:(

I'm so sad for Stephanie. I think I knew she wouldn't make it much farther, but I feel bad for her. I really liked her

She seems like such a beautiful soul. That was the classiest, most graceful exit I've ever seen. I really really hope she finds happiness.

I believe she really did know, as she told him, that he looked at her differently than he did the other women. I have a lot of respect for him too. He seems more sensitive to the girls' feelings than many of the bachelors ever did. I do think he genuinely liked Stephanie but that there wasn't the same kind of chemistry. They always seemed to go back to talking about their kids and not so much about each other also.

I think I'm still pulling for Melissa. She seems the most grounded of them all.

I did miss last week's episode, but caught tonight's. It seemed like these girls, now that the drama queens are gone, seem to get a long great. Not too much cattiness between them (I didn't say none, lol...just not too much).

I call BS on that houseboat in tonight's episode. Unless Jason came into a lot of money and moved across the lake, there's no way that was his house. Jason has always said he lived in Kirkland, and when he was on The Bachelorette, they showed his house in Kirkland. The house tonight was a houseboat on Lake Union in Seattle proper, a place where houseboats go for $1 million+. I'm disappointed ABC apparently decided to fake it and rent out a house for the episode, especially since it means that Ty was forced to sleep in a strange house, too. No wonder he was weirded out by the whole thing.

I was surprised the production picked the Fairmont Olympic to stay at. It's a lovely hotel - the oldest and one of the classiest in downtown Seattle - but I would've thought they'd pick one of the more contemporary and swanky hotels in Seattle (Hotel 1000, the W, maybe Hotel Monaco, etc.). But The Georgian is a very elegant restaurant; it's the first place I had caviar and steak tartare.

Other notes on this episode:
- If you come to Seattle, don't have dinner at the Space Needle, like Jason and Melissa were supposed to have on their date that got changed. It's a tourist trap and not very good food for the money. Seattle has a gazillion great restaurants, and that's not one of them.
- The huge sports store they went to is REI's flagship store downtown; it's cool to look around if you like outdoor activities. You can try out rain coats in a shower, try mountain bikes out on an outdoor trail, and try hiking boots out on an indoor trail/ramp. Then of course there's The Pinnacle (the climbing structure).
- That walk Molly and Jason went on during dinner was FAR. They went all the way down to the waterfront and walked around down there and around Pike Place Market...they probably walked about 8-10 blocks and back. I'd be annoyed if I were Stephanie and Jillian! That was rude.

spoiler alert!
 

I don't think it's necessarily a "new" spoiler because I remember reading the guess that she gets the final rose as the season was just starting, but this link now says the guess has been "confirmed" (still just by internet sleuths, not by the network or anything) -- link

Personally, I wasn't a fan of hers at the beginning and have missed several episodes so still didn't love her going into last night, but after catching part of last night, am more on board with her winning now (if it happens). (not that it matters what I'm on board with ;), I just feel invested with our little Jasey-poo and only want the best for him and little Ty-Ty)

I hope this is true! I loved Melissa back on "Making the Team"! :-)

Is DeAnna really going to pop up?? I hope she gets a smackdown if she does.

I loved Stephanie's exit - what a class act!! I felt that both she and Jason handled it very well. His speaking about her in front of the other gals was really respectful and they both acknowledged that, while they really liked each other, they didn't love each other. Hopefully, this will lead to lots of blind dates!!

I hope your spoiler is true, I like her and think she is the most "real" of the remaining gals (although Jillian is pretty cool too).

I completely agree - they both handled it so well. I really feel like Jason is one of the better bachelors they've had. I think he has feelings for all the women in one way or another and it really hurts him to have to hurt any of them.

I'm really excited to see how the hometown dates go - and to see when the heck they're going to bring DeAnna back! I want to see how that plays out and what Jason does (though I do think that's pretty freakin mean).

I am going to guess Naomi is the next to go... she keeps throwing in all those "I'm really ready ! No really! Like Ohmigawd! You're my potential future husband!"

That and the fact that her family seems to be borderline crazy with the dead bird and the random hula hoops.

dude... that's messed up... I knew DeAnna would be coming back, but at the beginning of the season I thought it would be earlier on in the show.

That's pretty f'ed up that they are bringing her back right when he's already fallen for other girls!

I am LIVID with local tv.... video FROZE right before the final rose, and never came back. I wanted to see the previews for next week!

Guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow on that at ABC.com. Dadgumit!

Those were really crazy family dates. If things had been like the first time I'd met anybody's family, I'd have run far, far away. I think Melissa's friends were very cool though. I hope Jason doesn't hold things against Melissa because her family doesn't want to be on TV for this thing. I can't blame them, really. I honestly believe that a person's friends say a lot more about them than their family. You can't pick your family, you pick your friends. Not having the closest of relationships with your parents doesn't make you a bad person. You probably wouldn't even see that family very often anyway. I'd rather have "rarely seen" in-laws than totally whacky ones that I have to spend a lot of time with! I like Melissa best, I truly do.

Previews show Deanna coming back and telling Jason that she thinks she made a mistake and since he hasn't proposed to anybody else yet, they could still have a chance together. They also show very romantic dates in New Zealand and Melissa saying something about not seeing her parents and that whole issue coming up again.

When Melissa and Jason greeted each other in Dallas, Jason seemed genuinely excited to see her... moreso than with the other girls.

I agree that Jason's excitement to see Melissa seemed a lot more genuine. My money is still on her. However, I really like Molly too.

I have a feeling this whole Deanna thing is being twisted by the previews and isn't really going to be her coming back to be all like, "Pick me!" I think its going to more about her telling Jason not to make the same mistake she did....to pick carefully....to not rush into anything....etc., etc.

If somebody brought out a dead bird to bury that they'd kept in the frig, I think I would graciously excuse myself.

Then, if someone started proselytizing to me either about my Christian faith or about reincarnation, I'd probably have to excuse myself as well.

So glad he nixed that girl from the crazy family!!!