Graham Cracks ( Bachelorette 4 round of 4)

Graham Bunn and Deanna Pappas sit on a bench together and the Bachelorette lectures her reluctant suitor about “stepping up”. She even says the four letter “B” word multiple times and all but tells the former high school basketball player that she feels like he’s Womacking her attempt to give a hundred percent of her heart to the show. “You’re the one I wanted to fall in love with, “ she sobs.

Graham keeps shaking his head and gesturing as if he’s trying to say something. Eventually, he pulls out a letter that’s not for the tv cameras. He goes off in that limo in which they drive you around in circles until you either say something emotional or break down crying. Even Mike Fleiss can’t limo-board Graham Bunn. The camera then shows you Deanna reading the letter.

I have no idea what happened on that home visit. When the guy was running around the Wake Forest-Rollesville gymnasium, he seemed into it. After a brief visit with his surprisingly elderly looking parents that included only a handful of Graham reaction shots and a bit with his father where he seemed quite open to the possibility of Deanna, he was next seen on a bench there being oddly diffident. Well, star athletes often don’t take well to being on the bench. I wondered if Graham was maybe bi-polar then it struck me that something significant got left out of his home date story arc. If it’s on the editing floor, they may have made the right decision for once. I’m not sure that I’ve seen this much dramatic tension around a hometown date elimination.

All at once, Deanna’s expression of desire for Graham, his discomfort with the “reality television” setting, and Graham’s mom’s bit about her son shutting other people out conspired to make this “reality tv” moment suggest feelings so actual that Fleiss’s camera was sort of at a loss. It was just there. The captain of the basketball team had just dumped Deanna right after making like he was going to ask her to the prom.

Usually the hometown visits focus on the “families”, this installment instead emphasized the evolution of the four relationships. It reminded me of the movie Love Actually, a romantic comedy that explores all the different types and stages of love through a series of interconnected stories that all culminate in an airport. The movie was made not long after 9/11, so the airport at the end has this resonance that makes the stories even more affecting. In this case, we saw Jesse-the friend who shows signs of being able to be something more: Jeremy-the guy who opens up to Deanna for the first time because they both had parents die when they were young. At the same time, there’s a sense that the two might be too similar. Too controlled- too much affected by the pain. At one point, Jeremy’s brother says “the last woman to break your heart was mom” and instead of thinking “how sweet?” I was going “Oh wow, don’t go there. Those photos of Jeremy’s mom look a bit too much like Deanna herself” : Jason- makes the case for a reverse Jerry Macguire thing. He has the Jonathan Lipnicki stand in instead of Renee Zellweger. There’s the ultra-warm family and the “you complete me” revelation that seems to pour forth from Deanna as they feed the ducks. Oddly, Deanna looked a little awkward with the kid, but the show still delivered the Deanna discovers her inner-mom thing successfully enough. If you remember, Jerry has this bit where he has to ask himself if he’s more into the kid and the instant family than he is into Renee’s character herself (especially since she hasn’t accepted L. Ron Hubbard) then has to go off to sort it out. In this case, Jason seemed like a bit player on the hometown visit : Graham- as we discussed is Brad 2.0 distant, unpredictable, yet has this primal and possibly unhealthy hold on Deanna’s affections.

At the end of the episode, my wife and I turned to one another and said “Wow Dear, that was the most dramatic hometown date episode ever!”

For once, you could actually make a good case for any of the final four as a possible romance. Noelle Drake was one of my favorite Bachelorettes, but no one thought she was really in the horse race even if they did ride horses on Matt’s hometown visit. Who doesn’t remember the disaster of Amber Al Chalabi’s hometown visit with Andy, the chatty roommate, the dog leaving his opinion of the Doctor-Officer, and the parents no-showing the visit? Bottom line, there’s historically always been one hometown date where the Bachelor or Bachelorette has better chemistry with the sister, brother, best friend. This time, even after Graham disappeared, we’re left wondering “What the hell is in that note and could he pull a Trish or something and try to come back?”

This time all possibilities seem plausible and instead of losing steam at this point, this installment of the Bachelorette is deepening the tension. Even the previews were done pretty well. There were little suggestions that Jesse is a bit more personally conservative than one would imagine. Amidst talking aout how they waited twelve years to have a child (Abraham and Sarah), his parents mentioned God multiple times. Jesse appears to pull a Bachelor first by insisting that he meet Deanna’s father before they do the fantasy suite. After dozens of sleazy Bachelors, who would have thunk that this guy who sometimes seemed slightly stoned would have this strong a sense of romantic honor?

Even if Jason remains the favorite, they show him being a bit too happy about the offer of the Chris Harrison card. I was somewhat amazed at the way they didn’t hold back at all with the romantic comedy storyline with Jason, the son, and the family, yet managed to suggest real doubt without resorting to Fleissian artifice. For one, you do wonder if Jason really is ready emotionally? Even bigger, I wondered if they had Deanna spending an unrealistic amount of time with Ty on that date. Geez, it even seemed like they had the guy come home after several weeks away and he didn’t get any alone time with his son. Instead, he shows up with Deanna right away and spends his first evening back having one on one time with the pretty lady from the tv instead of being alone with his son.
Besides, Deanna seemed awfully careful in that game of leap frog not to touch any Mesnick family butt (Dad who I think is divorced from Jason's mom really seemed to like Deanna in a way that shot straight through the camera) and Jason and Ty also seemed to take care not to make rear end contact with the Bachelorette.

Getting the ending right matters of course and who knows if they manage that one, but I’m ready to say that this has been the best installment of the Bachelor yet. They haven’t hidden anything, yet they’ve kept the viewer wondering even about the inevitable because the trick this time has been to show more (maybe because there's more to show of these Bachelors). They finally got their soap opera.

You may have noticed that there was almost no footage of Jeremy in the previews. Most folk are convinced that he goes next week, yet you feel for Jeremy regardless. It’s a little reminiscent of Danielle (the dead boyfriend lady) from Andy’s season, but it’s done way better. He needs Deanna in his life, but it begs the question does she need him? Is love a deep physical longing? Is it a sense of being covered in a blanket of happiness? Is it a sense of comfort that evolves unexpectedly? Is there a single right guy? If one does have to make a choice between viable possibilities, isn’t that a sign that there’s something wrong with the available choices? Is the chooser a bit too self-absorbed? All these questions and not nearly enough roses :}


Little stuff:
1) Was that a Kellie Pickler moment when Deanna didn't know what the space needle was?

2) Graham's form on that half court shot was pretty iffy. Is he auditioning for the lead in John Tucker Must Die the sequel?

3) This is mean, but with Jeremy's family was Deanna thinking....This is cool, I get to be the hottest woman in this family for sure.

4) The photo album thing was a direct play on Deanna and the photo album with Brad.

5) Jesse insisting on meeting her Dad....seems to be leading to Deanna's dad flying out once again for the final rose though I don't think Jesse gets that rose. Still, it's a nice foreshadow. Jesse meets Pappa Pappas, then pulls out a label that says "Deanna's Dad" on it and glues it to the man's forehead.

6) Deanna's timetable, the same as Lisa Blank's btw, pretty much eliminates anyone but Jason. How do you get engaged, married, and have 3 children between age 26 and 30? I suppose she could turn into Brangelina Jolie or perhaps certain precautions get forgotten in the fantasy suite.


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