Bachelor 25 - Matt James - Feb 15 - *Sleuthing Spoilers*

luvnunity wrote:

veg_out wrote:IDK about this season.

Some thoughts on the speculated F4:
Serena: Outside of the premiere and her 1:1, Serena plays a very minor role at this time. TPTB do not include her time with Matt each episode, so the audience sees little of their relationship's progression, explaining the reason she's not F1.
Since episode 4, Pieper has been more of a major player than Serena.

Bri: Every episode through episode 4 highlighted the building of Bri’s relationship with Matt. In episode 5, TPTB excluded Bri outside of some close-ups and some ITMs that served as narration. Bri's shown as Matt's constant.
Matt pulled away from Bri's kiss during one of their group date SQT, so does Matt feel the same for her as she might for him?

Rachael: Rachael says the words that would seem like she's falling in love, but she pulls away from Matt's kisses. During their date, Rachael revealed that she struggles with self-doubt when dating. Matt seems taken aback by that, saying that he sees her as very confident.
Could it be that Rachael isn't who she says she is–is what she projects her true feelings or is she playing a role?
I can see the path for Racheal to be F1, but I'm not convinced yet. He did use the "home" reference that Becca used with Garrett her season.

Michelle: Episode 5, imo, set the stage for a major obstacle for Matt and Michelle: Michelle is uncomfortable when Matt shows affection to other women. What is up ahead? FSDs, and TPTB likely continue their trend of putting all the F3 in the same suite.
I would not be surprised if Michelle leaves on her own towards the end because it's too much for her.

IMO, something big happens in the second half of the season that impacts the story as it stands right now and could change things. IMO, it's the reason that we know so little about the future episodes.

Does anyone see similarities between this season and the earliest seasons or maybe Chris Soules' or Ben H's season?

I've thought the same thing.  I think the end will be very squirrely and that at least one of the ladies leave on their own.  This might account for why the episodes have been prolonged, because there's fewer people than normal at the end.  I'm really surprised we don't have any romantic SC's with Rachael from the season preview, not even silhouettes.  I'm still not convinced on Rachael, I need to see some SC's.

ETA: I watched a little of Juan Pablo's season last night for the first time to see the patterns of the season preview.  One thing I noticed is the advice Sean Lowe gave him.  Matt said he talked to Sean at length.  Sean emphasized not letting the other girls see him kiss someone.  I'm sure he told Matt the same.  I'm wondering if tptb aren't encouraging Matt to kiss these girls in the open to make them feel insecure.  Matt doesn't know any better.  He kissed Pieper and Chelsea on the GD.  Matt actually looks like he's tired of kissing girls during after parties and cocktail parties but feels compelled to for some reason.  I think Michelle knows he's been kissing on everybody and that's why she cut the kiss short during their talk on the last date.  She wanted to show affection but didn't want to do what he's been doing with everyone else all night.

Thatgirl31109 wrote:@veg_out I enjoyed reading your observations , but can you elaborate on the pull away kiss with Bri ? Was that from the group date with Ashley I?  The similarities I’ve seen so far is when Ben H had his first date with Lauren he felt the need to open up with her immediately about his father and family dynamic because Lauren opened up to him. I see the same with Bri , she opened up that conversation allowing him to feel the need to share. Although he did touch on it with Serena C but it was vague. In all his interviews he speaks about being vulnerable and putting everything on the table etc. Someone made him face his fears of opening up and dealing with his emotions. Granted a lot of things are edited out but I don’t see Rachael being that person because she struggles with that herself.

SN: I wanna know why there was no ITM shown of Matt during his night portion from his date with Bri. Do you think it was left out on purpose? Or he simply did not do one ?

veg_out wrote:You've got it, @thatgirl31109–I was thinking of Matt pulling away on the episode 3 group date. Cute moments with Matt & Bri were part of every episode until after the episode 4 cocktail party when Michelle became a big part of the story.
Matt gave a direct ITM about time with Bri during the day portion of their 1:1 after the jacuzzi. He hasn't made a direct ITM about Bri after their time since then contrasted with Michelle's date and Racheal's date.

Bri could be hidden and comes through at the end (thinking about Rachael's comment during the bride group date) as the one who was always there for Matt...too early to say.

@luvnunity, good point about previews.
JP's season: no ring shot, no FRC shown, no engagement/just dating
Chris' season: no ring shot, no FRC shown, engagement
Ben Higgins' season: no ring shot, ends with shot of Ben at FRC podium smiling, engagement
Nick Viall's season: several ring shots, ends with FRC shown, engagement
Arie's season: ring shot, FRC shown, ends with Arie giving confusion PIs, engagement then switch
---BTS changes----
Colton's season: no ring shot, many shots of Colton walking alone, ends with Colton hopping the fence, no engagement/just dating
Peter's season: ring shot, ends with FRC and ring shot, engagement to the F2/breakup
Matt's season: many scenes of Matt walking alone, Matt holds a ring in a box, preview ends with him closing the box and putting it in his pocket

By those, it still seems possible that Matt could end alone, imo.

The episodes tell the story, imo, and a major player in the story only arrived in episode 4–there's still so much that's unknown, imo.

Feb. 9, 2021



“2507” – With hometowns on the horizon, Matt and the remaining women all take a serious look at their potential future together, resulting in more than a few difficult decisions. Former cast member Heather Martin isn’t the only source of drama during this jam-packed week that includes two one-on-one dates, a group date, two rose ceremonies and a performance by GRAMMY-nominated artist Aloe Blacc. Don’t blink or you may miss something on “The Bachelor,” airing MONDAY, FEB. 15 (8:00-10:00 p.m. EST), on ABC. (TV-PG, DL) Episodes can be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu.

photos for episode 7:

barbell wrote:So are hometowns on Feb 22. With all of this starting with a rose ceremony, I’m confused