The Bachelor Season 17 Episode Eight Recap: The Hometown Dates Part One

February 19, 2013 by Coco Liberty

Sean has hometown dates with each of the four girls and has to eliminate one after meeting their families. He wants to see if he can fit in with their family and asks their parents for their blessing if he decides to propose. I guess that’s a nice traditional sentiment, but overall seems too soon especially when their parents don’t know if they’ll be eliminated or not.

AshLee is the first of the four hometown dates. She is head-over-heels in love with Sean and can’t wait for him to meet her parents. They spend the day together before they head over to her parents. I like AshLee for Sean except her emotional issues are always present, but it takes a special man to accept her for everything she is. They start telling her parents about their trips and AshLee says “there was a lot of romance after St. Croix.” Her mom raises her eyebrow, which was hilarious, and they try to backpedal saying they had a lot of fun in the sand. Her mom says that her daughter’s eyes can’t lie and that she knows how happy she is. Her father tells the story about how they adopted AshLee. She had been in five foster homes in one year at age four. The abandonment had been reinforced again and again. Her dad says that when he saw her with a page cut and a cast on her leg all mad, he knew that he wasn’t going to give her back. He fell in love with her like that and hopes AshLee finds someone to love her like that. AshLee says she cries every time she hears that story. I love her family in that moment because it’s nice to know there are good people out there. AshLee’s dad asks Sean if he loves her. Sean says that “I’m crazy about your daughter and love is in the horizon probably.” Probably? I know he can’t directly answer that question, but it just seems a little unfair that AshLee is on cloud 9 whereas Sean seems up in the air. Her dad says that it’s a good thing Sean lives in Dallas because if he doesn’t pick AshLee he’d go find him. I hope that Sean doesn’t break AshLee’s heart because she deserves someone to love her like she loves them. In her monologue, AshLee says, “I love this man so much and there is no doubt that I want to marry this man. Today has been magical. There is pixie dust everywhere.” I hope the fairy tale comes true for AshLee or she’ll be heartbroken spending a lot of time at Disneyland.

Next up is Catherine and she is beaming with excitement. She lives in Seattle and on their afternoon date Catherine arranges for Sean to catch fish at the fish market. Catherine likes that Sean is always up for anything and isn’t embarrassed easily. Sean catches four fish and Catherine is impressed. Then the fish market employees make Catherine catch a fish, which is harder than it looks. She doesn’t catch the first one, but catches the second one with one hand. They’re made for each other because they’re always giggling and having fun. Sean loves that he doesn’t have to be serious around her all the time or the “cool guy.” She tells him of the her culture’s tradition of touching your head to an elders hand and how that will impress her grandma. They head over to her mom’s house where her grandma and sisters are also waiting. She introduces them to everyone and they eat and chat. Catherine lays on top of Sean while he does push ups, which demonstrates their comfort with each other. Then Catherine talks to her sisters who are very skeptical about everything.  They said that wasn’t this just an experience and not a reality. They don’t see her getting married or having kids any time soon. The sisters talk to Sean and tell him about how she has clothes all over her place, is moody, doesn’t want kids right away, and is about having fun, but also focusing on her dreams. I wasn’t sure if the sisters were concerned or jealous? I think that it should be seen as a plus that she has dreams of her own and isn’t just a baby factory. Then Sean talks to her mom and that creates more skepticism. Her mom didn’t give him her blessing for marriage because she doesn’t know if it’ll work out. I think they’re being realistic and Sean has been absorbed into Bachelor fairy tale land. These are very valid concerns and I appreciate that her family is honest. This puts doubt in his mind regarding Catherine. According to spoilers online, Catherine is the favorite to win and I’m not sure if this is ABC trying to build suspense in the story line.