8 Reasons to Love (or Hate) ‘Love Is Blind’ Season 8
Love Is Blind is back just in time for Valentine’s Day binge.
Same premise, different city. This time around, the hopeful singles hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota, making for some interesting accents and some not so interesting daters.
Nick and Vanessa Lachey are back to guide 32 participants (the largest dating pool to date) ranging in age from 26-43, suggesting producers may have finally heard viewers’ complaints that the usual suspects seemed way too young for the show’s mission. We never really know what (or who) we’re going to get each season and the eighth installment of the U.S. version of the Netflix series is more snoozey than steamy.
In the first batch of of six episodes that dropped on V-Day, we get to see what went down in the pods, where daters have 10 days to fall in love through a wall and get engaged, sight unseen.
Whether you’re a hopeless romantic rooting for true love to win out or a hate-watcher who lives to throw popcorn at the more ridiculous moments, season 8 delivers plenty of opportunities for both.
Here, we run down the moments that made us laugh, cry, and scream at the small screen:
The pods aren’t poppin’. Six whole episodes in the pods feels like overkill considering these are already the most skippable moments of every season. Add the fact that these singles don’t score high on the personality meter make them even more painful to push through. This group does a lot of gabbing about the most mundane things and makes a big deal out of non-issues. If you’re hoping to get fired up over the fierce flirtations, these duos will leave you lukewarm at best. The menu is heavy on boring conversations and very light on the romance. By the end, only two couples even inspire a smile and the rest just seem like leftovers.
The guys are pretty lame. Between the dude who says he’s looking for love through these unconventional means because he has always been a shallow jerk to women to the dude who says he’s “not one way or the other” on issues like human rights and equality, the pool of men is an overall disappointment. These men are so similar, from their facial features to their banter, to their hair styles, that it’s hard to tell several of them apart unless they’re all in the same shot at once. Alex, Adam, Ben, Benji, Brad, Daniel, David…even their names are too close for comfort. There’s nothing especially memorable or interesting about any of these dudes with the exception of the long-haired goofball, Joey, whose dorky demeanor is equally endearing and adorable.
The “drama” is dumb. It’s always mind-boggling when a main source of conflict comes from folks feeling jealous that their love interest is talking to other women. As if the entire premise of the show is not to “date” multiple people at once. It’s literally the point and somehow, we continue to get girls grilling guys over two-timing through a wall. Such is the case with David and Lauren who squabble over his dealings with Molly… along with Mason, Meg, and Madison, who find themselves berating the same beau with angry accusations. The love triangle bit is so trite at this stage, it makes me wonder if we couldn’t have gotten to know some other contestants in the time spent watching this dead horse get beaten.
The couples have no chemistry. A lot of really boring conversation and very little romance. By the end of the first batch of episodes, only two couples come close to being believably in love and the rest just seem like they’re making the most of what they got. The ladies seem way too easily impressed y these guys who have practically nothing to say. The group as a whole seems less compelled by a genuine desire to find love than they are with having something semi-fun to do in Minneapolis for a few weeks. It’s not terribly clear what many of these couples have in common, other than Joey and Monica, who essentially match each other’s wonderful weirdness like they were made for each other.
The sob stories are silly. Love Is Blind always tries to play up the contestants’ backgrounds, but the stories this bunch served up were less tear-jerking and more side-eye inducing than usual. Alex, the 29-year-old real estate broker, recounts being crushed by an experience in school where he was rejected by a girl and was so humiliated he has to eat his lunch in the bathroom. I’m pretty sure that “trauma” stung at the time, but to think this is what he’s holding onto is sadder than the story.
Double standards strike again. Devin, the basketball coach, is in tears over his hard-won battle of addiction…to Ibuprofen. As in Motrin. I can’t tell if he’s using “Motrin” as a code name for “Vicodin” when he’s sobbing through this story that makes him so ashamed. Brittany, who’s also a basketball coach, scores major points when she assures her hunk that he’s still a good person despite that little dance with the devil. Oddly enough, he’s not as understanding when he learns that his lady love has had some dalliances with women in the past, and wouldn’t quite call herself heterosexual despite his repeated attempts to bully her into doing so. “I wasn’t ready to hear what I heard,” he tells her after she bares her soul. Soon after, he’s heading for the hills and focusing on his other girl, Virginia. She’s a former cheerleader turned PhD. Who’s likely looking for a man who doesn’t judge her by her beautiful cover. What’s weird is she seems to have a pretty low bar when it comes to being impressed and her energy level is so low it’s hard to imagine her ever being in charge of pepping up a crowd.
The big reveals are a big letdown. Once we finally get the couples out from behind the walls we expect sparks to fly. This season, those magic moments are pretty lackluster with the exception of Daniel and Taylor (soulmates, duh) and Joey and Monica. These two are so smitten they can’t contain themselves and it’s clear they’re a match made in heaven. All of the other couples were pretty awkward and even ick-inducing when they found it hard to make eye contact or hold hands after meeting their future spouses.
A killer curveball. By now we know that Taylor and Daniel are destined for greatness. This couple caught the vibe from the first time they spoke and never wavered, making them one of the only couples worth rooting for so far. They’re both obsessed with Christmas and have a similar sense of humor, frequently finishing each other’s sentences and being generally adorable. Even a bout of laryngitis early on in the process that’s all about conversation didn’t deter them from forming a bond that would surely lead to a proposal. With viewers so invested in this potential pairing it’s a real gut punch when we learn that Taylor thinks her man may have followed her on IG before filming began, leading her to wonder if her Prince Charming has concocted a connection based on details he learned from peering at her profile.
The next three episodes of Love Is Blind hit Netflix next week and by the looks of the trailer and that crippling cliff hanger, we’re thinking the temperature may be turning way up.
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