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Joey Graziadei.
Graziadei is the season the modern Bachelor finally clicked. Every casting choice and travel beat reads as a franchise operating at full confidence.
A rhythm worth tracking.
A tennis professional takes the mansion in the season widely read as the modern era's high-water mark. Eleven episodes, thirty-two women, travel through Malta, Montreal, and Tulum. The producers cast the deepest, most chemistry-forward field of the post-2016 run, and the production confidence shows from the limo line forward. Jesse Palmer hosts a season the franchise points to when it argues the modern Bachelor finally works at full strength. The post-2016 era's clearest case for itself.
The #09 slot.
Slot #09 of 28 in the The Bachelor Editor's Canon. The seasons on either side show what I ranked it against.
4 moments, no spoilers.
- Ep 1 · the deepest field
The opening hour stages the most chemistry-forward casting field of the post-2016 run. The limo line reads as a franchise at full recruitment strength.
- Ep 4 · the settled production
The pacing and editing read as the most confident the modern era had managed. The host and format are fully in sync.
- Ep 7 · Malta stretch
The travel run reaches Malta, a destination the franchise had not tried. The cinematography commits to the island fully.
- Ep 10 · Tulum close
Final dates move through Tulum. The franchise stages a finale runway shot with the care the modern era had been building toward.