'The Bachelor': Recap of the Hometown Dates

First, Jake heads to New York City to see Gia. They get on a boat to take a tour around the city since they have only a short time there. Gia points out several major landmarks even though everyone already knows what they are. After a “photo shoot” where they take pictures of themselves on the boat, Jake and Gia get into a more serious discussion about her past relationships. Apparently, she’s hesitant to open up because in the past, her boyfriends have cheated on her.

Gia and Jake go to a restaurant in the city to meet her family for dinner. Gia’s mom immediately launches into a bunch of questions for Jake. She questions how committed he is to Gia if he’s “dating” three other girls. Apparently the fact that her daughter is on a reality dating show has slipped her mind, and she’s seriously disillusioned if she thinks that Jake would not tell her what she wants to hear. In the seriously short time that Jake has had with Gia’s family, it seems that he’s made a good impression. Gia’s mom tells her that she can tell that Jake cares about her, and the body language gives away their feelings for each other.

Jake and Gia finish off the evening by sitting on some random house’s steps and watching the taxis go by. Jake claims that he has “the most beautiful girl” in his arms, though I’m sure he’ll probably say something similar about each of the other girls later on.

Next, Jake visits Ali in Massachusetts. Ali takes him to walk around her hometown, and then they stop off at her grandmother’s house who was a very important person in Ali’s life who died.

Ali and Jake go to Ali’s family’s house for dinner. According to Ali, her mom is not an easy lady to impress, but that fact that her mom is quoting something that Jake said about internal beauty makes it seem like she already has a good opinion of him.

Jake and Ali’s time ends just as perfectly as it began. It seems as though they are both really into the idea of seeing themselves as a permanent couple.

Jake goes to see Tenley in Oregon next. Tenley takes Jake to a dance studio where she’s choreographed a routine to show him. She wanted to share with him her passion for dancing because this is something that she didn’t share with her ex-husband.

When Jake and Tenley go to meet her family, they are overwhelmed with seeing Tenley happy again because of all the troubles that she’s had with her ex-husband. Pretty much everyone cries at some point during this meeting. At the end of the day, Jake asks Tenley’s dad if he would have his permission to marry his daughter if she was the last one left. Not surprisingly, her dad gives his permission because he seemed to get a good first impression of Jake.

Jake’s last hometown date takes him to Florida to see Vienna. She claims that her dad is going to have some “tough” questions for him. However, most of those questions have to do with him “dating” other women at the same time. Obviously, these people don’t understand the actual concept of ‘The Bachelor.’ Vienna’s dad tells Jake that if he picks Vienna that he needs to treat her like a princess.

Jake and Vienna get some alone time where he notices her ring that she wears as a promise to her dad that she won’t elope again. But she tells Jake that she’ll take it off once he gives her an engagement ring. This should be a red flag to Jake that maybe he should explore Vienna’s past a little bit deeper, but he seems fine with it.

Back in Beverly Hills, Jake is hit with another curveball. Ali comes to his room to tell him that she has to choose between her job and staying on the show. As hard as she tries to come to a decision on whether she should choose her job or the show, Jake is not much help. He basically tells her that they have a connection, but if she stays, he can’t definitely promise her a ring. Ali leaves his room just as confused as when she came, and she tells Jake that she’ll let him know her decision at the rose ceremony.

After like half an hour devoted purely to Ali’s decision of whether or not to leave, she picks her job and leaves in a limo. Jake promptly starts crying outside the hotel. Needless to say, there is no rose ceremony tonight, and the final three are Tenley, Gia, and Vienna.