All Of The Drama From "Love Is Blind" Season 2 — So Far
If you're a Love Is Blind fan and, like me, couldn't get enough of the drama from season 1, then you're surely enjoying the roller coaster ride that is season 2 so far.
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From near-immediate love triangles to participants not understanding the concept of this being an experiment based on everything BUT looks, Episode 1 alone delivered enough drama to get me through the rest of February.
Or so I thought...because then came Episode 2, and all I can say is wowza, this is going to get wild.
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Because of all the jumping around between couples and conversations in the show, it can be hard to keep track of what's even happening in that insane universe of pod dating and day drinking. Though to be fair, there are no windows in the pods, so maybe it is nighttime when they start pouring glass after glass of wine to converse through walls with strangers? In any case, alcohol is a character of its own on this Netflix original.
To help clear things up a bit for everyone watching (because let's admit it — this show can be wicked confusing), I'm going to recap some of the juiciest, most cringeworthy, dramatic, and downright uncomfortable moments that have happened so far.
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There is SO much to discuss, so I'll be sticking to the bigger-picture things, but just know that if you take a look for yourself, there is much more to see and hear than what you'll find in this recap.
Just in case you're unfamiliar with how the show works, let me explain very briefly (but if you know what's up, feel free to skip ahead):
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A bunch of single women and a bunch of single men are brought to the set where the women live together in one section and the men live in another. Every day, they head into these pod-like rooms (cozy, aesthetic, miniature therapist's office vibes) that are attached to another pod across from them. The women go on one side, the men go on the other, and the walls in between make it so no one can see one another as they talk and attempt to find love without physicality getting in the way. If they fall in love, they get engaged without ever seeing each other, and then get to meet in person before heading on a lavish vacation.
They share names, typically ages and occupations, and try to get to a deeper level with the person across from them — for about seven minutes. Then, they switch and go talk to another semi-anonymous potential spouse. For some, connections are instant. For others, multiple connections start blossoming simultaneously. For others, no connections are made whatsoever, and you hardly see those people onscreen.
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The show (obviously) focuses on the most interesting, dramatic, serious, and emotional conversations that happen in the pods. But in my opinion...they also tend to give screentime to the people who are the most "conventionally attractive," aka fairly thin/fit, put effort into their appearances, and are generally successful at work. But that's just my observation. I don't know...
Season 1 got our toes extremely wet when it came to all the waves of drama this show continuously serves through its format. But now, just five episodes in, Season 2 is giving the first season a run for its money.
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To kick things off, let's talk about Episode 1 and the straight-up "what the f***" moments that flowed from start to finish.
First off, after some short general clips of people settling in, we meet our first obvious troublemaker: Abhishek (but he goes by Shake).
This guy is going to cause a stir throughout most of the first five episodes by doing the very thing he starts off with in Ep. 1: focusing on the women's physical appearances.
The first few interactions we see from Shake are not only him focusing on the physical but being insanely awkward and slightly creepy in the way he goes about it. I mean, he assumes a woman's (Mallory's) ethnicity from her "Latina vibes," and then, to another woman (Iyana) he says he likes to buy clothes for women and asks her size...to which she is visibly put-off.
So he asks about race, he asks about general size, and then the big one comes.
This dude says that since he's also a "house DJ" and loves going to music festivals, he'd like to know if he could lift one of the women (Deepti) on his shoulders above the crowd. Like, just yikes.
Don't worry, Deepti is a badass and quickly calls him out on being superficial. But this guy gave me sus vibes from the start.
Anyway, moving on to some other drama, we see the formation of a love triangle slowly taking shape just a little way into the episode. At the center of it is a big, goofy, albeit sort of sweet guy named Shayne. After making what seems like a meaningful connection with a woman named Natalie, we then see him go straight into making a flirtatious connection with a woman named Shaina.
Aside from their obviously matching names, Shayne and Shaina clearly have chemistry; a little later in the episode, likely day two in the pods, Shayne is already asking for her outfit details and telling her he thinks she's sexy (even though he can't...see her...but OK). But then we jump back to him and Natalie, and, jeez, this dude is swooning over this girl so hard that he writes her name with a heart around it on the cover of his notebook. You can probably see where this is all heading...
Well, as I mentioned, the ladies are all living together in this dream-like, massive hotel suite thing. And what do we know about girls? They talk.
