The Bachelor: Episode Two Recap
Is Victoria ok?
by LAYLA HARRISON ★ JANUARY 13, 2021
OPEN TO: Matt, enjoying a serene sunrise run. Meanwhile, the girls anxiously move into their hotel room, coming to terms with the fact that they’re all living together… while dating the same man.
Tragically, this is bringing up some serious issues for Victoria—she recently stated, “I’m sick of you guys. I wanted to hang out with Matt.” CUT TO: Victoria going off about how much she hates all the other girls to an unresponsive producer… who, TBH, really deserves a raise.
Then, Chris Harrison comes in and announces the agenda for the week two one-on-one dates and one group date. The first one-on-one is with Bri, who got the first rose at last week’s rose ceremony. She and Matt ride off on ATVs, while Victoria moves on from complaining to the producer and instead begins telling the girls how annoying they are. This, of course, immediately results in a fight, preaching that “the girls that are happy for Bri are fake as sh*t.” Victoria continues, calling the girls out for being “rude” to her and being “crazy.” The girls sit politely in a fatal attempt to calm her down—it’s painful to watch. Basically half the episode is dedicated to Victoria excluding herself from the other women—long story short, she announces that she does not want to sleep with her roommate, Marylynn, and trudges away dramatically to sleep on a couch. Oh, Victoria.
Bri and Matt, free from the drama, ride through the woods to a clearing and she hops on the back of his ATV, promising that she trusts him. Instantaneously, he whips around in the mud too quickly and it flips. They both fall, but DW—they don’t get crushed by the vehicle! Matt speaks on the fact that his first thought was that Bri’s mom is going to hate him—honestly, sort of endearing. He looks into the camera and vows to do a better job of protecting Bri going forward. Matt says they’re about to get in a wood fired hot tub and timidly asks, “That cool?” He then strips of his shirt and Bri ogles his stomach as he chops firewood to warm the tub… a dream I didn’t even know I had. They then share their first kiss and head to dinner. STEAMY.
During dinner, Bri reveals that her mother gave birth to her when she was 13. Over quarantine, she discovered her mother is engaged and starting a family of her own, and she feels like she no longer has a home of her own. Matt empathizes and speaks on his personal experiences growing up with a single mother. He felt that something was wrong with him because he didn’t have a dad, and he gravitated towards friends with big families, just like Bri—we love bonding over daddy issues. They connect over wanting a big family of their own, then Bri says if she can find someone who wants the same thing, that’s what she wants. Matt replies, “If?!” then picks up his glass and says “cheers to exploring love with you.” Needless to say, she gets the date rose.
The next day is the group date, which starts as a wedding photo shoot. Each woman dons a white gown and waits in line to get their thirty seconds at the makeshift altar with Matt. Chris Harrison shows up and throws a wrench in the plan, announcing cryptically that the women need to fight for Matt and that the date will continue in the woods. The women are split into two teams for capture the flag (with a heart, not a flag). The winning team gets a cocktail party with Matt that evening. The red team (consisting of Victoria, MJ, Mari, Jessenia, Kaili, Kit, Lauren, Serena P, and Pieper) wins, while the other nine losing girls hang their heads and walk back to the hotel.
During the cocktail party, the producers didn’t show most of Matt’s conversations. We do see him talk to Jessenia, a 27-year-old social media marketer. She cries describing her ideal relationship and how she’s been cheated on in the past—she even whines that a kiss would make her feel better! MAJOR “pick me” vibes.
Victoria and Matt sit down for a chat. DON’T DRINK every time Victoria says “like” as word filler—unless you’re looking to spend the night at the hospital. Nonetheless, Matt tells her he was impressed with her today. She interrupts slurring that there are sides to her that she has not revealed. She says she comes across confident, but deep down she’s insecure. Girl… trust us. We know. Matt assures Victoria there’s a reason why she’s still here. Tea is, what he doesn’t tell her is that it’s because the producers are forcing him to keep her!! He says he wants to encourage her to be who she is because she’s beautiful—(producer fed line, because who she is is great TV). He asks if he can walk her upstairs and we’re a little relieved because he ended the conversation without kissing her... SIKE! Spoke too soon. Victoria asks for a kiss before they go and he responds sure. They peck quickly and he keeps his eyes open. That’s not what you want.
