I spoke to a few friends who (in my opinion, strangely) came to not like Vanessa as much this episode. They told me they found her a too argumentative and antagonistic towards Nick but I couldn't disagree more. I saw her insistence on sharing her core values and proudly sticking to her guns as very strong—perhaps a bit uncharacteristically strong, for this show—traits and they made me like her even more. I LOVE that she responded to Nick's reluctance to say he'd move to Montreal ("I'm proud to be American") with an every-bit-as-valid "And I'm proud to be Canadian."

I don't like that they'll have to solve this major issue while likely having rumors splashed across tabloids, but what I DO like is that it's being discussed. Not only is this a very "real life" issue that many can relate to (believe me, while I love New York, I think about making Canada home again all the time, especially lately), it's showing much more equality between the genders on a show not known for it. It's possible some final couples are examples of the Bachelor moving to where their fiancée is (I can't think of any but am sure you can!), but those are the exception, not the rule, and it's just refreshing to see it DISCUSSED. Even if, in the end, Vanessa does pack up and leave her family, their Sunday tradition, and her job behind, it's about time that on national television it's not assumed that she would.

ROSE CEREMONY

While I was definitely sad to see Rachel sad, I was moreso relieved to see her go. Knowing she's Bachelorette definitely put a damper on my ability to enjoy or even remotely invest in her and Nick's chemistry and instead just had me in a sort of Countdown-to-Rachel's-departure mode. I am super excited to watch her next season, but her time here was definitely over. On to bigger and better things!

As always, my predictions for the Finale are, too, over at Flare!

BEST DRESSED

As always, I'll start with requests. Liz asked about Nick's outerwear from his daytime 1-on-1 with Vanessa...