Bachelorette recap: You can't go home(town) again

Ah, hometown dates. The time we get to see where these guys came from and meet their families before one is cruelly dumped. Yay!

We begin in Dallas with Zak. He tells Des about some wack-a-doodle dream he had and they pass out sno-cones to kids, along with a giant stuffed penguin (anyone else flash back to Billy Madison?). She then meets Zak's family, and they are as exuberant as he is (but not nearly as tan). The sister confesses she is afraid Zak will get hurt, and I confess I sense some foreshadowing. And then I confess I hit the fast-forward button when Zak's brother and sister sing to Des while Zak strums the guitar. Oh the humanity. Zak saves the day by giving Des a ring he bought in Atlantic City and telling her he loves her - kind of adorbs.

But no time to moon over him - now it's off to Scottsdale with Drew. Who is gay. But has a very sweet family, including his mentally disabled sister who clearly adores her brother and is, according to their father Malachi (sweet name!), an "angel." The family falls in love with Des, and Drew tells her about four times that he too is love with her. It's a bit much - I think she heard you the first time, bub - but still sweet.

Next up: baseball with Chris in Oregon. Des and Chris write cute notes in their eye black, and Des proves to be pretty good at the national pasttime. And not so much at drawing crayon drawings of their time together. Then it was time to meet the fam, who apparently hated Chris's last girlfriend (no pressure). But maybe it was the other way around - these peeps are odd. The chiropractor dad hears that Des hurt her back and springs to action, asking if he can adjust her. (Hey-oh) She warily agrees, and finds herself face-down on a table with a strange man rubbing her back. He then adjusts Chris's nose (didn't even know this was a thing), and some very awkward camera work ensued. Now that everyone is adjusted, the weirdness continues with Des having a one-on-one with Chris's mom, who is not amused. But she does end up giving them her blessing and crying, so I guess we're good.

Finally, Salt Lake City to meet Brooks and his ginormous Mormon family. Des admits again (to the camera) that she loves Brooks, who admits to the camera that he's not sure. Awesome. So Des brings a paper rose that, when unfolded, lists out all their special times together. Aw. After almost capsizing in the lake (which would have been awesome), she meets the family, who are all wearing "Hello my name is" nametags - genius. Brooks' brothers pepper him with questions, and Des does the same to his mom, who decides they have a look of love and tells Brooks he's her favorite. Ha.

Before the rose ceremony, the producers want to up the ante by bringing back Des's brother Nathan. Which is fairly pointless - he hasn't changed much from his Sean Lowe days, and doesn't really care about her new flock of dudes except he doesn't want her to get hurt. Useless waste of 5 minutes.

At the ceremony, poor Zak has to go home. I would have loved it if he would have ripped off his shirt getting into the limo - leaving as he arrived - but he's too in shock to think of that. Des gives him the ring back, and it's all very sad. But good news: next week is the Men Tell All! Yesssssss.