The Nine Wives of Joey Graziadei: Bachelor 28, Episode 2
The Bachelor makes yet another case for polyamory.
We start with another cold opening with Joey and Lauren. They appear to be in some sort of argument that ends in Lauren dramatically, taking a huge bite of cake and throwing it in the grass. She’s annoying, but good TV.
Joey and Jesse are volleying—is that the correct term?—some tennis balls across the net as the women move into the mansion, fawn over how beautiful it is, and scream Joey’s name from the balcony—typical week two behavior.
Jesse arrives at the mansion with the first date card of the week and an explanation of what the women can expect.
Here Comes the Bride(s)
On the date: Rachel, Taylor, Kelsey T, Lexi, Evalin, Erika, Mariah, Lauren, Jess
Seconds, after finding out they’ll be on the group date, the women fight each other for a chance to get their first selection of a wedding dress for the date. I liked that those who weren’t part of the group date got to watch the chaos. It drove home how insane the premise of this show is.
I was hoping we’d get another appearance from Bachelor Nation photographer Franco Lacosta, but no luck. Instead of taking photos with Joey as his wives, they’re attending their wedding reception—a cute twist on a classic Bachelor date. I kind of liked it.
Throughout the date, the women are involved in several wedding reception scenarios with Joey—cake cutting, toasts, greeting guests—all to win the final prize of an intimate-ish final dance with Joey.
These ladies went all out, Evalin jumped over a table (and still lost), Jess fed Joey a cupcake, and Rachel made an impromptu toast to Joey’s “exes” and claimed her spot as his final choice. This move landed her special time with Joey for their “first dance,” where their chemistry was truly undeniable.
At the after-party, Mariah pulls him first. She has on a gorgeous white mini corset dress and was giving BAWDY. We love to see it. She admits she can’t breathe in the dress and says she was going to slip into something a bit more comfortable. She comes out in a two-piece black lace number and she looks great! I see what Mariah is doing. She knows she’s hot and she’s using it to her advantage. It’s giving Victoria Fuller.
In the end, I don’t think these moves will end well for her. We’ve already seen Joey actively give a woman his first impression rose for her character, so that leads me to believe that personality somewhat matters to him. Mariah can play the hot chick all she wants, but I don’t think that game is going to get her to hometowns. We might have a Bachelor who isn’t just thinking with his dick.
Kelsey has already been relegated into the friend zone, I fear. We see a brief moment of them sitting on the same couch Mariah and Joey were just making out on and he says something about knowing she’ll always have his back. Excuse me? Two days in, I’m not just tryna have your back, I’m tryna have my tongue down your throat.
Next Jess is in her feelings about something, but I didn’t quite follow. Seems like the competitive nature of this process is already getting to her. Joey encouraged her to be herself, because what the fuck else was he supposed to say? It was this moment that made me realize some of these women have simply never dated a nice person before. Joey seems genuinely kind and I have to wonder if these women are used to that. I understand if they aren’t, these men out here are rude as fuck. But Jess and her tears were moving enough because she got the group date rose.
Lauren gets time with Joey for the first time of the night. She shares that she’s been down all day and distant because of how her grief hit her. While on the car ride to the date, Mariah was filming with one of the handheld cameras when she mentioned that going to her fake wedding made her miss her dad, which hit Lauren unexpectedly, as she lost her dad just seven months prior. Grief is not linear, which she shares with Joey. I understand her attitude throughout the date and I’m glad Joey was understanding as well. Lauren might have known she was signing up for 8 weeks of nonsense, but no way she could’ve known what feelings this date—or any future ones—might bring up.
I also really appreciated the normalization of grief that both Joey and the ladies called out. When Lauren told the women she felt was being negative by sharing her grief, they corrected her saying it was her sharing an important part of her life that makes her who she is. I love that mental shift and that we got to see it unfold on a show that can be as superficial as this one.
A Love That Hits All The Right Notes
A date card arrives during the first group date with Daisy’s name on it. She uses it as an opportunity to share her hearing loss story with the other women. I love how naturally it came up. She even shares that she hasn’t dated since getting a cochlear implant and is a bit nervous to share that with him.
This was another example of the women rallying around one of the contestants after being vulnerable. I know there will be plenty of drama and I’m here for that too, but I like that at least in this episode we’ve gotten more support than drama.
We go from these sweet moments of support to some mess. Why did production allow the woman with hearing loss to be put in several situations where she couldn’t hear? I feel like it was their way of forcing her to share her story with him. I hope I’m wrong and just assuming the worst, but a loud helicopter ride and then a rowdy music festival, don’t seem like the most comfortable and encouraging places for Daisy to be vulnerable. She handled it all well, but it left me feeling some type of way.
