Justice for Charity: Bachelor 27, Episode 6 Recap
Charity gets snubbed again, Kat has the audacity, and Brooklyn got the smoke.
New week, new adventures! It’s probably only been five-ish days, but Zach magically no longer has COVID, so it’s off to Tallinn, Estonia!
Jesse and Zach are at a café when we learn that Greer has tested positive for COIVID. Jesse doesn’t say it outright, but the words ‘quarantining’ and ‘asymptomatic’ are used, so it’s pretty clear that’s why she’s missing from this episode. What I want to know is how is Greer positive for COVID, but Gabi, the only person who was stuffing her tongue down his throat last week, is negative. Make it make sense!
Jesse and Zach are also going through each of the nine women left. Zach is sharing what he enjoys most about each of them, but I have to be honest, I wasn’t listening to his compliments and it wasn’t worth rewinding. The takeaway was that Zach is at the point in the season where sending women home is becoming an increasingly tough decision.
Making Up For Lost Time
A date card arrives and it’s for Charity. I am so glad she’s essentially getting a do-over.
But first, Katherine grabs Zach for a quick chat which was just an excuse to steal a couple of kisses. I hated this. Charity has consistently gotten her time/momentum stolen. First, it was Christina Mandrell saying she didn’t deserve the group date rose, then she lost out on her first opportunity for a one-on-one date because of Zach having COVID and now Katherine is swooping in before her one-on-one redo. Enough! Black women deserve so much better than this franchise gives them.
Brooklyn, who I hope we see in Paradise because she is not afraid to call out some foolishness, asks Katherine if she really felt grabbing him was the appropriate thing to do and instead of taking responsibility and admitting it was a shitty, selfish move, Katherine says she hasn’t seen him in a long time. No one has Katherine. The man had COVID.
Honestly, if anyone had done this, it would have been a problem. The women made a good point saying that it wasn’t like the “steal” happened at a cocktail party, it was during a time when Zach was specifically there to be with another woman. Of course, this tiff is going to unravel into something much bigger throughout the episode.
Zach and Charity start their date with a carriage ride through Tallinn looking at the beautiful architecture. Then they participate in this wife-carrying contest where Charity is hoisted head first over Zach’s shoulders with her face in his ass while he jumps over literal logs in a race across the finish line.
Back at the hotel, the women are discussing Katherine’s actions. Ariel is trying to calmly explain to Katherine why her actions were disrespectful, but she still ain’t getting it. Katherine is not dumb. I would’ve respected her a lot more if she just admitted that she wanted time with him and didn’t care whose toes she was stepping on. Instead, she’s going to double down all episode.
While Katherine continues to play dumb, Charity and Zach are trying foods from Estonian street markets and their date starts to feel like the one Natasha and Pilot Pete had during his season. They’re meshing and seem really comfortable with one another, but it’s giving best friends more than romantic lovers. Still, both of them are sharing how much they’re enjoying the date in their ITMs and Charity says she feels comfortable enough to share more about herself with him during the nighttime portion of the date.
Going into the night, Charity looks stunning in her little black dress and is nervous, but ready to share her heart with Zach. They’re honestly really cute together. Zach has always seemed really smitten and impressed by her, but their date is the first time I feel like we saw reciprocate those feelings. Still, even during this portion, it was giving best friend vibes. If they had more time, they might actually work well together, but with the nature of this show, time is so limited. We’ll see.
During dinner, Charity shared she was in a toxic relationship where she was cheated on several times and hid it from her parents and friends while going through it. She says she put up with it for so long, she lost herself. The way Zach related, extended grace, and empathized was great. She leaves the conversation saying she felt safe and comforted and I love that for her. They ride off in another horse-drawn carriage and she gets the date rose.
Back at the hotel, a date card arrives. Jess and Ariel are anxious about not yet receiving one-on-ones and when Jess finds out that she’s not getting one this week, she breaks down. I honestly think Jess’ tears were about her knowing she was likely going home and less about not getting a date.
Magic In The Woods
On the date: Brooklyn, Kaity, Katherine, Gabi, Aly, and Jess
As the women are waiting to leave for their group date, Charity shares how her date was and that she had to put aside Katherine’s actions to enjoy the date. Then here comes Brooklyn with all the smoke for Katherine again! I love to see it. Someone needs to call out Katherine’s out-of-pocket behavior. Katherine still denies that her actions were disrespectful and calls Brooklyn aggressive. Which I disagree with, she was just keeping it real and trying to hold her accountable. And frankly, Brooklyn was giving what Charity couldn’t without being painted a certain type of way as a Black woman.
The women head to the Estonian woods to meet a “cleansing witch.” They’re being sagged, holding hands as they skip around a fire pit, and connecting with Zach through a candle-holding ceremony. The whole time Jess looks miserable. She’s upset she hasn’t gotten a one-on-one yet and she’s feeling increasingly insecure.
Beyond Jess’ insecurities, I want to understand why this franchise is so obsessed with witchcraft dates that make a mockery of very real cultural practices. Not sure if that was the case last night, but it’s just a weird choice. We’ve seen other dating shows do sound baths and use sage in a way that doesn’t feel so tokenized. It’s time for this franchise to figure out how to do the same.
