Season 3 Of “Love Is Blind” Gets Even More Cruel

In its first season, Love Is Blind could at least position itself as wide-eyed and fairy-tale-minded. Its concept relies on the idea that people make poor romantic decisions based on shallow factors, swiping right on attractive features, fatless bodies, and human musk. Take away these putatively unreliable visuals and pheromones, and what you have is pure connection, the kind geriatric millennials dreamed of in the early days of the internet: You could be anyone or anything, and someone might still love you for your voice, wit, and opinions.

That first season “proved” the concept with two successful couples. Rocky duo Amber and Barnett seemed unready for many of life’s demands, let alone the commitment of marriage; yet they eventually wed and are still together. But Lauren and Cameron, a winningly earnest pairing, are the franchise’s crown jewel. They too said “I do” at the Netflix altar and are now reaping the rewards of modest TV fame with millions of Instagram followers, brand deals, and a YouTube channel.

In its sophomore showing, Love Is Blind fell to a nadir. There was one obvious villain: shameless veterinarian Shake, who proposed to fan favorite Deepti after repeatedly expressing his lack of attraction to her. Two weddings ensued; neither lasted. One couple, volatile Shayne and hopeful Natalie, ended their onscreen journey not with a wedding but a frightening outburst that made the finale feel like an intervention. (Shayne later claimed on a podcast that contestants have little choice about going to the altar: “The night before, I hit up the producers and whatnot,” he told Nick Viall on The Viall Files. “But we have to see it through … I’d have a fat lawsuit on my hands.”) If any IRL Disney princesses out there still claimed to believe in the concept, their faith likely flagged.

While the show’s hasty courting operation and wedding ultimatum have always seemed ridiculous, this season seems even more cruel. Part of that is casting. Some of the cast, like season villain Bartise and tender ballet dancer Colleen, are just 25. Many have relationship baggage; Matt and Cole, both in their late 20s, have both already been divorced. Thirty-two-year-old Zanab has never had a partner serious enough to cohabitate with before.

But within the logic of the show, they cannot work any of this out quietly or slowly. They have to become experts in who they are and who they want to marry and why, with a public wedding looming on the horizon. When Matt lashes out at Colleen for calling Cole, whom she also dated in the pods, attractive, it isn’t fun to watch his unprocessed anger unleash; in the reunion, she again seems on the verge of tears when discussing that incident. It is not entertaining to listen to Bartise tell his older fiancé Nancy that he’s OK with abortion only if a pregnancy is “unplanned and you’re, like, youthful and still learning.” (And only once: “I think you get one pass.”) As one Redditor commented, “I really wish they wouldn’t bring younger men on the show.”