Love Is Blind has devolved into a crueler show

[TMC]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...finale-reunion

Warning: Contains spoilers for Season 3 of Love Is Blind.

Love Is Blind has come to a certain maturity point. The Netflix reality show’s contestants know what to expect from the process and how to play the game. (Date in the pods, sight unseen; get engaged; get married.) In the show’s third season, this meta milestone produces some special moments — when “sexual kung fu” proponent Andrew sprinkles fake tears into his eyes, it can only be admired — but also one of the show’s most spectacularly unpleasant scenes to date.

When realtor Cole and flight attendant Zanab reach the altar, it’s tense. The couple have proven to be a devastatingly poor match. As soon as they finally see each other, the wrong kind of sparks fly. He is not initially as attracted to her as he is to another contestant, Colleen. They move in together, but she has never lived with a partner, and his clutter seems to physically hurt her. He throws used towels wherever; when she first sees his home, flies are hovering around the toilet. They argue a lot. During one argument, he spits, rhetorically, “Are you bipolar?” When Zanab is unhappy, she generally responds with a complaint so classically passive-aggressive it feels like a line from a ’90s sitcom about harridan wives. (“Is this dirty? Do you know where you can put it? In a laundry basket.”)

Which is why, when Zanab unleashes a passionate, articulate rejection at the altar, it shouldn’t be surprising. But it is more cutting than expected, underscored by pain and hurt. “You have disrespected me, you have insulted me, you have critiqued me, and for what it's worth, you have single-handedly shattered my self-confidence," she says. It feels designed to be “her moment,” much like Deepti’s Season 2 rejection of the villainous Shake: a rom-com heroine declaration that this guy is an ******* who doesn’t deserve me. Cole stands there, blinking his way through. “It’s one of the worst experiences of my life,” he says to the camera after the ceremony is over.

[TMC]

Love Is Blind went from a sociological fairy tale to a reality TV nightmare in just three seasons

Netflix’s hit show had real romantic promise in the first season. Now, it’s sadistic.