Love Is Blind Season 4 Review

I am trapped in a toxic relationship with Love Is Blind, Netflix’s Emmy-nominated reality series (yes, seriously, for Outstanding Structured Reality Program in 2020 and 2022, and Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program in 2020), which begins its fourth season on Friday. I find the premise of the show — that true love leads to a quick marriage — absurd. I think people are genuinely hurt through this process. And yet I keep watching, selfishly hoping to be swept away by onscreen romances that I know in my heart have the slimmest chances of bearing out in the real world. 

After a messy third season in Dallas, hampered by a cast of some deeply unpleasant and immature characters, Love Is Blind’s fourth season features singles living in Seattle who are, overall, more likable. With each episode, however, you see the couples start to realize the magnitude of what they’re being asked to do: marry someone they met just a few weeks ago, despite their doubts, despite their families’ wishes, and despite the need to suddenly uproot their lives. The odds are stacked against them, and this season leans more heavily into that tension than before. 

The cast includes Zack, a quirky criminal defense attorney who said he’s been judged for the way he grew up (his mother was a stripper); Brett, a mellow designer who picked up drawing as a low-income kid and landed a job at Nike without a college degree; Kwame, an animated sales development manager and former soccer player from Ghana; Marshall, a marketing manager who had demanding parents and describes himself as emotional and sensitive; and Paul, a rational-minded environmental scientist who said Love Is Blind is a “surprisingly sound” experiment. The women include Chelsea, a pediatric speech pathologist with a manner that’s both shrewd and direct; Tiffany, a successful recruiter who likes to defy expectations and is worried about finding a partner at age 36; Jackelina, a fun, sassy dental assistant who had “hard” parents; and Micah, a bubbly marketing manager who calls herself an empath. On the whole, they seem more mature and developed than the Dallas crew, although they are not without their flaws.