Spoiler alert! This story contains spoilers for the July 31 episode of Charity Lawson’s season of The Bachelorette, so consider yourself warned!
Charity Lawson had a terribly tough choice to make following her Hometown dates. In the July 31 episode of The Bachelorette, the leading lady met the wonderful families of her final four suitors — Aaron Bryant, Joey Graziadei, Xavier Bonner and Dotun Olubeko — before executing a tearful elimination at the rose ceremony. But it sounds like the drama has only just begun. One of ABC's executives tweeted out a message to the fans, saying the upcoming Overnight dates episode is as “emotional as anything I’ve ever seen” on the show. What in the name of Brayden’s scarves are we in for?
The meeting of the families can often be a pretty fun episode of The Bachelorette, since fans never know what kind of personalities we’re going to get from the cast members’ loved ones. However, Charity Lawson was welcomed with open arms by the four groups that she met, making for a fairly wholesome episode — complete with a knitting circle, a home-cooked meal and one mom pronouncing her officially adopted into the family — before she ultimately sent Aaron Bryant home. It looks like next week is where we should be focusing our attention, as Robert Mills of ABC tweeted on July 24:
Everyone is talking about how great Charity has been this season and SHE IS. I want to say now there is a scene in two weeks that is as good and strong and emotional as anything I’ve ever seen in The Bachelorette. Just wanted everyone to get ready now. You will stand up and cheer.
With this tweet coming the week before Charity Lawson’s Hometown dates, he’s got to be referencing the August 7 episode, and it sounds like we’re in for something good, if he’s promising that Bachelor Nation will want to “stand up and cheer.” While we already can assume the remaining episodes of Season 20 are going to be emotional, I’m intrigued by Robert Mills saying this is as good as anything he’s seen on The Bachelorette.
Will Charity Lawson be forced to send someone home unexpectedly? Will one of the overnight dates turn into something cheer-worthy?
I admit the tweet’s got me a little bit excited for what’s to come, even though I, with the rest of Bachelor Nation, have been burned by such promises in the past. Producers have been known to rile up their Twitter followers for no reason, and it just doesn’t mean anything when Jesse Palmer — or Chris Harrison before him — tells us that THIS finale or THIS episode or THIS season will be the most dramatic or emotional ever.
So I don’t know what it is about this particular tweet that has my hopes up. Maybe the fact that it’s couched in compliments for Charity Lawson makes me more optimistic about the ABC exec’s intentions.
Shame on me if next week doesn’t result in a celebratory moment of Charity Lawson, but I know exactly where I’ll be when The Bachelorette returns at 8 p.m. ET August 7 on ABC. Episodes can also be streamed the next day with a Hulu subscription, and you can keep up with all of the upcoming premieres by checking out our 2023 TV schedule.
