The Bachelor: Episode Three Recap

Chris writes erotic novels?

by LAYLA HARRISON ★ JANUARY 20, 2021

Where were we? Ah, yes.

The rose ceremony picks up right where it left off. Matt holds Sarah as she recovers from her faint. He hands out the rest of the roses, delivering a gut punch sending Marylynn home and keeping Victoria around. Ugh.

Chris Harrison plans the first group date of the week… and uses it as shameless self-promo for his apparent romance novel, The Perfect Letter. Bachelor alum Ashley I. does a very dramatic, slightly daunting reading of the book… Chris, I’m shook.

The girls are tasked with writing their own erotic fanfic about Matt, and performing it for all the other girls in the house. Sounds like my worst nightmare realized. It was so inappropriate for television that a majority of the words had to be bleeped out—Victoria’s entire story is censored (low-key want to know what it was about). The women all express their discomfort with listening to everyone’s sexual fantasies about Matt, especially Rachael, a week one front runner-slash-infamous slow burn. She tells Matt that she stepped out of her comfort zone and he gives her the group date rose, and they kiss… and because I know you all were wondering, YES. Matt’s still an ~open eye kisser.~

Credit: Twitter

During the group date, Sarah, who was not on the date card, decides to show up anyway. She interrupts Katie Thurston (AKA vibrator girl) and asks for a few minutes alone with Matt. She anxiously expresses to him that she’s emotionally exhausted from the Bachelor process overall. Matt fully accepts her presence and acts like she’s just another girl on the date. He sits with Sarah and delves into conversation. She expresses hesitations about being there anymore, and Matt assures her that he wants her to stay. He completely disregards Katie and the rest of the girls on the date. Honestly, we can blame the producers for this.

Katie checks in with Sarah and Matt twice to see if she and Matt can continue. Matt walks Sarah out and MAKES OUT WITH HER, like, ten feet away from Katie. OUCH. Talk about immature. But, we can tell Matt really likes Sarah. Sarah then addresses the group of girls, saying she stole Matt away for a few minutes. Obviously, the girls are upset because Sarah didn’t share why she felt the need to steal Matt and monopolize their time with him—and she didn’t necessarily offer the most genuine apology. Abigail calls her out… that’s how you know it’s bad.

Here’s a little play-by-play of the girls’ reactions—feel free to act it out melodramatically in your bedroom.

Khaylah: You took our group date to talk about your personal problems.

Serena C: You didn’t take our feelings into account. You wanted him to feel some type of way like you wanted him to feel bad for you.

Sarah’s described as manipulative, calculated, and toxic.

Victoria: I can confirm you’re all three of those things.

By now, Sarah’s crying. CUT TO: Victoria’s interview where she says, “If Matt sends her home, I will wanna f*** him because I’ll just be like that's so hot that he can see through her bullsh*t.” HA.

Kit tells Sarah, “I hope your relationship with Matt is very strong right now because the rest of your living situation here is going to be horrible.” Kit announces that she never wants to see Sarah’s face again, and MJ claims that Sarah has ostracized herself from the group. Suddenly, and unfortunately, Victoria is no longer the outsider.

Finally, Matt comes into the room and ends the date. Honestly, Sarah barely took up ten minutes. The girls who didn’t have time with Matt wouldn’t have had time anyway. The producers definitely ended the date early to cause conflict around Sarah’s visit. And it worked. HOT TAKE: Sarah is trying to make the process work for her. She and Matt have a wholesome connection and care about each other a lot already. She knows that her love languages are quality time and words of affirmation. She needs more from Matt. So, is the Bachelor the blueprint for her? No. But we see her trying to make it work until it gets to be too much. I’m still wondering why she chose to be there instead of spending time with her dad... but we’ll come back to that.

Either way, Sarah shouldn’t have interrupted the date. The girls are MAD. Sarah hides in her room while all the girls help Serena P get ready for her one-on-one. Matt comes to get Serena and notices Sarah isn’t there. He leaves to find her, promising to be back in five minutes. Spoiler! He is not back in five minutes. He collapses on top of Sarah in her hotel bed and they cuddle. He tells Sarah he’s willing to stop by her room every day to remind her he cares if that’s what it takes for her to stay. He promises, “I will continue to remind you how much I care about you” and so on.

Credit: Twitter

Matt finally retrieves Serena C for their horseback riding date and apologizes for taking a while. He proclaims that he would spend time with anyone who was “feeling that type of way.” The girls definitely seem SUS about that. The girls remind Matt, “It’s Serena’s day.” CALLING HIM OUT! We LOVE this group of women.

On the date, Matt tells Serena he’s happy she’s here with a cute, mischievous little smile. Instead of her opening up, Matt gets vulnerable about his mom and personal family details. Serena just sits and listens. It’s refreshing to see the lead put in such a strong effort for a wonderful woman like Serena. Her sass comes through when Matt tells her he had a pet turtle growing up. Serena immediately asks, “Were you a weird kid?” SAVAGE. Serena says she’s falling in “like” with Matt and that she and Matt are “really good together.” THEN, Matt says, “Even though I’ve never been in love before, I’m very open to the thought of experiencing that with Serena.” OMFG. Then, they make out… and HIS EYES ARE CLOSED for the first time! Serena gets the rose. Sorry, Sarah.

Then Katie, who was famously interrupted on the group date, goes to talk to Sarah and make sure she’s ok. Sarah tells her about being away from her dad with ALS and that she doesn’t know how long he has left (days, weeks, months, etc). Katie shares that her dad passed away in 2012 and would give anything for more time with him, and tells Sarah she supports her and encourages her to go see her father. But Katie also says, “If you leave and he’s still interested in you, he’s gonna be wondering what if.” Sarah tells Katie she’s going home because, “Matt deserves the best and I don’t feel my best.” Katie makes sure that Sarah is leaving on her own accord and doesn’t feel bullied into leaving. They ugly cry together—talk about solidarity and sisterhood.

Katie tells the group that Sarah left. She says that Sarah has a “big family thing looming over her.” Victoria starts clapping and Katie immediately continues, “I want to remind everyone to stay classy in this process because we don’t know our stories.” Katie is a class act. Some Bachelor meme accounts are already calling for her to be the next Bachelorette.

Sarah goes to say her final goodbye to Matt. At this point, we’ve already seen Serena C have an adorable date with him, so we’re pretty much over this. There are plenty of women. In the Bachelor blueprint, you can’t ask for extra attention. It seemed like she wanted Matt to pull a Clare and Dale for her or a Colton and Cassie where Matt begs her to stay. She cries to Matt, announcing she’s leaving, and says, “I wish you could see my heart.” Matt responds, “I feel it.” Kinda hot, but ok, bye, Sarah!

The episode is over and the preview for next week airs. We are getting FIVE NEW WOMEN added to the house. The current women are going to HATE this. More drama coming soon! I can’t wait.

Cover photo credit: Instagram (@bachelorabc)