guess that doesn’t mean he couldn’t get there eventually. Michelle says she only wants to do an engagement once and if Nayte isn’t all in, that would hurt.
As Nayte sits down with Charles, we have no idea what we’re about to sit in on. Charles asks what is so special about Michelle and Nayte says that he’s never felt this way before. To that, Charles responds, “If everything is so new, how do you know it’s real?” Good question.
Charles is pushing him to talk about his emotions and again Nayte says he never talks about this kind of stuff. I know this isn’t what the show is for, but can we unpack this? We couldn’t take 90 seconds to press on that in an ITM? Let us not forget we spent at least five minutes watching corn-fed Clayton read fake letters from fifth-graders while he cried questionable tears in order to be set up to be the bachelor. But we can’t just go a little deeper to get to know Nayte?
We get this incredible moment between Nayte and Charles, he says he’s proud of Nayte and never wants him to doubt that. Nayte seems so small in this moment, I felt like he was getting so much of what he needed as a kid. Although, I also might be projecting. Still, this moment was so genuine and beautiful, to see a Black (step) son and his (step) father come together like this. But to see Nayte tell his stepdad he loves him for the first time and then expect him to say that to Michelle in a few days? Oof, that’s tough. It felt like we were watching this therapy-like breakthrough happen. This was the moment producers thought they’d capture with Matt last year. I’m just glad this was on camera and Nayte will have this clip forever.
So often Black families (and all families likely) are just trying to push through life stuff and so we don’t spend a ton of time being vulnerable and honest with one another. When I first met my partner, I thought it was so weird that he said I love you to his family every time they got off the phone. Every. Single. Time. It’s actually still weird to me. I’d say my family is a little more like Nayte’s than Michelle’s. That’s why I know how crazy it is for Michelle to think Nayte could come around in a few days and be ready to propose and commit to a relationship with her. We just saw him say I love you for the first time to a man who helped raise him.
Nayte gives credit to Michelle for that happening, and I think Michelle for a hot second can see what it means for this man to just now decide to be vulnerable with a man who’s been in his life for at least a decade. Meaning, it’s not looking good for her.
And Then There Were Three
The next morning Michelle is still questioning if Nayte is ready for a commitment after her hometown with him last night.
There’s a knock at the door, Bri Springs and Serena Pitt from Matt’s season are on the other side, I believe they were all part of Matt’s final four. I loved that we got this Black girl magic moment. In general, we need to see more friends in this series, but to see three biracial Black women chat about Michelle’s journey was just so great.
They ask where she’s at with her men, she says she’s falling for multiple people and that these are the best guys she’s met in her life. Serena asks if all four guys are ready for an engagement and Michelle hesitates, you can tell she wants to say more, but she can only say so much on camera.
As Michelle gets ready for the rose ceremony, she says she was hoping for clarity, but it didn’t come in the way she hoped it would. She also says there’s no way to navigate this without someone’s heart getting broken. At this point, she’s got deep feelings for these men, they’ve got deep feelings for her and none of this is going to be easy.
As the men are lining up for the rose ceremony Brandon says he is ready to bring her home to his family and he knows his family wants it too. Nayte says he’s crazy about Michelle and that she has something he’s never experienced before, which means very little at this point because his family made it seem like his dating history was non-existent. Everything is a new moment when you haven’t done any of it before.
Brandon gets the first rose, Nayte gets the second rose, which was shocking. I figured he’d be in the final three, but the second rose not going to Joe is wild. Of course, the final rose goes to Joe, which means our resident teddy bear Rodney is going home.
They head outside to say their final goodbyes and the sound was fucked up here, production what are you doing? Michelle takes the time to tell him that he is enough and she doesn’t want him to think otherwise. Rodney says he’s falling in love with her and that he’ll always care about her, I believe him. I really, really hope they can reconnect and be good friends.
We learn that next week is the Men Tell All on Monday, not Tuesday. Then after showing us Good Morning America teaser promos all night about the next Bachelor, they literally spoil their own GMA segment by giving us 60-ish seconds of Clayton’s season. It felt like a bat signal to the portion of Bachelor Nation that is pissed they have to watch nothing but Black people for the next three weeks.
It is wild that we still have 2-3 episodes of Michelle’s season left, but we spent time promoting Clayton’s. I know they’ve never done seasons back to back like this, I know views are (allegedly) down (reminder that Nielsen cannot gauge who’s watching the next day on Hulu, watching it via DVR, etc.), but can we give Michelle her dues and enjoy the final weeks of her season before moving on? I’m preemptively upset at all the shine Michelle and her pick won’t get because they’ll be rolling right into Clayton’s season.
Based on the minute or so we saw, Clayton’s season is giving me Crest White Strip, it’s giving me Colton 2.0, it’s giving me white woman tears and catty drama, and while we love to see, not before we give Michelle everything and then some for giving us such a beautiful, mature season!