After a controversial and “messy” second season and reunion special, the cast of the second season of Love is Blind returns to Netflix with three “After the Altar” episodes. Fans could only imagine what was in store for them after last season’s shocking secrets, love triangles, and intense drama. Spoiler warning for the information down below, as there will be spoilers for Love is Blind season two, the reunion, and the three “After the Altar” episodes.
These episodes were filmed before the two couples that got married, Iyanna and Jarette and Nick and Danielle split, so they were still married in the episodes. On one hand, it was depressing to see Jarette and Iyanna be so open about the issues that have been facing in their marriage and watching them seem to rekindle at the end of the final episode. Iyanna reveals that she had moved out of her home with Jarette. She felt that her mental health deteriorated with him going out and partying and drinking excessively almost every night, despite how vocal she was about not liking this behavior. Iyanna was adamant about wanting to stay married to Jarette, but she could not stand living with him until she saw changes. After Jarette and Iyanna have dinner with both of their parents about the issues they have been having, Jarette vows to change his ways and Iyanna moves back with Jarette, sharing their wedding cake that Jarette had kept frozen for a year.
On the other hand, it was strange to see Nick and Danielle seem to have no issues. It was weird having both of their marriages be a central focus of the episodes since we the audience know that they are not going to make it. To accommodate this, the producers left a note at the end of the final episode, reading, “Since filming, Jarette and Iyanna, and Nick and Danielle have made the decision to end their marriages. While their journeys together have ended, love is always worth the risk. We’re grateful to the Pod Squad for opening their hearts and sharing their stories with the world.” Despite their efforts, however, this knowledge makes it increasingly difficult for viewers to suspend their disbelief and preconceived notions about the “accuracy” of reality television.
As expected, there was a lot of drama in these three episodes. Although things looked somewhat hopeful for Natalie and Shane after the reunion special, they both share that despite dating again and even getting re-engaged on and off, they have decided to end their relationship forever. The drama begins with Natalie accusing Shaina and Shane of flirting over Instagram DM’s while Shaina was in her new relationship and Natalie and Shane were together again. Natalie claims that this is the reason she and Shane could never fix their relationship, and why she ultimately called it quits. Natalie also accused Shaina of constantly lying to everyone around her and trying to get Shane to hate Natalie and get him to “attack” Natalie at the reunion. Natalie tells this to all of the girls on the show, minus Shaina, during a night out.
Danielle and Nick host a weekend away for the whole cast of Love is Blind, which they invite everyone to minus Shane (and Shake, which will be addressed later in the articles). They also throw Natalie a surprise 30th birthday party and invite Shaina to this part of the weekend, to which Danielle and Nick later express that they secretly did not want her to come, especially after learning about what Natalie had claimed about Shaina. After Shaina reveals that she is now engaged and brings her fiance to the party, Danielle tells Shaina what Natalie accused her of doing, so she and her fiance leave the party early.
Shaina claims what Natalie is saying is false, and she believes that Natalie is spreading this purely out of jealousy. Shaina tells Shane, who are still friends, what Natalie has told the girls, over drinks at her fiance’s restaurant. Shane also says that they never flirted, and claims that Natalie is only saying this to make herself look “perfect” and that she could never trust him. Shane is frustrated that Natalie did not give him “a chance to defend himself,” and also points out that she could be doing this because he and Shaina are “easy targets,” which definitely holds some truth as they were some of the most hated contestants of this past season. Shaina’s fiancee reveals that Shaina showed him the DM’s between her and Shane and that he laughed about it, clearly not feeling threatened or that any boundaries were crossed. Even Kyle, Shaina’s ex-fiancee who she arguably led on and disrespected on national television, claims that despite Natalie’s “professional” demeanor she secretly loves to cause drama.
There was also some conflict between Sal and Mallory. Mallory is still single, while Sal is in a very serious relationship. Sal even brings his girlfriend, Jessi, on the weekend getaway. Things are awkward between the three of them, but Sal and Jessi both make efforts to talk to Mallory one-on-one and all had seemed cordial.
Then, after Sal meets up with his two sisters and he tells them that he has bought an engagement ring for Jessi, he states that he is “tired of defending Mallory.” He alleges that a week before his and Mallory’s wedding, she had ditched plans with him to go shopping. When he was walking home, a man Sal didn’t know threw an empty cup of coffee from his car, and he heard Mallory’s voice, looked into the car and saw Mallory drunk in the car with this man. He says that the night that this happened he slept over at his sister’s house and this incident is why he ultimately said no at the altar. Mallory claimed that the man she was in the car with was her friend and that Sal knew this.
After Kyle confessed his regret for not proposing to Deepti during the reunion, they became very close. They both reveal that they like each other a lot and are both exclusive by their own choice, but that they are afraid to start a romantic relationship out of fear that if the relationship goes sour, they would lose one another. After they both confided with their other cast members, Kyle ends up confessing his feelings to Deepti and they decide to begin a relationship.
It is also worth noting that Shake, who was arguably the most infamous cast member of the previous season, does not return. This is not terribly surprising to viewers, since the reunion made it clear that he does not have a good relationship with the cast and crew of Love is Blind.
I would say that although I was mostly entertained by these episodes, I am a bit frustrated with the lack of closure with the main storylines of these episodes. There is no resolution presented to the drama with Shane, Shaina, Natalie, or Mallory and Sal. Again, we also have the knowledge that the two married couples on the show will eventually end their marriages hanging over our heads. One social media search will present viewers with the knowledge that Deepti and Kyle have since broken up, and that Kyle already has a new girlfriend. These issues, to me, kind of make these episodes seem pointless. Yes, I know reality TV is not really based on reality, but when even the mindless drama starts to feel pointless and fabricated, the show can only keep operating the same way it’s been operating for so long. It felt like there was so much build just for everything to end so abruptly.
This raises a few questions: will they ever have more episodes with this same cast? Or will they start from scratch again? Will the show itself ever offer resolutions to the main storylines of the episodes or will viewers have to turn to social media and gossip media to come to their own conclusions? How many more seasons will air before the whole experiment seems redundant? And the most terrifying thought: was Shake right when he said Love is Blurry?
No matter how the producers decide to move forward, they are going to have to change something to keep viewers interested. Hopefully, they will take the time now to listen to the constructive criticism of fans and create something better, while still keeping the core values of the show.