At dinner, Daisy shares her hearing loss story with Joey. She spent most of her adolescence very sick. She had stroke-like seizures and began losing her hearing as a teenager. Eventually, she found out she had Lyme disease. She traveled abroad to get treatment a few years ago—which made me wonder what kind of money her family has—she says she’s been doing better ever since, but her hearing has gotten progressively worse. So, a little more than a year ago she got a cochlear implant, which helps her hear and participate in conversations.
I didn’t like how the day portion of this date played out, but I loved how we got to know Daisy during dinner with Joey. I felt like Joey listened to understand, and asked thoughtful questions and Daisy did a great job at sharing her truth, while also bringing him and the audience into how we can all be more mindful when speaking to people suffering from hearing loss. It was a genuine segment of diverse storytelling. Not forced, not overly dramatic or sad, just real.
Joey thanks Daisy for sharing and gives her the rose.
Bachelor Bootcamp
On the date: Starr, Kelsey A, Marlena, Jenn, Edwina, Allison, Katelyn, Madina, Autumn, Chrissa
Jubilee and Demi are joining Joey and the women on this date for Bachelor Bootcamp. I would’ve opted out immediately. It’s against my personal beliefs to do any sort of physical activity for a man. Been there, done that, doesn’t end well. Ever.
The women are flipping tires, and doing push-ups, and they end the day in a paint competition for special time with Joey later on in the evening. Essentially they’re playing capture the flag, but with paint, and instead of trying to steal a flag, they’re trying to grab a plush heart.
Edwina is the star of the show. Baby girl sprinted for the heart in the first round, she’s taking hit after hit, rolling around in the dirt, and blocking the other team from getting her team’s heart. Her hard work paid off, her team (Kelsey A., Edwina, Jenn, and Starr) won only to immediately be hit with the news that only one of them gets extra time with Joey. This is why you don’t do too much physical activity for a man. There’s always a catch.
Turns out Edwina’s physical activity paid off because she was chosen for the one-on-one time with Joey. She uses her time to share her experience growing up in Liberia, especially as the eldest daughter. She talks about how much pressure that puts on her still, which is why she tends to hold her feelings in and shies away from being vulnerable. I shed a little thug tear when Edwina was talking. Pour one out for the eldest daughters y’all, we be going through it.
Back at the mansion, Madina is talking about her age like she is nearing the grave. And while 31 is not old, as a current 30-something, I understood what she was trying to say. There is pressure to be engaged, start a family, etc. at this age. Shit, I’ve been with my partner for nine years and people still ask me about marriage and babies like I’m out here swiping on Tinder. There’s nothing wrong with doing that in your thirties either, my point is, that there is often an overemphasis for women in their thirties to ‘start our lives,’ or consider settling just because our life/body clock is ticking.
Unfortunately, Madina was talking to a group of women who are mostly 23-25 so I’m not sure they understood where she was coming from. And to make it worse, Maria was dismissive about it to other women. So Sydney—a woman we’ve literally never heard from—takes it upon herself to stir the pot, by telling Madina about Maria’s comments and threatening to tell Joey too.
Cocktail Party & Rose Ceremony
Joey has plenty of sweet moments with women like Lexi and Kelsey A., but none of it matters because Maria’s comments and attitude surrounding Madina’s insecurity about her age is all most of the women can talk about.
Maria decides to address it head-on and comes it hot asking Madina why she’s so upset. It’s wild that Maria can’t understand how she’s being dismissive of Madina’s feelings. Bachelor Data has shared numerous posts on the average age of the women each season and that number is almost always lower than 26, with the final woman standing often being 23-27. That is young. Given that data, which Madina is likely aware of as someone applying to be on this show, it’s wild for any of these women to claim age doesn’t matter.
Moving on, Lauren is determined to recreate the moment she didn’t have with Joey at their fake wedding reception. Unfortunately, she keeps hearing about other women having a great time with him and gets increasingly upset about it.
Joey goes to check in with her and Lauren shares that she’s going home. He starts apologizing, even though he didn’t do anything, and they agree to share a slice of cake before she leaves. But the cake wasn’t red velvet as she requested so she got even more upset. She says goodbye to Joey, takes a bite of the cake, throws it, and leaves. A star that burned too bright, too fast. Thanks for the mems, Lauren.
As the rose ceremony begins, there are a few women nervous that they didn’t get any time with him this week, including First Impression Rose winner, Lea. She wasn’t on any of the dates this week, I didn’t notice, so there’s that.
Joey’s first rose goes to Rachel. It’s only episode two, but I didn’t realize how much he’s into her and their first dance during the group date showed how much natural chemistry they seem to have. Sydney got the final rose of the night and was likely kept for dramatic effect, but I’m cool with it because I want to hear more about her vintage store.
Taylor, Marlena (the Trump White House intern), and Erika are going home.
Maria is UPSET that Sydney is still around and it looks like they get into next week. Seeing women support one another is cool and all, but I’m looking forward to competition and mess next week. See ya then!