Edit Analysis *SPOILERS*

[Jack Benny Fan]

After re-watching the last episode and Ali's 1 on 1 date, I enjoyed reading your analysis, veg_out.

A few things to add, which may or may not mean anything, but are worth noting...

Jake and Ali have radically different personalities, but the stuff being done with their edits have a few somewhat creepy similarities....

Both had early 1 on 1s that were, at least from their viewpoints, wonderfully "romantic". Of course, at close inspection, you do notice the following peculiarities:
-Jillian was enjoying the western get-up clothes and bar-dancing, while Jake was "falling in love"
-Jake was fussing with the controls of the plane and impressing with his expertise, while Ali was "falling in love"

In both cases, the "flame" starts to fade... Jillian focuses on other guys (like Ed... but most importantly, Wes) and Jake focuses on other girls (namely Vienna)

(All we need to hear now is Ali complimenting a "nice" girl getting a 1 on 1 instead of Vienna, just as Jake complimented Kiptyn in Vancouver.)

Now, the relationship between Jake and Wes was quite different than Ali and Vienna's (and not just because their "positions" on the show were different)
-Both guys were quite friendly for a while. According to Wes, they both read from the Bible in the bunk-house. The problems started on account of Wes' brash "tell it like it is" behavior... he was not, as Jake might put it, displaying "chivalry". He would "trash talk" about women... even though he was always a gentleman with Jillian. Chris Harrison blogged about him discussing a teen sex-relation with a teacher. It would be interesting to hear Jake's take on Wes' sex joke at the Spanish rose ceremony... the one that Ed chuckled over and Reid/Kip "gasped" at.
-So far, the biggest Boo-Boo of Vienna's (apart from being brash and telling it like it is) is that she pompously claimed she had the strongest connection with Jake. Since Ali feels a bit threatened by her on account of her 1 on 1 being much earlier, such comments struck a nerve with her.

We all remember what happened in Austin, when Tanner confirmed to Jake that Wes had a girlfriend.

Does this mean that some sort of "event" of Ali's may mimic Jake's in some way? Just throwing ideas out there. Maybe none of this is important.

Completely unrelated, but also worth tossing in just for fun of it...
The Overcoming A Fear "theme"
-in the latest group date, several girls (namely Ali's collaborator, Ashleigh) have to overcome their Fear of performing "live". Jake gives special attention to Ashleigh, who is the one most nervous.
-Ali had a Fear of flying, which... correct me if I'm wrong... Chris Harrison mentioned before Jake met her. Jake helps Ali overcome this.
-BOTH Jake and Vienna have a Fear of heights. Jake acts more nervous about it than Vienna aboard the helicopter. This is the first Fear to be overcome As A Couple.

It seams that the "Fear" business has temporarily replaced the silly "Leap of Faith" this season.

[Bloomers]

I agree with this. My question is to all you wonderful sleuthers out there, why is there absolutely NO edit for Kathryn, Jessie and Valisha? I realize they didn't go to the end, and they aren't the final 4 but isn't there usually some edit to show why they are leaving. I'm really confused with this season because they aren't even showing several of the women who made it to 9. It makes it difficult for me to get a firm handle on how this will play out

There were several changes in the edit after Brad chose no one and Fleiss decided that shock sells better than romance. One of those is that we began to see the edit focus sharply on certain characters almost to the exclusion of certain others. In Matt's season, we had so many screencaps of Matt and Amanda. We kept waiting to see them in the edit, but we didn't see that much of Amanda who was F3. We were shocked when Jesse became DeAnna's F1 because before Graham left when Jesse was the intended F3, we had not seen that much of him either.
The fillers like Kathryn, Valisha, and Jessie simply don't get shown -ostensibly because they don't figure into the ending in a big way.

[noche1]

Jake did say,about something, that he wondered if it was "something the producers threw at him?" if I am understaning you experts, you want to know if the drama is going to tell the story besides just for drama sake? I am having a hard time and I am sorry if I mess you up.

