The scene opens with Arie wandering the streets of Peru and talking about Becca and Lauren. Lauren "writes" in her "journal" while sipping champagne. When I used to do stuff like that I was usually sobbing and hammered. I just said too much, didn't I? Arie's family is in town. Arie pulls his dad aside to get some wisdom. His dad is neither wise nor helpful.
Lauren's Day
Lauren is meeting the family first. Do the producers help the contestants out with flowers and presents or do they need to do it for themselves? Lauren tells his family that each date has been amazing. Arie's mom looks different from last time. We see Arie's brother and sister(?). Lauren asks the sister-in-law what it's like to marry into this family. Since she asked this question in front of everyone, she can't be too honest but leaves it at, "there's never a dull moment."
Arie's dad pulls Lauren aside to grill her. Dad asks Lauren if she has any reservations and she gushes about Arie and is worried that she's going to have a second engagement that won't work out again. Arie talks to his brother and sister and talks about how needy Lauren is. The sister asks if Lauren's somebody that you could talk to all night long and Arie has to think about this. So the answer is "no".
Next up is mom threatening Lauren to not break Arie's heart. Lauren starts crying. Mom is sympathetic to how effed-up this whole process is but in general Mom's not very comforting. This seems like a unaffectionate family. Dad's pretty closed off too. But as the family discusses her after she left, they really liked her.
Becca's Day
My guess is most of my readership are Russian bots. But boy was I psyched when my mother-in-law called me last night to see who I thought was going to win. Apparently she's somehow gotten sucked into this show. I love you Judy! Since you asked, and as I told you last night, I think he picks Becca initially, but ends up dumping her for Lauren. Becca's the one that's better on paper, but he clearly seems drawn to Lauren. Of course, it could go the either way--he could pick Lauren but then realizes he has nothing in common with her and can't hold a conversation and dumps her for Becca.
Arie's nervous about how today is going to go. The family assures Arie they'll be nice to Becca. I knew that he told both Becca and Lauren that he loved them, but I didn't know if it had happened yet. Obviously it happened already for Becca. Since I'm watching this before I finished last week, that was surprising.
The family has the exact same conversations with Becca that they had with Lauren. The family seems to like Becca better. She's certainly more outgoing, so I could see that they would like her better. The family looks concerned and they seem to not want to like Becca. Mom shares her conversation with Lauren with Becca, which I'm sure Becca loved. As with yesterday, Becca gushes.
Mom tells Arie she loved both women. They talk about Lauren's low self-esteem and neediness. Mom starts to tell him who to pick but either stops or it's edited out. Dad tells Becca that he can't tell who Arie likes more. Dad seems more interested in understanding Becca's interactions with Lauren than how she feels about Arie. It's clear Becca doesn't want to talk about this:
Dad: So I bet you met Lauren and got to know her a little bit. Did you and Lauren get along?
Becca: (not looking at dad AT ALL): Uh, yeah, I got to know her. She's an
Dad continues to tell Becca what a hard choice Arie has to make but he's good with whomever he chooses. Becca's super annoyed when she discusses this in the interview, as she should. Dad tells Becca it was lovely to meet her. Her conversation with Arie's brother goes down the same path. As does her conversation with his sister and another guy, maybe another brother.
By the end, Becca's concerned and disappointed. She doesn't think that went well at all. Arie and Becca's time ends weirdly. If they talk before she heads out, we don't see it and she just...leaves. Arie asks his family what they think. If you listen to Arie, he defends Lauren in a "you guys just to get to know her better. She has flashes of personality" whereas with Becca, he can articulate her qualities and she seems better on paper. But there's clearly something with Lauren that he likes. ARGH, now I don't know how he'll go. Maybe he picks Lauren but then realizes what a mistake it was and goes for Becca?
The entire family says Becca's a better choice. Okay, I'm feeling better that he picks Becca but dumps her, especially going with Becca's comments that she had more friends. That's not what she said specifically, but it's implied. Arie's hopeful he's going to have more clarity in the next few days.
Before they go to break, Caroline has joined Chris on stage. He asks her if her opinion of Arie has changed. Obviously it hasn't, but she seems to have backtracked on whether she knows what happened or whether it's a rumor. Obviously she knows, so this must have been language the producers threatened her with. Caroline isn't very articulate and looks extremely uncomfortable. Thankfully Chris lets her go.
Lauren's Last Date
Lauren and Arie are going to Machu Piccu in their own train. Wait, did Lauren say that she had met Arie before? If that has come up before I've forgotten. Arie continues to reassure us that Lauren is lovely, you just need to get to know her. They spend the day at Machu Piccu telling each other, "I'm lucky" "No, I'm lucky!" It's nauseating. They continue to have stilted conversations but discuss how great meeting the family went. Arie is still confused. Lauren has a speckle in her eye and Arie seems to consider that a quirk. It's these quirks that made him fall in love with her. Oy.
