Matt meets the parents as The Bachelor reaches its “hometowns” episode
The cold freeze has finally snapped. Birds are chirping. And here on The Bachelor, most of the drama has dissipated as Matt has narrowed down his choices to the final four possibilities, which means that he meets all their parents during this “hometowns” episode. In normal times, Matt would be visiting places like Canada and Georgia to meet his girlfriends’ parents and other relatives on their home turfs. But instead, all the families head to the resort in Pennsylvania (does this mean that everyone’s family had to be quarantining this whole time?).
Hometowns is a big week in the Bachelor scheme of things, because after living in the contestant bubble for so many weeks, for the contestants it’s the first time they get some actual outside validation about their unconventional relationship. Or not. For Serena, talking to her mom and her sister about her feelings for Matt is enough for her to realize that she’s not actually ready to get engaged at the end of all this. Which is totally reasonable! But too bad: Her Canadian date was dorky but pretty fun, and I like how she did not seem to be taking everything so seriously. In retrospect, though, maybe that was the problem.
But the best part is that Serena was actually concentrating on herself and her feelings and not just how Matt was feeling about her, in a sharp departure to how the female contestants are usually depicted on this show. There was something really gratifying about seeing Matt being walked out and headed home in the sad SUV ride for once.
The other three are still in it, though, and Matt still has some strong contenders. All three women looked exceptionally stunning at that pointless rose ceremony, especially Bri. He and Michelle were just too pure for this world on their hometown date, and having him meet her students was about a million times better than Rachael’s flashy skydiving venture. (I wish Matt felt the same, but I kind of doubt it.)
There’s a very telling vernacular in Bachelor-ness, after all. Matt and Rachael both said the “L” word early on. This episode, there was a lot of talk about “falling for you” or telling the parents that he was “falling” for their daughter. Which is not the same thing as saying that he was in love with their daughter or even that he loved their daughter, and the parents in question were quick to pick up on that difference. Even worse is when someone like Bri is brave and opens up about her feelings for him, only to get the dreaded “Thank you for sharing that” in response.