The Bachelorette Hit a New Low — and It Has Nothing to Do With Rachel

I am a fan of The Bachelor, have been ever since the first season premiered in 2002. Save for a few lost seasons that aired during my college years, I've seen every episode of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, and Bachelor in Paradise. One of my favorite days of the year is when the new batch of contestants is revealed and I get to write my first impressions. I avoid spoilers like the plague so I can enjoy the drama and romance as it unfolds. That's why when I say that the franchise has gone so far that I'm considering not watching anymore, it's a big deal.

I was overjoyed when ABC selected Rachel Lindsay as its new star of The Bachelorette — even though the network all but ruined the ending of The Bachelor by revealing its plans. The first black Bachelorette! It's a monumental, though seriously belated, step in the right direction! Not only is Rachel beautiful (a requirement of reality TV), but she's also educated and classy as hell. I had hopes that this season might be a return to form for the series.

You see, over the course of the past few seasons, things have been taking a turn for the theatrical. Real, or at least halfway real, romance had taken a backseat to showcasing the antics of villains like Chad and Corinne. Admittedly, I love a jealous beau as much as the next viewer, but I've also respected ABC for consistently prioritizing their bottom line: this show is about love.

But it's also about ratings. I get that.

So I sat down to devour the premiere of season 13, knowing that ABC would probably find a few ways to pat itself on the back for casting such diverse characters. I zipped through the recap of Rachel's relationship with Nick Viall (snooze) and prepared myself to meet the guys. There are a lot of great guys this season, but, yet again, several of them have listed things that are utterly not jobs: tickle monster, "Whaboom," etc. This is a dumb but expected part of Bachelor culture. (Side note: I assumed that the guys put these embarrassing titles down themselves, but Chris Harrison recently implied that ABC actually comes up with the profession titles.)

Then we meet Josiah Daniel Graham, a prosecutor from Florida. At first, we're treated to a transparently staged business phone call in which he says, "We're gonna go after this guy. He's a bad guy, and we're gonna get him off the streets." That's how attorneys talk on Law & Order, I think. There's a dramatic tonal shift, and suddenly we're learning about Josiah's late brother, Sam. While staring at a framed photo of his late brother, Josiah tells us that Sam was bullied as a child for being overweight. "He hung himself in the backyard," Josiah says. "I cut my brother down from a tree, and I was 7 years old." We're no longer looking at the photo, we're looking as Josiah standing in his backyard, looking up at the tree where his brother tragically died by suicide. Josiah's story shifts again, as he explains that his troubled childhood led him to a life of crime, but he turned it all around and went to law school. Hooray! Also, what the f*ck, ABC?

The Bachelor isn't the only reality show to exploit the very real traumas of its contestants, but the franchise does have a history of dwelling on the struggles of its stars. Cast members who lost a brother or sister are just the tip of the iceberg; we've seen young widows made out to be villains on this show. That's why it shouldn't have surprised me that almost immediately after introducing Josiah as the once-broken criminal who glued himself back together with hard work, ABC made him out to look like an assh*le.

He is shown being overly confident at the party, bragging to fellow cast members that he's sure he'll get the first impression rose. "She's going to be my wife," he tells the camera. (He didn't get the first impression rose, but he did get a rose at the end of the night.) The editing is, for lack of a better word, icky. Introducing this poor guy's horrific past, then not 30 minutes later implying that he may be our first villain? That's just messed up — especially when there's some joker screaming "Whaboom" every 10 minutes.

I get that the producers have to inject drama into every episode — it's what we want, right? — but exploiting these real-life tragedies has gotten out of hand. Not only is it a gross emotional manipulation, but it also takes the focus off of Rachel's love story. If Josiah and Rachel get closer, he'll tell her about his brother eventually. Why is it that we need a gratuitous intro to this story, when we could have heard it in a much more genuine way later on? Josiah's family deserves more, and honestly, so does Rachel.

My hopes are dashed; this season will not revive the franchise's serious side. The premiere felt more like a silly episode of Bachelor in Paradise, infused with impromptu moments of bleak reality. It was messy and unsettling, and (please read in the dramatic voice of Chris Harrison) for the first time in Bachelor or Bachelorette history, I'm not committed to finishing this season. Sorry, Rachel.