Jake Malooley: We’re now two episodes into The Bachelor, season eleventy-thousand. Our bachelor is Nick Viall, a Wisconsin native who recently resided in Chicago before heading off to LA to become a career reality-show contestant. But in episode one the show made a desperate attempt to make it look like Nick still lives in Chicago, with shots of him walking around Michigan Avenue.
What do you think? Is he trying to be the star of The Bachelor or is he really “trusting the process”?
A few other small progressions this season: more women of color and a bisexual woman who is proud to admit she dated a girl. And not in an aren’t-I-sexy-because-I-kissed-a-girl way.
JM: As the Trumps like to say, there are winners and losers in life.
JM: Nick might be drawn to her because she probably reminds him of himself at the dawn of his Bachelor career. Like him, she’s also a studied Bachelor strategist, albeit in a more bratty manner. She knows it’s the villain (which, by the way, you can’t spell without “Viall”) who is the star, that the villain controls the narrative and gets the most screen time—and who has the most potential on future shows. She’s surely on her way to Paradise, where she’ll have a Nick-like reversal and somehow become beloved.
My theory is that Liz saw her best friend, Jade, meet Tanner on Bachelor in Paradise, and Liz wondered if she could use her minimal connection to forge the same path. If she really wanted to be with Nick, this is the worst possible time. Go grab a coffee or something, for goodness’ sakes! Don’t subject yourself to an awkward visit to the Museum of Broken Relationships with six other women who are trying to date the guy you’re interested in!