Going into the night’s cocktail party, Jess is determined to make her time with Zach count. She tells the women that she has just come down from an anxiety attack and just wants to press forward and enjoy the night.
Zach pulls Kaity first and they look so comfortable together. They further confirm that they like one another and make out. Then he chats with Gabi and was really into her look and made sure to tell her that. I love when guys notice when a woman switches up her look. Zach basically tells her that she’s a front-runner and that he’s really missed her.
Then, Zach and Jess finally get a chance to talk. Ominous music is playing and Jess looks visibly uncomfortable. Throughout the episode, Zach has been concerned that his week off due to COVID would change his feelings toward the women. It’s a fear that honestly makes no sense to me. People date all the time and go a few days without seeing one another, so why so much emphasis on it? I get that he wants a fiancé at the end of this, but the self-imposed pressure is getting to be overkill.
Zach asks Jess how she’s feeling given the time they “missed out” on. Jess shares that she’s felt so much pressure to be vulnerable and deepen their relationship, but hasn’t had a solid amount of time to do so. She's increasingly becoming insecure as other women get one-on-ones while she’s only been able to have individual time with him during group dates.
Zach is confused. He says he doesn’t understand why Jess is so focused on the fact that she hasn’t gotten a one-on-one and at first he maintains that he’s into her and feels good about where they’re at, but after she keeps trying to share how important that lack of an individual date is to her, he flips his tone and says that he’s feeling nervous about their relationship and doesn’t know what’s next. So, Jess decides to leave. At least I think that’s what happened. It was a little confusing at a certain point and Zach was equally confused.
Jess started making even more sense when she got in the car to leave. She wanted a date with the man that she thought could be her husband at the end of this process. She was frustrated that Zach didn’t see how important that individual time was. As someone whose love language is quality time, I totally understood where Jess was coming from. And for Zach to act like the same connection can be formed during group dates as what’s formed during one-on-ones is unfair. He wouldn’t really know anyway. Rachel gave him and one-on-one early on in the season and by week seven he got a second one.
It’s becoming clear that Zach really cannot handle conflict. He’s got patience and grace to a point, this is what we see on his individual dates. But there have been several instances of conflict at this point either in the house or directly with Zach and instead of listening to understand and address a woman’s concerns, he loses his patience and sends them home. I don’t want to jump to conclusions and say that’s a red flag because overall we’ve seen Zach be rather level-headed, decisive and clear in his communication. Last night was the first moment of conflict that left me very confused about how they got to where they did.
Zach comes back inside and shares with the women that he and Jess fought and that he’s not feeling good. He decides not to hand out a group date rose and leaves for the night.
A Nude Spa Day
Zach and Ariel are in the Estonian countryside for a spa day. They’re eating charcuterie when they find out they are at a nudist sauna and decide pretty quickly they aren’t getting completely naked.
Ariel is too practical for this show and too cool for Zach. She doesn’t talk much, but every time she does, she makes way too much sense for a show with such a wild premise. They’re enjoying time in the sauna when a naked couple joins them and gives the expected sage advice on how to make a relationship last. They laugh about the awkward encounter before getting into another Bachelor staple, the middle of nowhere hot tub.
It is not nighttime, but the pair are at a sit-down meal with a date rose present so I’m assuming this is part two of their date.
In his ITM Zach shares that he’s been pleasantly surprised by his growing connection with Ariel. He was always intrigued by her but didn’t quite see himself with her until they got to spend some quality time together. An astonishing admission after he just told Jess that deeper connections aren’t necessarily formed on individual dates. He says their date has exceeded his expectations and he gives her the date rose.
It’s not often that a lead gets to see what we see as viewers, good or bad, but it seemed like Zach got to see what we’ve been able to see about Ariel throughout the last few weeks. She’s cool and confident, but also doesn’t seem to take herself too seriously. By the end of the date, I found myself hoping she doesn’t win because I’d love to see her as Bachelorette. I’ve done a 180 on Ariel!
Cocktail Party and Rose Ceremony
To open up the cocktail party, Zach addresses Jess’ unexpected departure. He thanks the women for their support and care during the ups and downs of the journey, it’s made him feel like his wife is among the group that is left.
I feel like at this point, Zach genuinely likes all the women left (except Greer lol), but this cocktail party was the first time that I could see a clear difference in how he interacted with or kissed certain women.
Charity pulls Katherine to chat and explains why she was upset by her actions before her one-on-one with Zach. Katherine says she stands by what she did and begins to explain her perspective, but Brooklyn interrupts. This was the first time I took Brooklyn’s actions as aggressive. I wish we could have seen Charity and Katherine speak for themselves, to one another.
Now Katherine is imploding right before her time with Zach. When he grabs her, he asks how she was feeling during the group date. He said something felt off and so he wanted to check in with her and make sure everything was actually ok. She ensures him that things are fine on her end, even though she is visibly pressed about the drama with Brooklyn.
It’s time to hand out the roses. The first one goes to Gabi and the final one goes to Katherine. Not surprising. Aly is unfortunately going home.
Next week, the group is in Budapest, Hungary, Greer is back, Katherine continues to implode, and it looks like someone leaves unexpectedly. Until then, ✌🏾.