Host Chris Harrison promised us it would be one of the most “controversial” endings in “The Bachelor” history. Halfway through part one of the two-part 2020 finale, the kettle is simmering, and it looks like things are about to boil over.
Hannah Ann Sluss, 26, gets the first “date” with Peter Weber’s family, and his parents buy in right away. After seeing her for perhaps five seconds, they assess that she’s fully in love with him. Peter’s mom, Barbara, even says she sees a “little bit of herself in Hannah Ann.” In conversations with both of his parents, Hannah Ann expresses repeatedly how much she loves Peter — and both of them appear ready to marry her themselves.
“I feel like I’ve known you all my life,” mama Barbara says to Hannah Ann as she leaves. But Peter still appears torn.
Next up: Madison Prewett, 23, arrives and has a one-on-one conversation with Peter, 28, where she vents her frustrations about him sleeping with the other women in the fantasy suite. Then, she comes way out of left field, and says she would have said yes had he got down on one knee and proposed before the fantasy suite. For those keeping track, to this point, she still hasn’t told Peter that she loves him.
“You’re the only person who I truly don’t know how you feel,” Peter says, before saying that he felt she did indeed give him an ultimatum. The tension escalates, and Madison says she is hanging on by a thread.
“Love isn’t the issue here, you know?” Madison says, in one of the episode’s broader platitudes.
It’s painfully obvious at this point that this is never going to work out and that they have a glaring gap in idealism. But when Peter mentions a conversation he had with her father, she starts to turn a corner. A few minutes later, Madison finally says she loves him.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that?” Peter says. At this point, it’s a wrap. “I have zero worries,” Peter says. You, “bud,” are naive.
Things get real uncomfortable when Madison meets the Webers. Peter’s brother confronts him and declares something along the lines of, “she goes to church, you go to clubs — what makes you think this could work?” Then Barbara straight up confronts her about it, telling her not to “change” him. They both very directly reference the fact that she’s saving herself for marriage. There is way too much sex talk going on for a moment where a woman meets her boyfriend’s parents for the second time, but then again, this is “The Bachelor.”
Everything takes place in bizarro world.
“She’s not there for you,” Peter’s mom cries. Then, when Peter says he’s conflicted, she doubles down. “Hannah Ann is an angel on Earth.” For someone so concerned about how much deeper Madison’s faith is, she refers to God quite a bit herself, but that’s neither here nor there.
We finally know who Barbara is referring to when she says “bring her home!” It’s Hannah Ann. Twist! And Peter is extremely not down. He wants to spend the rest of his life with Madison, and he’s determined to make it happen, even though it makes no sense to his family, the audience, Madison’s dad, Madison, literally every single human being on Earth except for Peter.
“What happens next is going to be brutal,” host Harrison, 48, warns. Ehh … it’s not exactly easy to watch, but there have definitely been more “brutal” moments in “Bachelor” history. Arie breaking up with Becca, for example.
The final date with Madison ensues, and they go up in a helicopter as Peter spouts generic facts about Uluru in Australia. Peter is off in his happy place, but Madison is clearly not, and it’s obvious a breakup is on the horizon.
“Being a good fighter is knowing when to surrender,” Madison says, and Peter knows it’s over. She tells Peter what we all know, that they have wildly different lifestyles and views on faith, and makes the very reasonable decision to end things. It’s a moment where real life rears its ugly head in Bachelor world, but Peter still can’t see it.
So what about Hannah Ann? She walks out into the outback the next day with an extra pep in her step. “I’m so excited to see you!” she tells Peter, and they go on to play with some baby kangaroos. Pretty quickly, Peter is calling her a “perfect woman,” and has seemingly forgotten everything that happened with Madison. Or has he?
That night, Hannah Ann is dressed up in her hotel room, candles lit everywhere. Peter knocks on her door wearing a hoodie, which is telling in itself. He tells Hannah Ann that his heart is being “pulled in two different directions,” and she is visibly upset by that, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
Hannah Ann says he doesn’t seem like he’s “completely there” and gives Peter plenty of chances to tell her what’s going on in his head. But he continues to talk around the fact that he’s more in love with Madison, as well as the fact that Madison is gone.
Which, let’s take a minute to pause here. Madison is gone. He has one choice, and it’s Hannah Ann. He’s clearly more in love with Madison, or the idea of Madison, and he’s trying to force things with Hannah Ann now that she’s the only one left. And yet, he still can’t pull the trigger. Bud, that tells you all you need to know.
We cut back to the studio, where Harrison comes out on stage and preps us for tomorrow night.
“If you think you’ve seen the last from Madison, you haven’t,” he warns. “And if you think you’ve seen the last of Barbara, think again.” In the preview for Tuesday’s final episode, Madison is back, and thinks she made a mistake.
Things are about to get dramatic. Buckle up.