The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart Reaps What It Sows

The faces of evil

For the past few weeks, The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart has been focused largely on Julia and Brandon's reign of terror. Early on in the show, they seemed like the hottest commodities as potential mates, with them seemingly having to choose between three or four people rather than just one or two. They also had an attraction themselves. Despite Julia eventually pairing up with Sheridan and Brandon pairing up with Savannah, they still seemed very into each other. Last week Julia seemed more focused on what Brandon was doing with Savannah, and whether they were there for the "right reasons" than she was on her relationship with Sheridan, while Brandon continued telling Julia that they could figure this whole thing out. They don't seem like great people!

This week, The Bachelor producers capitalize on that unfortunate situation even further. The sadistic bastard Chris Harrison comes into the house and announces that this week, the relationships between the remaining couples will be put to the test as they will go on dates with people from other couples. This is under the guise that the producers are making sure only the most serious couples remain, but it's clearly them pushing Julia and Brandon together even more so that this whole thing can blow up.

You can tell just by the dates that they don't really care about anybody other than Julia and Brandon here. Rudi and Chris's date is a picnic like twenty feet from the mansion. Jamie and Ryan do have history as they were the first-ever date on the show, and Jamie had to choose between Ryan and Trevor at the end of that episode. They go on a spa date, which could be a bit more romantic, but they seem cool just being friends and getting to know each other that way.
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Meanwhile, Julia and Brandon go to the iconic Roxy club on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, where they are told to write a song together and perform it, with the help of a professional songwriter. That's a lot more intimate! Julia says in interviews that it would be stupid not to treat this like an actual romantic date and explore her feeling for Brandon, even though last week she was constantly saying that Brandon was a jerk who wasn't here for the right reasons. Shock or all shocks, they kiss. Brandon continues to say that they can figure things out. Sheridan sits and sulks at the piano in the mansion, talking about how he's a "nice guy" and girls don't like "nice guys."

When they get back to the mansion, Julia immediately sits Sheridan down, telling him that she is going to explore things with Brandon. Sheridan basically says "I hope you find happiness" and gets up to leave. Julia is upset by this, for some reason. I don't know if she wanted Sheridan to fight for her more strongly, but that's basically what Sheridan's been doing since he laid eyes on Julia. The fact that she's going back to Brandon and getting upset at Sheridan is wild.

Brandon actually hasn't chosen Julia, though. He sits down with Savannah, and says that they can make this work (take a drink). Savannah says she doesn't want to be Brandon's second choice, or even a choice. This is where you see Brandon truly become a garbage person, as he tries putting the blame on Savannah. He says he is choosing Savannah, and that Savannah isn't being an adult about this, even though it's clear that the entire issue is that Savannah doesn't trust Brandon at all. So Savannah leaves right after Sheridan.

So Brandon and Julia are finally together, and they are to perform "We Belong Together" by Pat Benatar at the next set of performances, because the producers know how to pick them. Brandon seems to hate the song and has hardly even heard it. He seems frustrated by this fact. Julia thinks it's perfect for them. This will surely end well.

While talking with Ryan and Natascha about performances, Natascha asks Brandon if he would've chosen Savannah if she hadn't quit. With Julia in the room (she is covering her eyes and ears), Brandon says yes. Before the performances the next night, Natascha tells Julia what Brandon said. Natascha gets pissed because she thinks Natascha is trying to sabotage her. Real musicians would never sabotage other musicians before a performance (the history of musicians' personal lives and pettiness says otherwise).

Natascha is definitely trying to stir the pot, but this could've been avoided if Brandon hadn't admitted that he would've chosen Savannah to the person in the house that loves to gossip the most. It's also on Julia for leaving Sheridan for a guy she had no idea would pick her. It's also on Brandon for being a bad, manipulative person.

The performances happen with new judges. There's another Bachelor couple and Andy Grammer, but Toni Braxton is the big name they busted out. Toni Braxton seems to be having a lot of fun judging people on both musical talent and romantic chemistry. She keeps telling contestants that she wants them to make everything sexier to the point where she gets uncomfortable. It's great.

Chris and Bri continue to feel like the most authentic actual couple on this show, and they crush their performance of Taylor Swift's "Lover." I feel like Natascha and Ryan are still a bit unbalanced with how much Natascha takes over their songs together, but this one was better. Rudi and Matt do a pretty solid version of "Tennessee Whiskey" by Chris Stapleton. The two other performances are rougher.

Jamie and Trevor perform, with Trevor assuring Jamie beforehand that she just needs to look at him, and the nerves will go away. Jamie seems shaky for the first chunk of the song, and by the end seems like she's really trying to overcompensate in showing the connection even if her performance gets stronger. Trevor just doesn't really seem that sturdy as a partner this time around, and it seems that he kind of leaves Jamie to drown. The judges note the nerves, and say as much about Trevor's performance. However, Jamie takes this as a slight on her, breaking down and repeatedly saying she screwed up when she's offstage.

Julia and Brandon, only a few days officially coupled together, now have to convince this audience that they belong together. They do not. There's a distinct lack of chemistry. Even when Julia was more focused on Brandon and Savannah over what she was doing with Sheridan, her natural chemistry with Sheridan was much better than her chemistry with Brandon. I think a big part of that is that Brandon has no charisma and cannot sing. He's the dirt worst at everything, and he thinks singing is making weird faces and grunts into a microphone. There's a reason he's been on the cutting room floor two weeks in a row now.

They have the rose ceremony right away in the venue after the crowd leaves. They play it up like Trevor and Jamie could go home, but it's not enough. Brandon and Savannah are clearly the worst couple. They must reap what they've sowed. They damaged their existing couples as much as they could to force the other person to leave, and now their couple of destiny has drowned immediately. They played themselves. Julia leaves, blaming Savannah for sabotaging her and Brandon for not holding up his part of the performance, because Julia has done nothing wrong in her time there. She does say that maybe she would've been better off with Sheridan, but it's clear she still wants to deflect all of her own choices on other people.

That leaves Chris and Bri, Jamie and Trevor, Ryan and Natascha, and Rudi and Matt. I think Chris and Bri have to be the frontrunners to actually win this, because they have the most natural chemistry and are pretty good at performing music. The preview for next week suggests they might elope in Vegas, which is wild. From previews it seems that Natascha is going to take on her natural role as the villain now that Julia and Brandon are gone. It works. Natascha's a seasoned veteran of reality television. She should be a perfect foil for everybody else.