'The Bachelor' season finale recap: Too Close for Comfort

The date begins with a lazy rafting trip down the Mekong River. Lindsay and Sean smooch and giggle and peer through pretend binoculars as the oarsmen paddle silently and no doubt focus on getting paid. Once Lindsay and Sean reach the hotel, their lovey-dovey banter continues. "What do you think we're going to look like when we're old?" she wonders, to which the Bachelor replies: "I mean, I'm going to be frickin' handsome... I picture you being a hot old chick."

Things get a little more serious that night, naturally, as it really begins to sink in for Lindsay that this is the last time she'll see him before the Proposal Platform. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you," she tells the Bachelor. Her eyes search his face for any hint of her fate, but all Sean can offer is more make-out time. "When Sean and I kiss it's very reassuring because his kisses just kind of tell me it all," reasons Lindsay to Team Bachelor. "That's why we're always kissing, because I feel like that's how he can actually really express himself right now to me."

Then they write three wishes -- "love," "happiness," and "family" -- on paper lanterns and release them into the sky, per a Thai custom. Sure, it's romantic... but Ashley did the same thing with Constantine on The Bachelorette, and we all know how that turned out.

When Catherine arrives for her date the next day, Sean is still searching for "a sign." Perhaps the elephant that strolls in from the bushes has something to tell him? Nope, turns out the poor pachyderm is just an indentured servant of the Anantara Golden Triangle hotel's "Elephant Camp," and it's there to shuttle Sean and Catherine to an open-air patio where they can drink wine and think about their next three weeks 50 years. When evening falls, Catherine knows that it's her last chance to drop the L-bomb. "I can't hold anything back," she tells Team Bachelor. "It's really important that I get everything out." And she does, though it comes after a long, somewhat rambling preamble about how great Sean's family is and how saying "I love you" first has gotten her into "trouble" before. In fact, the Bachelor is almost out the door before Catherine finally spits it out. "I don't want you to go," she murmurs as they embrace in the entryway. "Sean, I love you." After a long pause, he whispers, "Thank you for today," and takes his leave.

But he's not alone for long. Chagrined by Sean's inability (refusal?) to say "I love you" back, a weepy Catherine follows him into the hallway and then just stands in front of him, sniffling. They say goodbye again, and Catherine returns to the confessional suite to keep complaining. "This is one of the most horrible goodbyes I've ever had," she groans. "I feel like s--t, to be honest... I can't get anything out of him, still!" Man, this is a real nail biter, isn't it? No wonder the evening ends with Catherine weeping in the fetal position on the bed. "He has to be crazy about both of us at this point," she tells Team Bachelor forlornly.

NEXT: Who will be first out of the limo SUV?