Bachelorette 7 - THE EDIT - Discussion

anders wrote:ya know what - I see MF throwing this entire season under the bus- we've got a very insecure lead, who questions her decision making process (read: Bentley, Lucas and Ryan) and our supposed F1 getting a less than stellar edit.

When was that last time we got a season where MF threw both his lead and F1 under the bus?? Ever? Jake got a very good edit, as a stark contrast to Vienna's.

The closest would probably be Jillian and Ed, but even their edits weren't this bad. Much of the dislike of Ed came from outside information.

Ashley's edit is just terrible. No confidence in her decisions, though try as they might they are trying to sell that she is confident (Bentley if you are watching this ... yada yada yade.. clearly filmed at a later time). Anyway makes me a little nervous concerning the outcome of the couple at the ATFR.

noobsleuth wrote:

Bloomers wrote:

BlondieGal wrote:Exceptional point, Bloomers. Now to figure out what it all means, whether she is now alone or has come full circle and is now confident in her F1 selection.

It may well be a combination of things, Blondie, but the very first thing that hit me, and I feel even more strong about it right now after last night's edited episode, is that Ashley may well not have been ready for a committed relationship at this time in her life.

We know that she wasn't at the end of Brad's season. My feeling of Ashley was that while she was smart as a whip and was well on her way to becoming a dentist, emotionally she is a butterfly flitting here and there, experiencing life and not ready to settle down.
We heard from one of her peers that she tried out for So You Think You Can Dance, and we know that she is into teaching dance lessons.
I think Ashley is too busy with life right now for a settled, committed relationship leading to marriage.

In my opinion the overall edit we are getting is not positive enough to make me think the producers believe there will be a solid, lasting relationship.
Ashley is indecisive. JP is too jealous and impatient. I could ignore that they have painted Ben with all of the sterotypical F2 signals except that they didn't have him show up until basically the 4th episode ( If he wins, what a shockeroo!! Wouldn't that be a kick to the sleuthers?)
I just don't think this looks so good - certainly not for an Ali/Roberto type relationship.

AHHh I had this really great response to your post and I lost it!! I agree with you. JP as F1 was never an issue for me (at this point anyway... I will admit things could change). But last night told me these two might be dealing with some stuff right now.

I don't think the jealousy thing is the F1 doubt. The jealousy was mirrored in episode 2. JP is upset he can't be with Ash... she reassures him and we have confident, stable, JP at the RC.
I think the doubt is his insecurity (diff than jealousy I think.)

If I had to guess... IRL JP is ready to run to the alter but wish washy Ashley isn't quite ready. Cue his insecurity which brought out the jealousy tonight and her wishy washy-ness (nice) of sending certain people home.

She needs to decide if she wants to be with him. If she hurts him (post show) it will be so sad. It will be like the situation with his ex gf all over again... and thanks to Mama Rosenbaum we get to hear about that again next week. YAY! everything coming together.

Noobsleuth: Your interpretation makes a lot of sense to me.

I wonder though. The stuff they're presenting on the show: JP's difficulty with the show process, Ashley's difficulty with the show process, it all seems very real and understandable to me and is actually stuff I've assumed all the leads and F1s go through, only they hide it more. So for me it's more a question of why they've hidden it in the past. It actually makes sense to me to be working through things like jealousy and possible commitment issues, not to mention questions about whether it's the game/fantasy setting that's intensifying your feelings and whether those feelings are really real, on the show. Those are the things you SHOULD be thinking about. But of course just like the show makes it seem like a normal pace of relationship progression is abnormally slow, the show makes it seem like thinking about the things you should be thinking about is abnormal. It's so warped.

If JP is F1 then I think we're getting this edit because Ashley wasn't playing her part as the lead to the show's satisfaction but we're also seeing them work through stuff they're going to have to work through to have a real relationship after the show. Things that Brad and Emily didn't/couldn't work through. If JP and Ashley are together then it remains to be seen whether they're working through those things. I've always said I'm waiting not for FRC but ATFR.

If Ben F is F1 then gosh, they're not showing us how that relationship could be anywhere good right now and that's just sad for how cute and enjoyable they are together. But maybe the lack of drama there is something in and of itself.

Bloomers wrote:Ashley is being edited as indecisive. She is, to speak in everyday terms, "wishy-washy'. She runs "hot and cold", and she has done it all season long from Bentley to last night.

Throughout the season she has encouraged Ryan beginning the first night with the First Impression Rose and then followed it up with two group roses which are endued with high praise and favor when they are given out in front of the other guys.
She mentioned at one time to him meeting his family, and so when he found himself still there prior to the Hometowns with one single date remaining and Chris Harrison's proclamation of "No rose/no pressure ringing" in his head, he was completely unprepared to be dumped on the spot on his 1-1 by an Ashley who had suddenly after all of this time changed her mind.

