‘The Bachelorette’s’ new wrinkles are worth smiling about
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The ABC series has tossed out tradition this season and is better for it. But there are still tweaks to be made.
On ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette,’ the hotel room that serves as the locale for a sleepover date late in the competition is called the fantasy suite for a reason, but not the obvious one. Sure, it’s sensuous, in a romance novel way -- candles, rose petals, high-thread-count sheets -- but the idea of fantasy has as much to do with the viewer’s imagination about what might be happening behind those closed doors as with the level of intimacy actually achieved.
Or, in the case of Ed, one of the final suitors on this season of ‘The Bachelorette,’ what’s not achieved. Earlier this month, after a busy day frolicking around Hawaii, Ed and Jillian, this season’s Bachelorette, retired to the fantasy suite. Typically at this point in the show, subsequent scenes involve a tight shot of the room’s door closing, a long shot from outside of the lights being extinguished and a bright, over-saturated shot of the morning after, featuring looks of conspiratorial bliss on the faces of both parties.
Not this time: Cue a bewildered Ed, a tearful Jillian and the most direct acknowledgment of what does (or doesn’t) happen behind closed doors in the 18 seasons of ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette.’