So It’s Come To This: The Courtship Recap Episode 6 — Just Look Up At The Boobs
Check out last week’s recap here.
Friends, this week hit pay dirt. To be honest, as each episode wore on, I was beginning to wonder if we had a one-trick pony on our hands, but if you managed to make it through what I pray is half of the season, this was your reward. Bad poetry! Bad art! Forehead kisses!!! How do I explain the dizzying heights this episode hits, specifically as it goes off the rails? There’s nowhere to start but at the beginning.
We return to our Jane Austen romance the day after a Farewell Dance that sent just one suitor home and ended with a passionate kiss shared by Mr. Judge and Ms. Remy. Now it’s the next day, and no one can stop talking about that kiss! At SQ, Mr. Hunter doesn’t think the Farewell Dance is the time or the place. We must preserve the sanctity of the Farewell Dance! Mr. Bochicchio just doesn’t want to see anyone kiss Nicole in front of him. Buddy, what show did you sign up for? Over in a strategic second location of suitors, Mr. Judge is telling some boys he doesn’t regret anything. Captain Kim starts in about the unspoken rules of ??? (Life? The Courtship?), and how he’s going to follow those rules. Captain Kim’s arc seems to be coming to a head, as he is getting more and more fervent about rule-following. We’ll come back to this.
From rule-following to rule-breaking, Mr. Chapman undertakes a mission to “sneak into the castle”, wearing a servant’s uniform that was definitely not fitted for him by production, and stealthily being followed by a camera crew. Nicole and Tessa are in bed, talking about the previous night — I’m getting a bit worried about the amount of time Nicole’s spends in bed in the morning, because this is starting to resemble less a Jane Austen novel and more Little Women. Does Nicole have consumption?? Mr. Chapman interrupts with breakfast and the girls are tickled by this surprise. Tessa goes back to her own four-post bed, and Mr. Chapman gets into bed with Nicole.
Chapman tells us, “I would break into a castle, I would break into an airport. I would do a lot of crazy things to have some alone time with her.” Why did his brain first go to “airport”? Something tells me he might be on a no-fly list, which would explain the van…
“This is so epic,” Nicole coos, saying this is the kind of story that they could tell their kids one day. Just so we’re clear, that story starts with, “So your father and I were cast on a TV show that only went one season…” Like, look, I’m willing to suspend a little belief for this show, but if you’re going to force me to swallow some cloak-and-dagger story about breaking into a castle while actively being filmed and then try to get me to believe that this is super impressive to anyone in the show, that’s when the indigestion hits. It’s just all very, very staged, to a degree where it strains the labels of reality TV, like how Breyers legally has to call their ice cream “frozen dairy dessert” because it doesn’t have enough cream.
Chapman tells Nicole, “It would be easy to miss a sunrise in a bed like this, especially with you here.” Nicole rejoins, “I would get up and see those sunrises with you, though.” ENOUGH WITH THE SUNRISES. As a parent to a six-month-old, I have seen my share of sunrises in the past few months, and I can tell you that if you woke me up to see the sunrise, you would be watching the sunset from a hospital room.
Nicole is all about Chapman and his dashing/dashboard life of adventure. “What I like so much about you is envisioning all of the amazing fun things that would come from you. The things that I don’t normally experience,” she tells him. “You have no idea,” Chapman responds. “Also, it would be kind of nice to slow down.” Nicole, read between the lines on this. Chapman has some kind of shady past that involves B&E and possibly running from the Pinkertons at first light. Get Tessa a message to take a quick trip back to the future so she can google his name!
Nicole summarizes their little tryst nicely for the cameras: “He’s breaking all the rules. Break ‘em! I’m ok with it!” Somewhere at SQ, Captain Kim shed a quiet tear and he couldn’t quite place why.
The Daily Tea arrives with our schedule for the next day or two. Nicole’s parents are still away, so there will be a singles-only bacchanal (party, it’s just a party) with a poetry reading. “An example of which can be found elsewhere in this paper,” Mr. Judge reads, sounding as if he’s about to translate a coded message. Jesse, it’s two pages, I’m sure you’ll find it by lunch.
“How are your poetry skills?” the suitors all ask each other. “Top notch, baby,” Mr. Cones responds, and I was waiting for him to start talking about how he’s super competitive at buffets and backgammon again, but alas, he left it there. Mr. Holland says, “I took a poetry course in college, let me see what I remember from that,” which is so fucking funny to me, because I imagine him straining to think back to the day when his professor said, “Ok, class, here are the 8 steps to writing a poem…” College poetry classes just read poetry, man. Maybe you’re thinking of middle school/high school English class?
