'The Bachelor': We're Just Not That Into You

By TWoP | Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 9:47 AM

After 50 roses, weeks of speculation, plenty of spoilers and even a conspiracy theory or two, the most! historic! finale! ever! of ABC's "The Bachelor" ended Monday with 32-year-old Seattle account executive and single dad Jason Mesnick slipping a ring on the finger of 25-year-old Dallas sales rep Melissa Rycroft in New Zealand. Cue the violins and ring up the wedding planners, right? Wrong. You see, that just wouldn't be dramatic (or "historic") enough. So a mere hour later (actually six weeks in real time), during the "After the Final Rose" special, viewers watched as Jason shocked his putative fiancée when he told her that, well, he just wasn't that into her. Instead, he said, he still had feelings for the show's runner-up, Molly Malaney, a 24-year-old department store buyer from Michigan.

"You are such a b*****d," Melissa responded, "you should know better than to do something like that," perhaps referring to the fact that Jason had been humiliated on national television during last season's "The Bachelorette", when DeAnna Pappas rejected him. As for the unsinkable Molly, "This is something I dreamt of, but never expected to hear. I'm blown away right now," she told Jason. And then they proceeded to make out -- while millions of women across America immediately revised their feelings for the supposedly most likable Bachelor in series history.

Here's just a small sampling of what fans had to say in Television Without Pity's forums immediately following the three-hour finale. Jason, pray that your adorable little son Ty doesn't know how to use the Internet, because there's plenty more where this came from:

"Molly, you're next. I give it a few months before he just has to follow his heart again (a.k.a. dump you)." - goddessrin

"It was all appalling on some level--was it necessary to do all this on the air--but I actually groaned, 'Oh, Molly,' when she started making out with him. Bad enough the way the whole thing played out, but to start with the face-sucking at that point?" - Kmax

"Melissa showed a lot of class." - 007Girl

"That was the biggest vat of Velveeta I've ever seen." - TooMuchFreeTime

"Am I the only one thinking that was totally fake? I had friends arguing with me on how real it is." - Laurie4H

"Jason is such a pig. Changing your heart is one thing, doing it on national television is another. AND hooking up with a girl within an hour of dumping your fiancée . UGH. I wish him much unhappiness." - Wrong Heaven

"I have never thought this before about her, but tonight I realized Molly is an actress. Her confused look when Jason told her he wants her back and everything after that was right out of a soap opera." - Carus

"I thought Melissa handled the whole thing great. She kept her dignity while also expressing what a bastard Jason is." - agockows

"Jason had every right to change his mind, but breaking it off in front of the cameras is a new low. Molly, congrats, honey. You 'won.' I think it'll become really clear really soon just what a 'prize' he isn't." - Mamabisi

"Molly is just a poor example of what unfortunately many girls have become these days. A boy does all the wrong things to someone else but maybe I can change him so I'm going to take him back because hey, I'M MOLLY and no guy walks away from me. Well, he did walk away from you and who's to say in six weeks he won't be backing up to call Jillian?" - nymetsgirl22

"Jason's 15 minutes for me expired about two hours ago. He's a loser. Molly's a fool for agreeing to anything other than a cup of coffee for old time's sake. There's no future in that relationship because, really, the guy can't tell the truth unless it's dragged out of him and that will destroy any relationship he's in." - becca656

"And total ewwwwwww when they started making out at the end. Yeah, Melissa's body wasn't even cold yet and they were pawing each other." - weezer95

"Jason, you have seriously underestimated how people will react to what you did just now but I suspect you'll find out quickly enough. Good luck, Molly! Oh, one other thing - consider this: Melissa will move on and find a decent guy who will treat her right. Meanwhile, every time you and Jason have problems or get into a fight, you'll be left wondering if his silence means he's thinking about how he made a mistake with you and regretting letting Melissa go." - The Closer

"As the single mom of 2 girls, who is getting back into dating after a divorce, it makes me SICK that he would bring Melissa into Ty's life for 6 weeks, including holidays, and then yank her out and bring Molly in. He didn't mention Ty ONCE tonight." - brgrayduck

"Jason needs therapy before he commits to anyone else. He's clearly very needy and confused, and should probably not be getting engaged to anyone at this point. I think he has maturity issues too." - DebbieM

Jason is such a jerk. How could he immediately go from breaking off his engagement with Melissa to kissing Molly mere minutes after? And no @$%+% for Melissa, the woman he was just engaged to, while he had this huge emotional reaction after he rejected Molly?" - Coco79

"I honestly could not believe my eyes, watching that circus. I mean...do people have NO shame? To have these kinds of personal things televised? What have we come to? On the one hand, great drama to watch...on the other, I feel dirty for even participating." - PetuniaP

"I hope Jason's ex-wife is out hiring a lawyer to try to get full custody of Ty." - Whataconcept

"Wow, that was good television. I was genuinely surprised. I had the same freeze frame, deer in headlights look that Molly had." -- TrebledTimes

TALK ABOUT IT: Do you think that the finale of "The Bachelor" was real or did Jason and Molly plan it with the producers of the show?