We finally got conclusive proof Wednesday (May 5) as to who will become Jesse Palmer's "stalker" on "The Bachelor," and ABC couldn't have scripted it any better.

I'm just sayin'.

We're down to four women battling for the heart of our NFL quarterback, which means it's time for Jesse to go on a protracted road trip to meet each one's family. Since you all want to hear more dirt on Trish, we'll speed through the other three as quickly as we can.

First up is the short commute to Orange County to meet Jessica's family. Alas, neither she nor any member of her family tells Jesse "Welcome to the O.C., b****." Instead, mom Mary Lynn immediately grills her daughter about her plans to finish law school. Jessica's joke about her situation goes over about as well as Ralph Nader on the floor of the Democratic National Convention.

Jesse manages to win Mary Lynn over a little, but she still tells the camera she hopes the two kids don't get engaged at the end of the show.

From there, he's off to Texas and Mandy Jaye, who's upset that her dad won't be joining the rest of the family for Jesse's visit. Her parents are divorced, and she thinks pops feels uncomfortable coming to the town where her mom and stepfather live.

She and Jesse have a pretty heartfelt chat about the situation, and he seems pretty understanding. Until, that is, he tells the camera that it was great for him to see Mandy let her guard down a little, which comes off as incredibly callous.

At mom's house, Jesse sees Mandy's pageant shrine, which freaks him out a little, although not as much as the fact that the entire night's conversation appears to be pageant-related. He leaves wondering how much he really knows about Mandy.

The fear factor goes up a notch when Jesse meets Tara's dad, Craig, on the family farm in Oklahoma. Tara warns him beforehand that her father likes to give people a hard time, but Jesse's still a little unprepared when Craig steps out of his truck smiling and holding a shotgun.

After some target practice, the three sit down for a beer and Tara's father expounds on his ideas about love. It's pretty much a racket used to sell novels and movies, he says, and oh yeah, all guys are "dirtbags." It dawns on Jesse that this might be why Tara's been a little more guarded thus far.

We finally get to the good stuff when Jesse flies to Atlanta to meet Trish. He again tries to get to the bottom of why the other women despise her, and she says it's probably a vendetta against her.

She explains this type of stuff is why she's not friends with other women, and it's been happening her entire adult life. Her sister will later echo that statement, saying just about every woman Trish has known has felt threatened by her.

So, either the women of the world really are out to get Trish, or maybe, just maybe, she's contributed a little bit to the bad feelings, what with the sleeping with a married man and the "Gold Digger" shirt and the I'll-just-hire-a-nanny.

Again, I'm just sayin'.

On rose night, Jesse gets one more chance to talk to each of the women, and they all say, more or less, that they're falling for the guy. Jesse pronounces himself "excited and surprised" at the depth of feeling he's created in the four -- the viewing public is probably feeling the same way, at least on the surprised part -- which only makes his rose-giving task more difficult.

He gives roses to Jessica, Tara and Mandy Jaye, and America rejoices as Bad Girl Trish is sent home. Ah, but there's the rub.

Driving away, Trish goes all wide-eyed talking about how she wants her "boyfriend" back, she doesn't take no for an answer and, ominously, "It's not over." Then, in the teaser for next week's episode, ABC finally makes good on all its "stalker" hype, revealing that Trish interrupts Jesse's overnight date with Mandy Jaye to make another play for him.

We're sure she got wind of Jesse's itinerary all by herself, with no help whatsoever from anyone involved in the production.