I Will Love You Forever...Or For 6 Weeks

Well, we made it. The Bachelor is officially over. All we have left is to follow Jason and Molly through their tour of talk shows where Jason will tell us for the 400th time that he “followed his heart” and “has no regrets.” I am very torn on this one. ABC highlighted Jason for ¾ of the season (before the rumors started flying about the finale) as the perfect man. Well, the perfect single father Jewish man. At the beginning of the season, my fellow Jewish single friends were calling me up, complaining that they had not applied to be on The Bachelor. That the man of their dreams was going to marry someone else. Now these same people are disgusted with him. They think the entire show is fixed. They claim they will never watch another episode. I understand their anger.

At the same time, if Jason was just someone we knew from college or work and he came to us with a problem (he is engaged but realizes he made a mistake and is in love with someone else), I don’t think there would be very many of us that would tell him to go through with the marriage. Some people are angry that he did it on TV. Well, we found out from Jason’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel last night that Jason had already ended things with Melissa. They were both contractually obligated to come back on the show. Really – it made Melissa look better – she got some time to gather her thoughts and let him have it. Jason got to look like the putz that he is for picking Melissa in the first place.

All in all, I don’t hate the guy. In one of my all time favorite movies, The Sound of Music, Captain von Trapp (played by Christopher Plumber), ends his engagement to the Baroness only to be proposing and kissing Frauline Maria (Julie Andrews) within minutes of his breakup. This is one of the most romantic scenes of all time. Surely nobody could blame the Captain for “following his heart.”

Tonight we had a bunch of recaps and filler. Tonight's "After the Final Rose, Part 2" was filmed 6 weeks from where we left off (Jason dumping Melissa on national TV and declaring his love for Molly). Some of the previous bachelorettes pursuing Jason came back. Some were more understanding of his decision than others. Some still were wearing horrible pink eye shadow (Miley Cyrus/Kari). Stephanie actually looked great from the neck up – she wasn’t wearing so much make-up and looked a lot younger, I thought. Her off the shoulder sequined/leopard patterned top, however, was out of control. But I think we’d be disappointed if she wore something normal. It’s too bad Shannon wasn’t there. Maybe she would have cried. She’s hated Molly since waiting up for her pointlessly to return from her overnight tent date.

Naomi was subtle. “I wanted to throw fists through the screen and punch him.” Then she admits that in the last couple of weeks she has seen his “thing” for Molly. Nikki has been covering those sideburns (both on tonight's show and the Women Tell All).

Chris then takes a couple of questions from the audience – all of the commenters he chose were definitely Jewish. I wonder if this was a coincidence. Maybe it was a local synagogue trip of female fans that went on tour to follow the first Jewish Bachelor. Who knows? These women all seemed pretty understanding. Then the token male in the audience gets up and says, “I would never propose to somebody if I had that strong of a reaction to somebody else.” And the crowd goes wild! It almost felt Jerry Springerish in the studio for a moment.

Finally, Chris brings Jason out – there are hundreds of candles lit and I am wondering whether Chris is going to propose to Jason. (Side note: on Jimmy Kimmel last night, Evangeline Lilly (who I absolutely adore – she’s from the ABC show, Lost), was being interviewed by Kimmel. At the end of her interview, Jimmy gives Evangeline the option of hanging around to meet Jason, as his interview was next. Evangeline replies, “No thanks. I’m worried he might propose to me.” Too funny.)

Jason gives his 10 minute speech which included the following scripted lines: (1) Dumping Melissa and getting back with Molly was nothing he ever planned on; (2) He knows it was not the classiest thing in the world; (3) He had to follow his heart; (4) Him and Melissa were not right for each other and the chemistry was different; (5) He is not proud of what he did to Melissa; (6) He hates that he had to breakup with her, but he made the right choice for everyone.

I’m not quite sure what could have caused Jason to realize in 6 weeks that Melissa was not the one for him. It was the holidays – Thanksgiving through Christmas, etc. Maybe he met her family and just didn’t click with them. He said that one of the reasons he chose Melissa was because “she needed him.” Molly was much more independent. He says that since he gave Melissa the ax and got with Molly, that him and Molly “have become best friends.” He was quick to follow this with “and we have passion and fun too.” We know he says this because he dumped Jillian after saying they were best friends, but that wasn’t enough for him.

Chris asks Jason how he responds to those people across America that are very upset with him and the outcome. Jason says, “I’ve hurt people along the way, but have done it with integrity.” WHAT? How can hurting people ever be done with integrity? I’m hoping that someone just screwed up his cue cards, because that line makes no sense. He is starting to sound like Jack Bauer in 24. It’s ok to torture people as long as you get results. The ends justify the means. Who knew that Jason was Machiavellian?

Melissa did not show up tonight (classy move). It shows she’s a person – did not want to have to face Jason again and why should she? She wrote in a note to say she is doing very well and she doesn’t regret anything. Well, except maybe that they didn’t choose her to be the next Bachelorette.

Chris then brings out Molly – who is wearing yet another jewel colored kelly green satin strapless dress and a little poof in the front (she is clearly imitating my hair style from the video chat last night). Molly says she had no idea before coming on the show 6 weeks ago that Jason was interested in her. She came on that show for closure. She said she had been secretly hoping that Jason would show up and confess his love for her and that he had made a mistake, but never really expected it to happen. According to her, she had not seen Jason since New Zealand and was going through all of this heartbreak on her own.

Chris asks her if she ever thought of not taking him back? Molly says her feelings never went away. It was never a question of whether she still loved him or not. She said since he dumped Melissa and confessed his love to her, they have had plenty of serious conversations where she has grilled him (probably made a list of questions knowing her and made him answer all of them). Most of her questions revolve around why Jason didn’t know that she was “the one” that last day in New Zealand (that’s a horribly long flight back to Michigan to be heartbroken for)

Molly also discusses how incredibly difficult the last couple of weeks have been for them. She is referring to all of the rumors and bashing of her and Jason that has gone on. But she’s happy that she has Jason to lean on, and they are “happier than ever now.” I really hope Melissa is not watching this.

Chris says, “you must really really care about this woman to go through this publicly and make it happen.” Then Chris asks if Molly has forgiven Jason. She has forgiven him (is that the shocking ending that ABC said was still to come tonight?). The two admit that things are going really well between them. They are in love. They are so happy and it couldn’t be any better. They talk to each other all night long (how fun for Ty). Chris presents them with a gift - the tent that they made out in on their first overnight date. How appropriate.

At the end of the show, they bring Jillian out to announce that she is the next Bachelorette!! Yay Jillian! The fact that they have announced it this early, means that her show will probably start relatively soon. I will definitely blog about her next time – so don’t forget to bookmark this site. I know some of you have given up on the show – even more reason to check my blog. I’ll tell you what’s happening so you don’t have to waste your time. Until then, I will give you updates on Jason and Molly, Melissa, Jillian, etc.. I will also blog about other shows I am watching (I watch EVERYTHING) and give you some updates on my life with The Boyfriend.

Tune in later this week for our next podcast, the winner of the GetMarried.com eco friendly bag and more!

It’s been a fun ride. Thanks so much for all of your support. Best of luck to all of you out there!!