Monday, March 02, 2009

The Bachelor, revisited...

Let's just get this out of the way.

Guys like Jason Mesnik are the very reason that girls like me are afraid to trust. We're afraid to be vulnerable.

Oh, love.

The Bachelor is probably going to be the source of a great deal of ridicule for quite some time. What happened this week was completely unexpected, though I knew something crazy was going to happen. I hate how TV producers have to do things just for ratings.

Here's what's happening in case you haven't watched. (Though if you haven't watched, you probably don't care to continue reading. And if you missed tonight's episode but DVR'ed it...stop reading now.) Jason picked a girl named Melissa. He told the other girl, Mollie, that he thought she was amazing...fantastic and amazing...but he loved someone else more than he had "fallen" for her. So Jason proposed to Melissa. And they lived happily ever after.

...or not...

On tonight's After the Rose Ceremony episode, Jason came on and announced that in the past 6 weeks since the proposal, their relationship had not been working and they were not right for each other. He admitted to still having feelings for Mollie and that he couldn't get her out of his heart or head.

As I watched, the words coming out of his mouth didn't even make sense. He said he hates himself for what he's doing, yet he's doing it anyway. I really think these conversations should have been held off the air without cameras for the world to see. Heartbreak is hard enough, and this was like a therapy session with the world as their therapist.

Jason wasn't willing to fight for his relationship with Melissa. And while not all relationships are worth fighting for, I think he just gave up. He was in love with Mollie at the same time, but how could he not be with the foundation of their relationships? I think the show, in and of itself, is setting all of these relationships up for failure by making it a competition.

When you allow someone (i.e. Jason) to love two people at the same time and then suddenly, for competition purposes, break the ties with one person, you're bound to still have feelings for said person. Feelings aren't cut off or severed as quickly as roses are or are not handed out in a ceremony. So when you allow multiple relationships to escalate to the level they did, you're bound to begin one relationship with feelings still in existence for someone else.

How is it, then, that I get sucked into this false reality of The Bachelor every time? I do not know.

Alas, I am certain that I'll never expect love to happen the way it does on one of these shows, and I'll never submit myself to be the next Bachelorette. I'm indecisive enough as it is!

2 comments:

Shannon said...

So I was reading somewhere that Jason knew it was Mollie all along...they had an instant connection. But ABC said it wasn't good enough for ratings so they used Melissa the whole time as a pawn...There's a disclosure at the end of every reality show in super fine print that says they have the right to 'write' whatever they want the outcome to be and the participants must comply. Interesting theory...

Mills Family said...

If a guys does not know the Joy of redeeming love expect that he will act like a dog.

If a guy knows the Joy of redeeming love expect he might act like a dog.