A Bachelorette investigation: Why doesn’t anyone trust Luke P.?

The Bachelorette’s Luke P. might be coming on a little too strong and viewers are calling him out for it.

Luke P. made some waves last Monday in The Bachelorette‘s group date pageant when he told Hannah he was already falling in love with her. Bachelor Nation was all over him for this, but the lack of trust was there long before he was dropping the “L” word to win a contest.

Luke’s only fault is that he loved too soon? Nah. Not buying it. There’s something about this guy that screams “villain” and most Bachelorette fans decided they didn’t like him on night one. Luke P. is up to something, we just don’t know what that something is just yet.

This isn’t going to be a “devil’s advocate” post, I don’t like him either. But it is interesting that every single person watching has this guy pegged as a liar. He never said anything to lead us on or showed any sort of two-faced or back-stabbing tendencies. He’s a devout Christian and the only thing we have to actually criticize him at the moment is that his workout introduction video seemed a little vain.

The average Bachelorette fans aren’t the only ones who think Luke P. is shady. Past contestants have been weighing in on Luke after his romantic gesture towards Hannah on their first actual (group) date. Here’s what some Bachelor/Bachelorette experts had to say:

Elyse nailed what is happening here. Manipulation and control seem to be the two resounding character traits given to Luke P. by his alumnus. The general consensus is that he was telling Hannah what he thought she wanted to hear in a way that gave him the upper hand in what he is viewing as a competition – not cool. We know The Bachelorette is indeed a competition, but you can’t win it just by telling the person what he or she wants to hear at the exact time they want/need to hear it. That’s peak manipulation.

A sociopath is someone who makes decisions for themselves and is unable to comprehend the impacts those decisions have on others. They’ll make impulsive decisions (check), tell lies (check), show aggressive or aggravated behavior (check) and do so without feeling any guilt or remorse (assumed check). Given what we know through two episodes and the season preview, Luke P. sounds like a textbook sociopath.

It’s somewhat troubling how much Hannah is buying into what he’s saying. To Luke’s credit, if he is a sociopath, he probably believes it all too. A sociopath, by definition, may live his or her entire life without realizing they are acting this way. Luke could just be acting like he normally would in the real world (which isn’t exactly comforting) and not realizing how it’s coming off to Bachelorette viewers on television.

I’m being awfully hard on the guy through a mere two episodes of the show. To play actual devil’s advocate for a second, perhaps Luke truly saw what he thinks was God in his shower and is on a fast track to living the life of his brother and sister-in-law. Maybe he is starting to fall in love with Hannah. I mean, he was careful with the wording, right? “Starting to fall in love” is a long way from “I love you” in the world of The Bachelorette. Could we be getting hit with the old bait and switch? Is the real villain of the season Cam? Or someone like John Paul Jones or Tyler C.?

Luke is maintaining that he is definitely not a villain on his Instagram account. But isn’t that exactly what a true villain would do? The Bachelorette isn’t a comic book series in which the villains wear masks and work mischievously in the shadows, shaking their fists every time a superhero thwarts their plan to steal an expensive diamond (This was like, six different movie plots in one). This is (kind of) real life and as mentioned above, not believing he is a villain doesn’t exactly clear him from actually being one. If anything, it strengthens that claim.

Production has been known to edit things a certain way to throw viewers off but there’s only so much that can be done with Luke P. Bachelor Nation is usually divided when it comes to someone who may or may not be a villain and there is hardly any division on Luke at the moment. He’s become one of two consensus villains only two episodes. (Cam isn’t an actual threat to do well, though.) I truly hope I am wrong about Luke but the man is giving off some very bad vibes.

Unfortunately for Hannah, all she can do now is watch this season back as we hope Luke wasn’t the one she chose. He seems to be the one captivating her early on but she also seems aware of how sketchy it was to drop that “L” word on the first group date. He’s a handsome guy, no one disagrees with that, so let her have a little fun before kicking him to the curb. And don’t feel bad for Luke when he’s heartbroken later in the show — God will pop by the next time he has a shower and tell him to sign up for Bachelor in Paradise.

The Bachelorette airs Monday’s at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC. Follow along with FanSided Entertainment for all your coverage.