I've been recovering from getting a few more screws in my spine for the last month and a half, which means I've watched a lot of TV. One of those shows was Love is Blind Season 4, cause mom helped nurse me back to health (thanks mom:) and we both like to watch trashy reality TV. I only like to watch it if there is someone else there to talk shit with, cause talking shit to myself is way less fun.
There are spoilers ahead, but if you haven't watched it I'm guessing you don't intend to - I support this decision.
Here are some important things to know about Love is Blind in general:
They usually choose a location/region and invite 30 eligible men and women. This time it is Seattle. I'm guessing they pick a specific region so if folks decide to get hitched they're already in the same town, but really because it cuts down on production costs.
These 60 people are put in men's and women's housing where they can interact with there own gender (talk shit), and proceed to schedule dates with the opposite gender.
On these dates each couple is separated by some sort of lava lamp-looking wall and cannot see each other. That's the "blind" part. They also get little notebooks to write notes, an acoustic guitar upon request, and what I imagine is endless amounts of liquor served out of gold glasses. The gold glasses are a part of the brand. The acoustic guitars are there to make me cringe anytime a person picks one up.
After a couple days of dating the contestants pick the people they like the most and schedule longer dates with them. This is really only the first 4 or so episodes of the season, all in all they have about 10 days to find someone to propose to.
If someone would like to meet their date in-person they must propose marriage through the lava lamp window. If they agree to get married they get all dressed up and propose again in-person for dramatic effect. Honestly, most of them get dressed up for the dates where they can't see each other cause they know they're on TV.
If the second proposal works out also, the show ships them off to a fancy vacation in Mexico with all the other folks who agreed to get married. They spend time as a group to see if any more drama happens involving people who dated in the pods (lava lamp divided rooms) but didn't decided to get married.
After their vacation the couple returns home and is given two weeks to meet families, explore each others' living spaces, and plan a wedding. This sounds like a lot, but the show pays for everything, including the rings. It is a TV show after all, on a Netflix budget. They say this timeline is a part of the "experiment" to "see if love is truly blind" but again, production costs a lot - time is money.
Each wedding is at the same venue, but on different days I imagine. It rained every time in Seattle. Once they get to the altar they have another chance to say yes or no. This is very dramatic.
Okay, now that you're up to speed here is what I thought about Season 4:
During the beginning of COVID I think I watched season 1 when I had COVID, I don't remember so well, but the one thing I do remember is the type of people the cast to participate in this grand "experiment" are all very similar. They all have very reasonable jobs, but not too flashy. They all have a socially accepted BMI. They are all people I imagine hanging out at night clubs on a Tuesday where they pay $15 for a Heineken with their group of 3 friends, judging everyone else in the room while they listen to Shaggy. They are people who would be less interesting if they were not given the parameters Love is Blind provides.
To be clear, I don't think there is anything wrong with these folks and I encourage them to do what makes them happy. After all I'm doing the same thing - except for instead of a night club I'm judging people from my recliner, I'm drinking box sangria instead of Heineken and listening to John Prine. I'm just saying the casting supervisor has a type, and I described it above.
The most interesting drama of this season was a love triangle between Zach, Bliss, and Irina. Zach is a 30 something year old lawyer who started off each first date jokingly telling the person through the lava lamp wall that he was a male stripper. Bliss and Irina had one clear difference - Bliss was very kind and thoughtful, and Irina was what the kids today would call more "real" during their dates. From the get-go I predicted Zach would propose to Irina because she seemed like the safer option. He was worried about being judged by his companion's family, given he had a "different" upbringing (this was never expanded upon) and Irina seemed to get his lawyer sense of humor better.
He did pick Irina and it was awkward from the moment they met. It seemed like Irina wasn't attracted to him - she said he looked like a cartoon - and throughout the trip to Mexico It was clear she was there to win a game show where you get to go to Mexico for a bit, instead of find a husband. They quickly broke up, Zach (or the producers?) contacted Bliss, and they got engaged almost immediately.
Now, Irina wasn't the nicest person - she was pretty immature and even border-line cruel at times to the other women on the show. During the reunion show she was booed and Zach ended up giving her the jaw-dropping line "To be real, you were to here to get famous" to which he received the love and respect of everyone in the crowd (and probably the internet too). Irina cried some.
Here is the problem I have with that - EVERYONE was there to get famous. You don't agree to have your entire dating process regulated, filmed, and condensed into a month if you're not interested in the attention that will get you. While I don't think Irina was particularly nice or a good human throughout the show, talking shit about her for the crime everyone was guilty of is just silly.
That being said Tiffany and Brett are adorable.
So is love blind? I'm sure it depends on the situation. This is a show for people to find partners quickly and get famous - and also make Netflix as much money as possible.
-Stein
I don't think you give Shaggy enough credit.