Through two episodes I’m loving The Golden Bachelorette, and I think Joan’s a spectacular lead for this show. Last week her dates began and were fantastic. I said this a lot about The Golden Bachelor, but the contrast between the maturity of these shows vs. the normal Bachelor Nation shows is wild. A complete breath of fresh air.

I’m two days late watching it, but let’s jump right in.

Pascal gets the first one on one date of the week. Joan drives them in a convertible to a private plane that they take to Vegas. They pick out outfits for the night, which they both have fun doing. Joan says that she feels very visible and uplifted with Pascal, which is a great sign. Wayne Newton comes to see Pascal and Joan, who sings for them to dance to. At dinner they both open up and tell their stories of how they became who they are. Joan gives Pascal the rose and says that she sees a future with him.

Meanwhile back at the house, Charles, who’s still very much grieving over the loss of his wife six years ago, and Gary go to a drug store to get the guys melatonin and other shit to help them all sleep better at the mansion. He then opens up to guy about his wife, asking medical questions and then Guy gives him a bit of advice that he doesn’t need to dwell on the details and stop asking himself why for all these things.  s

The group date, hosted by Eric Dickerson and Buffalo legend Andre Reed ends up being kickball instead of football. The guys all put in a ton of effort, and the blue team wins it in a grind of a game, earning extra time at the after party with Joan. She connects with the guys, who all open up, while she struggles with a call from home that her mom was sick. Joan gives the group date rose to Gil, who talked to Joan about his daughter.

The second one on one date of the week is with Jonathan, who admits he’s not quite ready for it. First time I’ve ever seen someone want to go on the group date rather than a one on one. They start their date with riding horses through the countryside. Afterwards as they talk, Jonathan opens up to Joan about growing up and then his divorce. He tells Joan that out of nowhere his wife told him that he wanted to get divorced out of the blue and that she wasn’t happy. That’s gotta be a red flag. No one just wakes up and goes “I want to get divorced”. It takes two people for a marriage to fall apart. Joan gives him the rose. On the way back, Joan gets emotional thinking about her late husband and her mom at home.

At the house, Kim puts together a song for all of the guys to sing to Joan, and none of the other guys wanna do it. So awkward.

Joan realizes that she needs to open up more about her emotions to the guys that have all been open with her. She opens up to all of the guys the struggles she’s going through right now and that she’s not sure if she’ll ever be 100% ready to fall in love, but that she isn’t completely because of her late husband.

Another twist, Gerry, the Golden Bachelor, shows up to the mansion and wants to speak with Joan. She’s very happy to see him and tells him that her journey is going great, that her men are all great and open and then the same thing that Gerry did thinking about her late husband through this whole thing. She tells Gerry that she’s scared to be more vulnerable. He then asks her if she’s considered if her guy isn’t there. She replies that she considered it a lot more before she started this journey than now. He gives her the advice to stay true to herself.

As Joan goes back to the cocktail party, some of the guys try to cheer Joan up, and Kim and Guy sing Kim’s song to her.

Joan’s vulnerable, opens up, and says that she doesn’t deserve all these guys, who know there’s a rose ceremony but are all worried about her instead of themselves.

Rose ceremony time. Guy gets the first rose. Dan gets the next. Followed by Gary, Jordan, Chock, Charles, Keith. And with the final rose of the night…

“Mark, will you accept this rose?”

That sends Kim, Gregg, and the other Charles home.

The journey continues next week.

---

Please follow me:

Instagram: @atownszone

Twitter: @atownszone

If you like the site and my work, share it with your friends!

… and tell Dave Portnoy to hire me at Barstool…