British street urchin Charlie Mumbray is worried about both his abilities in poetry and his abilities to feel and express adult emotions. If the poetry doesn’t throw the men off, certainly the term “bacchanal” does, which Mr. Hunter thinks means it’s like a bachelor party. This feels a little like when you go to trivia night with some friends and everyone starts kind of free-associating based on half-remembered experiences in their lives. Is there a shared etymological root in the words “bachelor” and “bacchanal”? Almost certainly, and that’s enough for Mr. Hunter. He’s the brains of the bunch.
Next we come to the great party, which I feel obligated to point out is very distinctly Roman themed, and has nothing to do with the Regency Era. Why don’t they just call this the Dress-Up Dating Show? That seems to be the main draw of it all, anyway. Before the celebration gets too out-of-hand (that means showing about thirty seconds of slow-motion drinking in robes and gold laurels and comically sized bunches of grapes), the poetry contest/exhibition/reading kicks off, and I am about to ascend to heaven.
Let me tell you, as an English major, that there is nothing more special to me than listening to bad poetry. Poetry is the rare format that calls to you to speak your deepest feelings, and so it’s almost irony-proof. If you go for the simple ABAB (or worse, AABB) rhyme scheme, you run the risk of sounding like you just wrote a nursery rhyme or limerick. If you don’t rhyme at all, you run the risk of sounding unbearably pretentious. Also, and again, speaking only for myself, there’s so much published poetry that also sounds stupid. So to think that a personal trainer or a guy who owns a travel company is going to find their muse and speak to anyone’s soul is the platonic ideal of optimism. Because I truly enjoy this so much, in that same way you keep smelling the 4-week old carton of milk even though you’re already positive it went bad, here are what we see of the suitors’ poems:
Mr. Chapman
Me in your room / Probably beats me in my van / Rock, paper, scissors / New place again. / Seattle to Florida / Or wherever we land / I’ve practiced driving with my left so you can hold my right hand. / Maybe you’re the thing that can slow down this man.
Chapman tells us after, “It was easy writing my own poem because I write music,” and he’s excited because he feels he’s set the bar pretty high. LOLOLOLOLOLOL at “Me in your room probably beats me in my van.” NO KIDDING! Say, my glasses aren’t working so well. Do we have ourselves a Billy Shakespeare? Well, you’ll have plenty of sunrises to watch when you’re washing out your undies for the day and LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!
Couple other notes:
- “Rock, Paper, Scissors” is one of those lines that seems like it conveys something but falls apart pretty quickly. Are they roshamboing to see where they go next?
- Does anyone need to practice driving with their left hand? Is Chapman a 10 and 2 guy?
- He definitely is smelling his own farts over the concept of “needing someone to slow yourself down.” Unless he’s literally wanted in at least one state, I very much doubt his “fast life.”
Mr. Bochicchio
Thoughts of being on one knee / Should I call you Nicky B.?
This gets eyerolls but threads the needle the way datetestants do on The Bachelorette. Light, cute, not trying too hard. Also lol at “thoughts of being on one knee.” I assume “thoughts of seeing where this connection takes us and being interested in pursuing more beyond these first two months” didn’t have any natural rhymes that worked.
Mr. Holland
Let’s water each other like flowers / I believe we flow like flowers / with you I want to grow like flowers
Oh no, Mr. Holland! If you still have any student debt, please do what you can to at least get reimbursed for that poetry class. The exact opposite of Danny B., an impossibly cringey and muddled simile repeating the same word at the end. Two out of these three lines have serious issues. “Let’s water each other like flowers” seems to imply that flowers both give and receive water in a reciprocal relationship with other flowers?? I didn’t take a botany course in college, so my memory might be a little dim, but I do not think that’s the case! And how do flowers flow? Tell me, Holland, goddamn you!
Captain Kim
Remind yourself every day you’re a strong powerful female
Ok, clearly an excerpt, but I’ve never rolled my eyes so hard. Captain Kim strikes me as a guy who reads a lot of self-help books and makes notes on what he thinks women want to hear. Side note, and I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I’ve always found something a little misogynistic about calling women “females.” It feels colder, alienating. Like they’re being encased in a microscope slide.
