I’m not sure if Bell, my local NBC affiliate or the simulcasting Global affiliate was to blame but I ended up missing out on a fair bit of Age of Love this week. During Mark’s movie date, just after he invited Jayanna to have a drink with him while Amanda stewed, the signal went completely, leaving me with nothing but a black screen for the next ten minutes or so. When it returned, their date was over and Jen was about to go on the motorcycle date with Mark. Then a few minutes later, the episode jumped ahead a bit. Megan, Amanda and Mary were all talking about how it sucked that Jen was out with Mark while they were stuck in their room and then it suddenly skipped ahead to the three twenty-somethings over on the couches, with Mary crying about something (presumably still on the subject of Jen and Mark). I don’t think I missed anything too important but since I didn’t see it, I don’t know for sure.
Despite her frequent crying, you had to feel sympathetic for Mary this week. She and Megan finally get a chance to hang out with Mark in a smaller group setting; while that worked out pretty well for Megan, Mark’s seemed to practically ignore Mary. Granted, editing could be playing up Mark’s ignoring of Mary, but this was the second time we saw Mary trying to connect with Mark while Mark was pretty much non-responsive and easily distracted by something else (be it a group of little kids or a kite). If Mark just hadn’t liked Mary, you think he would have gotten rid of her sooner; by keeping Mary around so far into the game it seemed like he wanted to get to know her before he made a decision, but then he pretty much actively avoided getting to know her.
The eviction ceremony was kind of rough too. Mary was so sure she was going this week. But then Maria comforted Mary, reassuring Mary that Maria was going to be the one leaving by telling Mark she didn’t want to stay. Obviously Maria had every right to change her mind and give into Mark’s persuasion, but it had to suck for Mary. Though at the same time, given she was the last one on stage and that Mark clearly wasn’t asking Maria to go, how awkward would it have been for Mary to stick around knowing that Mark had planned to eliminate her? So even though it didn’t seem like Mary ever really had a fair chance with Mark, it’s still probably best that she left when she did.
Now that Mary is gone, it seems like the remaining five all of at least some connection with Mark. In Amanda’s case, she was the clear frontrunner for a while, but now I think she’s a little too attached to Mark. If she was outside the confines of a dating reality show, her feelings for Mark would be fine, but given the nature of Age of Love, Mark’s going to be openly playing the field for a few more weeks yet. And that probably means Amanda is going to get more depressed and/or jealous which could lead to her being sent home.
It’s hard to say who is most likely to win at this juncture. Maria seems to be the least bothered by having to share Mark and she’s got the hard to get thing going for her; Jen spent an awful lot of the episode kissing Mark but if Mark wants kids, she may be a little too old; Jayanna seems to have a pretty good thing going with Mark, but she seems more interesting in winning a competition than ending up with Mark; Amanda’s got a strong connection with Mark but, of course, also has major jealously issues; and Megan’s just starting to get close to Mark but is also the youngest of the group. Given how quickly things have changed earlier in the season, it’s virtually impossible to predict who will be with Mark at the end. There’s not even a clear hint as to who will go home next.
I guess we’ll just have to wait until next week’s show to see how things unfold.
