Netflixs Love Is Blind reunion: 5 winners, 4 losers

Love is blind started as a show with a special stunt and assumption: to match people with their soul mates without letting them see each other and see if love would turn into marriage after 38 days. In 10 episodes, she turned into a cranky and joyful beast, and a first-hand look at Jessica, a 34-year-old baby voice, and her improper downward spiral.

When the dust settled, we ended up with five couples Lauren and Cameron; Giannina and Damian; Kelly and Kenny; Barnett and Amber; Jessica and Mark and the question of whether they would marry or not. Lauren and Cameron and Barnett and Amber did, while the other couples ended their intense demonstrations at the wedding altar.

Perhaps the most breathtaking thing in the series, aside from its premise, is that it ended more than a year ago. Married couples have enjoyed marital life since then, while those who have broken relationships are reliving these hopeless relationships now that the series has aired.

And Thursday, after all this separate time, Netflix reunited their romantic guinea pigs to talk about the experience, update us on their lives and confront each other over past grievances. Vox senior correspondent and Giannina Stan Alex Abad-Santos and associate editor of The Goods and apologist Jessica Meredith Haggerty are here to recap how the episode of the reunion erupted, which brought it about finished at the top and that revealed that they were a bit more single now than they were. were when they started.

Winner: Amber (and Ambers hair)

Netflix

Amber drew the greatest power move from the reunion by showing off with blond hair, dyed much lighter than the hue of the root beer we saw her wear throughout the season. Ambers' blonde hair seemed to be an excavation for Jessica, also blonde, who always looked at Ambers, her husband, Barnett. It was as if Amber had found the only possible advantage that Jessica had over her, and then showed Jessica that she not only had the same hair color but also the husband that Jessica wanted.

Amber also participated in what was the most explosive shot of the meeting. After watching the scenes of Jessica trying to take out Barnett during the show, things that Amber had never seen before, she said that Jessicas' behavior towards Barnett, the fiance from Jessicas Mark and Amber herself was all around sloppy and inappropriate.

Netflix

Slut, you're good, Amber said to Jessica, providing the episodes only real zinger and a moment of responsibility towards the competitor whose behavior during the last season justified it the most.

Alex Abad-Santos

Winner: Lauren and Cameron

Since episode 1, Lauren and Cameron have clearly won the Love is blind winning and non-winning experiences, because as they explained at the meeting, they become one person. These two beautiful and practical people seemed to present themselves to the pods prepared to fall in love, ready to find their soul mate with organization and precision. They ticked off each other at breakneck speed but somehow methodical, and they clearly remain in love today. They are about to have children! They are both extremely attractive! They have a dog, which is sweet, even if they insist on calling it a furry baby!

Yes Love is blind had all been fun but down to earth Laurens and quiet but soulful Camerons, well, that would have been boring and lamentable. But like something one of a kind, they gave this false experience an air of legitimacy, and they are still the great hope of the show.

Meredith haggerty

Winner: Sweet baby Kenny

The couples of Love is blind who are always together weren't the only ones to find love through the show. Kenny reports that through learning how to open the pods, he found the perfect girlfriend. Always my darling, he adds, for me! as former fiance Kelly looks on sadly. Somewhere, Kellys' mother and sister shed a tear for the thoughtful stepson–brother-in-law who could have been.

Of course, Kenny might have had to politely explain the conceit of the shows to family and friends after Kelly said I was not at the altar in the finals, but he didn’t 39; has never been a loser for a minute. It is objectively good not to marry someone who shies away from you forever because of the color of your hair, and more importantly, he behaved with class, dignity and kindness throughout. It continued in the finale, when he refrained from saying, really, Kelly, because I'm a weird blonde?

MH

Winner: Giannina Milady Gibelli

Netflix

There was no competitor this season as enigmatic and captivating as Giannina Milady Gibelli, a beautiful blonde succubus who collided in the suburban woods of Atlanta after being rejected by Damian at the # 39; altar, then came back, the bride's hair perfectly intact, to read it in the garbage. The two fought for anything and everything, inspiring Giannina to sniper that Damian complimented her for giving her the best sex in her life, but she had never felt the same .

Well, it turns out that after getting fired up on their wedding day, Giannina and Damian are back together. And if that is an indication that holds the power in the relationship now (Gianninas' mother, Milady, told her daughter that she should have been the one to throw Damian on the altar) , Giannina made Damian cry in front of the rest of the cast and the whole country. And it was just by making her remember what a great woman she was.

This is why the most disrespectful part of the meeting came from Nick Lacheys constantly referring to Giannina Milady Gibelli as G instead of addressing her by her full and correct first name.

AAS

Winner: We, the viewers

Alex, I'm sorry I disagree with your well-argued anti-season controversy, but I'm so excited that we're almost definitely get a second season of this beautiful trash can. I base myself entirely on the way Vanessa Lachey said Love is blind, first season, in the books at the end of the final, but also the assumption that Netflix would never refuse to re-up a hit like this.

I think and hope we can have a few more seasons before Love is blind go full Bachelor. The specificity of the set up and the oddly high probability that you could give up a bunch of your life and not at all on screen tell me that Love is blind could continue to attract romantics, eccentrics, and people deeply committed to having a heterosexual marriage, not just renowned scholars. Besides, I already saw influencers popping up among them anyway (ahem, Giannina; ahem, all, basically). And hey, influencers don't want real love? True love receives clicks!

What I'm saying is: Netflix, I'm available for season two. Please don't give me the Jessica edition.

