-I think one thing this show should consider moving forward is carving down finale night. What we saw last night is not unlike pretty much every season before it – a 2 hr finale followed by a 1 hr ATFR. That was nothing new. But if you really break down last night’s episode, basically 1 hour into the show, we knew Katie was down to one person. And hell, they STILL didn’t finish the engagement until a few minutes after the 2 hr mark. Granted, they had the studio shots with Kaitlyn and Tayshia a lot for those first two hours, so that cut into time. But it just seemed like a lot of unnecessary fluff to cover 3 hrs last night. I think you could’ve done that whole thing in 2 hrs. Not to mention, making sure the Greg segment aired AFTER Justin, who finished a spot higher. Just saying last night could’ve been condensed.
-If Katie felt after her overnight with Blake that it was over and no need to drag Justin to the end, I’m fine with that. In fact, in terms of the “Bachelorette,” it happens more often than not that they let their final 2 guy go early. Just off the top of my head: Ali did it with Chris, Emily did it with Arie, Des did it with Drew, Andi did it with Nick, and Rachel did it with Peter. In that same time, only Ashley, Kaitlyn, JoJo, and Hannah took their final 2 guy to the final rose ceremony. On the “Bachelor,” it basically never happens. Outside of Colton and Matt, basically every guy lets both women show up to the final rose ceremony so he can dump one of them. And lets be honest, no one in the world thought Justin had a chance to win any way. Katie can be criticized for a few things over the last 2 weeks of shows, but not giving Justin a chance isn’t one of them. Please. Lets be real, she would’ve been criticized if she DID take Justin to the end only to dump him, saying she led him on. So I was fine with what she did last night in that aspect.
-That’s always been the problem with the finale is that, for the most part, everyone knows who’s getting picked or has an idea. The ATFR is what’s most important to the viewers for two reasons: 1) It’s the first time we see the couple together post show and 2) It’s the first time we get to see them confront the person they dumped. Even sometimes (like last night), the final 2 people they dumped. And when the teaser for last night went out and we saw Katie and Greg on the couch and Katie reading him the Riot Act, lets face it, I think a lot of us were just hoping we could fast forward to that part since everything else was a formality.
-They really dragged out the idea that Blake was struggling with whether or not to propose, which was just TV filler. This was the guy in an ITM earlier this season that basically said if he was there at the end, he was proposing. And here he was at the end last night and they had to throw in the “will he or won’t he” storyline which, I don’t know, did people really buy that? Are people starting to understand how TV, and in particular, this show works? Of course they have to show some uncertainty to build drama. I guarantee you that if Blake was being honest with himself, he knows he wasn’t struggling at all with proposing. That part was played up for cameras if I ever saw one. Will we ever really get the true answer? Probably not. But 42 seasons in, you just know how this machine functions, and I could see that playing out last night. I hope you all could too.
-Didn’t Kaitlyn and/or Tayshia say something when promoting the season, whether it was in some podcast or some interview, where they kept hyping that something happens this season we’ve never seen before? I know that’s basically said every season, but I know one of them said it pertaining to Katie’s season and frankly, I can’t for the life of me figure out what they were even talking about. Nothing that happened last night was all that shocking or even a first. And if there was, it wasn’t nearly as big a deal as they made it out to be. We’ve seen a final 2 get sent home before the final rose ceremony. We’ve seen a final 3 eliminate themselves, or, be let go early. I guess it was just hype to get you to watch, but yeah, nothing jumped out to me last night as some sort of OMG moment we’ve never seen.
-Katie had said in interviews her ending wasn’t traditional, which it wasn’t. I’m assuming she meant that once she was down to 4 guys, all hell kinda broke loose since 2 of them left on their own and she only ended up having one overnight date. So yeah, it wasn’t 4 guys left, rose ceremony eliminating 1, then 3 guys get overnights, and rose ceremony getting to her final 2, then 2 guys meet her family, 2 guys get last dates, and there’s a final rose ceremony day where she chooses one over the other. But that’s been happening a lot lately where we don’t get that standard breakdown from the final 4 down to 1. Something always seems to be happening now to build drama and make you think something happens that doesn’t. They teased Katie was gonna leave the show after Greg. That lasted all of about one commercial break.
-Speaking of Blake being the only one to meet her family, clearly Aunt Lindsay was the talk of last night’s family meeting. I mean, you all watched it. Is there really anything to add to that? Every parent/relative has the right to be skeptical about this process. We saw Matt Randolph question it during Colton’s season. Tayshia’s dad was skeptical as well. But you can be skeptical and protective about your niece in this situation without being rude about it. Those guys and others have proven that in the past. Maybe she was just playing it up or whatever. The skepticism is fine. It was the delivery that was completely over the top and, frankly, uncalled for. Like did she wake up on the wrong side of the bed that day? Why so mad? Just ask your questions, show your hesitancy, let Blake know you question the process, but you don’t have to make him feel uncomfortable and be condescending in the process.
