Episode 7, The Drama

The Situation: Tierra's fight with AshLee
How Dramatic was it? It was pretty dramatic. You could tell just how dramatic it was by the extent to which each girl spoke with her hands.
Who's to Blame? Tierra and AshLee were both equal parts to blame for this. And while the producers may have had a hand in coaxing the rage out of Tierra (who, let's face it, isn't in need of much coaxing) just in time for Sean's "impromptu" visit, I actually think this fight was refreshingly legitimate. Both girls talked in complete circles and said things that didn't make sense (my favorite being Tierra's "You did not just say those words out of your mouth." Clearly, Tierra was disconcerted because she's so used to talking out of her ass). Both girls cared about nothing so much as getting the last word in. It was an unchoreographed, unproductive example of two humans who simply don't like each other, and, while I don't want to watch 40 minutes of it come Women Tell All, it was kind of nice in the midst of this season that's been driven by largely unamused medics and carefully staged emotional minefields.


The Situation: Sean Taking Pictures of the Girls without their Makeup
How Dramatic was it? Okay, it wasn't dramatic at all, but I forgot to mention it in my post about Sean, and it was such a good example of his disgusting chauvinism!
Who's to Blame? Sean's to blame. Sean will always, always be to blame in situations like this. It would have been one thing if it was yet another boyish prank, or even if he creepily wanted pictures of them while they were sleeping (yes, I've reached the point where I'd prefer creepy stalker Sean to actual Sean). But he took pictures of them because he wanted to see them without their makeup on.  As if he was going to hand out the final rose and then say to Lesley, "Yes, babe. I did say that I would love to meet your family on our date. But I had no idea you had such an oily T-zone."


The Situation: Tierra Being Sent Home
How Dramatic was it? Mostly pretty dramatic.  They did reasonably nice work to make it seem like Sean was contemplating giving her a rose on the spot. It would have been better, though, if I had ever been convinced that Sean had any feelings toward Tierra besides mildly exasperated disinterest.

Who's to Blame? I'm pretty sure they brought Sean's sister in to "convince" him to let her go, so all Sean really did was move up the schedule by half a day. Though Tierra's incredibly well-timed sobbing could have been to blame for the acceleration (how she ever managed to eke out her most dramatic gasps exactly as Sean walked in the door was a beautiful piece of TV magic), I'm thinking that Sean was just down to his last clean white shirt and couldn't risk ruining another one with the desperate girl's mascara at the rose ceremony.


The Situation: The Final Rose
How Dramatic was it? Not so dramatic. Sean didn't play his cards close enough to the vest on the one-on-one date interviews which was too bad because barring that, I think it could have been quite surprising. He seemed to be pretty in to all of the girls.
Who's to Blame? Again, Sean's fault. The producers tried really hard to cast doubt on AshLee (I imagine that mostly involved Chris Harrison saying something like, "Hey Sean, I heard some of the girls talking about how you really, really like drama. Maybe instead of a cocktail party, you should go out there and set them straight."), but we knew who was getting that final rose. I think they're actually 0 for 7 on rose ceremonies this year. It seems like every time they send someone home, I either already know or just simply don't care.