Matt then talks with Lauren, a gorgeous 29-year-old attorney from Miami. They converse about faith and the importance of religion in a relationship. They seem to want similar things and they kiss. And... BREAKING NEWS. Matt is an open eye kisser. It wasn’t just a Victoria thing. It’s just A THING. Lauren gets the group date rose. Victoria sees this and aggressively asks Lauren if she was expecting to get the rose because Victoria had shared a lot of herself and thought the rose was hers. Yeah… we’re still not seeing the connection.
Sarah has the last date of the week. She and Matt board a plane and fly to a spot in the woods. She tells him about her family’s support for her coming on the show. Matt calls her out on not fully opening up… AKA the producers clued him in that he needs to dig into her family so she can give her mandatory contestant depth/struggle story. At dinner, he immediately asks her about her family and she shares her fathers’ ALS diagnosis. She talks about the pain of watching her father lose his ability to speak, eat, etc. She quit her job to be a caregiver for her dad.
She reciprocates things he did for her as a child, for him, such as brushing his hair and teeth. Sarah says it was hard to leave and be on the show, but her father wanted her to find love, she wanted to meet Matt, and she’s grateful to be there. Matt says it’s an honor to have Sarah with him and recognizes her sacrifice to be there. Then, HE asks what HE can do to show HER throughout this experience that he’s someone that she would want to be with. Word for word. I have NEVER heard a lead ask a contestant that. A perfect moment. She gets the rose. During the show last night, Matt live tweeted a link to donate to ALS research.
FINALLY, the cocktail party and rose ceremony—what we’ve all been waiting for. The first thing I notice is Serena C’s sparkly silver knee high Louboutin boots. She’s best dressed, and even posted an Instagram picture last night claiming viewers should not miss the episode or her outfit. She was right. Matt kicks off the night saying, “I don’t think I’m ever not gonna be nervous in front of you all.” I don’t know if Matt has a personality or if he’s just nice, but either way we love Matt—open-eye kisses and all.
We finally see Abigail, after an entire episode with no screen time. Matt calls her “one of the sweetest people [he’s] ever met.” Next, he talks to Marylynn, who starts to spiral immediately saying, “This week has been really challenging for me and I felt like, man, did I say something that rubbed him the wrong way? He hasn’t asked me on a date. Does he want me to be here? I’m nervous. Like why am I here Matt?!” As if on cue—no, definitely on cue—Matt says, “you mentioned to me that your favorite flower was an orchid and I actually got you an orchid. I didn’t want you to think that I wasn’t thinking about you.” Matt reaches behind the couch and presents her with an orchid that looks like all the other decor in the hotel. My personal theory is that a producer took it off a table and told Matt to give it to her, but maybe I’m just speculating.
Marylynn then goes to her producer interview and gushes, “I didn’t even know he remembered my name. I’m on cloud 9.” She goes back to the group of girls to show off her gift. It’s an orchid, not a rose, so the women aren’t too interested… except for Victoria. She storms off to find Matt. Victoria sits Matt down, being the first contestant to involve the lead in drama this season. Out of pocket as ever, she claims, “Marylynn cries to manipulate situations and she’s just straight up toxic. I had to sleep on the couch temporarily and having that in the house is really hard. It’s crazy.” Victoria apologies from not being “ready to share” that sooner. She continues to talk about how Marylynn is so toxic. Now I’m freaking out. Poor Marylynn. After lighting that fire, Victoria returns to the girls. Victoria tells the girls, “I told him how awful Marylynn was to me.” Resident chill girl MJ says, “I’ve never heard her be mean to anyone.” Other girls continue to marvel at the situation and how kind Marylynn is. Victoria agrees about how kind Marylynn is saying, “it was shocking when she was like that to me.”
Matt pulls Marylynn to confront her about Victoria’s claims. Marylynn speaks sadly, slowly, and says she doesn’t want to start drama but needs to defend herself. She denies the rumors and Matt says he’s heading out.
Victoria and Marylynn have a short chat before the rose ceremony. Marylynn is basically silent while Victoria calls her crazy and refuses to sit next to her or engage in conversation. Victoria is super bitchy, for lack of a better term, cutting her off and ending the (nonexistent) conversation. Marylynn just looks so sad it’s kinda heartbreaking to watch. Victoria keeps gaslighting her and FOR WHAT?!
Everyone heads to the rose ceremony and Matt’s calling names when all of a sudden Sarah stumbles and almost faints. Bri helps her to the producers who call the medic. That situation isn’t much of a cliff hanger, but we will have to wait til next week to see who is sent home. Say a prayer for Marylynn before next Monday, will ya?
Cover photo credit: Instagram (@bachelornation)