“Young men’s love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” - Friar Lawrence, chastising Romeo for abandoning Rosaline for his new love, Juliet Capulet (Romeo and Juliet)

Bachelor 2017

Welcome to the Bachelor Recap for Nick’s season. The reality (cough cough) mate selection program.

By way of background we are familiar with Nick. He was one of the final two contestants in Andi’s season (winner was Josh but that relationship lasted about 3 ½ hours after the final rose) as well as the final two in Kaitlyn’s season.  My take on him during both the seasons was he is best classified as a weasel. Supposedly, Nick went on redemption tour on bachelor in paradise but weasels generally don’t change their spots ( to mix in a few animal metaphors). But the  bachelor producers seems to know what they are doing in picking Nick (maybe he will be the first bachelor murdered on National TV-we can only imagine what they have in store for him.

The season starts with a humorous acknowledgement that he is not universally adored by Bachelor Nation. Random strangers approach him in a “booth” as he is announced as next Bachelor and offer comments mentioning they despised him and rooted against him.

But our boy takes the high road (after much coaching I would guess) and shows no grudges and offers some humility and warmth as he expresses his desire to find love at the end of the Bachelor journey. Given this is his third time on the show we can assume he hopes the third time is the charm.

The producers have done a great job  camouflaging the real competition. Although this show is named the bachelor,  the show is about the girls. The 30 candidates get the screen time and generate our rooting interest where the bachelor is basically a straight man to their show.

Secondly, all the ladies express their goal is to win the final rose on the road to true love. When in fact the real goal is to get close to the final rose , not to win the rose but get the gig as the next Bachelorette.

So when we hear the eventual criticisms that one of the candidates is not there for the “right reasons” that is to win Nick’s heart and the final rose, the producers must be laughing behind the walls.

By being awarded the Bachelor gig, Nick is assured of helicopter rides and hanging out in exotic locations with beautiful ladies.  Many of us in Bachelor Nation (ok maybe just me) are very skeptical of Nick but will watch anyway as the producers find a way to cast some villains and schemers. And we all enjoy contests where it is win or go home.

Week 1: Let’s meet the ladies!

This is a tough week as we get shown some profiles of the ladies. The ladies know they need to distinguish themselves from the crowd. And they don’t have a lot of time do make their impression.

I have particular interest in the classification of their occupation as we have had some clever ones such as “twin” or “chicken enthusiast” in prior years and I imagine we have some interesting ones coming up.

The first lady out of the limo to meet Nick is Danielle L. She is a small business owner in California and a knockout. Lauren  B was the first out of the limo in Ben’s season so we know the first one is a highly seeded candidate in the eyes of the producers.  She has a bright smile, appears charming and poised   and the producers will have her in a bikini as soon as possible. We have only met one contestant and I have her in the final four already.

Shakespeare had Danielle in mind when he quoted Friar Lawrence at the top about men's focusing on looks.

Danielle L

We also meet Rachel, an attorney out of Dallas. She vaults  into final four category with her smooth and articulate meeting with  Nick and already we have a field of great candidates  for the next Bachelorette , or rather Nick’s search for everlasting  love ... .but looking way ahead  Rachel  could be the first black bachelorette instead of the first black final rose winner.

Rachel

Soon we meet Corinne. Corinne is presented as a small business owner in Miami .But I get the impression her parents run it and Corrine wants us to see her as a player. Then she mentions she has her Nanny help her as we see a nanny bring her a snack. This chick is 24! And she chooses to highlight she has her nanny helping her get thru the day. Nature helps us in our mate selection process by giving us warning signs to avoid the potholes of mate selection process. And the nanny would send off a huge warning sign to me –lights and horns and whistles- but Nick seems to warm up to young Corinne and we know we will see more of her going forward.  I begin to wonder if the nanny will be featured in the hometowns weekend. The good news is Corinne shows a lot of potential to be this season villain. 

 

We soon meet Vanessa, a special Ed teacher from Montreal that speaks multiple languages and sounds great when she speaks in French. I have a feeling it would not sound as melodious if she

spoke Bulgarian but I seed her as a final four candidate in a pool that is getting a crowded already.

It is with Vanessa that Shakespeare would offer :  
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind.”

