What ‘Love Is Blind’ Got Right And Wrong This Season

At last, we’ve reached the wedding episodes of Season 7 of “Love Is Blind.” If you’ve been paying attention, you probably won’t be surprised by how everything ends.

The episode is nearly 90 minutes long — a bit bloated for what actually ends up onscreen. We witness one couple have a total breakdown just days before the wedding; just two couples actually make it to the altar.

HuffPost reporters and editors spent a lot of time this season being disappointed with the way the show told the stories of these Washington, D.C., couples. In this chat, we talk about who did and didn’t say “I do,” why this season felt particularly lackluster and the audience’s very few wins.

Marissa And Ramses Break It Off

These two dragged their engagement on for way too long. As soon as this finale starts, we see them in the middle of yet another serious conversation about their differences. I knew it was the break-up conversation that was long overdue.

Now, Marissa may have been a bit delusional about how compatible she and Ramses were, but Ramses ain’t shit, if we’re being honest. He’s just another iteration of Clay from the last season of “Love Is Blind.” He’s a fuckboy cosplaying as progressive, all while he’s been breadcrumbing his doubts in between broken promises of their future together. Ramses knew he wasn’t going to marry Marissa after he learned about how deeply her roots run with the military. His decision didn’t just fall out of a coconut tree.

I don’t believe there was a flipped switch all of a sudden. All of the doubts and “I would divorce you ifs” were writings on the wall. Marissa didn’t want to see them and Ramses didn’t have the courage to speak up earlier. Now Marissa is hurt worse than she probably would’ve been if he just had been honest. And he doesn’t get brownie points for doing it before what would’ve been their wedding day. — Taryn

My heart broke for Marissa during the scene where they called things off. Everybody wants to feel like their partner is sure about them and no one wants to feel like they’re too much. I genuinely felt so bad watching her break down, it felt like a major invasion of privacy as things went on.

I also agree that Ramses should have been more upfront about his doubts from the start. It would have saved them both a lot of heartache and time.

When the first batch of episodes dropped, I remember thinking that their relationship wouldn’t last because of how high-energy they were at the beginning. And as we learned about them as time went on (through their conversations about the military, birth control and sex, for example), it seemed like they weren’t ready for the next step. — Taiyler

It didn’t surprise me that Ramses and Marissa finally decided to break things off because that conversation felt inevitable after their handful of disputes. Ramses had been casting doubt on their relationship since they found out their opposing views on the military and birth control, and I honestly think his perspective on his last marriage failing was just a cover for not actually being in love with Marissa.

Watching Marissa break down in tears, I just wanted to tell her to stand up because that man is so not worth the heartache. These last few episodes proved he’s not looking for a partner, but a woman who can cater to his selfish needs.

It’s messed up how Ramses still blindsided Marissa when he kept saying he was so excited to get married. Curious to know if these two tried to salvage a friendship out of this experience because I think that’ll say more about whether their initial connection was really genuine. — Njera

Ashley And Tyler Get Married

You like it, I love it, Ashley. Ashley wants to be blissfully ignorant to Tyler being a deadbeat father, and I can’t want more for her than what she wants for herself. Both Tyler and Ashley have dreamt of being married for a long time and it seems that is a life accomplishment to them, even if it’s built on a bed of lying by omission.

More power to the both of them. I don’t want to know any more about their business. — Taryn

“You like it. I love it,” is the perfect way to put it. Lying about your kids is a wild approach and I can’t imagine someone getting over something as big as that in such a short period of time. But, with the way that Ashley talked about wanting to get married and stay married, it definitely read like she was willing to stay with him even through the most egregious offenses. Ironically though, at her and Taylor’s bachelorette party, they talked about not staying through the BS and cutting men off.

Side note: The scene where Tyler is talking to his friends about going to the “baby-making station” after the wedding… Yuck! — Taiyler

Honestly, I just want to know if Ashley knew the full truth about Tyler’s kids before they said “I do,” because if she did, there’s nothing more to really say about these two. If that’s something they could get past and still be married, hey, what can we do? They both seemed happy with their decision after the wedding, so now we just need the update on what happened after Tyler’s dirt got exposed on social media. Anything beyond that is none of my concern. — Njera

I really think these two are still together and that Ashley forgave Tyler for all of his tomfoolery. This finale was boring as hell, but I’m interested in this one part of the reunion. However, I do still think it’ll probably be disappointing for all of us and that these two will have worked things out. Let’s hope not, though! — Cambria

Garrett And Taylor Get Married

I don’t have much to say about these two besides good for them. You can tell by the editing that these two are the “ideal” couple the Lacheys are probably fawning over, thinking about the potential marketing opportunities.

