‘The Bachelor’ episode 5 review: Taylor Nolan and Corinne Olympios’ ’emotional intelligence’ battle in the swamp

There is someone who works on “The Bachelor” who is probably off somewhere getting a rise for the events of Monday night’s new episode. After all, what we had was the strangest, most ridiculous two-on-one date in history.

Let’s just say that if we ever hear the words “emotional intelligence” ever again, we may throw up.

Corinne Olympios is no saint. As a matter of fact, she’s completely off her rocker, but we have to assume that she is. Is she really so nuts that she doesn’t see what the producers are doing with the whole scene in the bath, or with her making a random voodoo doll of Corinne during the swamp-set two-on-one date? She’s obviously manipulative and extremely immature; we don’t think that she will win this show or make it to the final two.

Yet, at the same time, we’re not all that shocked she stayed. She’s had more time with Nick than Miss Emotional Intelligence Taylor Nolan, who didn’t handle this situation the right way at all. She should’ve used some of her skills handling people to realize that in this situation, staying cool and relaxed is the right thing to do over letting your emotions get the better of you. She didn’t do that, and as a result, she’s now in a situation where she is heading home. She came across as very holier-than-thou in some of her conversations with her, and she does need to learn a thing or two about dealing with people she doesn’t like.

Of course, the show made this departure for her as cruel as possible given that she was forced effectively to watch Corinne and Nick go off together on a boat. What was with her getting the blessing at the end, though? Was this her being cleansed and giving her power for a further confrontation? We have to assume that was it, since the end of the episode was her hitting back at being eliminated.

As for everything else tonight…

Rose Ceremony Elimination – This happened before we left for New Orleans, but once again, you didn’t really miss all that much.

Rachel Lindsay’s One-on-One Date – We like Rachel a great deal. She’s certainly “EI” (we refused to say the full two words since Taylor’s done that enough), she’s professional, but she’s still caring and romantic. She’s probably one of the best people for Nick to end up with along with Vanessa Grimaldi, given that they will challenge him in a way few others will.

Also, after watching this we really do want a beignet or two three.

Scare Tactics – The group date was really silly, given that the show put on this huge production to turn a really popular Louisiana plantation into some sort of haunted mansion. There are some legends about there being ghosts there, but the show acted as though this was the only thing at all that the place was known for! Not exactly the truth in the slightest. Danielle M. got the rose, which was interestingly predicted by some of the other women given that she got an early one-on-one date and this was a nice way to offer up some further validation on their relationship.

Overall – There have been better episodes. Specifically, we dislike Corinne as a villain because we DO think that she’s self-aware and knows what she is doing. She’s more of a token character than a real person, and her story is therefore not all that interesting. Grade: C.

Next episode – If you want to get some more speculation on the future of the show, be sure to head over to the link here. (Photo: ABC.)