On The Bachelor, fans have witnessed boomboxes over heads à la Say Anything... and kisses in the rain à la The Notebook. But for all the romantic movie recreations, Gabby's dad on The Bachelor pulling a Love Actually with cue cards was something I feel confident in saying viewers have never seen before... and never needed to see.
Gabby is great. Gabby's grandpa is great. And I respect that Gabby's dad was being conscious about COVID-19 because of his girlfriend, especially when The Bachelor this season is pretty much acting like a global pandemic doesn't exist. But why in the world did anyone think what was needed was a father professing his love for his daughter via cue cards? Save this premise for a date, Bachelor producers!
Despite the Love Actually card scene being rather ubiquitous in pop culture, this is not a one-size-fits-all type of scene. Though the original scene was a bit creepy in the first place, it was effective as a romantic gesture and should be reserved as such. (I'll let Phoebe's use of the cards in Ted Lasso Season 2 slide because it was adorable.) Never once did someone see Andrew Lincoln stand on Keira Knightley's doorstep and think, "I'd really love to see a father do this with his daughter." If they really wanted to showcase a Love Actually scene, may I suggest something with Daniel and Sam?!
Then, there's the words on the actual cue cards. Of course, as with all Bachelor cards, Gabby's father had no actual hand in writing what was on the cards. But the choices they made were truly something.
Here's the full message:
"Hi Gabby Girl, It's Me... Dad. You are the most beautiful, intelligent, loving, and caring daughter. Thank you for being the glue of our family. You deserve the very best. And I hope that's Clayton. Tell Clayton hello and that I hope to meet him soon."
And again in all its visual glory:
Gabby surely knew this man was her father. But the show thinks so little of its viewers that it needed to spell it out. And clearly by the haphazardly added apostrophe S to the "It," someone over at The Bachelor was trying to make Gabby's dad channel Gritty with an "It me," but that chaos was put to a stop. Though, somehow, the rest of the madness was allowed to resume.
Beyond the bizarre inspiration for this setup, there's the fact that Gabby's father never uttered a word to his daughter or Clayton. Sure, Mark in Love Actually didn't speak to Juliet because he didn't want his best friend Peter, who was inside watching TV, to know he was out there professing his undying love to his wife. But this situation was not that. Couldn't Gabby's father quickly have — from a safe distance while wearing a mask — greet his daughter and introduce himself to Clayton? Rather than drive away while Gabby ran toward the car, waving and crying?
Based on her reaction and her Instagram post after the episode aired, Gabby felt good about her father's brief appearance. "But I will never recover from my dad showing up for me like he did," Gabby wrote. "I want to share every big event with him, so when I realized that it was him honking outside, my heart (and eyes) swelled to a gravity-shifting size."
So I guess if Gabby's OK with her dad's silent cue cards, I should be? But I may never recover from a father Love Actually-ing his daughter.
Images: ABC