Episode 1

Like most first episodes, this one is largely silly, often boring, and almost entirely devoid of genuine emotional intensity. Real drama comes late, though, in the final scene, when Peter talks privately with Hannah. In their relationship, Hannah was the alpha. She had the power over him, and now, with a house full of women competing for him, she sees him in a different light. Now she is questioning her decisions — or so she says. 

In reality, what she wants is to reassert her power over him. First she reminds him (and all of his suitors) of their night in Greece. After introducing that sexual tension, she then makes herself vulnerable. She gives Peter the chance to come backstage and comfort her, lets him choose to come to her, emotionally but also physically. He’s right next to her, he’s touching her, consoling her. Physical proximity triggers sense memories, sexual desire. There are twenty other women vying for him, yes, but they’re not in that room, they’re not next to him, it’s none of their arms he’s rubbing. There’s no real history with any of them, and Peter loves history — just look at how much he makes of the flimsy meeting he had with Kelley the month before the show. He’s overwhelmed by the sheer number of women there, the prospect of the getting-to-know-you phase with all of them, the notion of finding the right one out of so many pretty faces.

He already knows Hannah, and he knows he can love her. Falling in love is work, especially on a reality show. Does he really want to go through all of this? Wouldn’t it be so much easier if he could just be with Hannah? He wants to drive these thoughts out of his head. After all, he still feels the sting of her rejection — not just being kicked off the show, but being passed over again after the truth about Jed came out. As Peter himself points out, Hannah did not then turn to Peter; she instead asked out Tyler (on national television, live, no less). He tells her (reminds himself) that she followed her heart in Greece when she sent him home. He’s playing the ball back to her, giving her the chance to agree, to reassure him that their journey was then, it had its end — to let him go. Instead, she says her heart was “very confused.” She questions what she should have done. She’s not saying she made a mistake, she’s not saying she is still in love with him (or even that she ever was), but she’s leaving open the possibility. He’s allowing himself to consider it.

But he has responsibilities now. He signed a contract to be the Bachelor, to find his wife from among the thirty women gathered in Southern California to win his heart. He’s not the type to renege on his word, so he considers how to have it both ways — he wants Hannah, he wants to be the Bachelor. So he asks her: “What would you say if I asked you to come be part of the house.” 

He must know, on some level, this is not about to happen. There’s no way Hannah Brown is going to join a house full of nobodies and compete to win the heart of a man who has already fallen in love with her and whom she has already rejected. She’s famous now. She’s on Dancing with the Stars and has 2.5 million instagram followers.  If he were to tell her that he was ready to bag it all, to ditch the contract and the cameras and the house of fawning women to be with her, she would have listened. She would’ve gone with it. She doesn’t love him — she never did — but she knows drama, and she’s not shy about a self-aggrandizing adventure. She would love to be the woman who broke The Bachelor; what could be better for her personal brand? 

At this point Peter has shown his hand. He’s caved, slightly, admitted (to her, to himself, to the camera) he still has feelings, he’s willing to consider Hannah. The proximity, the vulnerability, have done their work, and as soon as he asks her to come back to the house, the room shifts, the power shifts, and their physical positions shift as she stands up and says a “maybe” that means “no, but let’s keep talking.” 

He’s still sitting, face lit in the warm glow of the bulbs of a nearby vanity, eyes wide, trying to figure out what is happening in his heart, and hers. She’s completely backlit by those same bulbs, face barely visible. After their intimacy on the couch she’s put distance between them again. The message is clear: he’ll have to do better than an offer to be “part of the house.” He’s looking for her assurances that he should. He wants her to admit she made a mistake sending him home; she won’t do that but she’ll reframe his questions to keep encouraging him: when he asks if she regrets sending him home in Crete she says “Yeah, I question it all the time.” Again, nothing definitive, just questioning, confusion. Not regret, not mistake or misjudgment, but uncertainty.

To her credit, she’s not going to lie to him. She’s not trying to trick him into being with her, she just has an intuitive understanding of how to frame the truth to draw out the feelings he still has for her. The show has laid the scene, and she’s playing her part perfectly. The audience needs to see a true test of Peter’s proclamations of being over Hannah. There’s no question of where our loyalty is meant to lie; there’s a whole season of television staked on his being over Hannah. One look at her face shrouded in shadow makes clear that she is No Good For Him and he needs to see that. Of course, there’s only one way this scene can end, and we will see him emerge in the next episode truly ready to undertake this magical journey of love, unencumbered by the specter of his lost love Hannah Brown.

To recap the scene:

Act I: He arrives backstage, sees Hannah is upset, consoles her, they talk. Climax — Hannah says her heart was confused in Greece, she “questions what she should have done.”

Act II: Peter has to decide what to do with this information, how he actually feels about her — not just how he tells himself (and the Bachelor producers and the other women) how he feels about her. Climax — he asks her to come on the show (he wants to give it another shot with Hannah, but is not willing to throw away being the Bachelor to do so)

Act III: Hannah has to decide what she’s going to do, Peter has to decide if he’s willing to go any further. Climax — tbd, but presumably Hannah goes home and Peter stays at the mansion and on the show.