Shaina is pissed that Natalie is chatting about her relationship with Shayne, but the Sh's quickly work it out. Unfortunately, again a little while later, a BIG bump in the road comes for Shayne and Natalie because of his steamy relationship with Shaina.
This part is almost too awkward for me to write about, but here I go: Shayne walks into a pod, and Natalie is on the other side. But instead of saying it's her, she says "guess," and Shayne thinks it's Shaina!!!
Before Natalie can get a word in, Shayne says of course it's Shaina and begins to ask what she's wearing over there. You can literally see Natalie's heart deflating in this moment as she realizes that the guy she's falling in love with has been talking that way with another woman.
To make matters worse, Shayne is a total jerk to Natalie about being upset by this. I mean, just look at what he says:
In the end, Natalie is really hurt and walks out, and we have to wait for Episode 2 to see where they stand moving forward.
Within all of the budding relationships and dramatically awkward moments, though, one beautifully romantic thing DID happen in Episode 1: Participants Danielle and Nick get engaged!
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I didn't mention too much about their talking (which takes place over several days in a long montage) because it's literally all sweet and perfect and, like, we're here for the drama. But I do want to give this highlight a shoutout because Nick is seriously SO sweet with Danielle (pictured above), who shares about being insecure in relationships. In the end, it's a match, and she says yes to his super-sweet proposal!
Moving on to Episode 2! Whew, this one is an even bigger doozy than Episode 1, for sure. Just as some foreshadowing, it's literally named "Love Triangles."
At this point, it's been several days (though we don't know exactly how many) and several things have happened. Danielle and Nick got engaged, and at the beginning of Episode 2 we see the pair finally meet in person, and it is SO CUTE. But then we get right back to the ~drama.~
We watched the love triangle of Shayne, Natalie, and Shaina form in Episode 1, and now, in Episode 2, we watch a similar thing unfold amongst another trio: Jarrette, Mallory, and Iyana.
Iyana (left), Jarrette (middle), and Mallory (right) are in a little love triangle of their own, where Jarrette says during commentary that he keeps going back and forth between the two women. Oh, but wait, it gets even more complicated because Mallory has two of her own interests, just as Jarrette does.
While Jarrette is wrapped up in both Iyana and Mallory, Mallory is wrapped up in Jarrette and another man named Salvador (who mostly goes by Sal).
So the four of them are in sort of a love...square? I guess? Well, really, it turns into kind of a train. Stay with me: Iyana is super into Jarrette, Jarrette likes her but is clearly SUPER into Mallory, Mallory likes him but is clearly VERY into Sal, and Sal really likes Mallory. The only thing that could make this better (in a very dark, chaos-worshipping way) is if Sal were then into Iyana, completing the awkward circle. But alas, that's not the case.
Now, with that train of crushes established, we move back into the tense triangle of Shayne, Shaina, and Natalie.
Natalie, while clearly upset about what happened, forgives Shayne because he says all the right things (this time) and even asks her to be his girlfriend, saying he will only focus on her. Cute, right?
WRONG. Right after that happens and Natalie gushes to all the girls about it, Shaina heads to meet with Shayne, who IMMEDIATELY breaks his promises to Natalie.
Almost right away, Shayne starts asking Shaina about what she's wearing (again, oh my god) and tells her she's "so hot" when she describes her cozy outfit. Above, you can see Shaina's reaction to this, which is sort of shocked, delighted, and confused, because she knows that he JUST ASKED NATALIE TO BE HIS GF.
In a very mature move, though, Shaina tells Shayne she knows everything, gets him to admit it, and ends their relationship out of respect for Natalie.
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So as quickly as it seemed to form, that love triangle gets nipped in the bud pretty quickly. Shaina's real and secret feelings for Shayne, however, do not so easily fade away. But that may be OK since she is pretty interested in this other guy, Kyle (we'll get to that...).
Anyway, moving on to some other drama: Deepti decides that she really does like Shake despite his focus on physical appearances and has a really good talk with him about it. They make up, he admits he's been in the wrong and wants to change, and their love starts to grow QUICKLY.
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I'll just skip to the end here and spill the beans: 30 minutes into Episode 2, Shake PROPOSES to Deepti, and she says yes!! The moments leading up to their meeting and during their meeting are very sweet and cute, but there was one little comment that literally made me spit out my beer when Shake said it.
Before they meet, Shake explains that he "already told her that if she's within a 2-mile radius of [him], that booty is not safe." When they meet, he grabs her ass harder than I've ever seen anyone grab ass before, but it's OK because she likes it!!