Mr. Judge
That night your lips made me feel something I haven’t before
LOL Mr. Judge cannot let go of their one kiss (in front of everyone). To be honest, it’s starting to come across like this is the second kiss he’s ever had in his life.
Mr. Cones
Just like the tides at high noon / these feelings roaring / an intense typhoon
Top notch, baby! Do the tides roar at high noon? Is that a west coast thing? Nicole is impressed but I remain unmoved, like the tides of the Atlantic at high noon.
Mr. Hunter
Is it fate that we found each other in this vast expanse? / This is only the beginning of our true romance
Is he referring to the universe and all the matter that exists within it, or to the castle grounds, which likely will contain the entire season of Dress-Up Dating Show?
Mr. Mumbray (Interview: “Oh my god I feel like I’m in a bloody love novel. Shit, my poem is crap compared to these!”)
There once was a boy with great wit / who saw a girl he thought was pretty fit / He saw an opportunity to make her his / and would stop at nothing to achieve it. He won’t back down and certainly won’t quit. / So here I stand trying to do my bit without trying to sound like an utter tit.
Somehow, even though literally all of these poems are awful, he was right! Because this immediately takes the form of a limerick, the fact that the end goes beyond the tempo of an actual limerick makes the poem read even worse. You keep wanting it to end, but there it is, going on a bit too long. It’s like the poetic version of having a kernel stuck in your teeth.
Nicole thinks Mr. Mumbray is cute but she’s not sure if that’s because she’s aware of how emotionally immature he is. As I write this, I have not watched the Farewell Dance, so I’m going to go ahead and call my shot: Mumbray goes home tonight.
Now that the poems are done, they go back to more slow-mo partying and drinking (and it really could have been the same shots as before…they’ve done as much in last week’s episode). During the revelry Mr. B. and Mr. Chapman adjourn to discuss where Mr. Chapman was that morning. Mr. Chapman tells Danny B. of his caper, and what follows are the typical platitudes: game on, all’s fair, etc.
Mr. Holland and Nicole find some time together and he tells her she is his full focus, and something about a flower. Nicole thinks he’s a frontrunner. He does seem nice, even though he’s terrible at poetry. Hey, I’m bad at poetry, too. It’s fine, only like 6 people are good at it.
During what at some point is described as “the best party ever”, which I find HIGHLY suspect, some of the men are sitting around with Tessa and filling in the gaps in their Nicole knowledge. What’s Nicole’s favorite food? “Soup,” Tessa answers, and the men are flummoxed. I’m flummoxed too! What the fuck do you mean, “Soup?” There’s a whole world of soups out there, and you think she loves all of them? She feels exactly the same about bisques, chowders, broths, ramen, borscht, bouillabaisse, gazpacho, goulash, gumbo, and stew??? This is possibly the most sociopathic answer I’ve ever heard to a question, and I’m going to be honest: it makes me a bit of a Tessa Truther (i.e., that she has absolutely no history with Nicole and was cast for the Saffa subplot). It also makes it even more ridiculous given Nicole’s admission in Episode 5 that she’s never had pea soup! You LOVE soup, and yet you haven’t had one of the most popular forms of it, Nicole? Why the trepidation in your voice? You should have been like, “HOLY SHIT you guys, it’s a soup I haven’t gotten to try yet! Is it ok if we finish dinner a little early so I can mark it down in my soup journal???” I literally cannot get over this response, and I probably never will. On my death bed I’ll be incoherently mumbling and grating my teeth as my loved ones lean in close to hear what I’m trying to say, and then I’ll scream out, “SOOOOOOOOOOOUP!” and expire.
Back at the Bacchanal, Captain Kim has learned of Mr. Chapman’s flagrant rule-breaking and he. Is. Upset. This guy should realize that Nicole will never be able to compete with his one true love, the rulebook of competitive dating. He then finds some alone time with Nicole, where his intention is to show Nicole what life will be like when they’re together. “You helped me trust women again,” he tells her, and my God, has there ever been a redder flag? I told you there’s something about guys who say “female”!! First of all, this was one (1) woman, as in a single specimen on the entirety of Earth, when you were 18, thirteen full years ago! You fucking loser! You don’t trust women after a HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR broke your heart? Good thing you served in the armed forces, Captain Kim, because I might need you to interrogate that last statement a little bit more.