I do wonder how/if they resolved Garrett texting his ex and lying about it. —Taryn

I still like this couple but the text message situation def led to docked points in my book. Regardless, I think that they are the only decent couple and I’m looking forward to seeing them at the reunion. — Taiyler

It was obvious that Garrett and Taylor would tie the knot, seeing as though they’re the only couple that managed to stay mostly drama-free, save for the text message debacle. There had to be at least one success story this season, so it was only right it’d be them. They will probably still be happily married come reunion time and I’m not mad at it. Can’t wait to hear what they thought of the season. — Njera

Good for them, but I’m just not interested. I’m sure they’re still together and I don’t care to hear much from them at the reunion, but knowing Vanessa and Nick, they’ll focus half of the reunion on these two! — Cambria

How TikTok Videos Were Better Than Actually Watching The Show

TikTok makes me want to just watch the next season via my favorite creators on there. Between the investigative videos about the baby mama saga, the skits about Hannah and Nick’s relationship and the thinkpieces about who was right and who was wrong in the Alex and Tim conflict, all you really need is TikTok and HuffPost’s Culture Liveblog to fill in the gaps with this show. — Taryn

I’m happy the “Love Is Blind” to TikTok investigation pipeline is still going strong after Season 7. If it’s one thing we know, social media sleuths will sniff out the truth about these contestants whenever editing fails us, and honestly, it makes the seasons more fun to watch. I’m sure the reunion will lead to even more TikTok fodder, and I can’t wait to watch it all unfold with my snacks in hand. — Njera

I’m all for the social media detectives and comedians making LIB content. They’ve been keeping my FYP afloat. Honestly, the videos online added some much-needed substance to this season. — Taiyler

Maybe it was just my FYP, but I really didn’t get very much about this season on TikTok and I have a feeling it was because it was just a lackluster season. I feel like the chatter on social media has been nothing like past seasons. Season 7 just really missed the mark for me. — Cambria

What This Season Got Right

I noticed from the beginning that the casting was more diverse. I don’t know if that was an intentional approach that they’re taking moving forward or just a fluke because they’re in Chocolate City, but I want more of it in the coming seasons. —Taryn

I really appreciated that we got to see more conversations about social issues and politics. For a show shot in D.C. airing just before the November election, I think that was a good call. — Taiyler

It seems like casting finally listened to viewers who asked for a more diverse cast, but let’s hope that continues in future seasons, too (and with more people who are actually serious about marriage). — Njera

Ummm, I think this season got very little right. I do agree with Taiyler that I liked the conversations about social issues and politics, and that’s probably the only thing it got right. Give us more of that! — Cambria

Where This Season Went Wrong

Where do we start? I wasn’t a fan of how producers approached this season generally. I don’t know if it’s the deadline pressure Netflix may have put their top performing reality show under to premiere two seasons in one year or if it’s something else, but this season was a hot-ass mess.

Though the casting was diverse, it felt like Netflix didn’t do thorough background checks on some of these folks. There’s no way social media should’ve been able to find out Tyler has three secret kids the day this season premiered and casting producers didn’t. They either knew and wanted to be agents of chaos or were focused on the wrong things.

Also, we’ve been asking this all season, but where were the confessionals? Where was the context? Where’s the footage? Why did producers feel the need to drop us in the middle of conflict all season? That was disorienting and made the show hard to watch. Social media filled in more blanks than ever. —Taryn

This season was an absolute trainwreck, from its casting choices to plot holes. I would love to get some of our questions answered at the reunion, but I won’t get my hopes up. Also, it was so bizarre ending the season with just two couples at the altar. Usually the weddings are a surefire way to get me emotional, but it just didn’t hit for me this time around. — Taiyler

So many things went wrong with these couples, from the lack of chemistry to the many breakups. It’s baffling that “Love Is Blind” followed the most couples they ever had in a single season and still wound up with only two married couples. At this point, I’m convinced this show is no longer concerned with making real love connections, but instead producing the most chaotic dating series on television.

My biggest beef with Season 7 is how much viewers were kept in the dark about major offscreen events. After 12 episodes, we still don’t have proper context for many of the couples’ arguments because editing botched the footage so much. Even in past seasons, we’ve at least gotten confessional updates to fill in the blanks, but it seems like the “Love Is Blind” production team was happy to let social media do that job instead this season with online receipts. I hope that decision gets explained at some point because creating intentional confusion for messy drama isn’t the way to win audiences over, nor will it convince people to want to tune in next season. — Njera

The worst part about this season being such a dud is that we probably still won’t get very many questions answered at the reunion, just based off of what we’ve seen before. Last season’s reunion barely even scratched the surface of Jimmy and Chelsea, for example. Nick and Vanessa aren’t known for holding anyone’s feet to the fire or asking the right questions — and I’d be surprised if they wise up now. This was a really disappointing season and I’m anticipating a disappointing reunion, too. — Cambria