When The Bachelor, a show that can make two-hour episodes captivating and entertaining, releases a one-hour episode, you’d imagine it’d at least hold your interest. I feel a bit bad saying this since it did appear to be full of sincerity and some sweet moments between Nick and Raven, but on the whole, this was one hell of a boring episode. It felt as though curation and discernment were disregarded, and what content might normally take up 30 minutes felt stretched and dragged out to fill a slot twice its size.

I wasn’t surprised Nick sent Corinne home this week; their relationship has always felt like something of a summer fling in its seriousness, the extent of what they (seem to) have to talk about, and its potential for longevity. As I said last week, I do believe age is usually just a number, but their age/maturity difference really stuck out, and to me, that only got worse this week. There was something about watching Nick push back Corinne’s hair and comfort her while she bawled, him insisting she had done and said nothing wrong. While what he said was kind, that moment sort of grossed me out. They didn’t feel like two equals who could have ended up romantically involved; she seemed so young and clueless (in my opinion, her thinking she’d done or said anything wrong, especially under these circumstances, is such an indicator of youth and inexperience). In that moment Nick just seemed so much older, and frankly like he should have known better than to let her get so invested—especially since he let her go with basically no explanation whatsoever, with a woman who probably could have used it the most.

Related: A GIF by GIF Recap of The Bachelor: Episode 9

In her limo Corinne declared she would never “suck up” to a man ever again, and while I like the sentiment, I didn’t really feel that “lesson” was the best one could learn from the Bachelor experience since the environment is so strange and unique. In regular day-to-day life, with less incentive to suck up to a guy in the first place (without the social value and build-up associated with dating the Bachelor) and without the direct competition of other women (most of whom were chosen for their looks and eligibility, making them pretty intimidating competition), and without the obvious benefit to “lasting” longer and thus remaining on television longer, it’s just not very likely that she’d need to keep this “promise” to herself. Nonetheless, with some women worrying they’re not good enough or that all men are deceptive pigs, I suppose there are far worse takeaways that one could have.

With Corinne gone it was painfully clear why production (and maybe Nick as well) wanted her to stay as long as she did. I know I regularly bitch and moan about too much house drama being shown, but this show really can’t subsist solely on romance either, and this episode was the ultimate proof of this. Nick and Raven are very, very cute together; I’m the last person to deny their connection or how sweetly she finally told him she loved him. But, as Andy said about halfway through their Finland 1-on-1, “This episode is like an entire hour of small talk.”

My Final 2 based on this week are:

1. Vanessa, 29: Very few developments here, and sadly this episode left me feeling a bit bleak about Nick’s prospects. The idea that Vanessa wouldn’t feel “special” at this point in the game is not great, especially since—her issue with Nick asking the other dads for their “blessing” aside—her Hometown was pretty great. Part of me wonders if Vanessa is just being demanding and wanting to feel like the last lady standing while there are still three others in the mix, and the other part thinks she knows how this process works and that maybe Nick hasn’t given her enough validation. Overall, this week was a Time-Out on Nick and Vanessa’s relationship, so though I don’t have much to say here, I’m still riding on what a frontrunner I feel she’s been all season.

2. Raven, 25: I love the many sides of Raven. She’s got that tough veneer (Nick said he’d never seen her so emotional as on her Hometown) yet it’s balanced by her Southern sweetness. I particularly liked how she’s never seemed in the throes of drama in the house (from what we saw) and, despite her dry wit and commentary, seemed very well-liked by the women. However, what’s keeping Raven in second place for me is still what we’ve been shown conversation-wise between her and Nick. On her 1-on-1 this week, other than Raven saying ILY, or her (having likely been goaded into) confessing she’s never had an orgasm, what else happened? There’s been so much emphasis on what Vanessa and Nick’s future would look like; why couldn’t we hear Raven say whether or not she’d move to LA, or hear about her life and job and the ways in which their lives might intertwine? If we’re meant to take Rick (Naven?) as seriously as Vick (Ninessa?), we deserve to be shown some conversations to support that.

Going home:

Rachel, 31: It was another Time-Out on this relationship, but while this may sound harsh, I really don’t mean it towards Rachel at all: I’m over watching her on this season. Knowing she’s Bachelorette has stripped the magic from watching her and Nick together, and the build-up (in the previews) around Rachel being really scared and not saying she loves Nick…. I can’t help but feel like, what’s the point? We know she’s going home at some point, and we know it’ll likely end with tears, and to me it just feels tired and done. Let’s just cut to Rachel at the helm of her own season, looking and feeling fabulous and every bit the badass she is.

For more from Sharleen Joynt on The Bachelor, visit her blog, alltheprettypandas.com. Then come back to FLARE.com/themorningafter every Tuesday for a fresh recap!



Tune into The Bachelor Mondays on Omni at 8:00 EST/PST—and catch up on past episodes at www.omnitv.ca/the-bachelor.