The fall companion to season one, running months after the original wrapped. A Missouri banker takes the mansion, and the producers spend the season figuring out which beats to repeat and which to stretch. The cast skews Midwestern and the energy is quieter than the splashy debut, which works in the season's favor. Chris Harrison settles into his cadence here. The franchise's first test of whether the format could scale past a single curiosity-run.
Slot #20 of 28 in the The Bachelor Editor's Canon. The seasons on either side show what I ranked it against.