How Are We Already At Hometowns: Bachelor 29, Episode 5
Grant's choices are starting to look funny in the light.
We are once again starting the episode with a cold open full of drama involving…Carolina! How shocking. Baby girl has got to go.
This week the group is in Edinburgh, Scotland and we find out that next week is hometowns! How!? By the end of this episode half of the women will be gone. Why has this season been so short? Do the showrunners even care if the final couple lasts after filming, or is it all about money at this point? In what world does a 5-ish week process of dating 20 women set any of the people left up for a positive outcome? In my opinion, it doesn’t.
Jesse greets the women in the castle-like hotel they’ll be in for the week. He reminds them what’s at stake this week with hometowns around the corner and shares that there will be no roses on any of the dates. Meaning none of the women will know their fate until the end of the week during the rose ceremony. A small, but great tweak to the process. Adds a bit more suspense to this episode.
Juliana and Zoe are the only two women who haven’t gotten one-on-ones — they are hoping that’ll change this week.
Love is a Fairytale
Juliana and Grant hop on a helicopter to take in the sites of Edinburgh from above. They land on a castle lawn and are greeted by a gentleman who will serve as their “royal valet” for the day. Then it clicked, this is the “Pretty Woman” date.
They’re whisked off to a dressing room with lots of traditional Scottish clothing and a few ballgowns and suits. They start by trying on kilts and outfits that feature the iconic Scottish plaid before landing on evening attire for a special dance and the night time portion of the date.
While Juliana and Grant revel in their fairytale day, the group date card arrives and reveals who will get the last one-on-one of the season. It goes to Litia. Zoe shuts down immediately. She feels that being the only woman not to get a one-on-one is telling. I tend to agree with her. He doesn’t need another one-on-one with Litia to know he wants to take her to hometowns, but based on what we’ve seen, he needs it with Zoe.
Grant starts his dinner with Juliana by acknowledging that Hometowns are next week and that he would like to get to know Juliana more. When I was watching in real-time, I thought this was him saying he needed the dinner portion of the date to determine if he wanted to see more of her and her family. But when I watched it back the next day, it felt more like he was telling her not to worry because he wants to get to know her more by meeting her family.
The next few minutes are very awkward and I think it’s because of how it was edited. Juliana begins to share that she grew up with an addict in her family — making a lot of her childhood dark, scary, and harmful. As someone who also grew up with an addict in his family, Grant quickly resonated with her story. It seems like Juliana has chosen to handle the addict in her family differently than Grant and that the contact between them is minimal. Meanwhile, we’ve easily seen Grant’s dad three times so far this season.
They bond over their ability to act like everything is ok and saving their break downs for when they’re alone. I found this both sad and relatable. These two people admitted they push their emotions down when they’re around other people because they don’t feel safe enough to let it out. But it can be a lot of pressure on your partner when they’re the only one who you let in fully. I hope they can both learn to let people in.
Grant ends the date so confident that Juliana could be his wife because they’re so similar. Personally, this connection seems forced. I don’t want to downplay how hard and lonely it must be to have a family member who’s an addict — nor how understood Juliana and Grant must feel having that in common, but that doesn’t mean they're destined for one another. We’ve seen so little of their connection that it feels like Grant is only feeling this way about her because of what they have in common, not an actual connection.
This Group Date Could’ve Been An Email
On the date: Sarafiena, Alexe, Carolina, Dina, Zoe
When the women walked up to whatever festival they seem to be spending the day at, I couldn’t help, but wonder: Why they got all these Black contestants in Scotland? They’re met by two white Scottish people in traditional dress who are trying to seriously explain their culture to three Black women, a Puerto Rican woman, a Black man, and Dina. I don’t know why this stuck out to me so much — but I had to laugh. The reality is, dates like this happen all the time when in Paradise or on an island of some sort. This just truck me differntly — not in a good or bad way, just funny.
The women are trying to make the most of their last group date, but none of them seem like they’re having a good time. Zoe is upset that she isn’t getting a one-on-one, Sarafiena is dealing with the whiplash of going from a one-on-one last week, to this groups setting, and Carolina is being standoffish. Despite most of the women seeming to be low energy, Grant checks in on Carolina to see if she’s ok (we should know by now the answer is no).
Zoe is annoyed. After trying to put on a happy face despite not getting the final one-on-one before hometowns, she showed up to the group date hoping to make the best of the day meanwhile Carolina’s attitude and demeanor is “winning” her more time with Grant.
Carolina begins crying once she’s alone with Grant. She says she’s sad because she know she’s no longer Grant’s strongest connection and it’s hard to see him grow his relationships with other women. She’s also looking for validation, which I imagine is the hardest part about being on this show. Sure it isn’t great to see your man kiss other women, but not being able to get validation the way you might in a typical dating scenario is tough.
In theory, the validation is the rose every week, but not being able to get any sweet text messages or time with the guy you’re falling for outside of cameras being up sounds exhausting. Sure, this is what Carolina — and all these women — signed up for, but I’m sure it’s still unsettling.
