Quick Take: The Bachelorette (Ashley Hebert), "Week 3"
It's a drama filled week as a roast turns sour and a scheming suitor says goodbye.
Review: The Bachelorette (Ashley Hebert), "Week 3"
(S0703) The episode kicks off with a one-on-one date. Ashley takes Ben C. to a dance studio to teach him some moves, but he's not told what the purpose is. They head to a mall afterwards and enjoy a nice picnic, and then Ashley suggests they do their routine even though there are hundreds of people watching. Ashley reveals to the camera that they are going to participate in a flash mob, but Ben C. has no idea what is going to happen.
As they begin dancing, the crowd and some music joins in. Ben C. is surprised by the mob and Ashley enjoys surprising him. Adding to the excitement is the live performance of Far East Movement, the band that sings the dance they started to dance too. At dinner the two have a nice conversation where Ben goes on and on to Ashley how he wants to find someone he can live in a love bubble with. She seems impressed with him and gives him the date rose.
The next date is a group date with Ames, Ben F., Chris, Blake, Jeff, Lucas, Nick, Ryan, William, and Bentley. Before they leave, Jeff finally decides to reveal his face to Ashley. I applaud you, ABC, for the Phantom of the Opera-type music as Jeff stood on the balcony waiting for Ashley to arrive. It definitely made me laugh. The reveal included as much cricket chirping as you could imagine. Ashley’s reaction (to the camera alone) is, “he’s a lot older than I thought he was.” This poor guy -- if he hadn’t kept the mask on for so long, he probably could have gotten somewhere because his personality pretty much only became “the mask.”
We get back to the date, which is going to take place at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Jeffrey Ross, the roast master, is brought out and tells the guys they will be performing a roast on Ashley in front of a live audience. The guys are skeptical, but go to their own corners to write some jokes. When the show starts, the guys mainly roast each other, probably in fear of what problems roasting Ashley could cause. Best joke, delivered by Lucas, was “Ames, when is your forehead going to give birth?”.
Jeff finally gets down to roasting Ashley and what ensues is jokes about how small her breasts are and jokes about how she is Brad Womack’s leftovers. Then William kills the day by making a joke about how he thought it was going to be Emily or Chantal as the bachelorette and says “who gives a f@#% about Ashley?”. This was definitely the wrong thing to say and it leaves Ashley in tears. I was torn between thinking how it was a roast and William did exactly what they told him to do and then there is the fact that it was a cruel thing to say. I don’t think any woman wants to hear that she is not good enough and it was Ashley’s fear from the start of the show.
The cocktail party does not go well and every suitor tries to make Ashley feel better. Bentley succeeds with his fake charm and gives her all sorts of compliments. Ryan P. manages to get a kiss and then the date rose, but this does not sit well with Bentley. He makes the decision that it is time to check out of the situation. Overall, it is a bad date. To roast someone who had already been doubting herself is not a good idea!
The next day Bentley says goodbye to all the guys, making the excuse that he misses his daughter. He goes to Ashley’s house and gives her the same bull crap. His real reason is that he is just not into Ashley and thinks she is an ugly duckling. This guy is beyond douche bag, but she of course doesn’t see it. He leaves their relationship door open, even though he shouldn’t have. She continues to believe everything that comes out of his mouth and says her goodbye with a leg wrapping of his waist and a kiss.
After he leaves, Ashley has her meltdown that they have been pimping for a while through previews and the whole confrontation wasn’t what I had hoped it to be. I was waiting for Chris Harrison or someone with a conscious to come out and show Ashley the video of Bentley’s insults, but this did not happen. Instead he left with Ashley still thinking that he was Mr. Right. I really would like to know how Ashley feels now. If it were me, I would feel pretty foolish knowing that I was suckered by this guy and millions of people had seen it.
JP gets the last date, but all Ashley can think about is Bentley. He allows her to feel bad about herself, put some pajamas on and not really put effort into the date. They have a cozy dinner at her house and chat a little. She loves that he is fine with everything, so he gets the date rose.
Before the cocktail party, Ashley and Chris Harrison sit down to talk. She is still upset about Bentley, because she thought he was going to be one of the final men. Chris tries to tell Ashley that maybe she wasn’t in love with Bentley; she was in love with the “idea” of Bentley and the fact that she wanted him to be right for her, even though she was warned about him. I couldn’t even believe she had used the word love, because this is only week three and the woman had barely talked to the guy beforehand. This whole scene made me angry! I was thinking the same thing Chris was when he said that if Bentley was a real man, he would have fought hard to stay. If he was a real man, he would have confessed that he was an a-hole and had no interest in her.
Ashley skips the party and goes straight to the rose ceremony where she gives Constantine, West, Mickey, Ben F., Blake, Nick, Ames, Lucas and William roses, with Ryan P and Ben C already having them. I know we are only in Week Three, but there aren’t really any guys who stand out and I find myself losing interest in who she is going to pick. This better get interesting soon. I definitely don’t want to see any more of Bentley, but I know this is not going to happen. It's The Bachelorette, drama is a must.
The Ashley-Bentley situation was weird from start to finish. Weird that she "fell" for him after a few brief interactions on camera and weird how brazenly Bentley bragged to the camera and acted the all around jerk. He didn't even get to promote his business, as had been suggested he would, I believe ?
At least that musician dude got to play a few songs a few seasons back.