[anders332]

I agree with this. My question is to all you wonderful sleuthers out there, why is there absolutely NO edit for Kathryn, Jessie and Valisha? I realize they didn't go to the end, and they aren't the final 4 but isn't there usually some edit to show why they are leaving. I'm really confused with this season because they aren't even showing several of the women who made it to 9. It makes it difficult for me to get a firm handle on how this will play out

Actually, it's pretty common for the 'matter of time' girls and guys to not get a story - it would be very difficult to create a storyline for everybody, highlight the 'crazies' and develop the storylines for the F4 ladies. Poor Corrie gets to F5 and she's basically still "who's Corrie" - if not for the comedy club she was probably not on anyone's radar.

I'm remembering my Brian and Sean from Deanna's season - both were there, but really did nothing, contributed nothing and yet we had Eric who already had them married off (because he was Greek too) and Ron and his dislike of Jerermy who both left way before F4.

[KashatheDiva]

There were several changes in the edit after Brad chose no one and Fleiss decided that shock sells better than romance. One of those is that we began to see the edit focus sharply on certain characters almost to the exclusion of certain others. In Matt's season, we had so many screencaps of Matt and Amanda. We kept waiting to see them in the edit, but we didn't see that much of Amanda who was F3. We were shocked when Jesse became DeAnna's F1 because before Graham left when Jesse was the intended F3, we had not seen that much of him either.
The fillers like Kathryn, Valisha, and Jessie simply don't get shown -ostensibly because they don't figure into the ending in a big way.

Which just reinforces why TPTB have a quota on "normal girls". Just think how "boring episodes 2-5 would be prior to the HTD if most of the girls were "normal" like Kathryn, Jessie and Valisha.

We need the nutz, slutz and putz!! Wouldn't be surprised if they got a kleptomaniac, transsexual or other outrageous character for future seasons.
Perhaps a professional clown --they did have the hotdog vendor. Too bad she wasn't on Jason's season; she and Jillian could have had a great 2:1.

[Deege111]

It ratchets up the drama. There seems to be some sort of outburst coming up, and it's not just about Ali even though they tried pretty hard last week to imply that. It's a house against Vienna thing. Next week is more conflict with the other sweethearts (Tenley for sure, and possibly Gia.) Gia's OOO seems more of a fairytale setting, and we've been shown clips of Jake making that connection himself. Vienna will now be in Ali's shoes, and I'm wondering if her own jealousy will be coming out more, and how that will affect the girls.

This will be very interesting to see how Vienna reacts to Gia's OOO and if she is shown reacting to Gia coming home all ga-ga (which I assume based on the previews). Will she make comments to the other girls and/or in PI's now that the shoe is on the other foot? Based on her being completely swept away by Jake, jealousy has to come into play to some degree. Will it be shown? Or did they save that edit for Ali?

[Tiggerlgh]

This will be very interesting to see how Vienna reacts to Gia's OOO and if she is shown reacting to Gia coming home all ga-ga (which I assume based on the previews). Will she make comments to the other girls and/or in PI's now that the shoe is on the other foot? Based on her being completely swept away by Jake, jealousy has to come into play to some degree. Will it be shown? Or did they save that edit for Ali?

I think jealousy may come into play somehow. It may not be shown but if she wasn't jealous or worried why would she write that letter to Jake.

[Bloomers]

After re-watching the last episode and Ali's 1 on 1 date, I enjoyed reading your analysis, veg_out.

A few things to add, which may or may not mean anything, but are worth noting...

Jake and Ali have radically different personalities, but the stuff being done with their edits have a few somewhat creepy similarities....

Both had early 1 on 1s that were, at least from their viewpoints, wonderfully "romantic". Of course, at close inspection, you do notice the following peculiarities:
-Jillian was enjoying the western get-up clothes and bar-dancing, while Jake was "falling in love"
-Jake was fussing with the controls of the plane and impressing with his expertise, while Ali was "falling in love"

In both cases, the "flame" starts to fade... Jillian focuses on other guys (like Ed... but most importantly, Wes) and Jake focuses on other girls (namely Vienna)

(All we need to hear now is Ali complimenting a "nice" girl getting a 1 on 1 instead of Vienna, just as Jake complimented Kiptyn in Vancouver.)

