ABC

I wasn’t sure whether I loved or hated Nick this week. On the one hand, he showed a surprising amount of emotional intelligence (drink!) and somewhat restored my faith that he’s taking all this seriously; on the other hand, those shorts! Nick is perky for FAR too long into his date with Kristina before he realizes the gravity of the things she’s telling him, but I admire his attitude toward his relationship with and subsequent elimination of Danielle L. When Danielle L. tells Nick that she’s falling in love with him (holy hell, girl) he realizes that he is super not in love with her and that he has to send her home. He says that this is especially hard for him because she was one of the people he thought he’d fall for. Man! This is heavy! I think we’re seeing Nick realize that he may not, in fact, find his soulmate on an ABC show. I sympathize with him because A. Coming close to love then losing it over and over again must be awfully disheartening and B. How embarrassing will it be for him when his faux-relationship fizzles out in a few months? If he doesn’t find lasting love with one of the remaining women, he’s in for a lot of unhappiness coming from all different directions. And the chances of that happening are low, despite the fact that Rachel and Vanessa are still there. It’s just hard to find love on TV. Ask Flava Flav. Nick also gets -100 points in this episode for using the EXACT SAME LINE to break up with both Whitney and Danielle L. I mean, my god. Did he not know those two dates would air in the same episode?