Kayte Christensen: Confessions of a TV Addict
PHOENIX, May 5-- Tonight's episode of The Bachelor takes us yet one step closer to the final episode and the reveal of who Jesse Palmer, quarterback for the New York Giants, has chosen to possibly become his future wife and the mother of his children. And, like the episodes up to this point, they have been nothing if not entertaining.
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Confessions of a TV Addict. (Photo: Arizona Department of Health Services) |
Jesse's first trip was to Huntington Beach, CA to meet up with Jessica and her dog Cubby on the beach for a picnic and some alone time before meeting her rather large and somewhat-protective family. Jessica took advantage of the time on the beach to see just where Jesse is in terms of what he was looking for from this whole process. Most importantly Jessica felt the need to let Jesse know that she is there because she has a genuine interest and feels completely invested in the "what ifs" that will inevitably come. Jessica's questions would be nothing in comparison to what her family - her mother, father, both brothers, grandma and grandpa � had in store for him. Jessica's mother was extremely, and I mean extremely with a capital E, concerned about her daughter not following through with law school. Jessica's father was less concerned with law school and more concerned with the fact that his 21 year old daughter was considering a very lasting commitment. He had a written question for Jesse from each member of the family that read: �Will you respect our daughter sister and granddaughter? Don't tell us, show us.� Jesse was not threatened, but impressed. He realized that talk is cheep and actions speak louder than words. Despite the skepticism, Jesse made it through his first family date of four.
Next on Jesse's tour of four cities was Andrews, Texas, the small town where Mandy-Jaye's mother and stepfather reside. The day started out on a bit of a sour note when Mandy-Jaye found out that her father, who is divorced from her mother and has since remarried, would not be making the trip to meet Jesse. The divorce was somewhat bitter and her mother and father are not on speaking terms. When she met Jesse at the country club, she had to tell Jesse that due to the circumstances her father would be unable to make it. For the first time, Mandy-Jaye let her guard down when she explained the situation to Jesse, and was forthcoming enough to help him understand that being the daughter of divorced parents has been somewhat painful for her to deal with.
Jesse felt like he was beginning to see the real Mandy-Jaye, not the one who has been coached for ten years on interview skills for pageants. It was a very short lived relief because the moment he walked through her mother's door, directly after introductions, Mandy-Jaye pulled him into the "Pageant Room" which was a shrine to Mandy-Jaye, her crowns, her sashes, photographs and so on. During dinner, the conversation immediately turned to her run on the pageant circuit. In fact, there was no point during the entire visit that her family had a single question for Jesse about anything. After dinner, Jesse joined Mandy-Jaye's stepfather out in the garage to look at the motorcycles. There, too, the conversation turned to pageants and how her stepfather hated pageants because he could not understand why his daughter wasn't Miss Texas or whatever. He even went as far as saying he tried not to embarrass Mandy-Jaye by "jerking" the judges for not choosing her. By the end of the evening, Jesse was worn out with pageant talk and felt like he knew nothing more about Mandy-Jaye than he did upon arriving. Needless to say, he was quite ready to depart for his next destination.
Third stop on the itinerary, Paul's Valley, Oklahoma to Tara's family ranch. According to Jesse, this was the most important family visit because he was concerned up to this point with Tara's skepticism. Before Tara's father arrived out by the lake, she had time to forewarn Jesse that her dad is very intense and quite intimidating. She admitted that he always researches the men in Tara's life on the internet getting a complete background check to make sure they haven't committed any crimes. When Tara's father, Craig, stepped out of his Yukon, he had a shotgun in his hand. He handed it to Tara and then proceeded to get an M-16 out of the backseat. Jesse, like most men staring down the barrel of a shotgun and an automatic rifle, was what one might call uncomfortable given the fact that he doesn't like and has never fired a gun. Tara shot first and was quite a marksman. Then her father pulled out his M-16 and proceeded to unload on the poor tin cans they were using as targets.
After Craig achieved his goal of scaring the living daylights out of Jesse, they all sat down and had a beer. During the "friendly" conversation, Craig gave Jesse his view of love. Apparently Tara's father feels love is something that was made up for the movies and all men are scumbags. Even better, he has been filling Tara's head with these thoughts since she was a little girl. With this new information, Jesse finally figured out why Tara had a wall around her comparable to the Great Wall of China. With several questions answered in Oklahoma, Jesse moved on to his final home before the rose ceremony.
He joined Trish in Atlanta, Georgia and met up with her at a hotel for some drinks and an opportunity to get some answers to some very serious issues. He confronted her with the statement Karen made implying Trish was not there fore the right reasons at the previous rose ceremony. He asked Trish what she could have done or said for the women in the house to feel the way they do about her. Then Jesse came straight out and told her that he does not want to be played. With that said, Trish got up and left the room obviously ticked off. Eventually regaining control of herself, she came back into the hotel room and tried to assure Jesse that she is there because she wants to be with him and she can't "redeem" herself against all of the accusations. Jesse's only request at that point is that Trish always be honest with him.
Despite the intense conversation in the hotel, Jesse still had to meet her family. He joined Trish at her parent's house for dinner with her mom, Barbara, father Tom and sister Susan. It was at this point that a thought entered my mind that had not yet occurred to me. During the past several weeks, Trish's parents have had to witness first-hand their daughter's behavior in the women's villa, her comment's and blatant bragging of her affairs with married men and women. The whole time I was watching the past programs, it never occurred to me that her family, who probably told all of their close friends and co-workers their daughter was on the show, would find out some very unbecoming things about their daughter. What could they possibly be thinking and feeling throughout this process?
As they say the show must go on, and it did. Jesse joined the four women, who had not seen each other since the last somewhat confrontational rose ceremony, back at the Bachelor pad for the rose ceremony. He had an opportunity to speak with each woman privately, giving them all a chance to voice their intentions yet one more time before retiring to the deliberation room.
Finally, a few weeks late (if you ask most of America), Jesse sent Trish home, saying that he feels they are not meant to spend the rest of their lives together. She graciously sat and listened to every word he had to say and then got in the limo and went home. In the limo, however, she made some very bold statements. As she has said countless times throughout this program, she does not take NO for an answer. Trish "wants her boyfriend back and if [she] wants something, she is going to get it. If someone tells her no, [she] fights back harder. This is not over."
The best part of tonight's episode was the previews for next week's episode, which show Trish showing up to Mandy-Jaye and Jesse's private getaway date and yanking him away from the dinner table telling him he has made a mistake and that he should send Mandy-Jaye home.
Until next time, when Trish is arrested for stalking�.