When I was 12, I went to the movies with my Dad to see Kevin Costner’s
epic ‘Dances with Wolves’. I got an Olympic swimming pool-sized
Mountain Dew. By the time Lieutenant Dunbar was speaking Sioux, I had to
pee like there were greyhounds in my bladder. It was the most
uncomfortable 3 hours of my life. Until Sunday night’s Bachelorette
finale.
Emily Maynard ruined the better part of my summer and her
‘kill’ move was a pointless 3-hour finale. She jumped off of the top
turn buckle and slammed her elbow into my face with crying and talking
and dumping and making out.
Two Game show contestants remained
heading into Sunday’s re-hash-a-thon, Arie and Jef with 1 ‘f’. Arie is a
race car driver. Jef with 1 ‘f’ is a skateboard rider or something. He
might be a grain merchant. I tend not to read a lot.
It’s the end of the end, folks. It’s the most dramatic Bachelorette finale ever!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!!!!
We
start with a live studio audience cheering on Chris Harrison as he
tells us the stakes of this dramatic finale. Harrison also asks America
to make sure more people don’t shoot people. That happened. I’m not
trying to be insensitive to tragic events but, it was a forced and
awkward recognition. It wasn’t very sincere. I don’t know why it had to
happen during the Bachelorette finale, right before a woman dumps one of
her two boyfriends.
Emily has brought her family to Curacao to
meet her potential sex partners. Jef with 1 ‘f’ gets the first chance to
make an impression. He’s wearing the cleanest white T-shirt I’ve ever
seen. It looks like it should be making crinkly sounds. I don’t own
anything that clean and white. I would have chili and Kool Aid stains on
that white T-shirt in 4 seconds.
Jef with 1 ‘f’ makes a good
first impression. Emily’s family loves him. It must be the T-shirt. It
has a little pocket. Emily’s brother has hair like a Ken doll… and
that’s not a compliment. He kind of sounds like Aaron Schobel when he
talks (sports quota filled).
Emily’s Mom likes Jef with 1 ‘f’ and, as
she talks about how Jef makes Emily happy, they cut to a shot of Emily
laughing. It’s ABC making sure you know that Jef with 1 ‘f’ makes Emily
happy.
Emily’s brother and his hair helmet grill Jef with 1
‘f’ and his hair typhoon. Jef with 1 ‘f’ talks about his love and
connection and the ABC piano guy almost breaks his fingers with the
softest, fiercest piano music I’ve ever heard. I want to build a time
machine and erase all of my sins.
Emily’s hair-helmeted brother,
who has known Jef with 1 ‘f’ for 4 seconds, says that he truly believes
in his heart that Jef is sincere. What a good brother. He’s so
protective.
Emily’s Dad tells Jef with 1 ‘f’ that he has permission to marry his daughter.
The
next day, Emily’s family has to meet Arie. It’s dramatic. Emily plays
up her boyfriend by saying, “Arie is so easy to love”. I must not have
been trying hard.
Arie kept all of the roses and brings them out as a
gift. If he loses, he could probably sell those on Ebay. I know there
are some girls in Atlanta who might be crazy enough to dig deep for that
kind of memorabilia. Arie tries to talk about fishing because Emily’s
family likes fishing. It’s going well. I’m bored out of my mind.
The
family likes Arie. Emily’s brother is confused after meeting Arie. He
says, “After meeting Arie, I’m confused”. ABC accidentally leaves their
live audience volume knob up and you hear them laugh at Emily’s
brother’s statement… or his hair.
The audience sound is potted up
again when Arie asked Emily’s Dad for permission to marry. This is
strange. I feel like they’re laughing at me for recapping the Bachelor. I
ABC would turn it off.
Emily’s Dad gives Arie permission to
marry his daughter… and, at this point, why not? This man has given so
many Reality TV stars permission to marry his daughter that I doubt he
can even keep track.
Emily struggles with her family over who
they like better. The ABC piano player does a line of coke and delves
into some serious ‘Emily isn’t sure who she loves’ music. Emily has 40
pounds of brass of gold in her ears. Her earrings could be gladiator
shields.
We go to commercial with Emily crying… and then ABC teases more crying. It’s like they’re saying, “Hope you like crying!”
We
come back from commercial so Chris Harrison can ask the live studio
audience, by applause, who they think should win the Game show. They
vote for Jef with 1 ‘f’. It’s like how Eminen won the first two rounds
of his thrilling battle rap sequence in the movie 8-mile, only with a
little less fear of people being stabbed.
Emily loves both of her
boyfriends, but she’s afraid of making the wrong decision. She says
that she wants what’s best for her daughter, Ricki. I’m guessing what
would be best for Ricki would be to not choose her father on National
television. I’m guessing Ricki would benefit from not having her father
chosen from a pool of 25 men who are all being dated at once. I would
surely think that it would be best for Ricki to not have camera men in
her bedroom filming her fall asleep after her mother closes the door and
turns out the light… but, what do I know? I’m not an expert on what is
best for Ricki.
