By Diane Vadino
Special to MSN TV

This wasn't supposed to be the best-ever showing for "The Bachelorette." Dozens of previous bachelors may have anxiously anticipated the arrival of Emily Maynard at the mansion, but viewers will be forgiven for having low expectations for the demure Southern belle who seemed to do little in Brad Womack's outing, her debut, except look immaculate and say little, breaking form only slightly in an acidic, heartbroken "After the Final Rose." Which Emily would we get: the boring one or the brittle one? As it turns out, neither. We got a surprisingly funny, often fully self-aware single mom who seems to have decided, even before signing on to the show, what would be good enough for her and what wouldn't, beginning with her (allegedly) highest-ever paycheck and an unprecedented level of bachelor prescreening. It's for little Ricky's sake, y'all!

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Brad may never have guessed it, but his season laid the foundation for the future of the franchise: Walk-off bachelorette Ali, who went back to her job at Facebook (after having been passed over by Jake) only to beg for a second chance, came back to lead the show -- as did fellow Brad-reject Ashley, who rolled her eyes through their fantasy date in South Africa before returning to meet current fiancé J.P. This also makes Brad responsible, by extension, for the bizarre tedium of the last "Bachelor," in which we got to watch Ashley's ex-suitor Ben romance Courtney, which was sort of like watching the two most annoying people in a bar make out for an hour. Everything about Ben's season felt cynical, slick and sad, from Courtney's skinny-dip seduction to Courtney's refusal to wear a shirt that obscured her nipples. And if Courtney was playing Ben (for who knows what) and Ben was playing the show (for exposure for his vineyard), it felt like everybody was playing the audience.

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Miraculously, everything changed with Emily. And much of the credit goes to the bachelorette herself. Let's ignore, for the sake of clarity, the anonymous accusations ("She's just a fame whore," etc.) that are leveled at every bachelorette every season: While Ben and Courtney seemed to have all the permanence of two people at an airport bar flying in opposite directions, it was hard to watch this season without believing that Emily experienced genuine feelings for a few of the bachelors, particularly Arie and Jef. While the whole "Not here for the right reasons" thing is this show's best shot at a drinking game (that will get you very, very drunk), it turns out that when it feels like people really aren't there for the right reason (hello again, Ben and Courtney), it's excruciating. Was Emily there for only the "right reasons"? (These are, of course, limited to love and eternal happiness.) Or maybe the six-figure wardrobe? A brief trip to Dubrovnik, historically renowned as the home of the highland games? We, the audience are there to participate, however vicariously, in the thrill of watching two people (or, you know, three) fall in love. If she didn't, then somebody better nominate Emily for an acting Emmy.

Better yet: It's hard to extract a lesson in feminist power from any season of "The Bachelorette," but Emily turned in a bravura performance worthy of the writers of "The Rules," the '90s, quasi-classic on how to catch and keep a dude. (Basically, by acting like Emily on this show.) Part of this is the birthright of someone who was born beautiful and has clearly been treated like a literal princess throughout her life. For the record, there are plenty of non-Barbie women who are able to manage this. But Emily offered a master class. Take, by contrast, Ashley's season: The pixie dentist from Maine knew she was being compared (unfavorably) to Emily, but she crawled back for a second helping of Bentley (who would ever want more of that guy?) even as he denigrated her to her face. Emily's decisions seem guided by the belief that there was always another option. And if sexy (but endlessly annoying) Ryan was going to make lame, arrogant jokes about her weight, then see you later, Ryan. If Kalon was going to compare daughter Ricky to baggage, well, that's when we got to see Emily's "West Virginia" roots, a process not entirely dissimilar from when Santana goes all "Lima Heights" on "Glee." It's not too far-fetched to think of Ashley weathering the same criticism from those guys -- and wondering what she did wrong and trying to fix it. In a way, Emily's ability to identify, shut down and kick out this season's prescribed villains (you can pick them out because they tend to travel by helicopter) -- however inspiring it might have been for anyone who's faced a similar situation and made the wrong decision -- could have been the drama death knell. It turns out, though, that watching a woman ruthlessly quality-control her dating pool is actually more fascinating than watching that same suspect dating pool destroy her from the inside.

Only time (and/or "After the Final Rose") will tell what the future holds for Emily. But I bet we won't see any of those angry tears she shed the last time she was on that episode. I bet she'll be holding hands with Arie. And Jef will be in that next-to-last segment: He'll still be singing her praises or at least writing a poem about the two of them. Hopefully, she'll email the next bachelorette when the time comes -- and remind her, for the sake of all of us, the next time the producers give her a Kalon, to kick him to the curb.

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"The Bachelorette" airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

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