The other women are unhappy to see Carolina receive so much attention from Grant when all she does is shit on the process. Still, Grant sits by her until she’s feeling better, convincing her to keep pursuing him and the connection they have. The date is cut short by the unexpected rain. While the other women are upset they got little to no time with Grant, Carolina leaves the day portion of the date beaming that they had a chance to reestablish their connection.
Headed into the night, many of the women are upset that Carolina hijacked the date during the day and they hope the night won’t be plagued with the same drama.
While giving the toast, Grant reminds the women that hometowns mean commitment so he wants them to use their one-on-one time seriously.
Zoe speaks to Grant first and confronts him about not getting an individual date and watching him spend most of the day comforting another woman. She asks him where his head is and he says their conversations in the midst of group dates have given him enough insight into who Zoe is. I think this is bullshit. Zoe, this ain’t your king. I think Grant is very attracted to her, but for whatever reason doesn’t actually see it with her.
Next, Dina, Sarafiena, and Zoe recap the day and the negativity that surrounded it. They’re intentionally talking about Carolina — who is on the couch next to them — but not talking to her. Carolina refuses to give them a reaction, so Dina brings her into the conversation and an argument ensues. Dina feels that Carolina should feel remorseful for derailing the group date. Carolina feels like any of the women in her position would do the same thing and soak up extra unexpected time with Grant — she’s probably right, but she’s still doing the most.
It’s time for Carolina and Grant to speak again. They’re happy to have made progress toward their relationship and get over the last few tough conversations. They seem to end their conversation headed in the right direction.
Carolina returns to the group and again Dina tries to see how her night is going and if she’s remorseful about her behavior during the daytime portion of the date. She isn’t. The two begin fighting again before Sarafiena cuts in and tells them to dead it. So instead, Dina decides to speak to Grant about Carolina’s behavior. Like a true lawyer, Dina makes her point in 30 seconds without even uttering Carolina’s name before looking Grant dead in his eyes and telling him she trusts he’ll make the right decisions. Dina means business and does not mince words — I love it and can’t wait to see her at Women Tell All (because I assume she’ll be send home next week).
This is His Wife
Litia and Grant are spending a dreary day in Edinburgh seeing what the city has to offer. They try Haggis, drink some whiskey, and butcher the bagpipes.
As the day is coming to an end, they sit in a pub and share how much they feel their relationship has progressed. Honestly, I have to agree. Litia is the woman who called him out for writing her off as just a pretty face early on in the process. Instead of getting offended, Grant apologized and agreed that it was unfair for him to reduce her to her looks. She’s a fucking venture capitalist!
While Grant said he could see Juliana as his wife during his confessional on their one-on-one, he said that shit to Litia’s face during their date and I believe he meant it. He could be mostly blinded by her looks, but Grant looks at Litia the way I look at food that’s coming to my table at a restaurant. Kinda seems like true love to me, or at least true lust.
Litia is sporting another beautiful red bodycon dress. This time, it’s off the shoulder, she looks stunning.
They pretty much skip the plesantries and get right down to business. Litia drops the bomb that she’s Mormon and has only dated men of the Mormon faith. So she wants to understand Grant’s relationship with religion because it is central to how she wants to raise a family.
Grant seems shocked to learn that she’s Mormon, but is also comfortable sharing his view on faith and his walk with Christ. Everything I know about the Mormon faith is from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, — which is to say, I have very little positive things to say about it. But it seemed like Grant and Litia’s conversation centered around God and faith, not a particular sect of religion, which makes me feel like it could work.
Grant opens up about dark moments in his life where he felt so alone all he could do was talk to God. He tears up recounting those moments and the way he finds comfort in Litia and the way she comforts him was beautiful to witness. Y’all this show doesn’t give me butterflies often, but this was a sweet moment. Even if you’re not a religious person, it was nice to see them connect over their (somewhat) shared faith without it feeling preachy. Sidenote: I’m watching the new Love is Blind season currently and those conversations about faith hit me as more disingenuous than this did.
And Then There Were Four
All of the women are going into this night without a rose. A small change with a big impact — bravo production! Best of all, there’s no cocktail party, the women are going straight into the rose ceremony.
Before it can begin, Carolina grabs Dina for a chance to chat. This was a waste of time. Carolina fake apologized to Dina and she accepted. I mean, yay girl power, I guess, but this was so random to include in the episode. They rejoin the women and Grant arrives to start the rose ceremony.
The first rose goes to Litia, as it should have. The next rose goes to Juliana, followed by Dina, and finally, Zoe — an absolutely insane choice. Alexe, Carolina, and Sarafiena are forced to say their goodbyes. I had such high hopes for Alexe, I’m surprised to see her go before hometowns and I cannot believe we got so much Carolina time the last three weeks only for her to go out like this. I thought she was headed for an ending that rivaled Victoria Fuller’s during Pilot Pete’s season.
Making these women walk down the long ass castle stairs after getting eliminated was so childish of production. 😂
Next week, it’s time to meet the families! Litia is falling in love, Juliana’s dad is playing the tough guy, and Dina’s friends come with an ominous warning. Honestly, after what I saw this week, I think everyone else can pack it up — Litia is the one.