The Bachelorette: A rebound and the final rose

For all its fairy-tale notions, the Bachelorette wrapped up with a fairly practical message: Love the one you’re with.

The episode opens in Antigua, where Des is still reeling after being dumped by Brooks. Most people enduring a tough breakup require all their energy just to get out of bed and not eat chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But this is reality TV, where four dates is all it takes to make a lifelong commitment, so Des presses on in her relationships with Chris and Drew.

“I’m still hopeful that there may be sparks,” she says before meeting Drew. (“I’m so in love with her,” he confesses in advance. “I could never walk away.”) Things do not look good.

They ride horseback to the beach where Drew’s toast to their love is more than Des can stomach. “I don’t know if I see our futures together,” she confesses. “I feel like maybe something is missing.”

Though crushed, Drew is a gentleman: “You don’t have to be sorry for not being in love with me.”

Next up is Chris.

They go on a boat ride where Chris reiterates that he’ll always be there for Des. She seems hopeful he might be the one, admitting she was clouded by her feelings for Brooks.

“I’ve never met anyone who’s loved me as much as I love them,” she says.

Unaware that he’s the last man standing, Chris meets her family and is grilled on his readiness for engagement. Des gets asked about her lingering feelings for Brooks.

“I was really hurt,” she admits. “It took a long time for me to finally give up on him.” (In the Bachelorette, a “long time,” apparently means one or two days.)

Finally, the moment of truth — the final rose ceremony where Des stops Chris as he’s about to get down on one knee.

“I feel like I was blindsided by my feelings for Brooks and I couldn’t see the one thing I always needed was right in front of me,” she says. “I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you.”

With that, Chris proposes.

“Yes, a thousand times,” Des replies. Groan.

Chris seems like a very sweet guy, but it’s hard to see this as anything more than a rebound. Time will tell, I guess. Des is reportedly moving to Seattle this weekend.

Of course, I sat through ABC’s After the Final Rose post-mortem on the off chance Brooks might make a last-minute declaration of love, as the spoilers predicted. He didn’t — though he did appear and force Des to rehash their breakup in the super-awkward fashion that Bachelor/ette has perfected.

Probably the most interesting tidbit out of the special was news that single dad Juan Pablo, who had less than 10 minutes of airtime this season, will be the next Bachelor.  Stay tuned.