Calling all Netflix binge-watchers! Netflix has released the third season of Love is Blind – the dating show where people fall in love and get engaged without ever seeing each other. After watching the first season, I was hooked. Whether we want to admit it or not, reality television can be incredibly entertaining and addictive, especially when it involves love, tears, and betrayal.
Love is Blind delivers a new take on the classic “love at first sight” trope. The contestants meet in the show’s “pods,” where a wall prevents them from seeing each other. They date multiple people at once for 10 days before choosing the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with. They only reveal their physical selves to their love interest after accepting a marriage proposal. The newly engaged contestants then follow a month-long journey of vacationing, moving in together, meeting each other’s families, and hopefully making it to the big day of their wedding. The show might be cringey and shallow, but I promise that once you start, you won’t stop clicking that “play next episode” button.
Two seasons down, and the show keeps proving to me that love is, in fact, not blind. The idea behind the show seems genuine. I’m a firm believer that emotional connections can lead to physical ones. However, becoming familiar with a person’s habits is essential before spending the rest of your life with them. What if they chew with their mouth open? Or wear their shoes on the bed? No matter how deep the emotional connection is, everybody has turnoffs that could change everything.
In every season, the absurdity of the cast never fails to boggle my mind. In the first two seasons, the women were depicted very negatively. They were hated on social media for being hysterical, immature, and toxic. The men, on the other hand, were applauded on social media for how they “handled the women.” But season three takes a complete turn. The women in this season exhibit queen behaviour; they’re career driven, emotionally mature, and openly communicate their end goal for the experiment to their partners. The women continuously express that they never thought twice about physical appearance before going onto the show because, for them, emotional connection trumps physical. The men, however, seem to have the emotional maturity of 13-year-old boys. They had much to say about their fiancés after first laying eyes on them. One person went as far as telling his fiancé that, physically, she was not the girl of his dreams. This is a huge red flag! Women want their partners to treat them with basic respect and make them feel like the only girl in the world…. It’s not rocket science. The sad truth is that this woman forgave him, knowing very well she deserves a lot more in a husband (you’re going to have to watch the season to find out who they are). Contestants like her participate in this experiment to find the person of their dreams. But Love is Blind leads people to settle for what is destined to become their worst nightmare.
As I said, it’s hard to ignore the “play next episode” button. The show is so deeply personal. It gives us an opportunity to feel superior to the contestants because marrying the wrong person is their problem, not ours. If you’re thinking of watching the show, I would suggest finding someone to watch it with. Not only is it difficult to watch unironically, but reality TV is always better when we can discuss our thoughts with friends after each episode. Each season ends with a reunion episode, where viewers can see whether the couples are living out their fairytale ending almost two years post-marriage. The opportunity to find out about the cast’s trajectories long-term is all the more reason to binge this show.