What follows next is the stuff of romance novels. Captain Kim gives Nicole a bracelet (it’s hard to identify which ones were already on her in her bacchanal getup, and let’s be real: it’s all costume jewelry), and tells her if he ever doesn’t live up to his values, she should give it back to him at the Farewell Dance. What does this mean? I don’t know! You’d think, “Your carriage awaits,” would be enough of a rebuke, but Captain Kim is probably used to two-key authentication. “Counting down from three, you hand me my bracelet and I’ll hand you your bracelet.” They stare into each other’s eyes and Nicole says, “Give me a kiss,” and Captain Kim passionately leans in and kisses her FOREHEAD. Oh my GOD this guy is such a pile of wet rags. Again, I have not finished the episode, but this dude has to be cooked.
Kim explains himself in his testimonial: “There are certain ways of doing things and for me the first kiss means everything. I just want to wait for the right moment to kiss her on the lips.” Some might say that the right moment to kiss a girl on the lips is when the girl says to you, “Give me a kiss,” but hey, what do I know? Not to victim-blame any infidelity, but I’m starting to get more of an idea of why his girlfriend thought she should probably go back to her ex. She probably held Captain Kim’s hand and he was like, “Well, I’m wifed up now!”
Back to people who don’t sit and whine, Mr. Judge and Mr. Bochicchio arm wrestle, and even though Mr. Judge wins, you can see Mr. Bochicchio had a lot of heart, despite the clear size difference. Is this a metaphor? Unclear, because Nicole is going off with Mr. Chapman and Captain Kim is back to complaining about the rules (and using up all of his promotional shots from previous episodes…methinks his exit draws near).
Nicole and Chapman sit on a picnic blanket somewhere and Nicole asks to spend the evening with him. Chapman responds, in a extremely “Will Farrell at a college party in Old School” voice, “Let’s go hang out in a fricking castle together.” My dude is faded from all of the champers and sun.
That night, while the suitors hang in SQ, Mr. Chapman and Nicole hang out in her bed and he stays over. Nicole acknowledges that this is not what would happen in the Regency Era, but also she’s an adult and can do whatever she wants. Now this is what I’ve been asking for! But next we need someone else to call her out on this shit so we can get a conversation. Like, why does Nicole assert her agency only when her parents are gone? Why isn’t someone holding her feet to the fire over committing to the bit and doing Regency dating? Wouldn’t these be interesting conversations instead of hearing about Captain Kim getting upset because he’s the only one who showed up to school on Senior Cut Day??
The next morning at SQ, Chapman walks in and all of the suitors are in shock that he spent the night at the castle. Well, almost every suitor. Captain Kim says, “Well it was late, so she probably gave him a spare room in the castle,” which is clearly still the denial phase, and so funny to me. Yeah, no sense in any of the suitors having to walk one hundred yards from the castle to the smaller castle in the dark. Who knows what one might run into!
The boys ask Chapman about what happened and he tells them they were “able to speak in long-form”, which if you’re curious means that they were doing improv scenes. Short-form would be like hanging out in a castle and doing Whose Line Is It Anyway? Mr. Cones says he feels like Chapman is speaking in code. In her testimonial, Nicole says Mr. Chapman “rocked my world,” and I feel like she is not speaking in code.
Later that morning a date card comes for Mr. Judge and Mr. Edwards points out that time is precious with a quote from Jane Austen: “Time will explain.” Damn, thanks for that. Judge gets the card and it says something about painting. He’s not able to react because his foot’s asleep, so he limps off while the suitors try to suss out what their date could possibly be.
For their date, Nicole has decided to sketch Mr. Judge. She used to be an architectural associate and always loved to draw, so she knows her way around a sketchpad. Mr. Judge is super excited to share all the vulnerable aspects of his life, which is kind of funny because if they were so vulnerable, would “excitement” be the feeling?
Back at SQ, it’s another installment of “Guys: What Do They Actually Know About Anything?”
Mr. Bochicchio: So, alright, what’s happening with Judge?
Mr. Cones: It said they were going to be painting or something. I wonder if they got naked to do that?
Mr. Chapman (considering this): Maybe.
Mr. Bochicchio: My answer’s no.
Mr. Cones: Yeah, but in this era, in the Regency Era, that’s what they did.
Mr. Chapman: Like Titanic.
Mr. Cones: There’s some Titanic stuff in this era.