(Helena, lamenting that Demetrius has left her for Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

We meet Alexis from New Jersey. Alexis arrives in a shark outfit and mentions she loves dolphins.  She stays in the shark outfit all thru the session including the rose ceremony so I give her points for a sense of humor.  I don’t see her going very far  but she might be fun to have around a couple weeks .

We rapidly run though 30 contestants and  I wonder how Nick can keep track of their names

But he manages to get to the rose ceremony and reduce the pool to 22. Although the producers have manger to set this up as a competition like the sports playoffs with winners (roses) advancing we miss a central part of the mate selection process that is highlighted in literature.

The Bachelor has no obstacles of to overcome. We hear how difficult it is to reduce the field from 10 to 7 and the like which is really silly  but the bachelor does not have any hurdles.

We know Romeo and Juliet were star crossed lovers that endured the feud of the Montague and Capulet families.  Nick surely does not have violent family feuds to overcome. In fact our candidates already express their attraction and devotion to winning Nick’s heart before he knows them.  The nature of the competition is the ladies fight for the roses but Nick can sit back and determine fates without any commitment on his side expect to “develop a connection.”

But let’s look at another relationship in history that had obstacles.

Zachary Taylor -a tough guy for sure

Sarah Knox "Knoxie" Taylor Davis (March 6, 1814 – September 15, 1835) was the daughter of Zachary Taylor was a career military officer during her life and later became POTUS. She met Jefferson Davis (who would later become the president of the Confederacy) then living ( 1831) with her father and family at Fort Crawford (Wisconsin) during the Black Hawk War.

Sarah Knox Taylor

Sarah was given the nickname "Knoxie," which originated from her middle name and from Fort Know II in Vincennes, Indiana she was born. How can you not like a chick named Knoxie?

Also she is no relation to Amanda Knox the accuser murderer who would make for an bachelor  interesting contestant. Occupation: Murder defendant  

Amanda Knox

At age 17, Sarah fell in love with Jefferson Davis, a recent graduate of the United States Military Academy a lieutenant, who was second to General Taylor at the fort. Davis was transferred to St Louis 1833, yet managed to keep in contact with the woman whom he wished to marry. Taylor admired Davis for his soldiering skills but opposed the romantic match. The Taylors felt that the military life was too hard and did not want Sarah to be an Army wife. But despite the objections of the general and his family as well as the geographical distance between the two, with no texting or facetime to help them manage the distance, the young lovers still were married three years later. They overcame a lot of obstacles .  

However, both of the newlyweds contracted malaria on a summer visit to Davis's sister, Anna Davis Smith, in Louisiana.  Sarah died of it, just three months after her marriage to Jefferson, still at his sister's home. Jefferson nearly died of it as well.

Ok so maybe having obstacles has not worked so well given Romeo and Juliet  both died  young too but it makes for an interesting story. 

Week 2:

We have a group date where the young ladies dress up for a wedding themed photo shoot. Each of the ladies has a different role including shotgun wedding (with Alexis as the pregnant girl) and Adam and Eve theme with Brittany in the Eve role.  All the girls are photogenic but Corrine decides to upstage Eve by dragging Nick into the pool where she rips off his shirt and her top looking for a “Janet Jackson shot”.

Corinne going for the rose  

Alexis and the shotgun wedding

During the show we see Corrine constantly interrupting Nick while chatting with other girls and we now have decreed “No more calls…We have our villain”. In a bit of irony, Corrine interrupting the other girl’s time with Nick is reminiscent of Nick interrupting guys while on the Bachelorette. She channels her “inner Nick” in pursuing Nick!  And she gets a rose!

Meanwhile , she distances herself from the other girls as she sets herself up to be the one most talked about, which I suppose is a goal of sorts .

We barely see any of my top 3 candidates as if they are given a pass to the next round while we meet some others. Danielle M a neo natal nurse who gets the first one –on--one date. Of course we get in the helicopter and fly around and Nick pretends he is a traffic reporter… funny guy …

Danielle M confesses her previous boyfriend died of a drug overdose so we enter a somber moment. The producers seems to be outdoing themselves on the tragedies these contestants  have endured but you have to wonder if getting a family member/close friend hit by a bus is a requisite for getting on the show.

