The finale of The Bachelor has come and gone. Matt James has finally chosen a winner, and also showed us why The Bachelorette is almost always the better franchise. The show kicks off with Matt unnecessarily walking through the woods to go meet his mom and brother who made it out two meet our remaining women.
Overall, the two meetings were surprisingly similar. Matt’s mom had a heart to heart with both of the women and cried while thinking about her son getting married. She did, however, tell Matt that being married is not for everyone and to be careful rushing into it. This really seemed to hit home with Matt because of the family dynamic that he had with his own father while he was growing up. His brother also reiterated this statement when he says he thinks it is too soon to be putting a ring on anyone’s finger, even though both women received the James family stamp of approval.
These words of advice from his mom and brother send Matt into a tailspin, and he decides to tell Chris Harrison that he is not sure at all if he is ready to be engaged anytime soon. Good thing he came on a show where the sole purpose is to end up engaged. Chris Harrison feels that this is a big turnaround from last week, and is probably wondering why he was even cast in the first place at this point. Although he doesn’t know if he is really ready for an engagement, he does get ready for his first last chance date with Michelle.
For some strange reason, they are told that they are going to have to rappel down the side of a building for their date. Matt takes the first step off of the building and almost gets himself completely stuck. Eventually, though they both make it down the side with almost no trouble. They then get to enjoy a dinner before heading back to Michelle’s room for one final conversation. Matt seems nervous which is not a very good sign for Michelle. Matt goes in to talk to an eager Michelle who is awaiting him with gifts. He opens a bag to find two basketball jerseys. One with the name Mrs. James and one with Mr. James wrote across the back. You can literally see the smile vanish off of Matt’s face when he gets handed these incredibly thoughtful gifts from someone he is definitely about to send home, which is exactly what he does next. He tells her the engagement is freaking him out and how he could just tell her what she wants to hear. Michelle says that is not what she wants but does want some closure and more of a conversation. For some reason, Matt can’t give her that and leaves her crying right outside of her room. Honestly, she kind of dodged a bullet if he can’t even communicate with her.
We are then taken to Rachael’s room where she is getting ready for her last chance date, when she receives a card saying that Matt needs time to think and will not be taking her on a date that day, which, understandably, leaves her pretty confused. We then see Matt on the contractually obligated visit to Neil Lane where he picks out a ring that he just said he did not want to use. I believe he looked very uncomfortable. Either way, Matt has a ring and then sends a note to Rachael’s room, so she can finally go and meet him for the last time this season. She walks up to a beautiful display where Matt James is waiting to declare her the winner. She delves into a speech about how although she missed him the other day, the only thing she cared about was if he was feeling alright. She says that no matter what happens here, she was just happy to have known him. Overall, a very touching speech from Rachael. Matt then states that he would like to continue seeing her but omits a proposal in order to keep her from ending up like his mom. Although he does not propose, he says that he sees marriage and kids in the future with her. I’m gonna be honest though, I definitely do not see that for them at this point, but hopefully they got a few weeks of bliss before everything went south. Well, there you have it, Rachael was this season’s on screen winner, but I’ll have another article for you on why she might just really be this seasons biggest loser. We will also talk about our new bachelorette, or should I say bachelorette’s who will hopefully both have more successful seasons than Matt James.