#Michael Makes a Heartbreaking Realization, Plus the Men Tell All (RECAP)

With four men left — Blake, Greg, Justin, and Michael — Katie Thurston is one step closer to finding her happily ever after on The Bachelorette. But something tells me the last couple weeks of this journey won’t exactly be all roses. Read on to find out who goes home tonight — plus, get the scoop on everything that goes down during the Men Tell All.

So we start off tonight with Michael having the most precious FaceTime call with his son James, who will not be present for his hometown date this week. As he tells his son that he’s on a “work trip,” and will be home soon to see him, sweet little James mutters the most heartbreaking sentence a child could say. “Maybe Daddy left me because he doesn’t want to see me.”

NOOOO JAMES. STOP IT NOW.

Immediately Michael’s mood changes. “When it starts to affect my son, that’s when everything changes,” he says in his confessional. He heads over to Katie’s room, clearly anxious to tell her what had happened. He breaks down in tears explaining that he needs to go home and be with his son as he’s struggling to focus on anything else.

“With hometowns coming up, I feel it’s wrong to give you half of what I could be. And it kills me because I see so much with us,” he says. “I have to leave here with all the ‘what ifs.’”

Those ‘what ifs’ are difficult for Katie as well, who is blindsided by the news. Michael tells her that under different circumstances, things may have worked out. “I know they would have worked,” she whispers. I CAN NOT DEAL. My heart is breaking into pieces. Just before Michael leaves, he tells Katie that she taught him how to love again and if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go breathe into a paper bag.

The Men Tell All special

Just in case you forgot who Karl was, The Men Tell All special kicks off with a 10 minute roast of the dude. Apparently, nothing has been resolved between Karl and the men (specifically Aaron and Brendan) who are still angry over the fact that he warned Katie about men in the house with ulterior motives. But guess what? There were men in the house with ulterior motives — probably even Brendan and Aaron included. And listening to these boys go at it is giving me a headache. Unfortunately for my head, the anger shifts from Karl to Hunter and the exact same conversation continues. Only this time, Aaron says “bro” and “like” about fifty more times.

Moving on, Connor takes the hot seat first and his eyes fill with tears as he watches the recap of his time on the show. But his frown quickly changes to a big old smile as he talks about his kissing abilities — or lack thereof. He admits that after leaving the show, he texted a few women from his past asking if he’s a bad kisser. Turns out, he’s not. And he even puts his kissing skills to work when a totally not staged, non-actress, regular old hot chick in the audience stands up and professes her love for him. She walks down toward him and the two engage in a FULL BLOWN MAKE-OUT. I don’t know if this is meant to repair his somewhat broken ego, but I’m genuinely confused. Is this for real? Are we still in a pandemic? Can we get these two a fantasy suite date card? So many questions left unanswered.

Andrew takes the hot seat next and you can cut the tension with a knife. He’s definitely still hurt, but explains that he’s had plenty of experience dealing with heartbreak in the past, so it’s nothing he can’t work through. “I’m waiting for someone to pick me for me,” he says, definitely giving his strongest Bachelor audition possible. “I’ve always believed in love. I’m a hopeless romantic.” We get it, Andrew. We’ll see…

Up next in the hot seat is too-precious-and-pure-for-this-world Michael, and despite his premature breakup with Katie, he admits he’s totally willing to give things another shot with her. That is, of course, if she’s still looking for love after this journey wraps. With so many things left unsaid between the two, anything could happen, right? “There’s tons of hope out there for me now, and it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t taken this leap,” he says.

“We’re all rooting for you to find love,” host Kaitlyn Bristowe tells him. “Thanks, I’m trying,” he replies.

But sadly, Michael will have to find love with someone other than Katie, as she’s clearly moved on. When this season’s lead comes out to face the men, she shares that she was forced to move forward after Michael left the show, leaving her to focus on the remaining men. She’s happy with out her journey has turned out, admitting that everything happens for a reason.

But something that she’s not happy about is how things went down with Thomas. With just minutes left in tonight’s episode, we learn that wrong-reasons-Thomas is live via video chat to talk with Katie. “A lot of my actions ended up taking away the attention from you and the guys in that room and I want to say I am so sorry for that,” he shares. “I saw something great in you. And I’m grateful for the journey we went on.”

“It is really unfortunate how things were ultimately handed. In the moment I did what was best for me, but if I caused you any pain, I apologize for that,” Katie replies. We love an empathetic queen.

The Bachelorette, Mondays, 8/7c, ABC