Bachelor Ben - Episode 2

OH MAN what an ep. Let's dive in.

Ben shows up and lets the ladies know what they clearly have already realized - they're in Sonoma! It's a quaint little town of gazillionaires, and community theater is really important. But we'll get to that later.

Kacie gets the first rose (super annoying that Ben keeps calling her "Kacie B", no?) and they have a very emotional, in depth date. They seem to be really bonding and have a great time during the day, and after dinner Ben takes Kacie to a local theater, where they watch footage of them as kids via home movies. Unclear how the Bachelor producers got access to Kacie's home vids - that must have been an interesting call home. Anyway, it's emotional for Ben to watch footage of himself with his dad, and it feels like kind of a cheap trick - manufacturing intimacy by sharing painful memories. But that is classic Bach I suppose - how else are you going to fall in love with someone in 2 months? Kacie obviously gets the rose and she and Ben make out in the street. Annnd scene.

The next day Ben shows up with a group date card. The women going on the group date head out to a local community theater, and hear that they'll be putting on a play...written by some multi-racial, photogenic , adorable children. [Side note - just want to point out that Ben always refers to the ladies vying for his attention as "women"...I appreciate that. Brad was always saying girls and it got kind of old - a 30 year old with a kid looking to get married is a woman. To be fair, some - well, a lot - of these individuals seem like girls. Especially the ones who are my age. OK end rant.]

The kiddos cast the women in their play (which hardcore did not appear to be produced by a pack of Middle Schoolers, but I'll let it slide). Blakely gets a lot of attention for wearing a skintight striped romper. Pros: She can actually pull it off, she's got a hot bod. Cons: Not appropriate to wear in front of kids. Pros: To be fair, she didn't realize kids would be there. Cons: Whatever, it just makes the other contestants hate her even more. The play is a hit and most of the women have a great time hamming it up. Ben has a strip-tease segment (kids wrote this?) and really commits to his role as Prince. Once again, not something Brad could have pulled off.

They head back for an after party and a sad series of events transpire. Samantha gets to sick of Blakely's shenanigans that she stalks off and hides in a bathroom stall. Jennifer and Ben get some quality alone time and she really feels like they bonded, in addition to a makeout sesh. I really like Jennifer, and she's one of the few contestants that seems like a real person. After they hang out though, Blakely seduces old Ben in the pool and they have some steamy making out. "You're so grounded" Ben tells the "VIP Cocktail Waitress," in between sucking face. Lo and behold, the woman who gets the rose, who Ben claims "he had a real conversation with" is not Jennifer, but Blakely. Jennifer ends the night in tears. It's legit sad, I feel her pain.

Courtney gets the next one-on-one date card, and she seems to me to be a cross of Michelle Money and Emily Maynard, as absurd as that sounds. Like Michelle, she talks smack about the other girls, doesn't seem to make much of an effort to be friends and comes off really harsh away from Ben. Like Emily, she is soft spoken around the Bach and lets on that even though she's gorgeous, she's been hurt and has "trust issues." Ben eats it up and has serious chemistry with her - it's obvious that even though he liked sweet Kacie, Courtney the Model is at the top of his list. Obviously she gets a rose.

The cocktail party is a mess. The whole Jenna crying thing makes me bored - she has an awkward convo with Ben and then gets in bed and starts crying, per usual. Blakely keeps interrupting Ben's one-on-one time with the girls who didn't get to spend time with him earlier. That's a surefire way to get on everyone's bad side, especially because she already got a rose and doesn't need to spend time with him. All the other ladies start talking smack about Blakely, especially Samantha who really hates her with a passion. Kacie seems offended that Blakely, Courtney etc seem to think they have a relationship with Ben - I think she's pulling a JP from Ashley's season - she had a strong connection with him early on, and now she's going to be really threatened by everyone else who he shows attention to going forward.

Ben finds Blakely crying in the luggage room (because the other ladies were Mean Girls-ing her) and Jenna crying in bed. He seems really overwhelmed by the estrogen in the house - where's Chris Harrison when you need him?

Rose ceremony time - Shawn and Jenna go home. I hated for Shawn to leave because she seemed like a sweet mom and I liked what I saw (other than the bad hair) but I guess she was too quiet - she didn't even get an exit interview. Jenna went off sobbing into the night. Next week - San Fran! See ya there!