Mr. Chapman: There’s a lot of naked paintings in the Great Hall…that’s what kind of gets me through the elimination dances. Just look up at the boobs.
Brilliant stuff here. Let’s start by noting that both the artist and the model do not need to get naked to do a nude painting. Second, and this might be more pertinent: The Titanic sunk a full century after the Regency Era. Our school systems are failing us.
Back on the date, Nicole breaks from her sketch and goes, “This is so bad,” and it feels like the typical thing artists say to kind of fish for compliments. And then we see what she drew.
I should pause to say that I am a fairly quiet solitary TV viewer. Even things I really like don’t get a huge laugh out of me because part of the fun of laughter is doing it in front of other people. But friends, when I tell you I HOLLERED when they showed us this portrait — which they absolutely did not need to show and Nicole should sue them for character assassination over — I am not overstating. Nicole. NICOLE! You love to draw??? Like, were you more into abstraction or expressionism? Did Mr. Judge’s green ruffles and, I don’t know, facial structure throw you off? Lady, whatever else you’re doing here, let me congratulate you on making the right call by going into coding. You were never going to make it past architectural associate with these skills, my dear. I really didn’t think we could have it any better than bad poetry, soup, or the forehead kiss, but this is truly special. I want to wear this on a t-shirt so that when people ask me what it is, I can respond, “This is the sketch Ms. Remy, a former architect, drew of Mr. Judge, who comes from a small town. About 800 people.”
Mr. Judge tries to be nice, and honestly that’s the first sign that you have not found a keeper. The man Nicole marries should have looked at that drawing and cracked up laughing. The love of her life should have said she can take a mulligan or asked her to draw the rest of her family so she could get a gold star from Teacher. It’s actually meaner to patronize her and assume this is the best she’s capable of.
After the Sketch, which should be known widely as A.S., because the world has forever been changed since that abomination was made, Ms. Remy and Mr. Judge sit for a picnic. Mr. Judge finally gets a chance to share his sob story from dinner. He was the middle child of five children, all from different fathers. His mother was a single mom who turned to drugs. At thirteen years old he decided to leave home. He kind of yadda yadda yaddas what happened between then and now (like, where did he live until he turned 18?) but I agree that it’s a pretty tough childhood. You can take my condolences to the bank, Mr. Judge, but I don’t know if you have a bank in your town. It’s so small!
Mr. Judge suggests they have a wrestling match, and I cannot wait to see him give her cauliflower ear trying to make her submit. They wind up not wrestling (boo) and instead roll around on the grass making out. Mr. Judge has a good date, and once Ms. Remy finds out one of his hobbies she’ll be able to finish her boardwalk caricature for him to take home!
Back at SQ, Captain Kim is beleaguered by what took place between Chapman and Nicole. Captain Kim says it would bother him if he learned at some point she had sex with another suitor because he has feelings for her. But really it sounds more like he’s got trust issues with women, and in his own words, he feels “triggered.” I call bullshit, because if you’ve identified trust issues as the main problem in you establishing a relationship, courting a woman with fifteen other guys is not going to do wonders for you. It’s just so obviously his angle, and it’s not terribly refreshing. Mr. Cones, however, seems pretty zen about the whole thing: it’s her process and she’s gotta do what and who she’s gotta do (as Jane Austen once wrote). Basically it sounds like Captain Kim is giving himself an ultimatum (different show, different drama!) regarding Nicole’s sexual activity and whether he’s willing to remain. So here’s my new prediction: I think he’s setting the stage for him to eliminate himself. He’s going to say he’s not ready to be hurt again, yadda yadda yadda, keep the bracelet, bye!
It’s time for the Farewell Dance! Nicole enters and Mr. Edwards gives his spiel while Mr. Chapman looks up at the boobs on the ceiling (we get a censored shot of “his view” to complement the visual). The dance is about to begin when Captain Kim interrupts, requesting that he get a Farewell Dance, even if he’s not on the card. What drama! Danny B.’s annoyed, even though honestly isn’t this in his best interest? What are your priorities, buddy? Mr. Edwards then reads the three dances on the card, and we’ll see if Captain Kim was already selected or not…
Mr. Mumbray, Mr. Bochicchio, and Captain Kim are all on the dance card, so Kim called his shot, as did I. The notes for Mr. Mumbray are the same as they’ve always been. She’s afraid he has no idea what love means, he’s telling her when he’s around her he shivers in his skivvies or whatever and he’s pretty sure that the feeling of terror he gets is probably love? Somehow this convinces Nicole, who’s like, “Yes! That’s love! It’s terrifying! Why is the world created in such a way that the one thing we seek is also the same thing that tries to destroy us? I want to see more of your personal, torturous journey!” Mumbray makes the cut, and I’m officially 0 for 1 on my predictions, which is terribly embarrassing. I blame whatever the season order for this show was.