Emily didn’t want to introduce the daughter she
ruined to either of her boyfriends but, she changed her mind and brought
Jef with 1 ‘f’ to meet her. It’s the first time I’ve thought that I may
be wrong about the whole ‘Arie winning’ thing.
The exploitation goes
well. Ricki swims and falls in love with Jef with 1 ‘f’ and he falls in
love with her and it’s magical and the piano player takes a break so
the guy with the lute can jam out some ‘Ricki loves Jef with 1 ‘f’’
tunes.
Emily is very happy about Jef’s interaction with Ricki and
says “He has totally exceeded my expectations”. I guess that means that
Emily thought that Jef with 1 ‘f’ would treat his daughter like
garbage.
There’s a ton of uncomfortable alone time where a
potential future husband meets his potential future daughter and it’s
not unnatural at all that it’s happening in front of us on television
and I don’t think that Ricki will need a lot of therapy of prescription
medication at all.
Emily and Jef with 1 ‘f’ recap their
entire season with annoying cute whisper talk. Chris Harrison is hanging
out in the background thinking, “Um, I do that! That’s my job!”
Emily
and Jef with 1 ‘f’ make out and he gives her a gift. I think I called
this wrong. It’s looking like Jef with 1 ‘f’ wins it. There’s still
plenty of show left but, these two look like they have a beautiful
6-month relationship in front of them.
The gift is a book of
pictures and memories. They aren’t real pictures. Jef with 1 ‘f’ took
pictures of random places and drew stick figures to signify where he and
Emily had fun. If this wasn’t a Reality TV show, a swat team would have
descended from grappling hooks and tazed Jef to death. It’s creepy.
Jef
with 1 ‘f’ says goodbye. He says, “That’s the hardest goodbye I’ve ever
said…. Ever”. That’s 2 ‘evers’ people. It’s serious. Jef with 1 ‘f’ is
serious. To prove how serious, ABC captures Jef watching Emily leave
from atop a staircase with fresh tropic rain washing over his shoulders
and Gumby-like hair.
Arie’s next date is up next and, if Jef with 1 ‘f’s date is any indication, Arie is in for some cold shouldering.
Before
the date, Chris Harrison polls the live studio audience of 399 women
and 1 guy. The creepy ladies of the audience are clearly pro-Jef and say
stalkery things about him. (‘Stalkery’ is a word, computer!)
Chris
Harrison throws it back to the taped footage, which consists of Chris
Harrison interviewing Emily. He’s become a head nodder and a life coach.
Emily
gushes on about her caring for more than 1 guy. It should be a surprise
that she likes more than 1 guy, considering how she only dated 25 of
them. That would sneak up on anyone.
The bomb is dropped that
Emily does only love Jef with 1 ‘f’ and doesn’t want to confront Arie
about not loving him as much as Jef with 1 ‘f’. She’s all snot-filled
and crying. Basically, Emily needs to dump Arie, but would probably
prefer to do it by text.
I hope she does it by text.
ABC
doesn’t allow her to do it by text. Emily gets together with Arie to
dump him. Chris Harrison tells her to be honest. Emily cries some more.
There’s crying. There’s a ton of crying.
So, this is where we
stand. We know the ending of this stupid show and there is still 40
minutes left. Actually, there is 40 minutes and then an hour of bullshit
after that. I’m so mad.
Arie arrives for his date, not knowing
that he’s about to be dumped, he picks flowers for Emily and gushes to
the camera about proposing to Emily and meeting Ricki. Soft piano guy
plays on like nothing is wrong.
Emily shows up and cries. Arie,
still not aware that he’s being dumped tells Emily that he made her a
love potion and has to rub it on her (true). Emily starts bawling. Arie
knows what is up. Soft piano guy gets some string accompaniment. Things
are getting dramatic. Arie is being dumped. He gets a little mad. Arie
does contain himself. He doesn’t hurt his chances of being a future
Bachelor.
The dumping happens and we are forced to watch 14
minutes of Emily crying and Arie thinking. They just sit in silence. The
calcium in my stomach turns to a stone that I will be forced to pee
out. The Bachelorette just keeps on giving.
Arie thanks Emily for
dumping him a day early. When they hug goodbye, their chests touch and
you can hear a very fast heartbeat. It was probably dubbed in by
Bachelor Producers and, if so … Bravo!
Arie pours his heart out in the limo. He acts like a guy who was just dumped by a girl who dated 25 guys in the span of 8 weeks.
As
Arie drives out of Emily’s life, cameras capture her staring into a
pond with a ‘I just dumped a race car driver’ look on her face. ABC cuts
to a shot of a stunned live studio audience.
