Bachelor 25 - Matt James - Jan 25 - *Sleuthing Spoilers*

https://youtu.be/7x0HT7D4aYY

Norcalgal wrote:For those of you who commented on Chelsea's hair, please take a few minutes and listen to her on Rachel & Becca's podcast.

https://art19.com/shows/bachelor-happy-hour/episodes/6e17f3f4-5940-42e3-9961-9ae6c3eb9515

Chelsea had long hair prior to last summer. She shaved her hair and felt liberation, something Rachel commented that most black women can relate to. Black women invest A LOT of time and money into making their hair accommodate social views of what beautiful hair looks like and it's not a typical black woman's hair. Also, the dress she wore on the first night was from a young designer whose designs she modeled several years ago (she mentioned he was 15 when she first wore his designs). He loaned her the dress. Both Rachel and Becca said she WORE that dress and it took a lot of confidence to wear. Chelsea grew up in a suburb of Atlanta and most of her school classmates were white. This podcast really made me think she'd be a fantastic bachelorette!

Convo about her hair starts around 29 minutes. The Chelsea part of the interview starts at 15 minutes in.

I'd like to see a lot more of Chelsea, and Magi as well. There are some interesting women on this season that we just don't see enough.

Same here.. I would like to see more of Mari, Chelsea, Magi, Pieper, MJ and even Abigail.. We don't know anything about this women because the season is currently focused on Drama..

IMO, the season started Monday night. Bri and Rachael's time with Matt has been showcased every episode. Both arcs are currently at a standstill, IMO. His chats with Rachael are almost always led by Rachael who reinforces her statements from the previous week. I don't feel like the show is telling us much about Rachael outside of her interest in Matt and lack of time with him; many of her PIs, though, remind me of Hannah Ann. I still wonder if the show wants her as their next lead...

Two other things that make me wonder how things end:
1. During Rachael's group date PI in week 2, she commented that another woman "just killed it at the end, and now I'm going home" even though she put it all on the line. She apparently is very vulnerable with Matt per his opening night PI about her.
2. Right after the zipline date with Michelle, Matt and Michelle are shown together giving commentary where he says that she pulled into first at the end and won (it reminded me of the post-proposal ITM of the happy couple). During their date, they both looked blown away by what was happening between them
.
So what could derail Matt and Michelle? According to Matt, he’d seen everything he needed to see with Michelle. We don't have many caps for the 2nd half of the season, so does something happen that shifts things to someone else? I caught that TPTB included Matt's comparison of his conversation with Michelle as flowing easier than it did with some of the original women; last week we saw some awkwardness with both Bri and Rachael.

P.S. I’m going to try to just watch the episodes without much post-show information to see if the story arcs tell a love story. Up until episode four, there wasn’t one, imo, hence the drama.

Anyone have other ideas about the story arcs?

@veg_out Ii don't have a story arc figured out yet. Two thoughts - there is much more between Rachael and Matt than we've been shown. When they have a 1 on 1, perhaps it will be obvious why she's been hidden.

But considering the great date with Michelle, something has to derail their relationship if she finished F2. Is it Rachael comes on strong to overtake a presumed F1? Is there an obstacle to overcome similar to Ivan and Tayshia? Regardless, I am not optimistic that the F1 will remain that for long post-filming.

@veg_out Remember how the producers kept editing things out of context for Brandon during Tayshia's season. The gameover.. He is the one.. lets go home comments... I believe Michelle is probably getting Brandon's type of edit.. The producers are editing things so we assume Michelle is the one. I still think Michelle is F2. I dont think Michelle walks aways though.. JMO

@veg_out This actually takes me back to some of  Tayisha and Zac early interactions and there were a lot of moments between them that both were kind of speechless and just looked at each other or didn't know what to say. Like in their hot tub scene Tayisha said to Zac "Why are you looking at me like that" and he said "I am looking at you like what" before that it was this silence. I have seen a few small moments like this between Rachael and Matt where she can barely finish a sentence and/or starts talking in a whisper voice almost. Then they both just kind of look at each other even giggle. So far it is small moments but something is there because Matt is always either sitting next to Racheal and/or seeking her out when she is on the group dates with him (the sex story date showed closeness as they walked out together). The show for some reason is keeping that hidden, until they cant anymore as the other ladies get eliminated.

Then another thing is, he is keeping her there for a reason even though she hasn't had a 1 on 1 date yet like he has had with the other top ladies. I am wondering if he did know more feelings is there with Rachael but he wants to test his other connections first with the other ladies.? I mean if it turns out she has a  1 on 1 in the upcoming episode then she would be either the 5th or 6th solo date. I am not sure if that means anything but were there other F1 in the past who didn't get a 1 on 1 date early on but later by at least the 5th or 6th date?

@veg_out I caught those same moments about Michelle coming from behind and what Rachael said. I think it’s possible Michelle’s story could peak too soon with nowhere to go. It could be a matter of the relationship being worth the work with Rachael because it took her longer to open up, story wise. But I do see that they would as someone posted, put a WOC in the forefront for as long as they can to keep POC continuing to tune in. It’ll be interesting to see it all play out.

@chasus71 There have been other F1's who had a late first date. Off the top of my head I know Catherine didn't get her first one on one until week 6. I know there were others, but I can't remember who.

Sprite wrote:@chasus71 There have been other F1's who had a late first date. Off the top of my head I know Catherine didn't get her first one on one until week 6. I know there were others, but I can't remember who.

Thanks so much.

@Norcalgal  @Ruqibabe  @chasus71  @luvnunity , really thoughtful and observant insights.  Sometimes the "s/he's the one"/"game over"/"I'm talking to my wife/husband" comments are decoys, for sure, and sometimes they signal the F1. Usually the relationship with the F1 will be different in some way from the others, so I'm keeping my eye out for something special, I just don't know quite yet what it might be! Michelle and Matt had something special, imo, but will it be sustainable? Or will Rachael and Matt eclipse it?

Rachael could be the hidden F1 with a late date like @Sprite mentioned (Jordan, Josh had late Bachelorette dates because their lead pretty much picked them night one but a season had to be made).

Based only on the episodes, I still see pathways for Bri/Rachael/Michelle to be the F1 at this point until ostacles are introduced for each. I do think the episodes will tell the story in time.

veg_out wrote:@Norcalgal  @Ruqibabe  @chasus71  @luvnunity , really thoughtful and observant insights.  Sometimes the "s/he's the one"/"game over"/"I'm talking to my wife/husband" comments are decoys, for sure, and sometimes they signal the F1. Usually the relationship with the F1 will be different in some way from the others, so I'm keeping my eye out for something special, I just don't know quite yet what it might be! Michelle and Matt had something special, imo, but will it be sustainable? Or will Rachael and Matt eclipse it?

Rachael could be the hidden F1 with a late date like @Sprite mentioned (Jordan, Josh had late Bachelorette dates because their lead pretty much picked them night one but a season had to be made).

Based only on the episodes, I still see pathways for Bri/Rachael/Michelle to be the F1 at this point until ostacles are introduced for each. I do think the episodes will tell the story in time.

One of the obstacles I see for Michelle is that she could possibly get caught up in messiness within the house. We see Bri talking to her about everyone being out for themselves and then Katie is having a chat with her outside of the cabins and it looks tense, I’m sure it’s just editing but it fits the storyline. She’s shown to be more vocal within the house which could be portrayed as cockiness/problematic. Bri’s obstacle may just be her checking out and losing steam because of the early connection but it fizzles out.