Danielle M

 We also get a few minutes with Liz. Liz already knows our boy from meeting him at a wedding last summer and then spending the night. Nick is a bit surprised to see her among the candidates and when he finally gets he alone he asks where she has been given they “had a moment” or rather a series of moments. (With acknowledgement   to The Wedding Crashers movie). Quickly Nick decides “this dog does not hunt as they say somewhere” and escorts her out and we are down to 21.

Anyway, we are ready to move ahead tonight and see if Nick can make progress in his journey for love.

  

 

 

Welcome to the Bachelor Recap for Nick’s season. The reality (cough cough) mate selection program.

By way of background we are familiar with Nick. He was one of the final two contestants in Andi’s season (winner was Josh but that relationship lasted about 3 ½ hours after the final rose) as well as the final two in Kaitlyn’s season.  My take on him during both the seasons was he is best classified as a weasel. Supposedly, Nick went on redemption tour on bachelor in paradise but weasels generally don’t change their spots ( to mix in a few animal metaphors). But the  bachelor producers seems to know what they are doing in picking Nick (maybe he will be the first bachelor murdered on National TV-we can only imagine what they have in store for him.

The season starts with a humorous acknowledgement that he is not universally adored by Bachelor Nation. Random strangers approach him in a “booth” as he is announced as next Bachelor and offer comments mentioning they despised him and rooted against him.

But our boy takes the high road (after much coaching I would guess) and shows no grudges and offers some humility and warmth as he expresses his desire to find love at the end of the Bachelor journey.

Given this is his third time on the show we can assume he hopes the third time is the charm.

The producers have done a great job  camouflaging the real competition. Although this show is named the bachelor,  the show is about the girls. The 30 candidates get the screen time and generate our rooting interest where the bachelor is basically a straight man to their show.

Secondly, all the ladies express their goal is to win the final rose on the road to true love. When in fact the real goal is to get close to the final rose , not to win the rose but get the gig as the next Bachelorette.

So when we hear the eventual criticisms that one of the candidates is not there for the “right reasons” that is to win Nick’s heart and the final rose, the producers must be laughing behind the walls.

By being awarded the Bachelor gig, Nick is assured of helicopter rides and hanging out in exotic locations with beautiful ladies.  Many of us in Bachelor Nation (ok maybe just me) are very skeptical of Nick but will watch anyway as the producers find a way to cast some villains and schemers. And we all enjoy contests where it is win or go home.

Week 1: Let’s meet the ladies!

This is a tough week as we get shown some profiles of the ladies. The ladies know they need to distinguish themselves from the crowd. And they don’t have a lot of time do make their impression.

I have particular interest in the classification of their occupation as we have had some clever ones such as “twin” or “chicken enthusiast” in prior years and I imagine we have some interesting ones coming up.

The first lady out of the limo to meet Nick is Danielle L. She is a small business owner in California and a knockout. Lauren  B was the first out of the limo in Ben’s season so we know the first one is a highly seeded candidate in the eyes of the producers.  She has a bright smile, appears charming and poised   and the producers will have her in a bikini as soon as possible. We have only met one contestant and I have her in the final four already.

We also meet Rachel, an attorney out of Dallas. She vaults  into final four category with her smooth and articulate meeting with  Nick and already we have a field of great candidates  for the next Bachelorette , or rather Nick’s search for everlasting  love ... .but looking way ahead  Rachel  could be the first black bachelorette instead of the first black final rose winner.

Soon we meet Corrine. Corrine is presented as a small business owner in Miami .But I get the impression her parents run it and Corrine wants us to see her as a player. Then she mentions she has her Nanny help her as we see a nanny bring her a snack. This chick is 24! And she chooses to highlight she has her nanny helping her get thru the day. Nature helps us in our mate selection process by giving us warning signs to avoid the potholes of mate selection process. And the nanny would send off a huge warning sign to me –lights and horns and whistles- but Nick seems to warm up to young Corrine and we know we will see more of her going forward.  I begin to wonder if the nanny will be featured in the hometowns weekend. The good news is Corrine shows a lot of potential to be this season villain. 

 

We soon meet Vanessa, a special Ed teacher from Montreal that speaks multiple languages and sounds great when she speaks in French. I have a feeling it would not sound as melodious if she spoke Bulgarian but I seed her as a final four candidate in a pool that is getting a crowded already.