MH

Loser: Diamond and Carlton (but it's not entirely their fault)

The only couple at the meeting who couldn't make it to the altar was Carlton and Diamond. They did it during the pod part of the show, but their relationship deteriorated during the honeymoon in Mexico, when Carlton went bisexual with Diamond. The two bickered and called each other pretty rough things, and overall, their breakup was one of the moments in the series that everyone, including Carlton and Diamond, probably wished they could forget.

Nick and Vanessa check in with the two to find out that they've fixed it and that they're working together on a friendship. Nick and Vanessa also speak in their words about the keyboard warriors who flooded Carlton and Diamonds' social media accounts with hatred after the show aired. In response, husband and wife Lachey painted Carlton and Diamond as victims and the keyboard warriors as psychopaths at sea.

But in the midst of all these fingerings and blames, Nick, Vanessa and Love is blindThe producers have not recognized the programs' own responsibility in the creation of this ugly television patch.

We are not aware of the details of this Love is blindProducers and casting directors told the candidates, but the show did not feature any other bisexual or LGBTQ candidate other than Carlton. The show was also fairly stereotypical heteronormative in the way it presented its relationships, the traditions of marriage (wedding dresses, bachelorette parties, etc.), and the candidates (for example, all women speaking of what they are looking for in a man).

When Carlton came to see Diamond, she was in shock. Her reaction seemed to indicate that she believed the men and women on the show were all heterosexual.

Certainly, the Diamonds' behavior towards Carlton (asking him if he could be monogamous and if she could be the love of his life if he was also attracted to men) corresponds to a common pattern of stigma that bisexuals face gay and heterosexual men and women. Carltons' aggressive behavior towards Diamond was just as sad and difficult to observe.

But it's hard not to see their behavior as reactions to a situation created by the circumstances of the broadcast. Rather than fighting stereotypes against bisexual people, Love is blind leaned over and teased the sexuality of Carltons and Diamonds blindly as one of its main points of the plot.

And it seemed a little gooey that the series then chastised its audience for its reaction to this hot couple moment, a reaction that its producers and casting directors were apparently looking for. There is no doubt that a great reality show can be made about the stigma challenges that bisexual people and their partners face. But judging by the words Nick and Vanessa used to describe Carlton (brave and courageous), it seems that the people behind Love is blind thought they had done something admirable. But it was not that.

AAS

Loser: Barnett and his bad jacket

Netflix

What is black and white and shines so that everyone can see it? The reality that Matt Barnett and Amber Barnett are going to divorce one day. Also, the Barnetts floral print jacket (???), which is just awful.

For Vanderpump rules fans, Barnett has serious Jax Taylor vibes that are funny and strangely attractive in a bro-y way, but also immature, selfish and shortsighted, and this jacket reinforces that. A man who thinks this blazer is a good idea is just not ready for marriage.

Barnett and his equally stubborn bride might learn to party together, but it looks like Barnett still isn't sure what happened to him, that he is legally bound to the woman next to him and wears the nightclub bathroom floor like a coat. Amber casually drops that she almost got divorced for an unspecified spat, but Barnett says they are having so much fun. Good luck to all three!

MH

Loser: The format of the meeting

Netflix

Aside from the confrontation between Amber and Jessica, the meeting was pretty much a snoozer. Everyone else said they got on with their exes, and married couples Amber and Barnett, Lauren and Cameron said they enjoy married life.

The candidates all seem to have signed a non-aggression pact before the reunion. Or, because of the year between filming and broadcast, maybe all of the harsh emotions and feelings have subsided.

Anyway, the reunion seemed to have stalled as it continued to address candidates as a couple. This gave rise to generic responses, like the aforementioned jokes and Lauren and Cameron telling us how nice it is to be married.

Curiously, the most fascinating and authentic moments of the meeting were when the candidates were addressed to individuals. Amber gave her sincere thoughts on Jessica and didn't fully accept Jessicas' apology; it was by far the highlight of the show.

It would have been more interesting to see the same kind of understanding, for example, of how Kenny felt when he told the production to turn off the cameras, or what Kelly or Lauren thought of what Jessica had done to Mark. Instead, we had feelings from Kennys in the context of Kelly and feelings from Marks about Jessica from Mark himself, all producing boring responses. Remember, these are men who have been thrown to the altar, and Mark, blessed his heart, has not seen Jessica doing a color guard routine with a giant red flag this season. Are they really the best people to give honest and spotless opinions on their ex-fiances? Probably not.

AAS

Loser: Our Messica

Oh, dear Jessica. Someone must be the villain of Love is blind, and it was always going to be the woman on the wrong side of 30 who gives wine to her dog. In a spirit of solidarity, I will say that after a few drinks myself, I also speak in an annoying and sharper voice.

At the meeting, Jessica seems, both in terms of body language and real words, to have been completely exhausted from the fallout of her time in the experience. She says how hard all of this is to watch, refusing to look directly at pictures of herself and how much she did not like what she saw in front of her screen. She may not seem to be taking responsibility for her feelings for Barnett (I didn't even feel that way at the time, she insists), but she is appropriately upset over her past behavior, particularly the amount of food fed by alcohol that his dog has not received at.

It was, perhaps, a learning experience for Jessica! She tries to apologize to the blonde amber whose expectations as to how Jessica should have behaved seem frankly unrealistic, but not to Mark. Mark and Jessica agree that they would have liked more time, but both are single now, neither of them takes a step to reconcile. Shes moved to Los Angeles and once she got rid of that green turtleneck, Shell is surely on a better track.

MH