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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.
Or so I thought...because then came Episode 2, and all I can say is wowza, this is going to get wild.
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.
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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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.
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.
First off, after some short general clips of people settling in, we meet our first obvious troublemaker: Abhishek (but he goes by Shake).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
To make matters worse, Shayne is a total jerk to Natalie about being upset by this. I mean, just look at what he says:
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!
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."
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.
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).
Now, with that train of crushes established, we move back into the tense triangle of Shayne, Shaina, and Natalie.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Badabing, badaboom — Sal moves in to claim his girl and proposes to Mallory, who says YES!
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...).
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.
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...
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).
Shake IMMEDIATELY starts telling people that he is not attracted to Deepti. Like, literally everyone, starting with Jarrette.
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://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2022-02/17/22/asset/d13cdc9e560e/sub-buzz-2484-1645136535-27.jpg)
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.
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 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.
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.
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...
Have you been watching Love Is Blind? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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