After a long week I was so excited for it to finally be Thursday, because that meant I could watch the second episode of “The Golden Bachelor.” Following an adorable premier the week before, I was so excited to see Gerry and the women finally go on dates and learn more about each other. 

This quick, one-hour long episode starts with the 16 women entering the mansion and their reactions were so adorable as they talked about sharing a bedroom with each other. It was so different from the normal “Bachelor/Bachelorette” shows, when the women would fight about who gets what room, so it was refreshing to see the humor and energy these women were bringing. 

As we got right into the first one-on-one date, Theresa and Gerry head out on the town to a diner in California. But, of course, the headlights on the car Gerry was driving weren’t working, so as stressful as that was, Theresa tried to comfort Gerry as much as she could. It was so sweet to see how happy Gerry was when Theresa just put her arm on him and it provided him so much comfort. 

With Gerry still talking about that gesture well into the night, I had a strong feeling about this relationship. Throughout the date, we could see just how much he adored Theresa and respected her when she was talking about the loss of her husband especially when Gerry said “I get the feeling of you just want to have someone to talk to about the sunset.” After an adorable date, it ended with an even more adorable flashmob in the diner. I was so happy and excited when Gerry gave her the rose on their date.

Moving onto the group date, 12 women met up with Gerry to do a classic Bachelor Nation photoshoot. All is going well until Leslie does not get the pink 70’s dress up costume to wear and literally won’t stop complaining about it the entire time because she’s “not an 80’s girl.”

When she finally got over the costume catastrophe, Gerry was so patient and sweet with Nancy as she was getting emotional about reminiscing over her late husband. I love to be able to watch Gerry relate to these women, but he is also very supportive and understanding when these conversations come up. 

As we headed into the cocktail party, the women all set up a surprise birthday party for Gerry. You can tell Gerry is just a genuine person by how happy he was they set this up for him and how he took the time to talk to everyone at this party. 

Now finally time for the dreaded part: the rose ceremony. As Gerry handed out the roses and we got to the final rose of the evening, Gerry was getting emotional about handing it out. This once again goes to show how caring and kind of a person is, because he felt so bad having to send Jeanie, Natascha and Peggy home. 

This week’s episode definitely allowed me to see more of Gerry’s personality compared to last week, and also allowed me to see how the women are truly invested in finding love and not just coming on the show for fame. I am really excited to see what next week will bring, as we dive deeper into seeing Gerry form more meaningful connections!

This story was written by Sophie Goldstein. She can be reached at [email protected].