Emily’s sent Ricki home to Charlotte so that this week in Croatia she can focus on the seven guys that are left. “I really want to figure out the relationships that I have no clue about this week,” she says.
So the week begins with a date with Travis. For those who don’t recall, he’s the guy with the egg. Fortunately, Emily made him get rid of it. Travis feels like he’s been waiting forever for his chance to be alone with Emily. They walk the streets and explore. “I’m really bummed out Travis didn’t take off his shirt. I’ve been wondering what’s underneath that,” Emily honestly admits. They came to a ‘balancing stone’ and it’s said that if you can balance yourself on the stone and take of a shirt or jacket, you have a real chance at love. “And I feel like I set that up really well,” Emily says with disappointment. Unfortunately, Travis didn’t get the hint.
Date’s going well. But it resembles more like 2 friends catching up than an actual date. “Tonight I’m really trying to look for the romance. I’m just trying to see if we can be more than just friends,” Emily confirms my suspicions. She tells Travis she feels that she has the oh-so-important friendship foundation with him but just doesn’t know if she feels the romance with him. “I don’t want you to think that you did anything wrong” Emily says as she announces to Travis that she can’t give him the rose.
“That hurt. That hurt a lot. Rejection sucks. It does suck. With a big capital s-u-c-k,” Travis responds. But he reasons: “I don’t want to waste her time.”
And Emily doesn’t waste time getting the boys in skirts on the group date. They’ve gone to see an exclusive showing of ‘Brave’, the new Disney movie. And now she’s going to make the boys imitate the movie. That’s right they participated in their very own Highland Games.
“Last week it was a dress. This week it’s a kilt,” Arie says a little confused. Poor Arie. Jeff is even more baffled: “I’m in the middle of Croatia wearing a skirt.” Sean tries to find the difference between a skirt and kilt—he doesn’t find any differences. But I must say, the boys all looked well built in their tight fitting shirts and skirts.
To add to the bizarreness of the situation, Emily tells the boys that its “customary for men to ride donkeys into battle.” The field is surrounded by mountains, there’s a man playing bagpipes, they’re wearing kilts. “It looks like Scotland and that’s a little confusing because we’re in Croatia.”
Chris blows it completely at the archery event. The boys explode with laughter. Emily can’t resist laughing. Because of this, Chris offers to go first at the log throwing event and immediately gets disqualified for not flipping it over when throwing it. Let’s just say he isn’t the most muscular guy around town. Sean, a football player in college, has no trouble with this event. “Sean actually broke the log. I’m not sure if that is a disqualifier, but we’ll see. The dude’s so strong he broke it,” Arie says in shock. “That was impressive,” Emily adds.
Chris’ comment? “I pretty much sucked at the Highland Games.” But yet for all of his failures, Emily sees further than muscle (shocker) and awards him the Bravery Cup. “You still smiled and had fun. And that’s all that matters.” He’s a little more cheerful, he shares a kiss with Emily.
“I may have lost the games but I came out as the winner,” Chris says.
Arie is anxious to get some time with Emily. He’s still freaking out about what happened in London. “I held you to a different standard than everyone else,” Emily says to reassure Arie. She also adds that she loves being around him. “I wish I could steal you away,” Arie responds. And he does temporarily. They slow their pace and he pins her against the brick side of a building. A passionate make out ensues.
Jef’s comments just keep getting better. “You give me the type of people that people write novels about.” Emily admits to him that she was worried about how slow they were moving. It’s taken a while for Jef to get physical with her. “I’m scared of you,” Jef tells Emily. This makes her want to share a kiss with him. As usual she’s doing more work than he is. He pulls away first to tell her a secret: “I’m freaking crazy about you.” Jef is beginning to fall in love with her.
But along with the Bravery Cup, Chris walks away with the rose of the date. “You have from day one been a standout in my mind,” was Emily’s conclusion.
“I think you’re more rotten than you let me know.” That’s right it’s time to watch Ryan trick Emily into thinking he’s actually into her: it’s the second one-on-one date. Ryan it turns out has a playful side. But he reels it in for a note of seriousness…and an abundance of arrogance. “My biggest hope was to come out here with you and find out that you can be a companion for me and I could be a companion for you,” he lets Emily know. He then calls her a trophy wife. It’s obvious she’s a little peeved. “I go back and forth on him hourly,” she says. One minute she feels comfortable around him and the next he says he wants a trophy wife, adding that she’d make a great trophy wife.
“She is definitely going to be someone’s trophy wife. And I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a shot at it,” Ryan confirms to the camera. Wow, I think I just vomited. Ryan spends the whole date telling Emily what he looks for in a woman. He even has a list of 12 criterion written on a piece of paper. He can’t stop winking as he reads it to her. But her face is hardening. I’m not sure his list is going too well.
“Can I be honest with you? Sometimes when I’m around you I find myself finding the need to be perfect. I don’t want to be someone’s mold,” Emily says. She tells him her list would have had ‘a loving family’ at the top of it. “I don’t know if what we want out of our relationship is the same. That is why I can’t give you the rose tonight.” There’s a moment of silence. And then Ryan’s response is almost as shocking as Emily not giving him the rose in the first place.
He claims it’s all very shocking and that he can’t believe she won’t give their relationship more time to develop. “I can’t help but think that you’re making the wrong choice,” Ryan argues. He questions her tears. Are they real? Does she even feel anything? For a good moment it almost feels like he’ll win her over, that his arguments will coerce her into giving him the rose and going back on her judgment of his character.
Ryan’s parting words: “I portrayed exactly who I am and not an arrogant ass.” Wait those aren’t the same thing?
There’s a twist. Arie visits Emily privately. He wants to make up for his being lax in London. They talk in her bed—very snuggled up. He tells her he’s learned his lesson. “I proved my point,” Emily says of having held him to higher standards. He did learn because he was there, in her bed, a privilege the others would kill for. Emily gives Arie the rose from Ryan’s date; it’ll be their little secret. Their kisses are no longer PG—you can tell they are just dying for each other. “My heart feels happy,” Emily says. They confess their feelings for each other. “I’m definitely in love. I could ask that girl to marry me tomorrow. It’s a crazy feeling but it feels good,” Arie says.
Related: The Bachelorette: “Kalon Is Just a Terrible Human Being”
Time is running out for the others, though. It’s the night of the Rose Ceremony and Emily hasn’t quite made up her mind about Doug and John. But John unexpectedly opens up to Emily and tells her about his grandparents. He keeps their funeral cards in his wallet. It’s a touching story that resonates with Emily who holds back tears.
It’s a little more awkward with Doug. She makes him make a move by forcing his arm around her. This makes him uncomfortable and shy. “I love the fact that you’re so humble,” Emily says but she doesn’t want him to put the others before himself. She wants him to be confident.
“I came into the night feeling unsure. I came out of the night even more unsure,” was Doug’s response to their conversation. He seems to be losing it a little: he misses his son dearly and lets down his shield. The tears come flowing out.
Chris already has a rose. Sean, Jef and Arie all receive roses. It’s the final moments of the episode and Emily turns on her heel. She’s gone to talk with Chris Harrison (Captain Obvious). “There are no rules here. You do what you want to do,” Captain Obvious tells her as she hands him the final rose. “I’m sorry” is her response to John and Doug. Moments pass. Captain Obvious arrives with two roses on a silver platter. The relief the men exhale is almost touchable.
All the six remaining men get to stay tonight. “I’m really, really happy,” Doug says. And John’s just pumped and thrilled. Emily can already see the changes she wanted from them happening. It seems like it might actually be a drama free week in Prague…
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