You know when Chris Harrison opens a show by telling you you’ve never seen anything like this before that you’re in for a ride. Or at least you assume so.
Sure, Chris loves his hyperbole, but he’s not usually quite that bold with it, especially after a season of The Bachelorette like the one we’ve just had, which was mostly all stuff we’ve never seen before, courtesy of one Luke Parker.
As it turned out, most of tonight’s episode was business as usual. Hannah eliminated Peter, introduced both Tyler and Jed to her parents (they liked one a lot more than the other…), then went on one last date with Tyler and with Jed. That was all pretty normal for a finale, but then at the very end, Chris Harrison announced that Hannah had a message for viewers.
“Since the last day in Greece, the past couple of months have been really tough and emotional. I know there are a lot of rumors out there, and honestly, tomorrow night, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I have a lot of questions that need to be answered, so I hope I’ll be able to do that.”
Chris then warned us to ‘get some rest tonight” because part two of this finale “is going to be unlike any finale we have seen before.”
In the preview for tomorrow night, we saw footage of Hannah crying in a fancy dress and asking to stop the car, and then tripping in the street, but then in casual clothes, with an engagement ring on, in an unknown room, she said “I just feel like this experience has been taken away from me” and “How could you ever be ready to be engaged? I’ve been doing all the freaking steps and I know what I want.”
Those “rumors” Hannah referred to are likely the ones about the girlfriend Jed allegedly had right up until he got on the plane to go film The Bachelorette. In June, 26 year-old singer/songwriter Haley Stevens told press that she and Wyatt had been dating for a few months before he left for the show, which he told her he was only doing to promote his music career. She even shared a love letter Jed had written to her the night before he left for filming.
Regardless of who Hannah chooses at this point, Jed’s gotten far enough that answers are going to be needed no matter what, and if there are also answers to be gotten from Tyler, then we truly will be shocked.
Whatever happens, there will be shock! And we can’t wait!
Now, let’s run through the other events of the night:
First, we had to go back to that rose ceremony that Luke tried to ruin last week, and we saw Hannah eliminate poor Pilot Pete while she cried and cried.
Their relationship has been perfect, so easy, he’s a Ken doll, she told him, but he’s just not hers. We then just watched the two of them cry together for several minutes before we caught back up with Peter in-studio with Chris Harrison. He cried some more until Hannah came out and tried to explain that she had needed him to be more verbally open about his feelings earlier on, and that it might have changed things if she had known how he felt sooner.
Then, she dropped an incredible bomb: they didn’t just have sex in the windmill twice. They did it four times! Even Peter’s parents were clapping and cheering at this news, which hopefully has shaken Luke Parker to his core.
After that revelation, we watched Hannah introduce her two remaining men to her parents. And yeah, it was particularly hard to watch Jed’s date (and every date with Jed) after all the reports of Jed’s love life prior to the show, but this date was particularly rough after Tyler, the perfect example of a human man, had his turn. When Hannah’s parents learned Jed was attempting a career as a songwriter in Nashville, their faces were positively beautiful.
Would we have felt the same without the reports of Jed’s girlfriend? Impossible to know, but probably! Because boy was the reaction to Jed not the same as the reaction to Tyler.
Yes of course it was wonderful to watch Hannah defend the fact that she can provide for herself and doesn’t need a man to do that for her, but it was also just satisfying to watch Hannah’s parents question the hell out of Jed’s precious music career, which he once admitted he came on the show to promote.
Hannah then had one more date with each guy, and once again, Tyler killed it. He looked great in his shirts, and he said great things, and he just was generally, seemingly perfect. Their night ended on a bed, so it’s very possible that Hannah windmilled with Tyler after all.
With Jed, Hannah went on a boat, and she got a little sea sick and anxiety-sick, and then sat and listened to how sad Jed was after Hannah’s dad was so skeptical of his entire life.
Hannah, once again, put it perfectly that they both want to dream and chase their passions, but there are going to have to be sacrifices occasionally for each other if they want to support a family. And of course Jed’s music career is not the main concern with Jed, at least from an outside perspective, months after this was filmed.
Anyway, after her date with Jed, Hannah was still lacking “clarity” on her decision even though it’s fairly obvious that she should pick Tyler, if you ask us. Hannah didn’t, but that’s OK. Hopefully she knew it anyway!
The Bachelorette concludes tomorrow at 8 p.m. on ABC.