Now, the relationship between Jake and Wes was quite different than Ali and Vienna's (and not just because their "positions" on the show were different)
-Both guys were quite friendly for a while. According to Wes, they both read from the Bible in the bunk-house. The problems started on account of Wes' brash "tell it like it is" behavior... he was not, as Jake might put it, displaying "chivalry". He would "trash talk" about women... even though he was always a gentleman with Jillian. Chris Harrison blogged about him discussing a teen sex-relation with a teacher. It would be interesting to hear Jake's take on Wes' sex joke at the Spanish rose ceremony... the one that Ed chuckled over and Reid/Kip "gasped" at.
-So far, the biggest Boo-Boo of Vienna's (apart from being brash and telling it like it is) is that she pompously claimed she had the strongest connection with Jake. Since Ali feels a bit threatened by her on account of her 1 on 1 being much earlier, such comments struck a nerve with her.

We all remember what happened in Austin, when Tanner confirmed to Jake that Wes had a girlfriend.

Does this mean that some sort of "event" of Ali's may mimic Jake's in some way? Just throwing ideas out there. Maybe none of this is important.

Completely unrelated, but also worth tossing in just for fun of it...
The Overcoming A Fear "theme"
-in the latest group date, several girls (namely Ali's collaborator, Ashleigh) have to overcome their Fear of performing "live". Jake gives special attention to Ashleigh, who is the one most nervous.
-Ali had a Fear of flying, which... correct me if I'm wrong... Chris Harrison mentioned before Jake met her. Jake helps Ali overcome this.
-BOTH Jake and Vienna have a Fear of heights. Jake acts more nervous about it than Vienna aboard the helicopter. This is the first Fear to be overcome As A Couple.

It seams that the "Fear" business has temporarily replaced the silly "Leap of Faith" this season.

You are so good at the details, and I love the parallels you have drawn.You are a delightful and enlightening read!

There are so many of you that are really good at this, and I am enjoying those valuable things you are contributing. I felt like we got sidetracked for a while on who we like and who we don't like to the detriment of trying to decide how the edit is pointing toward the resolution of the story. BTW, it is certainly alright to like or dislike characters, but the passionate defense and debates about them that just rage back and forth need to go on the fan site which is on the non-Spoiler side of the Board.

BTW, all questions are welcome from everybody. What you ask might be the very thing someone else wants to know! Your question may also spark something or get an idea going in someone else.

[northernviewer]

17 is extremely young to be so deep into a relationship that when it ends you are devastated to point of running off and marrying a boy you barely know.

Sounds like something a spoiled child would do 'cause they didn't get thier way - and you don't have to be rich to be spoiled rotten, had nothing to do with material things just overindulging them and letting them have or do whatever they want.

Spoke to a friend this afternoon who I haven't talked to about the show this season and who doesn't do the board thing, asked her what she thought of the girls. She said she loved Tenley and Ali and that she liked the look of Gia. I asked what she thought of Vienna, she laughed and said "you mean Paris Hilton". Thought she was a kook and said if he ends up picking her she'd be ticked. I didn't tell her what I knew, so maybe she can enjoy the show for a few more weeks anyway.

So that's another sampling of what the average viewer is getting from the edit. btw, she was a big fan of Jakes last season and was happy that he was the Bach, so she really wants him to pick the right girl.

[Flori da]

It would seem as though the players on this show had no difficulty picking sides and sticking with their sides. They made themselves the judge and jury of Vienna. They talked about how she was speaking crap about the other girls when they weree doing the exact same thing to her.
When you're being threatened (think Ali) you will go on the attack and try to get as many on your side as you can even if it'll make you look like a middle school student in the process. Vienna is Ali's biggest threat and Ali knows it. Jake has a strong connection to Vienna and Ali has made it her job to discredit her in any way she can.:nono I believe Jake found who he wanted early and that would be Vienna.