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While the comment and ass-grabbing threw me off a bit, Deeps (as he affectionately calls his fiancé) isn't phased by any of it, and the two seem really happy.
OK, in an effort to keep things moving along here, let's quickly touch on what Shaina and Kyle (her other slight love interest) and Jarrette and Iyana are up to.
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Shaina and Kyle are clearly vibing hard until the topic of religion comes up; she's a faithful Christian, and he's a hardcore atheist. You can tell that she's phased and he isn't, though, as he says he thinks they can make it work (despite the fact that she literally does not believe in evolution, but OK, dude). Iyana admits to Jarrette that she thinks "it's him," meaning she's settled on only him. Awkwardly, Jarrette explains that while he's super into Iyana, he's split between her and Mallory still, which crushes Iyana a bit. Basically, everyone is confused and desperately trying to figure out their feelings at this point.
Before you know it and before we see ANY other discussion between the two, Kyle proposes to Shaina with his mother's engagement ring...and she is shocked to say the least.
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Shockingly, Shaina says yes? I don't even know what else to say about that one. It was just plain awkward. But wait, because it's about to get worse.
Immediately after agreeing to marry Kyle, Shaina heads into a pod with Shayne, who is heading in there thinking it's Natalie and that he's going to propose. My mouth was agape at this point as you can probably imagine.
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Shayne realizes it's Shaina pretty quickly (thankfully), and then Shaina asks if there's still any chance for them to be together. We end on a shocked Shayne (and a shocked me) before the episode ends and we move on to Episode 3, though.
Oh, Episode 3, you were a wild ride. We open back up to Shaina's confession of love to Shayne in the pods. In a twist that I, personally, wasn't expecting, though, Shayne stays loyal to Natalie and tells Shaina it's too late!
Shayne then proposes to Natalie, she says yes, and both of them seem extremely happy! They meet later in the episode and are even cuter together in person. Another couple is formed! If you're keeping track, we now have Shayne and Natalie, Deepti and Shake, and Nick and Danielle as our three engaged duos.
While Shayne has made his decision clear, though, Jarrette and Mallory are both stuck on other people in addition to being stuck on each other.
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After a long talk with Mallory's other boo, Sal, Jarrette decides he wants to be with Mallory and heads to the pods to discuss the prospect of marriage with her. It, um, doesn't go super well. When Jarrette asks what Mallory would do if he were to propose, she bursts into tears and explains her connection with Sal is stronger. Jarrette is crushed, obviously, and Mallory feels terrible for breaking his heart. In a true moment of women supporting women, Iyana tries to comfort her when she returns to the women's quarters in tears.
The next couple of events happen pretty quickly, so stay with me here. First, Jarrette pulls it together and goes to meet with Iyana, who he does admittedly have strong feelings for. He's open and honest and tells her the truth about what just happened, which causes Iyana to genuinely break down in the hallway outside of the pods.
It's incredibly sad, and you feel for her SO much, but we quickly move back to see what Mallory is up to now. Plus, you get the sense it isn't truly over between Jarrette and Iyana.
Badabing, badaboom — Sal moves in to claim his girl and proposes to Mallory, who says YES!
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They've been super sweet from the beginning, but when they meet later in the episode, it's clear that there's a physical disconnect between them, mostly on Mallory's end. When Shaina and Kyle also meet, the same awkward energy is palpable and she brings up the religion debate before they part ways. But more on that later!
After a long discussion, Jarrette decides to propose to Iyana. Once she thinks and talks it over with him, she, too, says yes.
So now we have our six engaged couples (the hosts make it clear that they're the only ones who made it that far, and those are the ones heading on romantic vacations together). We have:
- Shake & Deepti
- Natalie & Shayne
- Nick & Danielle
- Jarrette & Iyana
- Shaina & Kyle
- Mallory & Sal
Next Up: We're off to paradise! Any couples who get engaged move onto the next stage of the experiment, where they head to a resort in Mexico to physically connect with one another and meet all of the couples (aka the people they've dated in the past, had feelings for, and didn't end up with...).
Before the episode wraps up and we get too deep into paradise, we have a quick check-in on how everyone is doing together so far. Let's see:
- Shake & Deepti: They are vibing hard.
- Natalie & Shayne: A little awkward. Shayne makes it clear he needs words of affirmation, and she keeps ragging on him instead.
