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Pilot Pete (Peter Weber) is the Bachelor on ABC. He went to Baylor, and I knew him.
I went to Baylor with Peter. And on the Bachelorette he gives off this image as being some nice, great guy who deeply cares about people and is always in a great mood. But it turns out that's actually all completely true and extremely accurate.
— Kendall (@kendallkaut) June 25, 2019
If you’re thinking, “I come to this site to read takes on sports, not on the Bachelor,” well, I had a 1,200 word preview of Baylor-Texas Tech and a podcast about Matt Rhule and the Giants, and a basketball podcast in the last two. Look at that stuff, folks. This is about supporting an old friend. Or maybe you’re thinking, “Kendall, you’re not man pretty enough to offer these takes,” well, again, it’s about supporting a Baylor man. But I respect that critique.
The show starts with Pete meeting all the women, and several of them elect to make plane jokes. This doesn’t seem very unique, but then I realize most of what they know about Pete is that he’s a pilot and if he was going to lose last season, he should have lost to Tyler C., not that bad singing commercial dude. So, I respect all the attempts at making the best plane joke or reference.
A woman named Hannah Ann wins the first rose. She slides in three times during the couch chat evening, which is annoying to the rest of the house, but also annoying to most of America. Pete likes this woman, and if I were in the house, I’d probably like her too. Her determination might end up dooming her, but for one evening, she gets a rose a few minutes before a bunch of people get a rose.
The date portion is about plane related things. This may seem like ABC is overdoing the plane stuff. I can assure you that Pete loved flying and the Seahawks. There is nothing fake about this. We learn that many of these women are unaware that a mile is 5,280 feet. I know that, but I’m unaware of a lot of things you’d think people should know, so I still respect all of them and whatever knowledge they bring to their related fields. Or maybe it’s a harbinger of their inability to compete in a generalized world. I’m sure ABC will let us know in the weeks ahead.
Kelly wins the obstacle course. She certainly cheated. The losing folks are angry.
We have two women named Victoria. Lots of them are flight attendants. All of them seem like good people; There are numerous controversies over women stealing Pete’s time.
Pete’s parents renew this vows. In a cynical world where we try and deal with possibly losing Matt Rhule to the New York Giants by treating everything as a joke so we’re never hurt by ignoring that reality can bring pain, the Weber’s are a reminder about why sometimes reality is worth living in because you can find something like they have in it.
Hannah Brown comes back and talks about Pete and her in the windmill. She cries and Pete talks with her. This season is strong enough that we don’t need to have her return, but I’ve made some incredibly bad decisions (supporting the Iraq War, living a lot of my 2019, getting addicted to soda, not eating more Raising Cane’s)—none as bad as picking Jed over Pete and Tyler C.—but some bad ones. Hannah even mentions that she was about to pick Jed and Pete over Tyler. Insanity. Pete and Tyler C. were astronomically better than Jed. Jed would probably admit that.
I understand Hannah’s catastrophic response. I’d like it to be over on ABC though. Pete and these women are enough to carry this season. Hannah had her time on this show. Time to move on.
The Hannah drama will make it another week though. Pete and her will probably recognize their journey didn’t need a second act. ABC will keep the uncertainty.
Other than the Hannah parts, this was a great opening week and a reminder about why the Bachelor franchise actually works. These people put themselves out there and hope it works out. We’ll find out how that journey goes, and hopefully it won’t involve another season of Hannah.