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.

For the uninitiated, this was the equivalent of the show throwing its regular playbook into the ocean. Usually, the women drive to learn their fate in stony, solitary succession, with one receiving the rock and the other potentially securing the title of next bachelorette. Were they about to confront Joey together? Stage a coup? No one knew.

In the end, Daisy ended up walking alone and breaking up with Joey herself. “I’m going to do what’s best for me and I’m gonna go,” she says and does, but not before giving her ex of two seconds ago’s future fiancé (this show really is a doozy, huh?) one last genuine hug. Kelsey goes next, Joey gets down on one knee, and the rest is history.

Throughout the finale, Daisy was the picture of a producers’ dream lead. But the runner-up, in a frankly even cooler move, said later on that, at least for now, she wants to step away from the franchise to “focus on the things I love and the people I love.” Good for her.

That means our next bachelorette is week 7 eliminatee Jenn Tran, who will make history as the franchise’s first-ever Asian American lead in its entire 22-year history. It’s obviously pretty upsetting that Jenn’s ascendancy is unprecedented, but hey—at least it opens doors for a better, precedented series moving forward.

Season 28 of The Bachelor is available to stream now on Hulu.