By Rachel Lu
As we quickly approach the end of the season in Hawaii this week, the dates are all about confessing the big L-word, which is love, as Devin puts it. Yet with the pressure of entering fantasy suites, the big D-word is swirling around too.
Get your mind out of the gutter, D is for doubt, and doubt is certainly the theme of this week.
This week’s episode is summed up succinctly by a twitter post from the account @JustABachelor, which has received over 24.3k views in the duration of the show’s live broadcast.
The tweet reads:
“Jenn loves Marcus — Marcus doesn’t like Jenn
Devin loves Jenn — Jenn doesn’t like Devin
Jonathon loves Jenn — Jenn won’t let herself like him because of Marcus”
Let’s walk through this love triangle, or rather a very complicated but unstable polygon.
We start off the episode with Devin, who is eager to confirm Jenn’s feelings after confessing that he is in love on last week’s episode. Devin is upfront, direct, and not shy about his feelings, yet for Jenn, he’s doing all the right things but she’s still asking: is this too good to be true?
The two enjoy a night in the fantasy suites and in the morning Devin bids goodbye to Jenn with an awkward and timid: “love you.” To that, Jenn firmly responds “okay” and leaves for her second date.
This self-doubt is not unusual from Jenn, who’s said repeatedly that she has trauma from past relationships of feeling undeserving and underappreciated.
However, after we moved on to Jonathan and his chill, laidback approach to the date, I couldn’t help but wonder: is Devin being too pushy with getting an answer out of Jenn?
Jonathan and Jenn’s date is all about having fun. The couple enjoys a Hawaiian waterfall all to themselves, a refreshing moment compared to all the stress from Devin.
Jenn opens up to Jonathan about growing up as the only Asian American person in a predominantly White school, feeling the shame about her lunch boxes and struggling to feel confidence about her identity. Jonathan, who is half White and half Black, is excited about the prospect of building a multi-cultural family and having kids who are half Vietnamese, quarter Black, and quarter White.
“First off, I’ll learn Vietnamese and I’ll have your mom on speed dial because I want to learn and cook all the dishes. I love to cook.” Jonathan told Jenn, to which both cracked up in a heartening smile. I’m marking Jonathan’s words here in case the two make it to the end, and I couldn’t help but swoon at this moment of mutual understanding between the two.
Next day with Marcus, the stress is back again and this time it’s the Jenn-tleman who cannot make up his mind. After swimming with a school of manta rays at night, a truly wondrous and magical moment, Marcus sits at the date with his brows furrowed and lips twitching with nerves. He admits that he’s “not quite there yet” with Jenn.
Jenn on the other hand, in a moment of Devin’s worst nightmare, tells Marcus that she is in love with him. The two enters fantasy suites hoping for more clarity from the night.
From Jenn’s bombshell confession, it seems that if Marcus can get there, he will be the one. The cameras quickly pans to Devin, whose spidey senses may have felt this pressure, and he is frantically asking for more clarity from the situation.
He wants to be honest with Jenn, he’s struggling with laying out his emotions, and he wants to know: is it all worth it?
The episode ends on this cliffhanger and we are promised that no bachelorette has ever made a decision like Jenn’s. We are close to the end of this journey and I cannot wait to find out who this polygon love shape will tip towards.
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