Mr. Bochicchio is up next, and Nicole’s feedback is that Danny went kind of missing the past week. Danny B. promises to put more effort in, but Nicole stops the dance to emphasize how much more she needs from him. Danny is unfazed and promises to find more time with her. Dom Remy is not impressed. Danny B. lives to see another day, though, and it’s now the final dance, where clearly Captain Kim has to go home, right? Someone needs to be eliminated!
Nicole moves to dance with Captain Kim, and he tells her he heard about the previous night and can no longer stay. The court is abuzz with all the drama as the violins swell. Captain Kim handles things pretty diplomatically, telling Nicole he heard about her and Mr. Chapman, and saying that he couldn’t handle it emotionally. He didn’t blame her, which I think is commendable, and basically wished her well. Look, he can be annoying as hell, but at least he’s not being an actual dick. AND Nicole offered his bracelet back to him, so I’m officially 1 for 3 on my predictions! Captain Kim leaves and one might assume that’s a wrap on this episode, but oh no!
Nicole loses her composure and can’t believe that Captain Kim found out about her and Mr. Chapman, despite all of the crew who was very clearly around all of the time. She breaks down, and Mr. Chapman begins to get upset at whatever Captain Kim said to Nicole to make her cry. He couldn’t hear, because Kim was speaking in low tones, but he thinks it’s the lowest thing to publicly make her feel bad for something that’s not his business. I would argue that maybe you should know what is being said before getting upset, but whatever. Like, it’s possible for Nicole to get upset through no fault of Captain Kim’s. And I get her being upset, too. It’s embarrassing to feel like your laundry is being aired out a little, but also she signed up for a TV show.
Nicole is pissed, but it’s hard to know what about exactly. Is she upset at Mr. Chapman for kissing and telling? Is she upset at someone else for telling the suitors? Is she upset at Captain Kim? The production breaks down a little, or has the illusion of breaking down (which I’ll confess, is cheap heat, but still works on me), until Nicole is able to regain her composure. Mr. Edwards closes down the episode, but that’s still not the end, because Mr. Chapman heads outside to confront Captain Kim.
They meet in the Great Hall and exchange heated words, though honestly it’s all pretty boring. Here’s the gist: Chapman is upset at Kim for saying something. Kim says he kept Chapman’s name out of his mouth, and he didn’t specifically mention anything, he just said, “I heard about last night.” Chapman contends that’s still bringing him into the drama. As they scream at each other the camera pans up to Mr. Bochicchio and Mr. Mumbray, who are watching from the balcony, which is pretty funny. Mr. Mumbray doesn’t know why they’re upset, and it sounds a little like, “Why are Mummy and Daddy fighting??”
The boys continue screaming at each other with the main points being that Mr. Chapman thinks Captain Kim knew what he said would upset Nicole and Captain Kim saying that Mr. Chapman was the one who put her in that position.
Here’s my take: actions have consequences. That doesn’t mean that the action itself is bad, but taking action of any sort will lead to a reaction, and you should be prepared for feeling some type of way based on the reaction. Sixteen men don’t date the same woman in reality for these very reasons, because dating implies physical intimacy, and people may get hurt. So if you’re Nicole and you spend the night with one of the suitors, there’s nothing wrong with that, but you probably already know this is a deal-breaker for some of the men. If you’re Mr. Chapman and you spend the night with Nicole, you should be prepared for it to get out and for the other men not to be happy, and for Nicole to get upset. I don’t see any place for the assignment of blame. It just happens, and everyone has to move on. My ruling: dumb fight.
Seven suitors remain, but not for long because I swear to God they’re actually bringing in yet another new suitor and I think someone needs to take away my belt and shoelaces.
Final Thought
- This one is long enough, and I think I got every possible thing out except this: Mr. Edwards says, “Competition is hotting up.” There is no reality where that’s the proper gerund of the verb “to heat”. I know the language supposedly began in this country, but it astounds me how bad they are at it sometimes.