The Bachelor finale actually lived up to all the "unprecedented" hype

Note: This story contains spoilers for last night’s Bachelor finale.

No one, not even politicians talking about the “times” at the beginning of the pandemic, loves the word “unprecedented” more than the Bachelor(ette) franchise. From the very first minute, host Jesse Palmer has been teasing the current season of The Bachelor using everyone’s favorite U-word, as he is wont to do. Not only that: the conclusion to beloved lead Joey Graziadei’s journey, which aired last night, was also supposed to be the most surprising and most dramatic ending to any season ever! But what’s actually unprecedented is that for the first time, it’s actually kind of true.

Let’s back up a bit. For a while, the finale followed all the standard beats. Both women met Joey’s family, everyone cried, people talked about their hearts a lot, etc., etc., etc. But then something—or more specifically, someone—shifted. After her various dates with the man of the hour, Daisy knew something was off. It wasn’t her. But instead of begging or sobbing or just walking out, the 25-year-old account executive did something that’s actually never been done before on the show: she chose sisterhood.

After Daisy knocked on a door in the hotel’s hallway that the cameras wanted us to assume was Joey’s, it was revealed that it was actually her “competitor” and friend Kelsey’s. After they caught up about their weeks and Daisy expressed her doubts, the moment that for sure caused wine-soaked screams at watch parties across the nation finally occurred: the two women drove to the proposal platform together.