Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I was both interested and uninterested in this season of “Love Is Blind.” For one, it features humans from my backyard of Washington, D.C., which is exciting because maybe I’d know a person or two, but also, everybody I know who is actively dating in D.C. does nothing but complain about the prospects in this city. That’s kind of nuts considering that, on paper, D.C. would be a perfect place to find a mate. Most people are highly educated, ambitious and on the way towards … something.
When they released the cast, I realized that I was too old to know the people so I lost interest. Also, I’m slightly over the show in general though I can’t quite pinpoint why. Maybe it’s just run its course in my life but whatever. What brought me back was the scandal surrounding Tyler and whether or not those kids he has are part of his life or not. I know, I know — I shouldn’t be interested in the scandal and salaciousness of it all but I’m human. Sue me. Anyway, I watched the whole season and had my money on the two couples who ultimately said yes: Ashley and Tyler and Taylor and Garrett.
I’m happy for Taylor and Garrett and I hope it works out for them. Yay. I’m expecting their portion of the reunion to be pretty uneventful and boring, which is how a couple who is managing their married life together should be. Sure, they are probably doing speaking engagements and stuff, but ultimately, they found love, said “yes” and are now married. This shouldn’t be a space for fireworks.
Ashley and Tyler on the other hand? Almost as soon as the show started, social media lit up with stories about his relationship with the couple he helped conceive a child. Did he or did he not cheat on his alleged then-girlfriend to help them have a kid? Was he the reason the relationship between the couple ended? Do the kids he fathered know him? Social media and the mother of the kids would have you believe that he was fairly present in the lives of the kids until he left for “Love Is Blind.” Is that true? Who knows? Is Tyler a diabolical villain in all of this who lied his way into a marriage? Is he a scammer? Did they actually clear the air fully off-camera (the amount of off-camera stuff we didn’t see is a hallmark of this season, and frankly made it supremely annoying) and she said “yes” to Tyler with a fully informed mind and heart?
I want to know all of that. Will Ashley and Tyler be sitting together at the reunion? Are they good? Did all of the information coming out once the episodes started dropping create a rift in their relationship?
For the record, I hope that Ashley knew everything and that Tyler came completely clean. I also hope that all the information that came from outside parties (ala the woman he has three kids with that he alleges was purely in a sperm-donor capacity) is untrue and that those kids aren’t suffering from a father who dipped for a “better opportunity” and “fame” and that Ashley didn’t get blindsided by it all and has been made to look the fool. I WANT this to all be on the up and up. I fear that won’t be the case. I do know that all of the noise around Tyler has made it hard to root for them. Hopefully the reunion clears that up; I have very little faith that it will. If they’re sitting there together then I feel like we’ll get a lot of nonanswer answers. If they’re not together, then I think we know that all of what we saw online was true.
I’m also curious about Tim and Alex. Nothing we saw on camera truly indicated what went wrong. In fact, Tim looked like he was kinda sorta insane. Their last interaction (that we saw) where he said he doesn’t want to speak to her again doesn’t match what we saw on camera, what he said or her energy. She looked entirely confused by his seeming controlled anger and annoyance, which is fair. Alex basically got dropped for taking a nap while his parents were there and that absolutely cannot be it. If it is then Tim is nuts. There were plenty of other reasons that they didn’t seem to be a match; the one he used as a reason to bail was curious. Alex has claimed on social media that things will come out at the reunion. OK. Let’s hope. Otherwise, I wish for her all of the naps she needs in life, and for him, I hope he ain’t who that last scene showed him to be. They make Netflix documentaries about people like that and none of them are positive.
And le sigh, let’s talk about Ramses and Marissa. The end of their relationship was truly my biggest issue with the show this season; SO MUCH STUFF WAS KEPT OFF CAMERA that by the time we got to a discussion none of it made sense. Look, Ramses was a walking red flag so in the grand scheme, it kind of seems like he did Marissa a favor. And I actually feel bad for her. I know women like her who have this big, happy energy that people take from them and don’t reciprocate. People see them, their smiles and their energy and want it so they take it. Once that shine wears off, those same women get left behind. Ramses was talking to all of these other people about marriage and just tossing words at Marissa that made it seem like she had some kind of problem that gave him doubts. Again, the only person who seemed problematic in their relationship was him. He had issues with all of these parts of her that are essential to who she is as a human and, frankly, as a woman. Ramses seemed needy and like one of those people who take principled stances that are unreasonable when said out loud. I’m sad for Marissa but glad she didn’t end up with a person who actually had the audacity to use her energy as a reason why they might not work out. Her energy seemed awesome to me. Through the screen, I was rooting for her because she seemed genuine and like, she had to deal with a mother and family issues, which she’s truly overcome. Meanwhile, Ramses is like “down with the troops.”
I want to say that I HOPE they’re not still dating when the reunion show drops, but I might not be surprised. But that’s why I can’t wait for the reunion; what’s happening now? The potential for high comedy and true WTF moments is high and that’s before we even get to Hannah’s insanity and how she looked on the show. Hannah is a true villain, but she’s not alone.
As a person, I hope that all of these people are OK because while it’s a show built for entertainment and “love,” there are real people on the other side of all these issues. At the same time, I have to feel like this is the best-case scenario for the show. Anybody who watches the show is waiting for the reunion JUST to see what has happened and if we get answers.
Like anybody else who has spent even 10 minutes invested in this show, I’ll be watching with you all hoping for answers that probably aren’t coming. Yay, us.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).