‘The Bachelorette’ recap: Ashley makes some poor choices in Sin City

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Second week in, and I’m still not sold on Ashley.

During Monday night’s episode, I tried looking past her annoyingly perky demeanor. But this woman is making insane choices that make it difficult for me to want to support her in any way.

Most obviously, I’m talking about Bentley. Listen, there have been plenty of women in seasons past who have gone for the bad boy. Namely, Jillian Harris, who had a penchant for the guitar-toting, fame-hungry Wes. But even Wes wasn’t outwardly a bad guy. He was a womanizer who told Jillian everything she wanted to hear, treating her kindly (to her face) by writing her love songs and repeatedly telling her he was head over heels for her.

But it’s clear Bentley does not even want to pretend to like Ashley -- whether he’s doing an on-camera interview or sitting right next to her. (Of course, the stuff he says in interviews is pretty horrible. Sample: ‘She has a great body. Amazing butt. Rockin’ legs. I want her to tickle my ...’ That last word was bleeped out, and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know where he was going.)

Sure, after he kissed her, he told producers he wasn’t into the moment. But that was apparent just by watching their interaction. You could almost see the disgust on his face. How is Ashley reading all these signs so wrong? When Bentley manhandles her and carries her to the fireplace, she somehow interprets this is as him wanting to be her ‘Prince Charming.’ When he says he’s not sure he can stay in the competition, she reads that as him being ‘insecure,’ like she was last season, and literally begs him to stick around.

Watching them together is brutal. Luckily, it seems Bentley comes clean about his lack of feelings for Ashley in next week’s episode, leading her to have a complete emotional breakdown. Dra-ma.

Another uncomfortable moment during last night’s show? That bizarre date with William in Las Vegas. Who could possibly think it’d be a fun idea to trick a guy into almost marrying you in Sin City and then be like, ‘Oh, just kidding!’ Well, that’s exactly what went down.

Poor little cellular-phone salesman/wannabe comedian William arrived in Vegas with Ashley on a swanky private jet, and then the two began engaging in traditional pre-wedding activities. Cake tasting, picking out rings, and then heading straight to some hokey chapel. But the thing is, Ashley wasn’t playing up the joke enough. You could tell that she was creepily into picking out a huge diamond, and when she met William at the altar, she even let him say ‘I do’ before saying she wanted to wait to get to know him better. ‘What a funny joke!’ she seemed to be thinking. ‘I made you say you’d be willing to marry me after only knowing me for a day, and then I totally rejected you! In. Yo’. Face.’

The date got somewhat better when the pair had dinner on a table amid the waters of the Bellagio fountains. William talked about his job: ‘I bring communication to the people.’ I guess that’s a nice to put it when you sell cellphones for a living. Then he shared a pretty horrible story about his father’s alcoholism and how his dad died as a result of it. Ashley said she could relate because her father had struggled with alcohol his whole life, which made me flash back to her hometown date with Brad. Wasn’t her dad there? And wasn’t there the implication of having the perfect family?

Meanwhile, did anyone else find it bizarre how the producers included footage of Vegas tourists screaming, ‘I love you, Ashley!’ and cheering when the couple kissed? For some reason, it seemed out of place to have the tabloid phenomenon surrounding the show actually included in it.

Other poor Ashley judgment calls on last night’s episode: doing that gimmicky coin-toss thing with Mickey for her entire date with him. We get it: He won the date on a coin toss. You don’t need to decide everything you do on the date by continuing to flip a coin. Especially deciding whether to give him a rose at the end of the night! I couldn’t believe he wasn’t more insulted when she suggested that was how she should decide whether to keep him around.

Also: giving yet another rose to Jeff, the masked man. I mean, really? I felt for the guys who were sent home instead of Zorro last night. That’s a true blow to one’s ego.

Meanwhile, I’m still feeling good about my early favorites. As of now, my top two are Ben from New Orleans, whom we sadly didn’t get to see much of this week, and J.P. He and Ashley had a sweet moment toward the end of the night -- one that prompted former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky to tweet: ‘Calling it now-JP wins. It was SO clear to me in their rose ceremony interaction. #bachelorette #remindedmeofmytimewithRoberto.’ Wow, Ali. Bold. I like it.

I’m also still feeling for William, who seemed to have a solid date with Ashley, and I haven’t discounted winemaker Ben altogether yet, either.

Who are you thinking has a shot at winning Ashley’s heart at the end?

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-- Amy Kaufman
twitter.com/AmyKinLA