One woman’s exit leaves Matt speechless on ‘The Bachelor’

Matt James asked a rhetorical question on Monday’s hometowns episode of “The Bachelor,” on which he met the relatives of the four women still in the hunt: “The fact that their families are here to meet me and spend time with their daughter, how can you not be excited about that?”

I wasn’t excited at all, truth be told. This has felt like a gruelling season, first because of the nasty behaviour among some of the contestants, later because of the racism controversy that led to Chris Harrison stepping down as host. It’s the first time I can remember that I started to appreciate weekly episodes less as entertainment than as milestones to the end of the season and not having to watch anymore.

But then the first “hometown” date, with teacher Michelle Young, chipped away some of the stone where my “Bachelor”-loving heart used to be. There were cute children on Zoom asking awkward and funny questions. There were lovely moments of affection and care between Michelle and her parents.

By episode’s end, I was feeling sorry for Matt, who seemed to have the wind knocked out of him when Serena Pitt told him he wasn’t her “person” and sent herself home. The stunned silence with which he greeted her pronouncement was raw and real. He hasn’t seemed that disturbed about anyone else leaving, which makes me think that Bri lucked into what would have been Serena’s rose. More on that later.

Back to Michelle’s date. Taking questions from the children of Ms. Young’s class was probably good practice for Matt meeting the parents later on.

The kids weren’t messing around. “How many girlfriends do you have?” asked a girl named Marnie. “Are you going to have babies?” queried Kelsey and Luke. “Are you going to marry her?” asked Tyler. Matt wasn’t saying, but promised he’d give Tyler a Zoom call when he knew.

Michelle’s dad Ephraim wasn’t quite that direct, but he did ask Matt if he was in love with Michelle. “I am falling for your daughter,” Matt replied. He also said he’d be willing to move to Minnesota if they ended up together.

Michelle had emotional conversations with both her mom and her dad, not just about her feelings for Matt but about how they supported her after what I presume was a bad breakup two years before. “That’s our job, to be there when things get tough,” Ephraim said, which gives me hope Michelle will be just fine if Matt doesn’t pick her.

Later, Michelle told Matt she was falling in love with him. He did not say it back, but he did seem happy she said it, so we’ll see.

The next date was with our problem contestant, Rachael Kirkconnell.

If you’re like me, you’re probably hoping that Matt doesn’t pick Rachael because if her social media blunders were more than just youthful ignorance, and the allegations that she bullied high school colleagues for dating Black guys are true, then her getting engaged to Matt can’t end well.

Matt certainly does seem attached to Rachael, however. There was a mishap when they went skydiving and Rachael came in for a rough, face-first landing. She was fine other than bruises, but Matt said the near-miss had put his feelings in perspective. “It’s a different feeling when you’re falling in love and that person’s, like, potentially really hurt and the thought of losing you set in in that moment . . . I didn’t realize how strongly I felt until something like that happened,” he said.

When it came to her family, Rachael’s father Darrell was skeptical, but he wasn’t rude about it. “To me it would be difficult to care about someone when you’re seeing other people,” he told Matt and who the hell can argue with that sentiment?

Rachael wasn’t dissuaded when Darrell suggested Matt was telling the other three women the same things he was telling her. “I don’t think he is,” she said. “It might be a little naive of me to think I’m different, but I really think that I am.”

What could Dad do but tell her she had his support?

Rachael was a little put off, however, by the fact Matt hadn’t asked her father for permission to propose. “That’s not a conversation I want to have with four families,” Matt explained and I applaud the hell out of that remark. He promised Rachael he’d phone her pop when the time came.

Bri’s date was the most uneventful of the four. There was only one child in view, her mother Lauren’s new baby, and she was too young to ask questions. There were no injuries despite the fact Bri took Matt off-roading.

Even though Matt said he was falling for Bri, her mom wasn’t sure if he meant in love or lust. But when Bri tearfully told Lauren she was falling in love with Matt, Mom was all for sharing that with him. “Worst case scenario we are mending a broken heart together and we’ll survive,” she said.

I could be wrong, but I suspect there’ll be mending to do, only because when Bri told Matt she felt like she was falling for him, he responded, “Thank you for sharing that with me tonight.” It seemed too polite a reaction.

And now for Serena. Like her, I am a proud Canadian so I was most interested in the Toronto publicist’s date. One room of the Nemacolin was turned into a mini Canadaland. There were stuffed moose and beavers; there was maple syrup; there was a map of Canada and Canadian flags; there was a quiz in which Matt couldn’t distinguish between a toboggan and a toque. I’ll be honest: unless you popped into a souvenir store you wouldn’t see any of that stuff just wandering around Toronto. Although, yes, I occasionally eat poutine and BeaverTails and Nanaimo bars, but hold the peameal bacon.

Serena whupped Matt at hockey and beating Americans at hockey is something all Canadians like to do, or at least to see being done.

But there was to be no cross-border love story here. It wasn’t that Serena’s mom and dad and sister were opposed to Matt; it was that the more questions they asked Serena about him the more confused she became about her feelings. She was the only one of the four women who didn’t tell Matt she was falling for him. In fact, she told him very candidly that she was having doubts.

So the next day, Matt went to Serena’s suite to try to resolve those doubts after telling Harrison it was a relationship worth fighting for. Except it turned out to be a pretty fast knockout.

Matt told Serena he could see a future with her. Serena told him that despite the fact he had everything she could want in a husband, “it just comes down to the fact that I don’t think that you’re my person.”

For at least 20 seconds, Matt just sat there stunned before finally responding, “It sucks to hear that.” Serena walked him out and hugged him and handed him into an SUV. And Matt had tears running down his face in his confessional, so that one definitely left a mark.

My guess is that Bri would have gone home had Serena stuck around and that’s just because he seems more into Michelle and Rachael. But with Serena gone, all three got roses — after a warning from Matt that accepting a rose meant accepting everything that came it, including a potential engagement.

Next week it’s “Women Tell All” so expect rancour and tears, including from Victoria, and maybe even some apologies, fake or otherwise.

Then in two weeks, there’s some sexy time on the overnight dates, buckets of tears, including from Matt, Rachael saying she “can’t do this anymore” and Matt telling Harrison that maybe he doesn’t want to do it anymore either, so make of that what you will.

You can watch Monday at 8 p.m. on Citytv. And you can comment here, visit my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter @realityeo