Lauren is dropping her guard a little bit. Arie is clearly smitten. She probably feels relaxed since she doesn't know he pulled a Ben and told two women he loved them. Lauren bares her soul to Arie and he doesn't walk off this time but in true Arie form, he doesn't really respond initially. Arie asks her if she's thought about what their daily life would be like outside of this and she outlines a regular day, which is as boring and regular as our lives are--get up, have coffee, take the dogs for a walk, go to work, come home, have dinner, go to bed. This is just what Arie imagined too! OMG, what a coincidence! Arie clarifies he's looking to pro-create ASAP.
Lauren rationally thinks that they wouldn't have had their conversation if he wasn't going to pick her. Arie is more confused than ever and thinks that he'd pick Lauren if he had his druthers. Before the break, we now find Bekah and Sienne on the couch. Like Caroline, they look uncomfortable and answer the questions as vaguely as they can.
Becca's Last Date
Arie's still hoping for clarification. They walk around some city in Peru. At dinner they talk about what's going to happen. He seems more reserved than he has been. Becca gets a dig in at Lauren and how Lauren's probably more like the other women he's dated in the past. Becca feels Arie out about where he stands and he tells her he's still conflicted, which I'm sure is concerning to her. Becca asks him if he has any additional questions for her and he says "no". Becca tries to make us think that she's feeling pretty good about where her and Arie are at this point. She reads him a letter that she "wrote". Oh and it's a scrapbook of sorts. Where do they get these pictures from? Did the producers print them out for her, or do they take them and drop them by the house, unrequested? Is this Becca's way of killing time since she's presumably sequestered?
Poor Arie, he feels overwhelmed. Oh Arie. He shares his pros and cons list of both women with us. Now Chris is joined on the couch by of course, Jason and Ben, since Arie's pulled from both of their seasons. Ben says in hindsight that telling two women you love them probably wasn't a great choice. Jason must be so psyched to finally not be the only one to change his mind, even if we're referring to what Arie does as "pulling a Mesnick". I didn't watch Jason's season so I don't have an opinion of him, but there's always been something about him I didn't really like, but honestly it's more a feeling than anything concrete. That being said, he's one of the what, two, success stories from the Bachelor side? So he has that going for him. So I guess I do have an opinion of him.
Jason reminds all of us that being the Bachelor is hard and you can't understand it unless you go through it. Chris is gleeful about sharing the fallout with us. As am I, I'm not going to lie. It's going to be like watching a train wreck. And we won't be able to take our eyes off of it.
Decision Time
Arie again talks about the two women. Are we going to see him picking out the ring? Similar to earlier with Lauren, we see Becca "writing in her journal", getting ready and talking about how devastated she'd be if Arie didn't pick her. Lauren says the same. The women are all dressed up and ready to go and Arie's still wandering the streets of Peru in his jeans and polo shirt. Neil Lane gets his contractually obligated appearance. Arie tries to engage with Neil, but Neil clearly doesn't care. It's unclear if Neil knows or cares that Arie was on Emily's season. He wants to get through this ring thing as quickly as possible. I really, really, really like Becca's dress. It's a longer version of a dress that I used to have. I still have it but I don't think I'd fit into it anymore. But I can't bear to give it away because for some reason I love that dress.
Nick's in the audience and he looks uncomfortable. All past participants must have language in their contracts that they're obligated to show up to these events for either the rest of their lives or until the Bachelor producers consider them irrelevant, whichever comes first.
The weather seems to have finally cleared up. Arie paces around the proposal stage. Lauren emerges. I knew it! Lauren looks like a wreck and seems unenthusiastic. But in her interview she says she feels confident. I don't know how long they had to wait for the ground to dry up but it doesn't appear that Lauren slips down the long hill they make her walk down to get to Arie after all of that rain .
Lauren begins her speech and you can tell from Arie's face that what he's going to tell Arie isn't good. He looks very serious. Lauren talks about opening up blah blah blah. Arie should cut her off and end it. She immediately knows when he starts talking that she's not chosen. She doesn't really react to the dumping. Lauren says she's confused. She wishes him the best and says she needs to go. He walks her out, but why bother? He keeps holding her hand and she asks him why she did this to him. He talks about his confusion and says he still loves her. She gets in the car and drives away.
Lauren is, of course, crying in the car. Don't worry, sweetie--you don't know it now, but you're going to win out in the end. Lauren is of course upset that she let her guard down and got screwed over. This is as close to a coin flip as it gets if he wasn't sure what he was going to do until this morning and she thinks he made a mistake and chose the easy route.
Chris has his "somber" face on. He constrains his glee when he reminds us that we're going to see the first
After the break Chris is less somber. Arie looks a little happier now as he looks at the ring. We watch Becca drive up to the proposal spot. My favorite dress is a little different from hers. It's mainly similar in the dusty pink with the black lace overlay. I like that it looks strapless but it isn't. I'm not a fan of strapless dresses. Becca gives her speech, blah blah blah. Now Arie has the same face as he had when he dumped Lauren.
