Bryan might have received the First Impression Rose and has jammed his tongue down Rachel’s throat at every opportunity but he didn’t have a one-on-one date for a long time in season 13. This all changed in week 5 of The Bachelorette as Rachel invited Bryan on an isolated adventure. Rachel began the date with her guard up thinking that Bryan was too charming and too “perfect” to be genuine.
Rachel was convinced of Bryan’s good intentions and saw a possible future with him during the date. The chances of Bryan ending up engaged on this season of The Bachelorette are still slim. At the very least, Bryan and Rachel shouldn’t end up engaged by the time season 13 wraps because Bryan is “too good to be true.”
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This Is Not a Fairy Tale
Bryan will certainly make it far on this season of The Bachelorette. Bryan is getting too much airtime and Rachel is far too attracted to him for Bryan to go home any time before the Fantasy Suite portion of the season. Bryan is still being far too aggressive and coming on far too fast to make it reasonable to think that Rachel will accept his proposal. There are way too many doubts and questions in Rachel’s relationship with Bryan to think that there is any future there.
In their one-on-one date Rachel wanted to see a deeper side to Bryan and have him open up beyond his charming platitudes. Bryan obliged by telling Rachel that he had acne once and wasn’t popular before his senior year of high school. It was insanely superficial. Yet this “revelation” was treated with the same gravity as Dean talking about his mom dying from cancer or Josiah’s tragic backstory with his brother who committed suicide. It’s ridiculous and Bryan is still as one-dimensional after his one-on-one date as he was before it.
It is very possible that there was more to Bryan and Rachel’s date that simply wasn’t seen on TV. Bryan not being popular with the ladies for a fraction of his high school career might just be one sliver of a more emotionally honest interaction. Even if that is the case, that speaks even less to Bryan’s chances to “win” the season.
Bryan is simply not getting that favorable of an edit. If Bryan was the winner of season 13, The Bachelorette should be trying to make him seem a little bit more desirable. Instead, Bryan comes off as a guy who has no off switch and is constantly spewing out lines that sound like they come from a cheesy erotica novel. There is such an artificial layer to Bryan that has yet to be adequately addressed. There’s no competition between Bryan and the real frontrunners of the season like Dean and Peter.
When Charm Is Not Enough
If Peter or Dean doesn’t end up with Rachel in The Bachelorette season 13, one of them is surely going to be the next Bachelor star. This is how good that both guys are coming across during the season. There is a ton of physical connection between Rachel and both men but what sets them over the edge from Bryan is the emotional conversations. Peter and Rachel have had several conversations about where they might live together. Dean talked about his mom’s death with Rachel which is apparently something he has never done before with anyone.
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While Bryan’s main thing has been devouring Rachel’s face, Dean and Peter have been forming real emotional connections with Rachel (and the audience.) The time that Peter and Rachel spent in the hot tub during the group date was steamier and more genuine than anything that happened between Bryan and Rachel on their date. Bryan is a very aggressive suitor but Peter, Dean and even people like Will or Eric are all playing the long game and that will likely be more successful for them Bryan’s tonsil hockey.
Bryan does seem like a lot previous successful contestants from The Bachelorette franchise. Ben was concerned that Lauren was too good for him before they got engaged (turns out he was kind of right.) JoJo was smitten with her eventual fiance, Jordan Rodgers, right off the bat but second-guessed their connection all the way through her season, just like Rachel is with Bryan. Despite those similarities, Rachel is a wildly different lead than Ben or JoJo. Rachel has been a breath of fresh air for The Bachelorette franchise because of how shrewd she is and how she really takes everything into account. Rachel can’t be easily swayed at all. She is more mature than almost every other lead put together. Rachel is deeply attracted to Bryan but attraction won’t be enough to trump her connections with other romantic hopefuls.
What do you make of Bryan on The Bachelorette? Do you think he will really win the season? Do you think he is too charming? Who are the real frontrunners of the season?
The Bachelorette season 13 airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC. Want more news? Like our Bachelorette Facebook page!
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
