Plodded to a chilly romantic conclusion

So they are in a place called Rovrenini...or something like that..it sounded like Bimini.
The Viala family come to Finlad to mope  meet the final two.

Someone get that family some therapy. They keep re-hashing Nick's past while they sit in a sad circle.
The first shot of Nick's mom..she looked like she was wearing a reindeer vest or took a wall covering and fashioned it into a vest.

Rovremini (sp?) is apparently where Santa lives.  Perfect that this reality show is set on location where Santa lives...just to keep everything super real.

Sad music plays as Vanessa's vehicle approaching..is this foreshadowing or the producers trying to throw us off. Vanessa states she loves Nick..but is asking Nick's dad if love is enough...seriously..is there a psychologist in the house? Nick's dad starts crying..Vanessa doesn't do anything to comfort the dad. Maybe she's not emotionally intelligent? Where's Taylor when you need a counsellor?


Raven comes for a second  visit..they all have emptiness in their hearts...Raven states she's really sure about Nick.now i'm not sure about how sure she is..i wonder if she just isn't a critical thinker.
The family hopes Nick isn't blindsided.

The both have their last 1:1 dates.
Vanessa's is heavy..she cries.even though she got a present from Santa.
Raven seems delighted by everything Nick. Even when Nick tells Raven he cares about both women so much.

i feel that nick needs someone middle ground between Vanessa and Raven.

Decision Time...
Neil Lane comes a knowing. Nick was a little light on the selection of rings. I guess he was tired of schlepping all those rings for Nick...He doesn't even put them on a velvet display box. It's like "would you like overpriced/overvalued setting #1 or #2?

Nick picks a ring...but is he going to pick a woman?

It's proposal time..who gets out first...but Raven!!!!!! She said she didn't believe in fairy tales but she kinda had a Frozen style dress and a cloak that you'd see in a Disney movie. Chris H meets her in the cloakroom and removes her cloak before she goes to the room where Nick is waiting....
to reject her!! Whah??? I really didn't think he was going to choose Vanessa...it all seemed so heavy with Vanessa. She climbs in to the vehcile..she left her cloak behind..and starts ruminating how love doesn't work for her..and what if noone wants to love her...and not a peep about missing Nick. Fly Raven fly.

Now while Vanessa was getting ready she was remarking that she was unsure of getting engaged. Then why did she put her 1/2 fur jacket on and hustle to the proposal shack...Nick says some nice things to her, she says some nice things back..and he proposes..and she cries..YES! She puts on her fur jacket and they go on a little horse drawn sleigh ride in the cold.

Well...that was chilly...

Speaking of chilly..the air between Vanessa and Nick was not quite Frozen but it seemed  a bit frosty.
Vanessa kept saying "at the end of the day we love each other and we are working through this". It sounds a bit like breaking rocks...Not sure if the crowd was really feeling Vanessa..when she announced she would do charity work for special needs children noone really clapped..and she didn't look thrilled when she said they'd be getting married in the states.

Yeesh...if they are having such a hard time in the beginning...will this last?? Who knows..all I know is
I LOVE THIS SHOW...

and i also know the guys that Rachel met so far were super awkward. especially the guy who said he was never going back after black..
hopefully there are 21 other more promising guys..she seems way more eloquent that the 4 that appeared..

Laps around Lapland, Core Values, Naps and Let's make America Great again

Speaking of naps, i think my butt fell asleep after being glued to the couch for 3 hours.
THREE HOURS.
We are back at Lapland..where Raven proclaims "Nick is really good at what he does"..and she skips around town and high fives people and kisses inanimate objects.
Like a female Viagra commercial.

We have two dates left.
Rachel-well.we all know that Rachel is going to be the Bachelorette..so not that interesting a date to watch. All the women wore toques with big pom-poms which validates my toque with a huge pom pom. But Rachel and Nick go cross country skiing...and then go for a reindeer ride. With reindeer that looked like they had their antlers strapped on.
Nick spends the night...he makes breakfast and then says "I have to pack up and get ready" ..for another date. This show really must be crazy making.