Arie finally starts talking and talking and talking. He proposes but it's weird. Maybe it's weird because we know what happens. They make out. She's already practicing how her name is going to sound.
The Aftermath
Finally, this is the moment we've been waiting for. Let's see what happens, shall we? We see Arie and Becca canoodling. He says their time together has been "good". Well that's heartwarming and confidence building. Arie says he keeps thinking about Lauren. He says that Becca can tell that he's still thinking about Lauren. He thought it was normal that he was in love with Lauren and eventually those feelings would go away but x weeks later (maybe three tops?) he can't stop thinking about her and has decided to break up with Becca and see if Lauren will take him back. He doesn't say the latter, but obviously that's where this is going.
Chris and Arie talk. Chris' faces are awesome--
The Breakup
Arie's sick to his stomach as he walks the very long walk to the front door. She's happy but immediately senses something's up. You can see the camera crew in the mirror and you can see that Arie wishes that these people weren't there. Maybe not for Becca's sake, but her his. In which case, perhaps you shouldn't have told Chris what you were going to do.
The screen is split so we can watch both of them at the same time. Arie gives his speech about how he still thinks of Lauren and Becca's reaction is, "so...what's the issue here?" She asks if he wants to be with Lauren instead and he says "maybe" and then it's "you've got to be fucking kidding me."
I thought the fur was going to start flying but not quite yet. It turns out that he spoke to Lauren on the phone, which Becca knew about, and he realized he still had feelings for her. His rationale for Becca is "it's not fair to be half in with her". To which Becca responds, "so, wouldn't you be half in with Lauren?" And he says no.
I'm waiting for Becca to lay into him and maybe she's holding it together for the cameras. So then Becca starts pointing out that he said he couldn't see a future with Lauren and was he lying to her about that. Ironically her head is in her engaged hand so we can get a good luck at the ring, which she quickly pulls off. Arie keeps talking, which probably isn't a great idea.
Becca says if he was so conflicted in Peru he should never have engaged. He agrees. I liked Tia as the Bachelorette but I think Becca will do just fine as the Bachelorette. She's too good for Arie anyway. He says the more time he spent away from Lauren the more he was worried that his feelings for her were fading and Becca's response is, "yes, that's a normal relationship, that's what should have been happening." Becca is clearly stunned and humiliated. Even by Bachelor standards, this is tough to watch.
Arie said he wanted to do the right thing and tell her in person. Or else what, you'd ghost her? That would be pretty tough to do, buddy. You'd have to see her on the After the Final Rose. She says he shouldn't have proposed at all.
It's unclear what else could happen but Chris assures us that there's still more to watch. Arie and Becca sit in silence for what feels like forever. Becca walks off and the camera creeps up to watch her pack her stuff. Arie hesitatingly follows her. She tells him she's not hugging him good-bye. Arie doesn't want to leave things this way. More silence. He asks her if he wants a few minutes to herself or if she wants him to go and she says, "go". The cameras finally leave Becca alone so she can cry. Arie steps outside the house but doesn't leave. All that being said, Rachel and Pauls' breakup is more emotional than this one. Arie's standing outside with a look of, "I should look sad so let me have a sad face. He eventually goes back in the house to find Becca. He knocks on the door and asks if she's okay. No, douche-bag, she's not okay. WTF is wrong with you? She tells him again to go and asks why he's still in the house. This house is gorgeous but it's a strange layout. The long hallway suggests it's not a good use of space. Becca's wandering around the house crying. Arie's sitting on the couch.
Becca starts talking and the screen is still split so it's hard to tell if they're in the same room. It seems that they're not or Arie somehow walks over to her. He wants to talk more and she's right in that there isn't anything to talk about. Chris reminds this is unedited footage. Thanks, Chris. We remember.
They finally end up back on the couch to "talk". Becca's makeup is just now starting to smear a little but it still looks pretty good. Arie finally apologizes for what he's doing to her. They talk but not really. She tells again to leave because he's just sitting there. He starts to leave but doesn't. He just scooches to the edge of the couch. She tells him to leave AGAIN. He still just sits there. Then he says "Okay, I'm going to go." And finally gets up. Poor Becca sits on the couch crying. Then she moves to the bathroom.
When the scene ends and we go back to Chris, Becca's sitting on the couch. She doesn't look happy to be there. Chris asks her what's going through her mind watching it back. That's pretty cruel. She hasn't spoken to Arie or seen him since that day. Chris asks if she wants to see Arie and her response is, "what's the point"? But of course she's going to see him.
Obviously ABC has cleared their schedule to allow for an extra night of TV. Hopefully they'll keep filming instead of making Becca come back tomorrow to tape again. But Chris tells Becca to get some sleep. He seems to say some comforting words to her and her girlfriends give her big hugs. Before the hugs, the vibe between Becca and Chris is off. She's probably pissed at Chris Harrison and the producers too, as she should.
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