- Nick & Danielle: ...Nick makes his own toothpaste. Danielle is not into it. Otherwise, they're chilling.
- Jarrette & Iyana: Simply adorable.
- Shaina & Kyle: More talk about religion (yikes) and Kyle breaks his eight-year vegetarian streak by offering to try some of Shaina's steak?
- Mallory & Sal: We don't really see them here.
But the true ending of Episode 3 is the real kicker: After their talk about religion, Shaina asks to sleep in separate rooms from Kyle. Then, while alone, she makes the decision to leave altogether! Apparently without telling him? It's so sudden and shocking, and then the episode just ends.
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So let's... move on to Episode 4.
Episode 4 starts out by showing us a bunch of montages of the couples establishing their connections in Mexico. To keep things short and sweet, everyone is doing fairly well! With the possible exception of Shake and Deepti...
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Deepti is FEELING it with Shake...and it becomes very clear he isn't feeling the same way in that he isn't physically attracted to her (sad). Some other couple montages flash across the screen, and we see some awkwardness but also a lot of burgeoning love; all in all, things are going pretty well for most couples.
Until the couples are all brought together for an evening of cocktails and conversation, that is. All of the couples are there (except Kyle and Shaina, of course), but Nick is there alone because Danielle caught a stomach bug. What ensues is a mess of people meeting and Nick playing the hilarious observer of it all since his other half is absent (laying on the bathroom floor trying to eat something and feel better).
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While it's a lovely reunion at first, things quickly take some uncomfortable turns when people start talking about their real feelings with friends.
Shake IMMEDIATELY starts telling people that he is not attracted to Deepti. Like, literally everyone, starting with Jarrette.
Yikes. But that's only the beginning of what this evening has in store.
Since Nick is all alone, he zeroes in on Jarrette and asks how he feels about his old boo, Mallory, now that he's seen her in person. After some convincing, Jarrette heads to talk to Mallory, and Nick's reaction to the whole situation (Jarrette wanting Mallory, getting rejected, and going back for Iyana) is hilarious.
![Nick saying "'She said no, so I went to the second one.' I... [scoffs]..."](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/dwKc4bkk2R17GRZhgsMCDg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY1NA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/a5d16a87489d0e49979f80b0f1dcf648)
Jarrette and Mallory's conversation is one of the hardest things to watch in these first five episodes of Season 2. It's really clear that they both still have feelings for each other, although they don't really cross any big lines; they just talk about what they had in the past. Well, OK, a few lines are crossed for sure.
Frickin' yikes x 10,000,000,000.
The worst part is it's clear that Sal, Mallory's fiancé, can see them having this deep conversation and absolutely feels uncomfortable about the whole thing.
At this point, Sal says he wants to go HOME! The episode draws to an awkward close as the night does the same. Now, it's time to jump into Episode 5.
At the start of Episode 5, our favorite non-dramatic couple, Nick and Danielle, actually run into a bit of a spat. She's jealous that he went all alone, swears she saw him talking to other girls from the balcony, and tries to explain that she isn't mad but just feeling really insecure.
At that moment, I wished I could reach through the screen, give her a hug, but then give her a bit of a shake and let her know he was just playing sleuth all night and giving us hilarious commentary. Thankfully, they made up without my help and live to see another day in paradise.
Next, both Sal and Iyana sort of confront Mallory and Jarrette about what's going on with their feelings. Sal is feeling pretty weird about the whole thing...
And Iyana wants to be sure that Jarrette is being truthful about his feelings for her.
Essentially, the trust is at an all-time low for both of these strained couples, and it's pretty sad to see.
Then, the next day, everyone comes together to play a friendly game of volleyball, and it actually goes really well! But at the same time, we check in with the departed Kyle and Shaina, who are both back home in Chicago and meeting up for the first time in a while.
Basically, he still wants her back, and she's still stuck on the religious differences (fair). We don't get to see too much, but it's very clearly an awkward exchange.
The whole episode ends on a series of montages of the couples (taken on their phones) packing and getting ready to leave paradise. Despite a few hiccups along the way (including several I didn't have time to mention here in this article), all of the couples who stuck it out through paradise are solid as they prepare to head back to the real world! But, as Shaina says...
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An ominous and dramatic preview of what's to come brings us to the end of Episode 5. From what it shows, there may be several storms a-brewin', but we'll have to wait to find out who can weather them and who breaks under the pressure.
