The Bachelorette Season 8 - Finale and After the Final Rose - Recap

The taped finale of the Bachelorette Season 8, as well as the live After the Final Rose special, have now come and gone. If you want to find out who Emily picks, then scroll down to the second half of my article where I write Emily's decision in letters as big and bold as the winner’s hair. Oops, did I just give it away? My recap is below.

In "the most anticipated television event of the summer," as host Chris Harrison has said countless times in various teasers and commercials, Emily finally picks her guy.

Jef and Arie meet Emily's parents

Emily's mother (Suzy), father (Dave), and brother (Ernie) all adore Jef. "I knew my family would love Jef, I just was not anticipating how much!" Emily said. He gets Emily's dad's permission to marry her.

The next day, Emily’s family already comes in to their meeting with Arie on the Jef bandwagon. The meeting starts off awkwardly as he rambles his face off while the Maynards stare on, but he turns things around when he gives them a box full of all of the roses that she’s given him over the course of the season. And Mrs. Maynard loves it! She admits that she thought he would be arrogant and self-assured, but she now loves Arie as well. Emily’s brother comes to the same realization; he actually tells Arie to his face that he seemed like a smooth talker who’s on the show just to win the competition, but Arie wins him over by expressing his genuine love for Emily. “After meeting Arie, I’m confused,” Ernie says as the live studio audience laughs. “Before I met him, I had my mind made up. I’m at a total loss of what to tell my sister.” Arie also gets Emily’s dad’s permission to marry her.

It seems like Emily’s parents love both Jef and Arie. Emily thinks it’s because they’ll feel bad for throwing in tokens for Dude A when she ultimately chooses Dude B, but I think it’s because the producers want to maintain as much suspense as possible and make it seem, on camera at least, that the Maynards don’t like one guy even a tiny bit more than the other.

Her family’s indecision is making her stressed out. The only thing that she and her mother feel sure about is not introducing the guys to Ricki, because she feels guilty that she introduced Ricki to Brad… and then that relationship collapsed, as we all know.

Jef's final date with Emily

Jef knows that he and Emily are perfect together, but he understandably wants to meet Ricki first. I mean, if he’s about to be engaged, then of course he’s going to want to meet his new daughter! After Emily tells him that she wasn’t planning on having Ricki meet any guy, Jef pushes harder. "You know how I feel about Ricki and kids and wanting a family… I can't wait for that. Just because I haven't met her doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking about her every day,” he says. "Think of you being in my position. You're so sure and the match is so perfect, and you haven't met that person's daughter. What would you think?"

Jef’s insistence, coupled with her confidence in their relationship, eases Emily. She decides to let Jef meet Ricki! Since Jef is a pro with kids – he’s pretty much a big kid himself – the pair of them hit it off. "Within 2 minutes, Jef made Ricki feel so comfortable,” Emily gushes. “It was really, really sweet watching Jef and Ricki play together."

They play at the pool and then sit on a step and talk. All three of them are having a blast, and Emily seems the happiest of all. "He has totally exceeded every expectation I've had. There's no question in my mind Jef would be the best dad and the best husband. The way I feel about Jef is totally different than anything I've ever felt… it makes it seem like everything I've done in the past several months is worth it,” Emily says. Sounds like love to me!

She even told Jef that once he left the pool, Ricki asked her if he could come back tomorrow! Awww! Jef gives Emily a book about Curacao, complete with stick figure drawings of the two of them that he put in himself, so she can remember the time that they’ve shared here together. Another reason why Jef and Ricki are great for each other: their artistic abilities are probably on par with each other’s.

Arie's final date with Emily

Actually, this header is misleading because Emily dumps Arie five minutes into their final date. Womp womp. As she woke up that morning, she had a sense of peace of what she needed to do: break up with Arie, because she wants to be with Jef. "[Seeing Jef and Ricki together] just did it for me, and I know that Jef is everything I've been looking for,” she tells Chris. It must feel so good for her to admit that she’s found her guy. "I need to tell Arie that as much I love him, I've just fallen in love with someone else a bit more. I don't even know how to start the conversation. It's supposed to be the happiest time in my life because I've found my guy, but my heart is broken because I need to say goodbye to Arie."

Arie is so confident he's going to marry her, and it's really sad to watch. When she arrives at the date, she dances around her feelings and words, not knowing what to say. She does what’s easiest and cries instead. "You know how I feel about you, from our very first date. And even beyond that, I felt like it was going to be me and you. But I don't know anymore,” she begins. "I'm sorry… I don't want you to think it's anything you did or didn't do."