We still have so
much show left. I’m so angry. Chris Harrison says, “Emily just shocked
America” which isn’t true. Then, Chris Harrison ruins my life by
bringing back Ashley H. from last season’s Bachelorette. If you’re new
to my recaps, I hate Ashley H. like you hate having poo rubbed into your
eyes.
Ashley H. and her fiancĂ© J.P. talk about being in Arie’s
shoes and it’s annoying. Another former Bachelorette, Deanna, is
interviewed to remind me how much I hated her. Then, a breakdance guy is
interviewed. Chris Harrison starts the interview by saying, “You are
much beloved…” I laugh so hard, I wake up people in Wyoming.
Then,
more people are interviewed and this show sucks. It’s a whole segment
of interviews with plastic, herpes-ridden people who make their living
off of making out on National television with other collagen-filled
people.
When we come back from commercial, Emily stands on a
beach in Curacao and blabs on about how great of a father Jef with 1 ‘f’
will make… even though his own parents hated the idea of this union so
much that they refused to be shown (I think).
Jef with 1 ‘f’
visits with the blood-sucking diamond guy so he can make his yearly
appearance. I’d love to drive down a road and witness the blood-sucking
diamond guy trapped under a car with a handful of diamonds that do not
help. I’m a bit anti-diamond. It’s a rock. Beer bottles are shiny too if
you hold them in the right light.
Chris Harrison walks Jef
with 1 ‘f’ up to meet Emily. The music could be used to usher a wrestler
to a stage. Jef with 1 ‘f’ marches up to propose to Emily.
We’re interrupted for a commercial break, complete with Bachelor Pad promo (I’m not watching. I need time off)
It’s
windy in Curacao. Jef with 1 ‘f’ fights through it to propose to Emily.
This is taking forever. Emily gives a speech. She admits to dumping
Arie the day before. Jef with 1 ‘f’ talks a bunch about love and trust
and paths and I start to lose sensation in my legs and arms. This is
taking more forever.
Single ‘f’ Jef finally proposes. ABC leaves
the live studio sound up to get some applause. It’s so pathetic knowing
they aren’t going to remember each other’s single ‘f’ names in a year.
ABC
plays a Jef/Emily montage set to the theme from Karate Kid II. It’s
complete with footage of their dating while she was also dating 24 other
guys. And, yes, when Peter Cetera sings “Like a knight in shining
armor”, they show Jef with 1 ‘f’ shooting a bow and arrow. I throw up in
my mouth.
Jef with 1 ‘f’, Emily and Emily’s exploited daughter Ricki march off into the sunset together. It’s uber creepy.
Chris
Harrison jumps in for the postgame show, ‘After the Final Rose’. It’s
the first live ‘After the Final Rose’ ever. Chris Harrison says they’re
doing it live to make sure we have the most up-to-date info on the happy
couple. It’s another way of saying, “Let’s see if they’re still
together!”
Emily answers questions about finally being in love
for the first time since the last time she sought out love on National
television. That last time went well.
Always the dramatic
killjoy, Chris Harrison brings out Arie for a dramatic talk with Emily
and it’s dramatic. Arie smoothly handles the constant mention of his
dumping as the women in the audience swoon. He and Emily look like
they’ll remain friends, which will come in handy in a couple of months
when she’s done with her other boyfriend.
Arie says that he
brought his diary with him to the postgame show. He left it with Emily
so she could read about how much he loved her. Emily didn’t read it. I
say a little prayer that they don’t pull it out and start reading it
aloud. They do not.
Arie once again thanks Emily for dumping him.
Jef
with 1 ‘f’ comes out next so the audience can cheer their temporary
love. They talk about how it doesn’t feel like they met on a Reality TV
show, even though Jef’s girlfriend also dated a ton of other guys and
made out with a lot of them and was pressed against Croatian buildings
by some of them while straddling these other boyfriend’s loins. It
wasn’t like a television show at all.
ABC shows pictures of how
good a guy Jef with 1 ‘f’ is because he took Ricki fishing and helped
her pet a goat. He really is ‘Dad’ material. I’m sure they already
covered the subject of whether or not he’s allowed to discipline her and
what Ricki is supposed to call him.
They replay the proposal
while showing a little screen of the couple’s reaction. I fast forward.
They talk some more and I fast forward. The audience claps for something
and I fast forward. Emily and Jef with 1 ‘f’ make out. It’s so late and
I hate this show so much.
The newly engaged couple announce that
they’re heading to Africa to build wells and do some humanitarian work.
I’m sure Africa is thrilled. The show ends. A part of me is dead
forever.
I’m not watching the Bachelor Pad. I apologize. I can’t
do it. I hate it. I will be back in the fall for the Bachelor even
though I don’t want to do that either. I guess there’s a chance I could
die before that. There’s always hope.
If
you’re interested in my book (Not about the Bachelor) click here. It’s good. I promise.