Episode 9, Closing Arguments: On Catherine

If Lindsay's the one that Sean wants to end up with, then Catherine's the one he probably should end up with. All three of these ladies seem like genuinely decent individuals, but Catherine's the only one who seems like she'd push Sean at all to be something better than the gross patronizing good ole boy he is, the only one who wouldn't be content to take a word out of her vocabulary just because he said she should and the only one who brings out a goofy nerdy side of him instead of the big, strong protector (though she does call him "hunky" an awful lot, so maybe, in his mind, that balances everything out). But while Catherine might be the best chance Sean has at less-disgusting-persondom, she's also probably the most likely to flee for Argentina when she grows bored of him between the finale and the filming of After the Final Rose, so without further ado, here's Catherine:

Pro: She too has a serious side
Actually, if we're ranking the ladies on tragedies (which, we're not because that would be a horrible, horrible thing to do and it would be incredibly difficult to come up with anything near a reliable metric), Catherine might have experienced more hardship in her life than poor, abandoned AshLee. She carries it a bit differently, but she's certainly got the chops to reign Sean in and get his tragedy boner out of its holster.
Con: She can and will take care of her damn self
However, though Catherine drops these little bombs of sadness with some regularity, she doesn't seem to do it so that Sean can heal her. In fact, she even seems to try and distance herself from him every time she introduces one of her tales of woe into the conversation. I can't imagine Sean will be content to let her keep her own house in order or even to let her find her own tissues.

Pro: She brings out a side of Sean that is so unique that it cannot be captured on film

I believe that Sean and Catherine have a relationship that is quirky and nerdy and unique, but, while we've heard about this relationship countless times from both Sean and Catherine themselves, we have not seen a single minute of it captured on film. With so many stilted relationships and canned conversations, I think the majority of the viewing audience would be delighted to see something fun and a little bit different, but instead we're being spoonfed the same old slop.
Con: Her outtake on their impending nuptials is also rather unique
Unlike the other girls on the show, including several of the ladies who went home on night one, Catherine doesn't seem super eager to get engaged. Her response to her sister's question of what she would do if Sean proposed was, "Yeah, I'd like to try it out." Not exactly a ringing endorsement of her eagerness to walk down the aisle. While I commend Catherine on her practicality and hopes it helps ease her pain if she's the one standing at the Neil Lane jewelry counter returning her prize six months hence, it doesn't really seem like it's what Sean's hoping to hear.

Pro: She's smart
Bar none, the best line of this episode was when Sean said, "She's very intelligent, and we have something that I don't share with the other two women." I know that they were probably unrelated thoughts that just occurred in succession, but still, it was pretty amazing.
Con: She has spinster sisters
Because Catherine's so smart, though, she's probably read Jane Austen, and if she's learned anything from Austen, then surely she knows that once she lands herself an eligible man, it will become her responsibility to ensure that her spinster sisters are accounted for as well and he will be forced to spend weekend after weekend escorting them to balls and chaperoning them as they pursue no account militia-men whose gambling debts are only surpassed by their tragic back stories. Seriously, though, it was kind of ridiculous how Catherine tried to pawn off her sisters' concerns on the fact that they "weren't at the same place in their lives" and explained that she has a "married friend who she can talk to about these sorts of things." I mean, seriously Catherine, I know you're on the verge of a potential engagement, but four months ago, you were every bit as single as they were. Your whirlwind romance with a man who has been essentially practicing polygamy since you met is no more an excuse for your distant relationship with your sisters than it is for the craziness that they tried to warn Sean of.