The Bachelorette may be turning into a Family Feud, and it could even use Steve Harvey’s help, because Joey’s uncle couldn’t keep his mouth shut this week when talking to Bachelorette Charity Lawson, and it could’ve ruined Joey’s opportunity at true love.
Uncle Joe, who’s the uncle of Joey — not to be confused with Uncle Joey from Full House, played by Dave Coulier, though that would’ve been even more interesting — didn’t seem to be looking out for his nephew’s best interests on Monday night’s episode of the rose-giving show.
It was the week of hometowns, meaning that Charity visits the families of the final four suitors, and then ends the show by breaking up with one of them, a cruel twist that’s only acceptable on a seriously screwed up show like this one.
Joey, a tennis pro, served up a very unique experience for Charity, something that she has never ever done before: play tennis.
Charity was quite a natural, despite having no previous experience, and Joey took advantage of the lesson by teaching her how to properly hold her racket, touching her on her waist, showing her how to move those hips, and how to properly smack the ball while smacking her with a kiss. It was nothing but love, which, ironically — considering it’s tennis — means the score was 0-0.
Soon, Joey’s uncle, after whom he is apparently named, and from whom he learned tennis, showed up and met the duo and started playing tennis with them. Thankfully, he didn’t smack a kiss on Charity or anything, which would have been weird, but what he did do was hurt his nephew’s chances at being engaged to Charity at the end of this show.
So what happened exactly?
Charity and Joey are pretty crazy about each other, it seems. Charity even says, “Joey makes me feel giddy,” and that when she’s around him, she lets her walls down.
“He’s just a loving person,” she adds, explaining that she always feels loved just by being with him and, keep in mind, this is the same woman who even kissed Prince Charming goodbye, so these feelings with Joey are certainly natural.
However, Unc is skeptical, and his opinion is likely to have an effect on Joey, who admitted that his Uncle’s opinion means the most to him. He also said that his uncle is “probably one of the — if not the — most special person in my life.”
Joe also explains, “The only reason why I play tennis is because of my uncle. He was my coach. He was my mentor. He was the person that made me into the man I am today in a lot of ways.”
After the tennis lesson where Uncle Joe got to chat with the couple, he decided to tell viewers, “I like Charity. She seems fantastic, but something didn’t feel 100% with Joey.”
Curiously, he added that he couldn’t pinpoint what it was, and that it was just a feeling. OK, surely he will keep that feeling to himself, right?
Well, later on, when Charity came over for dinner and met the entire family, Uncle Joe had a talk with her. Such a talk is customary on the hometown editions of the show, but it’s odd that the show never showed her conversation with Joe’s father, Nick (though it’s likely because it was just boring).
Just before that convo, Uncle Joe sat down with his nephew Joey, and expressed his concern that he wasn’t being himself. “Are you portraying what she wants?” He asked his nephew, only to quickly rephrase the question, “How confident are you that you are being your most genuine self?”
Joey replied, “Very confident.”
Such skepticism seemed not to surprise Joey, who later told the camera that his uncle can be cynical.
Then, Uncle Joe had his convo with Charity. As Joe’s mother, Cathy, was warning her son, “I’m afraid you can get heartbroken,” Uncle Joe was leveling with Charity about whether he felt Joey is ready to be a husband and, in the future, a father.
“I think,” Uncle Joe answered, ”he’s gonna be an amazing husband and an amazing dad. No question. Is he right now ready for all that kind of stuff? I don’t know. I don’t know. If there’s been a challenge in our relationship, it’s been he oftentimes is trying to be somebody that he thinks I want him to be.”
Oh snap. Why would his uncle say that? Surely, questioning his nephew after only just seeing him with Charity briefly was already a bit of an odd thing to do, especially considering that Uncle Joe had admitted that he couldn’t even pinpoint the weird feeling he was having. Would it not have been wiser to figure out what that feeling was, before telling your nephew’s potential fiancée that you have doubts about him?
But it didn’t stop there. Just as Charity was taking it in, Uncle Joe added, “To be honest, today on the tennis court, I got a little vibe from him, where I’m like, ‘Hey, are you trying to be somebody that Charity wants?’”
