Friday, May 30, 2014

Episode Two: Magic Marcus



Well folks, the Eric Hill Memorial Tournament is officially underway, and I suppose it would only be appropriate for me to also start off with a moment of silence for our fallen comrade, Eric Hill.  Everybody good now?  Because I feel like even I couldn’t foreshadow his impending death any better than the Bachelorette editors.  Luckily, he gave them a lot to work with.

Now, in case you weren’t sure whether Andi is serious about this journey, we kick off with a few moments of contemplation in the garden as she gets ready to go on her first date with our dearly departed.  In what I (and Tasos) can only hope will be a continuing trend this season, it looks like about half the shirts in the house spontaneously fell off of bodies between the time she walked in the door and the time they got in the car to leave.  Very subtle, fellas.

Andi takes Eric to the beach, where they build sand castles and fly kites.  The most exciting part of this portion of the date is that Andi seems to have finally caved in to the producers and brought a two-piece bathing suit.  Otherwise, I was busy cataloging Eric’s plethora of humblebrags, including his camping trip with a witch doctor and his motorcycle ride across Africa.  Congratulations, pal, we’re all impressed.  Thankfully, a helicopter showed up on the beach, and nobody was happier than me, mostly because I picked up the first helicopter points!  The 20 minute trip in the chopper gave Eric the opportunity to remind us at least three times that he travels a lot before they get dropped off on Bear Mountain for a snowboarding lesson, which gave Eric the opportunity to wow us all with his snowboarding ability.  At one point, Andi asked whether there’s anything that Eric isn’t good at and, well, “paragliding” comes to mind.  Andi made a joke about plummeting down a mountain that I was surprised made it into the final cut, and then at dinner Eric told her a story about the time he was almost blown up in Syria.  I’m not even gonna touch that.  In the end, he did get the rose, and as they faded out on the date, instead of going in for the kiss, Eric left us with one final tidbit, “I once roasted marshmallows over a volcano.”  Give it a rest, man!

The next day, it was time for a group date.  I didn’t even write down the names of the guys, there were about 40 of them, and if you don’t think that every Vine for this recap is from this part of the episode, then you might as well stop reading now.  I, for one, was glad to see that the Bachelor franchise is willing to objectify equally across genders and that Andi is getting her revenge for the naked photo-shoot she was forced to take part in, but I will also admit that there are few things that bum me out more than old women at strip clubs.  However, I do know one person who seems to be no stranger to male strip clubs.  I am fairly certain that Craig was drunk before this date even started, particularly at the point when he started stuffing his crotch, but he seemed to also, umm, enjoy certain aspects of this date (the look on his face was basically this).  Also, bravo to the producers this season, who seem to have allowed Cody/Macklemore on this show specifically for this venue, because I don’t want to live in a world where I never get to see whatever is happening here.  My second-round pick, Nick S. was forced to do a solo routine as a robot, which is not much to work with, but he really took it to the next level by going full rectum during his routine.  It was then I knew that I would be counting on Josh to carry my team to victory in this game.  It’s just too bad we didn’t get a reaction shot from Tasos at the appearance of “part of the male body that no woman should ever have to see”.  I’m guessing he reacted slightly differently from Andi.  Although it was so beautiful on this Memorial Day to see not one, but two military-themed dances, I am going to have to give this one to the firefighters, if for no other reason than their incredible crowd work, particularly the attention to Chris Harrison.

Later on, just when I thought that Bradley’s personal opera performance was going to be the most awkward part of the evening, everyone realized that Craig had not-so-quietly gone on a complete bender.  It was awful to watch.  He was that drunk guy at the bar who thinks he’s being charmingly affectionate, when really he’s just an annoying close-talker who keeps asking for hugs.  It was not nearly as fun to watch as Victoria’s (Veronica’s?) drunken meltdown last season that culminated in a bathroom stall cry-fest.  I stopped watching after they sent Craig back to the house to dry out (both his clothes and his liver).  Andi continues to be extremely attracted to Marcus which...okay...so he got the group rose.

Anyways, next up was either a commercial for Santa Anita Park or a date with Chris the farmer.  This date was about as vanilla as it gets, down to the old couple planted next to them to talk about Forever Love.  Chris assured Andi and the viewing audience that he is, indeed, here for the right reasons and I can’t lie, I am digging this guy.  I just fear that there probably aren’t that many gang-bangers for Andi to prosecute in Iowa.  Also, based on my highly scientific research (which consisted of trying to remember any previous seasons), the contestants that go on early dates don’t usually fare so well since they basically won’t get another one-on-one until hometowns.  C. Deezy points out to me that Clare had the first date last year, so I guess Chris does have a chance if he manages to get Andi into an ocean in the next few weeks.  We did, though, get our first random band concert!  Congratulations, This Wild Life, I can’t wait to not purchase your new album!  In spite of the random roped-off stage and the truly terrible dancing, Chris went in for the kiss and appears to be the first guy to mash mouths with our dear bachelorette.

There are only three things I remember from the cocktail party: 

1.  Marquel really had a lot going on, sartorially speaking.  Between the checkered shirt, the flowered tie and the striped socks, I may have had a small seizure.

2.  Josh managed to get some action even though he was sweating profusely and being super weird.  He truly is my LeBron.

3.  Craig should never sing again.  Ever.

At the end of the day, Andi sent home Nick, the b-hole enthusiast, Carl, the gangly, tatted-up fireman, and Craig, the embarrassment to his family.  I am shocked and appalled that Bradley the opera singer went further than these guys, but have to give us all some respect for the fact that nobody drafted Craig.  Guess we saw that one coming.

I am very much looking forward to the upcoming episodes, where it looks like we are going to really find out if these guys are here for the right reasons

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