The Bachelorette season 17, episode 2 recap: Trust issues | EW.com - Entertainment Weekly News

The dates begin, but so does the drama, as Katie starts hearing that at least one of the men is just using his time on The Bachelorette for fame.

This week on The Bachelorette, Katie had to spend her first week wrestling with the aforementioned quandary, thanks to an accusation from Aaron (who?) about Cody (who?).

Katie greets them outside.

And he certainly probably never thought he'd have to dress up in S&M gear and demonstrate why he's the "greatest lover of all time" in front of Katie and a "live audience." The poor guy is so stressed out he starts crying.

Christian the wicked cool kid from Boston understands that love is "more than what happens in the bedroom." What really gets a woman hot is a guy who does household chores without asking.

Tre does a little role play himself, via two hand puppets (it's tamer than it sounds), while Justin gets hands-on by giving Katie a foot rub.

The "motivational speaker" gets up on stage and announces that Katie deserves "17 hours a day of non-stop d--- action" (ouch!), and it only gets worse.

Karl makes the rest of the guys "suffercate" (new word alert!) through a long, rambling, and unfunny lecture about what he thinks the Bachelorette does and doesn't want from a lover.

He asks Katie to sit beside him on the stage bed and reads a letter to his future wife: "I have always wanted you to feel so loved and honored, and the best way for me to show you this is by saving myself for you." Katie, who wipes away tears while listening to Mike's speech, LOVES it.

Unfortunately, just as Karl whips out the fuzzy handcuffs from the first part of the date, Thomas walks in and interrupts their chat.

Karl doesn't tell him to come back later, he just politely walks away, dangling one fuzzy purple handcuff from his wrist.

Katie's getting pretty hot and heavy with Thomas… who gets the date rose.

It was hot." Later, Katie gets emotional while talking with Greg about her dad, who died in 2012.

"I've felt so comfortable with you right off the bat," says Greg, who goes on to reveal to Katie that his father passed away from cancer two years ago.

Awww, just give him the date rose already.

He and all of the other dudes on the group date - Andrew S., Kyle, Josh, Aaron, Brendan, Hunter, and Cody - are told to head to the staging area immediately.

Aaron explains via voiceover that he and Cody know each other from "back home" and don't like each other.

Cody is understandably nervous: "I hope Aaron's not going to talk crap about me to Katie." Don't be silly, Cody - Aaron is most DEFINITELY going to talk crap about you to Katie.

"I know he really wants to become famous or get on the show for those reasons," mumbles Aaron, barely making eye contact with Katie.

(Maybe he's just anti-eye contact?) "The way he handles situations, to me, I find disturbing." Aaron goes on to call Cody "malicious" but stops short of saying he's a "complete piece of s---." (Well, this explains why we saw Aaron talking smack to Cody on night one.).

At the cocktail party, Cody starts the night feeling that his "chances are extremely high" for getting the group date rose… but then this happens:.

"That's just not factual information." When Katie asks Cody if he's "here for fame," Cody stammers a bit before repeating that he doesn't know what Aaron's talking about.

While Katie goes to think things over, Cody - who is "so heated right now" - confronts Aaron.

Cody, would you please join Katie outside.

The Bachelorette gets it, having grown up poor herself!

One by one, the rest of the men sit down and Open Up™ to Katie (Kyle is looking for someone with "passion"; Josh used to be "borderline obese"; John misses the "connection" of having a long-term relationship; Hunter shares a note telling the Bachelorette he's "giddy" about their future, and so on).

But the date rose goes to… Andrew S..

The night starts off well, as Katie - looking STUNNING in a metallic, emerald-green dress - pulls Michael, the sweet single dad, aside for the first chat since he didn't get a date this week.

Back in the holding pen, Karl is wondering if any of the other guys aren't "here for the right reasons." John wisely advises him to focus on Katie and not worry about anyone else's motivations, but he is not inclined to listen.

In fact, as soon as he sits down with Katie, Karl informs her that he's not sure if all of the guys "are being 100 percent transparent… I know that there are some people that don't have the best intentions, okay?" When Katie presses him for some details, Karl tells her she shouldn't stress about it - but the only reason he told her this information is so that she WOULD stress about it.

"I want to trust Karl, but I really don't know him well," sighs Katie.

"I just don't know who's really here for me anymore." To that end, Katie gathers all the men in the sitting room and gives them the what for.

Perhaps thinking that he's going to be outed eventually, Karl raises his hand and says he only brought up the specter of Wrong Reasons™ because Katie asked him about it?

(Which is, as we know, a flat-out lie.) The bachelors are angry, and they get even angrier when Karl starts tap-dancing around what he (allegedly) knows and who he (allegedly) knows it about?

A few things: Katie really likes Greg; Katie really likes Thomas, whom Aaron will soon accuse of being a "psychopath"; Karl shadowboxes when he's on the defensive; something is off about Connor B.; and Katie once punched a nurse "accidentally." Before you go, rose lovers, please share your hot takes