Vanessa.
Vanessa has core values. That is clear. What they are is unclear. All I know is that she has family dinner on Sunday. Does that mean her core value is not cooking for herself on Sunday.that she only spends 3 hours with her family on Sunday? Nick says he's not traditional and isn't sure they will jive but later says he likes that she has values, but that compromise is important and he didn't have it in his last relationship (i wonder if it was with the woman he ran into in Wisconsin). I'm betting that Nick is trying to say he doesn't wan to be bossed around but is prone to it. Oh, one of her values is that being engaged is like being married..she only wants to do it once.
Their date involves alternating hot and ice baths. Kinda like Vanessa..she's hot and she's cold, she's yes and she's no...we're still not sure if she's in or out.

She is in for the Fantasy overnight date AND for telling Nick that she loves him.
Why did Nick have such a big pocket his sweater..it was like a cargo sweater. Speaking of sweaters..Vanessa wore a belted sweater that looked like a blanket with an attempt at cinching at the waist. Not flattering..holy smokes..Vanessa does looking smoking hot in a Finnish one piece. They are both patriotic and having discussions about who would move. Nick said he'd do anything for the woman he loves, but he's a proud American.

They spend the night together..Vanessa is in love and she says dreams come true.

Rose Ceremony
Raven wears a black dress...pretty uninspiring for someone who owns a clothing store. (why was she holding a white piece of paper?)
I'm not sure what Rachel wore except for the neckpiece.
Vanessa wore a dress that resembles the Emoji flamenco dancer. It was such a party at the bottom.

Rachel goes home...and she says she's back at square one..when we know square one is the the hosed down rock tiles of the Bachelorette mansion. She says everyone tells her how amazing she is..but it always ends like this.


Women Tell All (WTA)
I usually don't blog about the WTA because I'm too busy saying WTF.  It typically is a bunch of women being angry at each other and the common denominator is that it's about a guy that doesn't choose them.
My big take away is that I think hoops are coming back (that and i like the term slob kebab..although people from the Middle East might take it as a slight as kebabs are typically quite tidy). I kinda felt like girl from Wisconsin in the white tried really hard to make a statement in her white plunging pantsuit which was killer and required double sided tape and she likely paid so much money to make her hair whiter..and she didn't say a word.
The mental health counsellor was feelings so many feels and was upset that her career was affected. It was ironic that she wasn't exhibiting emotional intelligence yet defined it for 'Merica. Chris Harrison-who i think has incredible emotional intelligence had to point out that neither Taylor nor Corinne are talking to each other.
Corinne was unapologetic. I loved her lipstick. I"m betting it was a multistick from Bite Beauty. What I give Corinne high fives for is bringing gluten and dairy back to mainstream. Yet Taylor wouldn't take a bite from the dish that was handed to her. Taylor is intolerant of so many things.

True colours...
Kristina bleeding red white and blue was way too much. Kristina recounting her sad story of the orphanage and the teacher telling her that Russian living would be black and white and in the U S of A it would be many colours...seemed like the ABC network's way of invigorating some type of national pride. I wonder if Trump and Putin are watching. Kristina told her some orphanage friends have gotten in touch with her...someone I"m doubting the the Bachelor will be filming in Moscow anytime soon.

Speaking of a non-story.Rachel is the new Bachelorette...and hey she's black....and Chris pointed this out to her...Rachel takes this as an honour and she's humbled.  Seems like the show is trying to hard to unite..not that unity is terrible but it's so overt.

What got my eyeballs rolling is how excited all the girls got that Rachel might find her husband....and Astrid also piped up "We'll take your leftovers".  Two days before International Women's Day..this show has a far far way to go.

I'm  not googling Bachelor Spoiler alerts..but it seems like Nick doesn't pick anyone....Typically Chris asks on the WTA if the Bachelor is happy. Chris doesn't do that. Or maybe Nick shows up on Rachel's season.
Until next week, I LOVE THIS SHOW