 We meet Alexis from New Jersey. Alexis arrives in a shark outfit and mentions she loves dolphins.  She stays in the shark outfit all thru the session including the rose ceremony so I give her points for a sense of humor.  I don’t see her going very far  but she might be fun to have around a couple weeks .

We rapidly run though 30 contestants and  I wonder how Nick can keep track of their names

But he manages to get to the rose ceremony and reduce the pool to 22. Although the producers have manger to set this up as a competition like the sports playoffs with winners (roses) advancing we miss a central part of the mate selection process that is highlighted in literature.

The Bachelor has no obstacles of to overcome. We hear how difficult it is to reduce the field from 10 to 7 and the like which is really silly  but the bachelor does not have any hurdles.

We know Romeo and Juliet were star crossed lovers that endured the feud of the Montague and Capulet families.  Nick surely does not have violent family feuds to overcome. In fact our candidates already express their attraction and devotion to winning Nick’s heart before he knows them.  The nature of the competition is the ladies fight for the roses but Nick can sit back and determine fates without any commitment on his side expect to “develop a connection.”

But let’s look at another relationship in history that had obstacles.

Sarah Knox "Knoxie" Taylor Davis (March 6, 1814 – September 15, 1835) was the daughter of Zachary Taylor was a career military officer during her life and later became POTUS. She met Jefferson Davis (who would later become the president of the Confederacy) then living ( 1831) with her father and family at Fort Crawford (Wisconsin) during the Black Hawk War.

 Sarah was given the nickname "Knoxie," which originated from her middle name and from Fort Know II in Vincennes, Indiana she was born. How can you not like a chick named Knoxie?

At age 17, Sarah fell in love with Jefferson Davis, a recent graduate of the United States Military Academy a lieutenant, who was second to General Taylor at the fort. Davis was transferred to St Louis 1833, yet managed to keep in contact with the woman whom he wished to marry. Taylor admired Davis for his soldiering skills but opposed the romantic match. The Taylors felt that the military life was too hard and did not want Sarah to be an Army wife. But despite the objections of the general and his family as well as the geographical distance between the two, with no texting or facetime to help them manage the distance, the young lovers still were married three years later. They overcame a lot of obstacles .  

However, both of the newlyweds contracted malaria on a summer visit to Davis's sister, Anna Davis Smith, in Louisiana.  Sarah died of it, just three months after her marriage to Jefferson, still at his sister's home. Jefferson nearly died of it as well.

Ok so maybe having obstacles has not worked so well given Romeo and Juliet  both died  young too but it makes for an interesting story. 

Week 2:

We have a group date where the young ladies dress up for a wedding themed photo shoot. Each of the ladies has a different role including shotgun wedding (with Alexis as the pregnant girl) and Adam and Eve theme with Brittany in the Eve role.  All the girls are photogenic but Corrine decides to upstage Eve by dragging Nick into the pool where she rips off his shirt and her top looking for a “Janet Jackson shot”.

During the show we see Corrine constantly interrupting Nick while chatting with other girls and we now have decreed “No more calls…We have our villain”. In a bit of irony, Corrine interrupting the other girl’s time with Nick is reminiscent of Nick interrupting guys while on the Bachelorette. She channels her “inner Nick” in pursuing Nick!  And she gets a rose!

Meanwhile , she distances herself from the other girls as she sets herself up to be the one most talked about, which I suppose is a goal of sorts .

We barely see any of my top 3 candidates as if they are given a pass to the next round while we meet some others. Danielle M a neo natal nurse who gets the first one –on--one date. Of course we get in the helicopter and fly around and Nick pretends he is a traffic reporter… funny guy …

Danielle M confesses her previous boyfriend died of a drug overdose so we enter a somber moment. The producers seems to be outdoing themselves on the tragedies these contestants  have endured but you have to wonder if getting a family member/close friend hit by a bus is a requisite for getting on the show.

 We also get a few minutes with Liz. Liz already knows our boy from meeting him at a wedding last summer and then spending the night. Nick is a bit surprised to see her among the candidates and when he finally gets he alone he asks where she has been given they “had a moment” or rather a series of moments. (With acknowledgement   to The Wedding Crashers movie). Quickly Nick decides “this dog does not hunt as they say somewhere” and escorts her out and we are down to 21.

Anyway, we are ready to move ahead tonight and see if Nick can make progress in his journey for love.