New season of Love is Blind comes with love, drama

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Photo courtesy Vivian Pisani

A preview of the show, which is available solely on Netflix, shows the pods in which the contestants date.

Right before the initial COVID-19 lockdown started in March 2020, Netflix released the episodes for the first season of Love is Blind. With nothing to do in those unprecedented times, Love is Blind quickly rose to the top of the Netflix charts, becoming a huge hit. Now, two years later, another season has come out with just as much love, drama and heartbreak.

Love is Blind is a Netflix original that divulges the process of an experiment designed to test if love is truly blind. Fifteen men and 15 women, tired of the superficial conditions of conventional dating, signed up for this experiment with the intention to meet and get engaged to the love of their life, sight unseen, and hopefully get married soon after.

The men and women date in a room known as a pod, where a wall separates them, causing them not to be able to see each other, making their only form of interaction talking. Over 10 days, the men and women rotate their dates, trying to find a connection. Once they feel they have, a proposal occurs. After this, they are finally able to see each other face-to-face and they spend a week in Mexico on a celebration trip to further get to know each other. Afterward, they return to Chicago to prepare for the wedding in four weeks to see if their relationship can work in the real world.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD: One could say that this experiment seems like it could get messy, and that would be absolutely correct. With everyone dating everyone, there is bound to be jealousy when two people like the same person, or one person likes two people. This happened with Shayne Jansen, Shaina Hurley and Natalie Lee, and with Jarette Jones, Iyanna McNeely and Mallory Zapata. After the meetings, tensions rose and insecurities came to the surface. “I think Shayne and Natalie’s relationship should have happened and I think that they had two different personalities that worked really well together,” junior Harel Sabag said.

There was flirting with other people who they were not engaged to, and there were conversations about pod dating with people who were not together anymore. This drama, although entertaining, was a little disheartening to see, since the objective of finding unconditional, blind love, was proving to have gaps that could ultimately lead to a failed relationship.

Another point of drama and difficulty in this experiment was the relationship between Deepti Vempati and Abhishek “Shake” Chatterjee. Throughout the show, Shake made extremely sexist, rude and body shaming comments and actions about his partner. This aspect of the show was difficult to watch, because of how Deepti was lied to and insulted when she is such a great woman. Ultimately, Deepti said no at the altar, which was relieving to hear after the treatment she endured.

Ultimately, five couples got engaged out of the pods and two got married: Danielle Ruhl and Nick Thompson, and Iyanna McKeely and Jarette Jones. This does prove that love is blind, however, love isn’t the only factor in a healthy relationship and it is heartwarming to see two lovely couples thrive as a result of the show.