Again, why would any uncle say this? Viewers could be heard across the nation (allegedly) screaming “Uncle! Uncle!” — and not in a “I give up” kind of way. Or maybe exactly in that way, like Flick did in A Christmas Story when Scut Farkus tried ripping his arm off.
But, oh no, Uncle Joe still wasn’t done, despite the look on Charity’s face, which can be best described as either disappointingly serious, or seriously disappointed. Either oblivious or undaunted, Uncle Joe’s speech continued, to which he applied this kicker: “If there is a concern I have, it’s a little bit of that. How confident are you that you have the genuine Joey?”
Well, now she probably is questioning whether she has “the genuine Joey,” thanks to you, Uncle!
Somehow, Charity found the right words to express her discontent without coming off as disrespectful, answering, “I feel pretty confident in that and you guys would know that way better, because obviously you guys know him, but I have not sensed anything other than just genuineness in him.”
But Uncle Joe, apparently still not seeing the error of his ways, replied, “Be careful with his heart. Hopefully, for both of your sakes, you find what you’re looking for.”
What is wrong with this guy?!
I have a theory that I’ll explain in a moment — but as expected, Charity later admitted in the camera confessional, “I’m like very much confused. Maybe I’m missing something.”
And so it was that Uncle Joe planted seeds of doubt in the psyche of his nephew’s potential future wife, so much so that when she departed to go to the next hometown date, she cried, and it left Joe as confused as she was. He didn’t understand why she was emotional, and expressed that it felt like she might be permanently saying goodbye.
So, did she kiss Joey and his uncle goodbye at the end of the show, or did she shock the viewers by choosing someone else to boot?
Before I reveal that spoiler, let me explain what I think is happening.
Joe’s family seemed intent on expressing his previous heartache; his father Nick revealed to viewers that “Joey’s had his heart broken. He’s been through relationships and family has really helped him to get past it,” and similar sentiments were echoed by his mother and, obviously, his uncle. So it sure seems that Joey has given his all to a woman before and it didn’t end well, to the point where his family really had to lift him up. They clearly don’t want to see him hurt again, or have to deal with that again, so they’ve become overprotective to a point where they are unintentionally sabotaging his chances with Charity, though his uncle is the really the lone saboteur.
Earlier in the show, Uncle Joe stated something that jumped out at me. See if one of these words jumps out at you: “To make what I consider to be the most important decision of our entire lives, after a pretty short courtship, it’s gonna be challenging to make sure it’s real.”
Did you catch that? “Our.” Hmm. Interesting. So, Uncle Joe feels like this is going to affect his life. OK, I get that, to a certain degree, but it’s his nephew’s life that will be most affected and, furthermore, it’s his nephew’s decision to make, more than it is Uncle Joe’s to ruin.
Let the man live. Let the man love. Besides, if the other issue is that he’s being too much of a people-pleaser — which was certainly mentioned during the episode — then maybe realize he is just naturally very giving, and his natural inclinations may lead him into a perfect relationship for him. Clearly, Charity is as giving as he is, and they do seem pretty perfect for each other. How is that an issue?
Most would agree that Uncle Joe should’ve kept his thoughts to himself, or at least limit those thoughts to the conversation he actually had with his nephew. Why would he bring it to Charity’s attention when he couldn’t even pinpoint the issue himself, by his own admission?
Then, at the episode’s end came the rose ceremony.
Charity gave Dotun a deserving rose. She gave Xavier a deserving rose. And then she gave her last rose to, of all people, Joey! Stunningly, Charity said goodbye to former coin-flipping fanatic Aaron, whose emotional behavior towards former suitor Brayden earlier in the season was fairly alarming to the point where I, and some others, labeled him the show’s real villain. He was also pretty angry that Charity wasn’t exclusive to him, so she made him exclusive to himself.
It just makes me like Charity even more — but the story doesn’t end there, because in a preview for next week’s episode, it seems clear that Joey learns what his uncle said to Charity. Uh oh! Does his uncle’s words truly lead to him getting kicked off the show?
As if that’s not enough drama to handle, someone returns to the show. Is it Aaron?! I don’t know but, all things considered, maybe it really is Steve Harvey. Let’s start the family feud!