The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart Thanks You For Speaking Your Truth

The song you want to hear before she says "I love you"

This week's episode of The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart was a lot weaker than episodes past. That's probably to be expected. The Julia-Brandon storyline was what was propelling the drama for the past few weeks, and now they're both gone. We have to find new drama.

The preview of this week's episode showed Chris and Bri in a wedding chapel, Natascha being accused of being manipulative, and the other couples worrying about when to say "I love you."

Two of those were bait-and-switches. Chris and Bri merely sang for another couple getting married in Vegas. Jamie said she didn't like how Natascha handled last week's Julia situation, but it doesn't actually become an issue. A potential wedding or Natascha manipulation would be very entertaining, so I understand the bait-and-switch. The tension of the couples saying "I love you" is much less so.

There is some pressure. Chris and Bri said those words for the first time last week on stage, so they've got it all out of the way. They've been seemingly more comfortable with each other than any other couple, and this makes them even more comfortable.

Everyone is now going on dates. Natascha and Ryan go... to a construction site? It wasn't shown much, and I was in the bathroom, so I'm not sure exactly what happened. It didn't seem important enough to rewind. I don't think they had any drama about admitting their love, because I don't think either of them were actually at that point where they were ready to say it in general. Chris and Bri had their date performing for the couple.

The rest of the episode is focused on two dates, which have opposite results. Trevor and Jamie have a successful date at the ice skating rink, where they talk about their feelings. Jamie is ready to say that she loves him, while Trevor gives a speech about how he thinks those words are sacred. He takes them seriously. Then he admits to Jamie he's falling in love with her as well. They make out. Afterwards, Jamie has a newfound confidence that's completely taken over the anxious energy she's had since the musical portion of this show started.

Then there's Rudi and Matt. On their way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, they actually spend a night at a weird hotel in the middle of nowhere, because apparently they weren't "ready enough" for the next step, and this got them there. Weird. They go on the most romantic date on the show so far: A Shaggy concert. They get to go up and perform "It Wasn't Me" with Shaggy. You might think that an anthem about cheating on somebody is a little weird, but I think it's potentially magical. "It Wasn't Me" is a fantastic song, and having the opportunity to sing it onstage with Shaggy should be everybody's dream.

Rudi clearly agrees, because she admits to Matt that she's falling in love with him afterwards. Matt responds, "Thank you for speaking your truth." Man, that's rough. That has to be one of the most brutal responses to "I love you" that anybody can give. The couple already seemed like they were in rough shape, and now there's a one-sided "I love you" making things even more tense. The rest of the episode is padded with a teary-eyed Rudi anxious about everything.

When it's time for performances, things gel a lot more for almost everybody. The judges this week: Pat Monahan from Train, Ashlee Simpson and her husband Evan Ross (Diana Ross' son), and another Bachelor couple that I cannot remember. Nobody here on the level of a Kesha or Toni Braxton, probably because they spent most of the budget on a real star like Shaggy.

Any tension between Matt and Rudi goes away when they sing together, and they kill it. Newly confident Jamie and Trevor do a pretty good job themselves. They're clearly safe.

Bri and Chris do hit a bit of a snag. Chris is a little bit shaky at the start of "Can't Help Falling in Love," but they make it out fine.

The only bad performance happens with Natascha and Ryan. The first week of competition had Natascha (probably the most talented singer of anyone) completely overpowering Ryan. The second week they hit a balance. Now it's Ryan's turn to take things over, because he wants to "reinvent" Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" for their performance. Instead of doing a straight-up normal duet, he turns it into some weird guitar jam. He's said on multiple occasions he idolizes John Mayer, so I think he was going for something like that. It didn't work. Natascha hands him a mic while he's playing guitar, because apparently she forgot that people need two hands to play guitar. She also forgets the words. It's awkward.

Things probably would've been fine if they just did a straight-up cover of the song. These are two very talented people. Every successful couple has gone on because they've done very no-frills covers of the songs, and looked into each other's eyes while they perform them. Ryan trying to make the song sexier crashed and burned. It's not as bad on the ears as Brandon trying to turn classic rock songs into weird country abominations where he makes weird faces, but watching the performance is just as awkward.

The rose ceremony is one of the least tense elimination ceremonies I've ever seen. They try to make it seem like Chris and Bri are on the chopping block, but shakiness from Chris isn't nearly as bad as whatever it was Ryan and Natascha did. They go home, and it makes a lot of sense. Despite Rudi and Matt's struggles with saying "I love you," Ryan and Natascha seemed to lack the seriousness that Chris Harrison has been harping on. They seem like they like each other, but they're mostly having fun and maybe making out a bit as they go along. That's not what this show wants. Natascha stirs the pot with other contestants, but her actual relationship doesn't have the drama that producers want. The horrendous performance here gave those producers a good excuse to kick them.

Next week is the finale, and I hope it's a bit more exciting than this relatively tame, predictable episode. Though at least we got Shaggy.