The romantic love story we all need in a pandemic
This is a program that you shouldn’t like and that shouldn’t work. In an age of fast paced online dating predominantly based on appearance, it teaches us something your parents told you the whole time – to not judge a book by its cover.
Love is Blind is a dating program dropped in a global pandemic to satisfy our typical binge romance needs. But this is no normal dating show. Take Cilla Blacks blind date and throw a marriage into the mix and that’s pretty much the format. The idea is that people date in ‘pods’, completely blind from the person they are talking to through an opaque wall. When they feel an ‘emotional connection’ to a certain someone, one of them proposes. Yes – you heard me right – without ever meeting in person. After a swanky red carpet reveal, the contestants are whisked away to Mexico to find their ‘physical connection’ – which isn’t too hard on a beach with hardly any clothes on. If they can survive that (spoiler: some don’t) they move in together in an apartment where they can plan their wedding to their hearts content. The bells ring and the wedding day is upon them. Standing in front of friends and family (some who approve, and some who don’t) they either say ‘I do’ or ‘I cannot’. If they say I do, then they can live the rest of their lives legally and happily married. Oh – and this whole process is five weeks long, all in the name of a social experiment…
Now don’t get me wrong, this show is highly entertaining. From its makeups and breakups, to high intensity end of episode cliff hangers, it leaves you dribbling for more. And it didn’t disappoint! The love was intense for such a short space of time that you really connect with the couples on screen. You want it to work out even though the idea is ludicrous. Alongside the love came intense passion that struck up heated arguments and fiery exchanges – although mainly ending in makeup sex. Flippant changes of mind which appeared out of nowhere added to the extreme spectacle. It left me confused to the very last minute with endless amounts of *gasps of oxygen* and ‘how dare you’ on my part. It was full of surprises.
Even though they found love in the pods enough to be engaged to each other, being on the outside forced them to face a brutal reality. Although their personalities may have connected, their differences began to show. Struggles with age gaps, differences in background, or how others will perceive an interracial relationship, struck a divide which couples had to accept. It would link them together or break them apart. An awkward ‘meet the parents’ confirmed this. Some were remarkably quite accepting (although with a camera crew shoved in your face I’m not surprised), some not so much. This highlighted the strangeness of marrying a complete stranger and how a family would have to accept that person so quickly into their lives. The hold your breath moments hooked you into a 2D world which was someone’s 3D reality where all decisions hold enormous consequences.
One similarity (which bugged me in a way) was all these people were hot! Not too sure whether you can complete a social experiment called ‘love is blind’ when their appearance is nothing to worry about. Lets face it – these people have been single for a while and dating behind a wall, so it’s almost inevitable that they will be attracted to the muscly man that they’ve had such an ‘emotional connection’ with. I mean – not exactly a social experiment when everyone is an Instagram model. Come on Netflix show some variety. It’s getting boring!
The fact the show is termed a social experiment gives me mixed feelings. Although I presume the contestants knew the format of the show, I can’t help but feel it’s cruel in a way to exploit people’s lives for the sake of entertainment. This series was highly dramatic and some of the participants were very emotional (in a worrying way) at the end of the series. Because of the large viewership of Netflix, it also opens them up to the potential for online abuse which they discuss in the reunion show.
So, should someone’s happily ever after be viewed by millions for the sake of entertainment? Has this social experiment worked – well I don’t want to give too many spoilers! One thing is for sure, this high intensity drama is perfect if you want to binge watch an entire series in one day and I’m sure a season 2 is on the cards for Netflix… Oh wait…
Jessica Sykes 