'The Women Tell All' and 'The Bachelor' Joey picks his final 2 women

LOS ANGELES -- There was so much happening in this episode that Gina and I both contributed to writing it all! Plus, Gina attended the recording of "The Women Tell All."

"The Women Tell All" is always an intense episode, but we also had the conclusion of the Fantasy Suite dates to get through so we could find out who would be Joey's final two.

We started the episode with Jesse welcoming everyone and Maria getting a huge round of applause when Jesse mentioned her name. "The Golden Bachelor" women also got a shout-out for their new podcast called "The Golden Hour."

Watch Parties

Then, Jesse and Joey traveled across the country to drop in on some watch parties. What a thrill for those members of Bachelor Nation! A sorority at UCLA gave him a warm welcome reminiscent of the love boybands of the 90s and 00s got. They traveled to a beautiful rooftop bar and it was great because Joey gave some fun insight into what he was thinking on his dates. Also, ahem Ryan Field of our "Playing the Field" podcast, there are a lot of guy fans in Bachelor Nation contrary to popular belief and they were out in full force!

Welcoming the Women

Lauren, Allison, Edwina, Starr, Evalin, Taylor, Katelyn, Autumn, Kelsey T., Lea, Sydney, Jess, Madina, Lexi, Jenn, and Maria were all there to tell all! Maria said that Joey was worth coming on the show for because he was a standup guy and worth the cross-continent trip! Jenn was also super excited to be back and loved seeing her friends again.

After a recap of the drama surrounding Sydney, Jess, Lea, and Maria, Jesse started things off by talking about Lea throwing the date card in the fire. Then they ganged up on Lea, which, maybe we should have seen coming. saying it was a performance, because she acted like she threw the card in the fire for them, but then talked behind their backs. Starr said the tears felt like a performance and that they all gave her the benefit of the doubt until they watched the show back.

Madina and Lea's conversation in Malta about Madina being nice to Maria was another point of contention. Madina said she could basically be kind to whoever she wanted and no one needed to tell her how to act, especially Lea, who was posing as a girls' girl and was acting like anything but. Lea's hens have come home to roost, that is for certain. At one point, Lea tells Maria she doesn't want to feel gaslit and everyone gasped!

As Jesse went to the commercial, we saw Lea walk off the stage. When we come back from break, Lea is in the hallway with Jess, visibly shaken and crying. Jess is comforting her. They come back to the stage to sit back down. Maria comes over and gives her a hug.

More Maria Madness

The Maria drama continues as Madina addresses the Maria/Sydney mess. Madina says she felt like it was two pit bulls fighting and she wasn't about to get into the middle of that. Sydney tries to defend herself for calling Maria a bully. Edwina jumps in and says Sydney never liked Maria, to begin with. Sydney says she and Maria have two different ways of communicating and Maria interjects that she tells the truth while Sydney makes up lies.

Maria and Jess get into it about their tiff in Spain. Jess addresses it saying Maria would always interrupt her. Maria then INTERRUPTS HER to deny that's what she would do. Um, I think you just showed that you probably did do that, girl! Jess says "Please give me my time" and continues that any time Jess would be talking, Maria would tell her to shut up or zip it. Maria interjects again, which does not help her case. Jess says she just felt shut down by Maria and that's why there was animosity. Maria says there isn't anything she could have done that would have changed the way Jess, Sydney, and Lea felt about her. Jess says there was plenty Maria said that was not OK and she isn't taking accountability for any of it.

I don't know about you, but I need a moment after all that!!

Lexi In The Hot Seat

Ok, moving on!! Jesse calls Lexi to the hot seat. We see her journey with Joey, including her telling Joey about her endometriosis diagnosis and the painful decision to leave the show because their family timelines were not aligning. Lexi said it's emotional watching it all back. It wasn't an easy decision but it was only fair to herself and to Joey for her to leave. She said Joey was so kind and understanding and really handled it well. She said she felt heard and not judged by him. Lexi also revealed she has been getting tons of messages from people going through the same thing and noted that she felt alone a lot, so to have people feel seen by her is so special. Lexi said she is ready to meet her person but also noted that Joey had set the bar high. We'll be hearing a lot of that as this episode goes on!

It was emotional listening to Lexi talk and we hope she finds her person sooner rather than later!

Jenn In The Hot Seat

It's Jenn's turn in the hot seat and to look back at her relationship. We come back to her a bit emotional, saying it was tough seeing how good it was between them. Going in, she wanted to put it all on the line and be vulnerable. She couldn't do that in previous relationships and she really did that with Joey. She also talks about her family. She says her relationship with her mom has gotten stronger since the show. She came to America from Vietnam, left medical school to care for Jenn and her brother and really built her own life Jenn says she means everything to her. Her family doesn't always talk about her emotions but they have been doing that more now. Jesse asks what's next for her and she says she doesn't know. She's had doubts about putting herself out there but the show has given her a sense of hope.

Jenn for Bachelorette? Or Bachelor in Paradise? We'll talk to her about all of that and more very soon on "Playing The Field."

Maria In The Hot Seat

It's Maria's turn in the hot seat. Jesse calls her a lightning rod and noted that drama seemed to follow her. Ya think? We see her journey with Joey and she notes she feels sad watching it back. Maria says their connection is undeniable and it's been beautiful to get to watch it back. She says Montreal was where things all changed for them. She was thankful he saw her for her amidst all the drama with the women. Jesse asked what her dad's reaction to all of this has been. Maria jokes that Joey has a hit on him currently and he should sleep with one eye open. We don't know, should we send Joey extra protection?

