I just don't believe ..... {{{quasi-Spoiler }}}
.....that an accomplished, professional, intelligent, seasoned woman would get involved with a guy who amounted to little more than a young stud, with a life one rung up the ladder from that of a drifter.
Really ~ What did they have in common ~ cribbage??? {{{ yawn }}} And one crazy weekend on the gorgeous, misty, piney island when she killed his adoptive Dad? "We'll always have carnage."
Isn't he chronologically a peer to her son? Ewwwww!
At the finale when she was wishing him well & saying she'd miss him, I initially found that very touching, precisely because he's lost his Mom and all, and this was like having the pale (ghostly) Helen sending a maternal blessing out across his future horizon. Then when they tagged on the potential date-request element, it felt like it was coming from a desperate puppy who would be hapless without her.
And, as someone in Clarkson's age bracket (okay, my husband IS younger than me, but not decades younger) I honestly don't know any women my age who even fantasize about young dudes: joke about how gorgeous they are, yes, sure, but with NO serious intentions of taking things further.