He’s shell-shocked, since before this point, there have been no signs that she hasn’t been in to him. “Don’t say anything. I’ll go,” he says brusquely as he walks away. “Thank you for sparing me the embarrassment tomorrow.” He’s pissed!

He lets out more of his emotions in the rejection car. "I feel stupid, I feel naïve that I had that dream for us. I just feel like I give so much and am so open and I feel like I deserve that back; I feel like I give way more than I get back.” It’s true, he was the first to admit that he loves her, and he really has never held back in their relationship. No worries, he’ll be able to find a nice girl after all of this.

Back in the live studio

Chris asks for input from Bachelor/Bachelorette alumni: Ashley Hebert, J.P. Rosenbaum, Deanna Pappas, Michael Stagliano, and Ashley Spivey. Deanna commends Emily for not introducing Arie to Ricki and for sticking with her guns, while Michael believes that Arie has good things for him in the future. Chris mentions that Ashley H. has “been in Emily’s shoes, literally.” Has she really, though, Chris? Literally been in her shoes?  Come on, now.

The end! aka The Proposal

After all of the shenanigans this season, it’s refreshing to see Emily openly admit her love for another guy.  "I really did wake up with so much love in my heart this morning,” she remarked. “This entire journey has been full of highs and lows. It makes me feel so great knowing that I found the person who I could be with together."

For the proposal, Jef is clad in a cool navy blue jacket, navy blue skinny jeans that look like they belonged in Emily’s wardrobe, and hipster brown shoes. Emily, once again cementing her place as one of the best-dressed bachelorettes on the show, is in an absolutely stunning peach colored dress.

Emily isn't sure if she wants to be engaged yet, since she doesn’t want to be the girl who has been engaged a bunch of times before getting married.  However, that doesn’t stop her from expressing her feelings for him.

Emily: "It was all worth it because I can stand here and tell you that you're what I've been looking for all along… you're my soulmate. I love you so, so much. I know you are the one for me. You're the only one who got to meet Ricki. I didn't even go on a date with Arie yesterday, so it's just me and you."

Jef: “I feel like the luckiest man in the world. There's just something about us that's so real and so natural... I'm so grateful that you came here and put your heart on the line because I've found my everything. You will never feel lonely ever again. What I'm about to ask you is a forever thing. Emily, will you marry me?”

Emily:

Jef:

Emily:

Jef:

Emily:

Jef:

Emily: *after what seems like the longest pause that ever existed* “Yes.”

They kiss, and Jef, Emily, and Ricki walk away hand in hand. Emily and Jef are engaged!

After the Final Rose

All in all, there's not much to say about the one-hour, live After the Final Rose special, but there were some bombshells dropped. The important thing is, Emily and Jef are still together and going strong!

After Arie got rejected, he flew out to Charlotte to either get closure or start a new beginning, and ultimately decided that when he got to Charlotte, he respected Jef and Ricki too much to disrupt their new lives. He ended up leaving her his journal from the show on her doorstep instead! Emily didn't end up reading it because she felt like it wouldn't help anything if she did. At the time, Arie thought that if she read his journal, she would understand how genuine he has been about his feelings for her. Still, though, she commends him on being so open throughout the whole show, and at the end of the day, just didn't have that long-term confidence as she did with Jef. He said that his happiness for them two has helped him move on.

Next, Jef comes onto the stage, and he and Emily are finally together in public for the first time. Must be a relief for them. Since Emily and Jef haven't actually seen the proposal yet, they watch it on the screen together. As for their future plans, Jef is going to take Emily to Africa and do some humanitarian outreach with Jef's company PeopleWater because Emily has long been telling him about her desire to do humanitarian work in Africa. Additionally, they decided that Jef would move to Charlotte and get his own place there so Ricki wouldn’t have to uproot her life, and that once they’re married, they’ll decide what they’ll do from there. Yes, they brought up marriage! Emily wants a spring wedding.

And you know what? I really hope they go through with it. They’re definitely one of my favorite couples to come out from this show, and I want them to live happily ever after. Sure, the odds are against them, but I’m remaining hopeful. Overall, I’ve loved this season of the Bachelorette. Thank you all for reading my recaps this season! I’ll be posting recaps of Bachelor Pad, which premieres Monday night at 8pm on ABC.

What do you all think; are you glad she picked Jef? Did you see it coming? Do you think their relationship will last? Let me know in comments.