Jesse addresses the drama with the other women, and Sydney specifically. Sydney responded, saying it was cringey watching it back. She said things she didn't mean and should have been more results-oriented instead of pointing the finger at Maria. Maria responded by saying she gets heated when she feels like she's under attack. Maria also addressed the hate online that she knew Sydney and Lea were getting because of the drama. She said that crosses the line and she does not condone it. Lea said she was sorry for not getting to know Maria for who she is and it really does seem like she is sorry for her actions on the show. Maria says they all could have been best friends and it's sad. She goes over and hugs them.

If Maria is trying to make her case "The Bachelorette," this was probably a necessary step!

The Note

Ok, we've got a new kind of drama to talk about... the note! Kelsey left Joey a "we need to talk" note in Tulum. He sees it and immediately goes into a bit of a frenzy, noting that when someone writes "we need to talk," it's usually not good. He gets emotional and starts to cry. He says he doesn't want her to leave, he wants her to want to stay and he's over feeling like he's giving everything and they're not choosing him. I think it's all really getting to him. It all got to Kelsey too, because remember, she wrote that note after talking to "The Golden Bachelorette's" Leslie, who said be confident but also remember that he may not choose her.

Kelsey arrives and says the days when they're not together are so hard for her and that she wants to meet his family. She's not just falling in love but is in love and she misses him when he's not with her. Joey's relieved but also a little out of his mind about it. He says he wants to hear what she is saying but is so in his emotions, he can't. Kelsey feels so bad for stressing him out and says if she could do it all over again, she would have done that differently. Will this affect his decision at the rose ceremony?

Not gonna lie, Joey's nerves make us nervous!

Final Rose Ceremony

Joey admits he's overwhelmed that this is his final rose ceremony and he's going to have to take a lot of breaths to get through it. Same, man. SAME.

Daisy gets the first rose and then... Kelsey, which means Rachel is going home.

Joey walks her out and tells her he has love for her but couldn't fully get there. She leaves and Joey is in tears. He interviews that he wants her in his life because who wouldn't want someone so special?

Back in the studio, Rachel joins Jesse in the hot seat. She is emotional because when she left, she was in love with him. She notes it was a beautiful moment between them and her tears are both sad and happy tears. This is the connection we wish we could have seen through the season because it was so real, and as you can see, lovely.

An Emotional Reunion

We've now all composed ourselves again and Joey joins Rachel in the hot seat. She asked him jokingly if he enjoyed the moment they showed of breaking her heart and then she said it was good to see him cry because at least he was upset about her leaving! She says her dad set the standard for a partner and Joey met those standards. He showed her that she could get what she deserved and pushed her to see her worth. They hugged and our love for Rachel just grew even more.

Rachel from "The Bachelor" received racist and hateful messages on social media.

Jesse asks how life has been since she got home from Tulum. Rachel says it's been an emotional roller coaster. It's been wonderful to see their journey but since the hometown episode, she'd been getting messages of hate, people calling her the N-word, and other nasty things I won't repeat. She is crying as she reveals that all this hate is simply because she got a rose. Joey is near tears listening to what people have said to her. Other women have been getting hate messages as well. Jesse addresses Bachelor Nation saying "We love your strong opinions but we should be uplifting these women who are brave enough to be vulnerable. They deserve our praise and not hate." Rachel's message is "Just be kind."

We could not agree more. Be kind.

Joey Addresses The Other Ladies

Joey chats with some of the other ladies. Sydney said Joey reached out when heard she was getting online hate and that the genuine Joey you see on screen is the real deal.

Autumn asks if he has any single friends. He says yes, a bunch that were also recently on a TV show. Susan and Kathy joke that he needs to send them his friends' dads and I love all of this for them.

Joey addresses Maria, they had a connection from day 1 and the drama derailed them but they have fun memories.

Jenn says she is grateful for the confidence the experience has instilled in her. Joey asks Kelsey T. how things were with her dad and she tells him she talked to her dad right after the show and he is now present in her life. Love that Joey asked, first of all, and love that she now has a better relationship with him.

Funny Moments, Silly Bloopers

Ok, now onto some fun moments. They show the ladies all doing impressions of each other, including Rachel's spot-on impression of Joey, Joey eating an impressive amount of macarons during his date with Maria and Jesse trolling Joey with a clearly manipulated clip saying Jesse was the better Bachelor and is better than Joey at tennis. We also see some pretty hilarious bloopers with Maria's mic pack falling into a place it shouldn't have been, Joey having trouble saying Minneapolis, and only a quick shot of Joey with the shorts/flamenco shoes combo, which we think should have been a little longer.

Dramatic Conclusion

Jesse thanks Joey and sends him off stage. He tells the audience that the finale episode is so emotional, that he doesn't want Joey to live through it again.

Coming Up

Joey has his last two dates with Kelsey and Daisy and they meet his family. Will Joey's doubts get the better of him? He's still very nervous and Daisy said that something feels a bit off with them. Kelsey called the experience of things getting real, "terrifying." The last thing they show us is Joey crying. All we can hope is that it is before he is able to end up with the love of his life!

Don't miss new episodes of Joey's season of "The Bachelor" on Monday nights on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.

ALSO: Ryan Field appeared on Eyewitness News Mornings @ 10 to talk about "Playing the Field: A Bachelor Podcast!"

Follow and listen to "Playing the Field," our "Bachelor" podcast!