Now, having made a decision, does Ashley stick like glue to it? What do we hear?
We hear an indecisive Ashley say that she is definite about letting BOTH Ryan and Lucas go ONLY to turn around and be seen crying and saying she is NOT sure that she made the right decision about either one of them!

In fact, we see and hear a crying, indecisive Ashley saying that she wonders if she is "cut out for this process."

Folks, these kinds of things are left in the edit for a reason.

Good points Bloomers, I see Ash as a smart girl, but a bit of a flitter or butterfly. I never got the impression that she truely thought she could fall in love in this unreal environment. I actually thought she probably did it for fun and to pay off some college debts. To me her attraction to Bentley was a subconscious retraction from the process. She had been told he was bad news but it stopped her from having to engage in anything "real" with the other guys. I agree her indecision and internal struggle with this whole process is going to play out until the very end even her blog today mentions trying to ascertain what are real feelings and what are show induced.

I think the Bentley saga did put her back weeks from engaging in the process so any relationship that came out of this season was in it's relative infancy at the FRC. The question with the edit remains. Are they are they editing it this way because there is trouble with the resultant relationship? Or, is it that the season was nearly derailed by Bentley and Ash's initial resistance to the process meant that she did find someone to love but was not confident in this until much later in the show. I think, like Connie, she is struggling with the "deadline" and her constant questioning of what is "real".

I absolutely love watching a couple talking and handling all their issues in a mature, honest way. I can't wait til next week when she asks how he's so confident, especially in this environment, about what they have versus what he had with others. I don't think we've ever gotten to see that type of conversation on this show. If they make it, they're going to be a very solid, stable pair.

Reidiscool wrote:
Good points Bloomers, I see Ash as a smart girl, but a bit of a flitter or butterfly. I never got the impression that she truely thought she could fall in love in this unreal environment. I actually thought she probably did it for fun and to pay off some college debts. To me her attraction to Bentley was a subconscious retraction from the process. She had been told he was bad news but it stopped her from having to engage in anything "real" with the other guys. I agree her indecision and internal struggle with this whole process is going to play out until the very end even her blog today mentions trying to ascertain what are real feelings and what are show induced.

I think the Bentley saga did put her back weeks from engaging in the process so any relationship that came out of this season was in it's relative infancy at the FRC. The question with the edit remains. Are they are they editing it this way because there is trouble with the resultant relationship? Or, is it that the season was nearly derailed by Bentley and Ash's initial resistance to the process meant that she did find someone to love but was not confident in this until much later in the show. I think, like Connie, she is struggling with the "deadline" and her constant questioning of what is "real".

GREAT post! I'd add to this that the Bent deception really reinforced Ashley's questioning of whether the guys' feelings for her were real particularly in the case of the guy(s) she had real feelings for.

Your 2nd paragraph really sums it up IMO. Ashley seems to be giving hints in her blog that her confidence did come later in the show, like her saying her honest, genuine, beautiful love story started with Ep 6 and her starting a journal for her F1 sometime during or right before the Taiwan week. But I totally agree with you about the heart of her struggle during the show especially with regards to the "real" question. It's part of why I think the show didn't think she was a very good lead.

In looking back to Brad's first season, he was given a terrific edit and was only bashed after he rejected both his final two. In Jen's season, when she picked then did not pick Jerry, she appeared a little bit more bitchy in her edit than the sweet Jen we saw on Firestone's show.

What seasons have we had when the star (male or female) was given a bad edit?

Deanna's edit stunk, but she was blunt and rude - right down to just telling the guys at the MTA that she wasn't interested in them.

I don't think Ashley has a bad edit. I think this is the first time TPTB have actually edited a woman correctly, with emotions, insecurities, and all. I personally find it refreshing.

anders wrote:Deanna's edit stunk, but she was blunt and rude - right down to just telling the guys at the MTA that she wasn't interested in them.

It was awful, anders, yet she ended up engaged with someone that was not the one she initially wanted.

Alanna wrote:I absolutely love watching a couple talking and handling all their issues in a mature, honest way. I can't wait til next week when she asks how he's so confident, especially in this environment, about what they have versus what he had with others. I don't think we've ever gotten to see that type of conversation on this show. If they make it, they're going to be a very solid, stable pair.

mnmhughes wrote:I don't think Ashley has a bad edit. I think this is the first time TPTB have actually edited a woman correctly, with emotions, insecurities, and all. I personally find it refreshing.

Yes, I see your point mnmhughes. I know that for my unspoiled friends that live in NYC, almost all have quit watching the show due to Bentley-gate. They felt she did not represent a strong, determined woman. I told them to hang in there and keep watching. :greenman: