Lessons on Love and Lies: Bachelorette 18, Episode 2

Hello hello! Two things to address before we get into the recap this week. First, it appears former Bachelor Nation host Chris Harrison is officially moving on from the franchise and in life with his recent engagement to long-time girlfriend (and Mizzou alum) Lauren Zima. They both made Instagram posts announcing the engagement. Harrison’s in particular came with a completely deleted IG feed and a new bio with no mention of Bachelor Nation. Alls well that ends well I suppose. Love that for them.

Second, Bachelorette 17 lead Katie Thurston and her fiancé of *checks watch* roughly seven months have called it quits. In a shared statement on Instagram Monday afternoon, they announced that they ultimately decided they were not one another’s life partners. Honestly, I didn’t see this coming until very recently. I randomly read a google alert about their relationship last week. In it, Katie shared they were each “doing their own thing,” which is not the best way to keep a relationship going. Probably too soon, but my guess is we’ll see Katie on sand next summer during Paradise. Either way, best of luck to both of them. 

Now, on to the recap! This episode gave us a bit of everything, some drama, the beginnings of love, healthy competition, and a few clear front runners.

The Apple of My Eye: Bachelorette Season 18 Premier

I have been excited about Michelle’s season since they announced it at Matt’s finale! She’s style, she’s grace, and she’s shaping the young minds of children, a true midwestern queen!

Overall this episode left me pretty satisfied. Michelle’s men are way hotter than their photos, (they always are) they have legit jobs listed on their chyron’s and I loved how much they gassed up Michelle, even when she wasn’t around. I’m sure that last one was at least partially producer encouraged, but I’ll take it. On to the recap!

Class is in Session: Michelle’s Men

The Bachelorette is back and unlike last season, I am very excited to be recapping Michelle’s season of The Bachelorette. I’m also psyched that we have gotten so much back-to-back Bach content. As a reality TV connoisseur, watching other shows shot during the pandemic has been rough, to say the least. But based on previews, it seems like this season will give us some tastes of the real world, which I’m looking forward to.

I fell in love with Michelle the first time she exited the limo on Matt’s season. She had a beautiful smile, killer arms (seriously, drop the arm day routine, sis), and Midwestern charm that felt so familiar and relatable. I also loved her for Matt. They both worked with children and youth, were passionate about service work, and were athletes. So, I definitely had to side-eye Matt when he sent her home.

It all worked out though because now we get an entire season of Michelle and a new group of men that seem to be really promising (even if their bios make them all sound the same). Here are the men I’ve got my eye on.

Alls Well That Ends Well: Bachelorette Season 17, Episode 10

Well, we made it to the end! It doesn’t matter the time of year, there’s just something about Bachelor Nation finales, I am never able to watch it live, which sucks because of course its the only episode everyone on my timeline is watching and live tweeting, so I have to dodge spoilers.

We had some inclement weather in the Chicagoland last night, so not only was I watching late, but the first 40 minutes were weather updates, not the episode. Luckily, I was able to go back and watch on Hulu this morning. And that folks is why I’ll probably never give up my 50-11 TV/streaming subscriptions because when one doesn’t have it, another always will!