The Bachelor: Nick and Andi's Reunion Better Be Uncomfortable

Monday night's episode of The Bachelor ended on a "To Be Continued." Nick Viall heard a knock on his hotel room door and opened it to find Andi Dorfman, the first woman to dump him on The Bachelorette.

The show does this all the time, where someone from the past shows up and we're supposed to think they're going to confess their love and steal the lead away. In reality, they're there to give advice and say how happy they are for their friend finally finding love or whatever. It's fake drama, and it's annoying, especially when an episode ends on a cliffhanger that the next episode will not be able to deliver on.

But this is one of the rare times where the "blast from the past" scene might actually be interesting. Andi and Nick have a genuinely complicated history. Nick was the runner-up on her season in 2014. She chose hot-tempered baseball player Josh Murray over Nick, and there's still bad blood between the two men (Andi and Josh broke up shortly after their season aired).

Then, during the "After the Final Rose" special, Nick infamously asked Andi if she wasn't in love with him, why did she make love to him, which was interpreted as slut-shaming and airing dirty laundry on national TV, and made Nick a disliked person in Bachelor Nation.

Last year, Andi published a book about her experiences on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, in which she dished that Nick was bad in bed. According to Nick, the things she wrote weren't inaccurate, but they did hurt his feelings.

That brings us to right now, which is probably the first time Nick and Andi have had a serious conversation since the book came out. They reunited during an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live that aired after the premiere of The Bachelor in January, but taped after this Bachelor confrontation.

The Jimmy Kimmel bit was awkward. Nick was on with Andi and his other Bachelorette ex Kaitlyn Bristowe, Nick said they were "friendly," but he was clearly being diplomatic. One of the fun things about watching Nick is that he can't hide how he's feeling. When he's uncomfortable, you can tell he's uncomfortable.

Andi and Nick have made each other look bad over the years, and they have legitimate things to talk about. Much of the conversation will likely be them forgiving each other and Andi wishing Nick the best, but they're going to have to talk about the book, and that's going to be real. Nick's not going to make it easy, because he can't. He's going to tell her about how her calling his performance "cringe-worthy" made him feel, especially after he's apologized for blabbing in less detail than she gave.

And unlike on Kimmel, this is a surprise, and Nick is on the record as hating surprises.

It's going to be good TV, which these reunions usually are not. It'll be cathartic to watch them hash out their problems and clear the deck for Nick to find love once and for all. Unless Nick and Andi really don't have any hard feelings and she's just there to say how happy she is for him, in which case The Bachelor will have disappointed us again.

The Bachelor airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.