So picture the scene: your daughter lobs in with a guy she’s smitten with and you’re forced to make small talk and have an obligatory discussion about his intentions like he’s a potential son-in-law, all the while knowing that nup, you’re never going to see them again.
Oh, and this whole interaction is happening on TV too.
That’s the fresh hell which The Bachelor was thrust into as the contestants got to run Matt by their nearest and dearest in the hometown visits. And it was television gold watching all the awkwardness that comes with that first parental meeting compounded with the knowledge that for at least three families this will be the first and last time they meet.
And in two of the cases it seemed like the families concluded yeah, this could work. And in the other two – well, the other family and the pair of friends in the case of Emma, whose family are in Ireland – you could see all the protective instincts kick in as they realised their smitten gal was absolutely, one hundred per cent about to get her heart broken.
You could almost see the steam rising from Helena’s pop and Emma’s protective bestie as they fought the urge to scream LEAVE THIS PLACE AND NEVER DARKEN MY DOOR AGAIN and instead smiled and nodded at the nice young man talking at them about how he was sincere and trustworthy as though this ultimately meant anything whatsoever.
And that happened right away in the case of Emma, whose willingness to abandon everything and do whatever suited Matt stopped being an adorable emotional openness and started looking like a dangerous vulnerability.
The look on her friend’s face as Emma gleefully admitted to having fallen in love with this person she’d been on two dates with was particularly instructive, since clearly this was not the first or ninth time this conversation had taken place.
And her gentle instruction to Matt – that if this ain’t going to happen, to string it out would be cruel – could not have been more clear, and to his credit he clearly took heed by sending Emma packing at the next rose ceremony.
But what can the friends and family members realistically do in this situation? They can’t ask Matt not to hurt their sibling/child/niece/pal since getting hurt is baked into the show for all but (hopefully) one of the contestants. Again: meeting a potential-but-unlikely son-in-law just sucks, no matter which way you cut it.
And similarly, Matt can’t really offer assurances like a normal boyfriend would to a sceptical family, because everyone’s aware there are three other suitettes vying for his attention. What sort of promise can he make other than “she’s very nice and I have genuine feelings for her, as well as these three other broadly similar people.”
And while Emma was sent a-packing, it’s hard to see a future that involves Helena whose late-episode quitting of the show/changing her mind/quitting again/changing her mind again had a dangerous ambivalence at this stage of the competition.
That said, any actors watching should take note of her genuinely amazing expression of simultaneous relief, confidence and resignation when telling Matt she was out. it was one of those moments which would have inspired a “oh, that was a great acting choice!” discussion in a scripted drama.
Honestly, it’s A Mood. Neighbours, take note.