We’ve got four cities, 3 roses, overprotective siblings, dogs, the General’s Daughter, the adopted daughter, and a whole lot more drama to get us through these hometown dates.

Houston, Texas: AshLee

AshLee has already spilled the beans to Sean that she loves him. First he meets Bailey, her pup. AshLee tells Sean a bit about her dad, a pastor, and Sean shares (maybe for the first time?) that his dad is also a reverend, along with his grandfather.  Then Ashley brings in the daddy issues by taking the “you’re just like my father” comparisons to a level that is getting close to creepy. And in case we have forgotten about her previous marriage, AshLee makes sure to tell Sean that he responded to that heartbreaking news better than she could have ever dreamed.

Flowers in hand, Sean arrives at the pastor’s house for a backyard picnic where she details everylittlething they’ve done up until now. And then it gets awkward when AshLee starts telling her folks about rolling around in the sand and getting romantic with Sean.  Not cool, lady.  Sounds like the first time she’s ever kissed a boy.

“What are your intentions for AshLee? Are you going to break her heart?” — AshLee’s mom’s first questions.  I mean, really?  Come on, lady.  How do you expect a man to answer that?

Of course, the abandonment issues are brought up again and Sean is talked into a corner, forced to say he won’t break her heart when odds are he just may do that.

Sean avoids the L word by saying he’s crazy about AshLee and puts dad in the hot seat by asking about why he gave his permission to the boy who wanted to marry AshLee when she was 17.  Dad says she was almost 18 and pretty much he thought it would be better to give in than to make her mad, apparently.

“Would you be okay with me proposing to your daughter if that’s what I wanted to do?” – Sean to AshLee’s dad, who of course says he’d be excited to welcome him into the family.

When AshLee’s dad tells the story of his first date with AshLee and how he fell in love with her when he met her and expects the same type of love from the man who will have her heart (yeah, it was all kinda weird), Sean just looked straight faced and not interested.

AshLee tells Sean she loves him a lot before he leaves and his response is “you’re the best.”  For you Sex & the City fans out there, you know: best is the worst.

Seattle, Washington: Catherine

The sun is out in Seattle for Sean and Catherine looks darling and she’s super bubbly and fun.  For as awkward as this show can get, it seems like they’ve got a good thing going. At the fish market, Sean and Catherine take turns catching fish and my grin is huge. That was goofy and awesome.

Sean says he feels like he and Catherine have been boyfriend/girlfriend for a while.

Catherine warns that her mom is a little intimidating and scary, her grandmother is feisty. I like her already. Catherine’s sisters are there too and so are so eggrolls, which look delicious. Whilst gushing about Sean, the sisters wonder why their happy-go-lucky gal is now so serious. Catherine is disappointed now, having to spend so much time defending her feelings and Sean.

“Do you think she is ready to settle down right now? — Sean to Catherine’s sisters

“I can see her having kids right away. She goes in 100% with guys and you know, she always makes things really fun…blah blah blah…she needs someone who supports her dreams and if they don’t…blah blah blah…”  – Catherine’s sisters.  And in there, the blah blah blah means she breaks it off and moves on.

Sean tries to ease into the “do I have your blessing to propose?” with Sean’s mom and she just advises Sean to take it one day and one step at a time.  I suppose he’d expect a resounding yes, but I think he should probably respect the practicality of the family in pointing out flaws and having reservations.  Not everything is sunshine and roses.  Sometimes the roses run out.

Still no “I love you” out of Catherine.

Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri: Lindsay

Lindsay and Sean walk around town but there’s definitely not much to do, although, they’ve at least got a few of my favorite things: antiques, beer and cupcakes. Sean stresses out over meeting Lindsay’s dad, a two-star General.  Eek. Pressure.  And likely some loaded guns in the house.

Lindsay makes Sean gear up in some Army apparel and orders him around all bossy like, making him do pushups and slapping his butt to get him to stand up straighter.  Pretty sure the Army frowns upon that.

Lindsay’s mom looks just like her. She is all smiles and pleasantly surprised that Lindsay and Sean seem to really be getting along well.  When mom asks Sean if he’s falling in love with Lindsay and Sean says that he’s not at a point to say mom takes his response as very respectable, that he isn’t throwing around the L word lightly but what he’s really saying is that he contractually is not allowed to say I love you before the final rose.  Ha! Sorry mom.

Dad tells Sean that his biggest concern is that this will end badly and Lindsay will get hurt. Sean says he’s crazy about Lindsay and it doesn’t seem a whole lot more but he goes ahead and asks for dad’s blessing anyway.  Dad says he’s never been asked a tougher question in his life and he doesn’t think he has an answer.  He goes into an analogy about being a paratrooper and analyzing risk and having the authority to make the decision “on the ground.”  And then he comes around to say that he’d give his blessing for the two of them to have the authority to make the decision themselves.

And to end their time together, dad gifts Sean with some identification tags that outline the Army’s values.  Super sweet. Sean says he can see himself with her family and Lindsay reciprocates by telling him that she’s definitely falling in love with him.

Los Angeles, California: Desiree

Desiree is out hiking when Sean arrives and they casually stroll along chatting. They seem to do more making out and sitting and cuddling than actual hiking but hey, still counts.  Desiree brings Sean to her house and she prepares a meal and then a mysterious man shows up.  Mystery man invites himself in, declares his undying love for Desiree, gets up in Sean’s personal space, and the guy just cannot believe that she’d want to be with an actor!  Sean looks ready to punch something. Ha!  It’s not too long before Desiree interrupts the scene to exclaim “Gotcha!” and she spends the next few minutes reveling in getting Sean back for the art show prank he played on her during their first date.

Not too long after, Mom, Dad and Brother walk in.  Mom recognizes a glow in Desiree, Dad and Sean seem to have a great connection but then the brother gets his turn and it’s not so bueno.  Brother is super skeptical and he thinks the whole thing is pretty stupid and then flat out tells Desiree that if she and Sean end up together, he’d be thinking the whole time that it’s not going to work.

Brother tells Sean that he thinks Desiree is really into Sean but he doesn’t see any reciprocation or connection between the two of them.  Sean says he’s crazy about Desiree and brother retorts that he’s probably crazy about a lot of girls.  And Sean can’t escape that fact — there are three other women in the competition after all.  Sean thinks he’s in the clear but Brother calls him out: “I think you’re just a playboy, just having fun with the circumstances…”  Brother says he does not believe anything Sean is saying. And that’s that.  Big Gulps, huh?  Well, see ya later.

And now dinner is ruined. And mom and dad are chatting about the weather. Everyone is mortified.  Meals have hardly been touched and yet it’s apparently time for Sean to go. After a PG peck, Desiree knows things have gone astray. Brother warns Desiree that he is not the one.

Roses: 

Before the roses are handed out, Desiree asks to speak to Sean alone and they go outside to talk and she apologizes for her brother’s behavior. I’m shocked she doesn’t throw in a last minute “I love you” but maybe she thought that would be a low blow to the other girls. Or desperate. But hey, desperate times.

• AshLee — I was kinda surprised by this one. Were you?
• Lindsay — Also kinda surprised by this one.

And before Sean hands out the final rose, he walks out of the room to contemplate and stare at the girls’ photos and talk to his main man, Chris.  Chris’s big advice: get this right.  Sean decides that he’ll choose the one that he’d miss the most the next day and confesses that he had originally planned to send Des home but now he just doesn’t know if he can. But he does.

• Catherine — I was only surprised that it was between Catherine and Desiree. Those two were my front runners.

Going Home: Desiree  

Sean says she has every quality he’s looking for in a wife and he thinks he may wake up the next day and totally regret sending her home and Desiree agrees — she thinks she can make him the happiest. Desiree says that she wants someone who won’t take her for granted but she honestly feels like Sean is making a mistake, however, if he felt he had a better relationship with someone else then she’d understand. But he doesn’t say that he does. And he doesn’t say much else other than he’ll miss her.  And she spends a solid few minutes hugging him and begging him to not let her go. Sad, sad story.

In the limo home, Desiree says “I don’t even know what I’m going to do about my life.”

Tomorrow Night:  “Sean Tells All”  (is this a new episode?!? I don’t remember this from other seasons…a whole episode rehashing every details. ugh.)

Next Monday: Fantasy Suites in Thailand

There are six ladies left and they’re flying on a sea plane to St. Croix.  Whoa. That place is gorgeous.

At least at this point in the show Tierra is coming to terms with where she stands: she knows she doesn’t have friends in the house.  As all the other ladies fawn over their big beds and the lush accommodations, Tierra grabs the roll away bed out of the closet and gets it all set up in the living room.  Ha!

Here’s a recap of episode 7:

One-on-One Date:  AshLee — “Let’s get carried away.”

After Tierra spends a good chunk of time belittling AshLee behind her back for being an old lady of 32, Sean picks up AshLee for their romantic date day on a catamaran. The clips of their date show them frolicking in the sun, jumping off the boat, and looking like a knockout in her hot bikini bod.  During her camera time, she’s a tad too emotional but apparently that’s what he likes about her so far.

That is, until he gets her alone on the beach and he asks her to tell him all about Tierra.  Friend zone?  Well, no, not right now, as evidenced by their rolling around make out sessions in the waves.

For their romantic dinner, they’re set up on the sand with the waves not far away. Sean pretty much tells AshLee that he’ll be heading home to meet her family and he’s wondering if there’s anything else he needs to know.  Well, yes, as a matter of fact there is! Funny you should ask.

AshLee says 15 years ago she was having a hard time, she hated her mom, and she had a boyfriend that she married at age 17.  They started dating her freshman year, they got married her junior year and were done by senior year.

“I want to come to you as whole as I can and I don’t want to be like this broken girl that comes to you…so, I didn’t want to ruin today but I feel like I kinda did.”

“I had no idea what you were gonna say. I thought you were going to say something terrible…I certainly don’t view you as broken so just take that out of your vocabulary.” — Sean, in response to AshLee’s confession about being engaged and underage. (okay, married and underage)

And now for the super cheesy part: AshLee gets up and asks “are you ready for this?” and yells “Hello St. Croix!!!!” and then Sean does too.  Oh, but wait, it gets worse.  Then she says again “are you ready for this?” and then yells “I love Sean!!!!”  Ugh. So corny.  But hey, she probably watched him get up in front of a crowd on a soapbox and spout off about love so maybe she was trying to prove she’s got guts too. (despite the fact that there’s no crowd if you don’t count the production crew).

One-on-One Date: Tierra — “Let’s explore our love on the streets of St. Croix.”

The girls are all excited and jealous. Meanwhile, Tierra is uber disappointed.

“…being attacked by bugs and the sweatiness and my makeup dripping off, you know, that’s not fun nor cool,” says Tierra about her one-on-one date with Sean.

All she does is complain to the camera but she’s putting on a smile for Sean to brave through this extremely difficult day — you know, leisurely strolling around town buying stuff. Perfectly timed, a parade strolls through town, and Tierra is actually looking like she’s having a good time.  And it seems just like that, Sean has forgotten all of the drama that AshLee laid out for him in the sand.

When Sean asks Tierra about how things are going in the house, she says it’s difficult because the girls don’t want to accept her and she thinks maybe they’re jealous and they go off and do their own thing and don’t ever talk to her.
Tierra realizes that Sean is acting a little distant and she’s beginning to catch on. At dinner she tells Sean she feels behind in the game and that she has stronger feelings for him than he does for her.  Gosh, that girl is good! Now Sean feels guilty! But, at least he’s honest in telling her that it’s probably the drama in the house that is putting her a little behind. And now the game is really on.

Tierra tells Sean that she really cares for him a lot, she’s really falling for him and she really hopes he takes that into consideration when he goes home.

Sean is singing a different tune now and declares, “I have come to the conclusion that she’s probably not nice to the other women but she’s genuine with me.”  Oh, and hey, she won’t have to keep living with the other girls after this week anyway.  No biggie.

Group Date: Catherine, Desiree and Lindsay — “Love is on the horizon.”

At 4:42 a.m., Sean sneaks into the girls’ room and Lindsay squeals “ahh, I’m naked!” haha…naked sleeper!  Too funny.  Sean is pleasantly surprised at how lovely the girls look before they get all trussed up.

“I’m probably the lowest maintenance person here. I just need to pee and I’m good to go.” — Catherine, who I think wins just for that.

Their date is a sunrise to sunset road trip date across the island. Catherine and Lindsay feel like they’re the outcasts of the date as the two spend a lot of time alone together flirting.  Both Lindsay and Catherine are alarmed at how strong their bond is already.  Little do they know that AshLee and Tierra are already throwing out big words like “love” and “falling for you.”

There at the end it seems like Lindsay is getting a bit desperate and needs to tell Sean how much she wants to stick around.

“Catherine and I have a very unique relationship where we can be weird and goofy and then in a moment it can turn to serious. And I like that.” — Sean about his relationship with Catherine.

Catherine shares that her dad will probably not be at her hometown date. He lives in China and was battling depression for a really long time.  She says when he was 14 he had a suicide attempt in front of her sisters and her and she still has a relationship with him — she still contacts him but he won’t be there.

Sean is admiring how great and strong Catherine is and perfectly timed, they spot some dolphins, which he hasn’t been able to see with anyone else.

Talking to Desiree, she breaks out in happy tears talking about her family and how special they are to her.

Sean breaks out the group date rose and after telling all three girls he is very comfortable with all of them, he gives it to Lindsay.  Desiree is shocked.  And then it’s a bit ominous when the sunset they came to see is nowhere to be found. Wah wah wah….

One-on-One Date: Lesley — “I hope our love stands the test of time.”

Sean confesses to the camera that he has stronger feelings for other women at this point so it’s pretty much make it or break it for Lesley. Unfortunately for her, she confesses to the camera that she is falling in love with Sean. Very confidently.  Oooh. Awkward. But then she chickens out and it’s a good thing because it was crickets out there when she was talking about all the chemistry they apparently have.

Lesley keeps talking about the natural progression of their relationship, and meanwhile Sean tells the camera that things are moving way too slow and they aren’t nearly affectionate enough with each other.

I definitely think Lesley is gonna be the girl who goes home wondering if she should have let her guard down a lot more and what could have been if she did.

Surprise Visitor: Shay, Sean’s sister

Sean’s sister arrives to give him some advice.  Shay gives practical pointers about the girls, asks some questions, and brings back a message from the family that they are concerned that he’ll choose someone who doesn’t love him as much as he loves them.

Shay: “What was the only piece of advice your sister gave you before you left?”

Sean: “Don’t end up with the girl no one likes.”

The Big Conflict: Tierra v. AshLee

Tierra asks AshLee if she has anything to say to her and AshLee says no.

“Girls are jealous. Men love me!” — Tierra

“Raised eyebrow, Ashley??  That’s my face! I can’t control my eyebrow!!” — Tierra

“Tierra, you have a sparkle. Do not let those girls take away your sparkle.” — The advice Tierra’s parents gave her before she came on the show.

Sean thinks it’s a good idea to grab Tierra to introduce her to his sister and it’s perfectly timed too, as Tierra the Tierrable is just finished with her rant and now she’s crying alone by herself on her cot. Sean finds her and Tierra whines “why is this happening to me? you know this is so hard for me. I’m so sensitive and I have such a big heart but I’m just so scared of this whole process and I don’t know how to take it…” [pushing out those tears and just when there are enough of them for a good show, she turns to face him so he can get a good look.]  Boy, she’s good.

Tierra tells Sean she confronted AshLee for sabotaging her date with Sean.

“I don’t want to sit here and talk about this because I’m already scared going into tonight.” [sideways look at Sean to see if he’ll reassure me I’m staying.]

Also, does this bother anyone else?  Why is it that all AshLee can seem to remember is that Tierra never says good morning?

When Sean comes back in the room and tells Tierra that he wanted her to meet his sister she really puts on the ugly cry face because she realizes she totally blew it.  Sean tells her that he really cares about her but because she’s having such a hard time with all of this, he thinks it would be best if she went home now. And now she’s gotta play out that tortured girl routine until she gets in the van and she can shout “I can’t believe they did this to me!!!”

Meanwhile, Sean’s left his sister hanging on the beach for like the last hour.  Jerk.  But at least her mission is accomplished and now the crazy lady is gone.

Cocktail Party:

• Tierra’s been gone for hours and none of the girls know what happened so they’re trying to figure out if Sean will walk back in to the rose ceremony with Tierra in tow.
• Sean strolls in and announces to the girls that Tierra went home that afternoon and he explains that he had a moment of clarity realizing she was not going to be his wife and that he does not want a source of drama as a partner.
• And then after that he says he’s confident in his final decision so he is canceling the cocktail party and going straight to the rose ceremony.
• The girls are shakin’ in their stilettos. Especially AshLee since she’s the one that was seemingly on the other side of the drama.

Roses:

• Lindsay
• Desiree
• Catherine
• AshLee

Going Home: The reign of Tierra the Tierrable is over at last. Rejoice!

And, on a sad note, Lesley is leaving, which means there’s not going to be anything funny happening in the coming episodes. Bummer.

P.S. Really liked her dress.

P.P.S. Catherine is crying because she doesn’t understand how he could send Lesley home over her, as he seems to have more in common with Lesley than her. And now her beliefs are shattered.

Coming up: families! Sean asks Lindsay’s dad for her hand in marriage. Desiree’s brother is harsh and calling out Sean on all the bullshit that is The Bachelor and it appears a brawl may be a brewin’!  I’d put money on Desiree’s brother — she said they lived in tents and a car and I figure he’s got a lot more spunk in him.

What were your favorite moments of the night?