7 things I can't stop thinking about after watching the Love is Blind episode drop

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

The day has finally arrived. After literal years of waiting, Netflix released the first six episodes of its D.C. season of Love is Blind on Wednesday, Oct. 2. 

I’m telling you perfunctorily, because there’s absolutely no way you didn’t know that already. The content has been contenting. There are games and events and stories galore. Twitter (X, I guess) is alight. People are scouring previews for D.C. locales that might feature in the season. We are a city crazed for Love is Blind. 

And, frankly, who can blame us? This is good entertainment. I myself have read pretty much every word that’s been written about this show, and binged all six initial episodes (a couple in the company of my fellow editors at The 51st). 

If you, like me, can’t bring yourself to read another cast member biography, perhaps I can interest you in a different sort of article: One comprised completely of my own thoughts and opinions, intensified by the harrowing four hours I just spent immersed in this alternate reality.

Here’s some stuff I can’t get out of my head, for better or worse (mainly worse). 

All the meaningful shots of cast members eating large meals

It has to be discussed. Cast members have accused Love is Blind producers in legal proceedings of depriving them of food and water and plying them with alcohol during filming. There were more shots this season than I ever remember seeing of contestants eating, and I have to believe it was intentional. 

Leo’s ill-fitting pants

As this respected local art baron graciously informs us more times than I care to remember, he is extremely “financially blessed.” Why, then, did he constantly look like he just had a growth spurt? I understand – sometimes when you sit, the pant leg comes up and exposes an ankle. But Leo was showing calf. I have no idea how to account for this decision-making and came away having decided it was purposeful. Perhaps it’s a fashion trend exclusive to the upper echelons. 

The way Marissa 100% chose Ramses because of his astrological sign

I truly never saw Marissa as excited about Ramses as when he revealed that he is a “cancer/leo/leo.” She bounded around her pod in joy, exclaiming to a nervous Ramses that that is “SO good.” She immediately went back to the girls’ suite and told them about it, and in the next frame she was breaking up with her other connection, military man and camel lover Bohdan. Bohdan was very sweet and gracious about it, though he was clearly surprised by the sudden breakup. And, reader, so was I. Blame the stars.

Stephen calling Monica a “mutt”

This moment is unmatched for its ability to make me feel queasy. I want to be clear that it’s obvious Stephen did not mean to insult Monica in this moment, but … what?!? For what it’s worth, Monica was completely unfazed by his casual comment after she revealed her ancestry. (She was also pretty unfazed by his admission that he “technically has the label of a cheater” and that he voted for Trump in 2016, though he changed his vote four years later). 

Garrett’s unhinged reaction to learning his potential fiancee isn’t white 

To watch this man’s face in this moment was to see a person be absolutely rocked to his core by a shocking piece of news. It’s clear Garrett had made an assumption about Taylor’s background (though he claimed he hadn’t thought about it “either way,”) and finding out he was wrong deeply unsettled him. 

His consternation intensified when Taylor refused to reveal her ethnicity, casting him into darkness (which is, I have to point out, exactly what he signed up for). He ended the conversation calling her “calculating” for, in part, hiding her ethnicity from him, though he eventually seemed to settle into acceptance of his new reality.

Anyway, here’s a screenshot of some 51st editors reacting to this moment:

HENRY CAVILL? 

There are genuinely many things to be said about Nick D (did you know he’s a kicker and a punter?) but they are all overshadowed by this moment. In a discussion of celebrity crushes, his eventual fiancee Hannah reveals that she’s into Henry Cavill (she even mentions the famous building of the computer). The correct response to this revelation is “yeah, makes sense,” or perhaps simply a neutral silence and smooth change of topic. 

Nick D, in his wisdom and with ZERO prompting, says he “kind of” looks like Cavill. In his defense, I guess, he did say he was “less buff” than Cavill, which is kind of like saying you’re “less tall” than Shaq. It’s meaningless! And Hannah clearly developed a very particular idea of Nick D’s physical appearance, which came back to bite them both at the reveal.

Let me be clear about where I stand on celebrity lookalikes in the world of Love is Blind: Chelsea has absolutely been told she looks like Megan Fox, and the world was unfairly cruel to her after she made that comment. But I think it’s best to stay away from claiming you look like any celebrity at all (especially an incredibly beautiful one) when you’re on a show premised upon not seeing the people you date.

Literally everything about Leo 

Honestly, it was a bit of a struggle for me not to just make this whole article about the dozens of wild things Leo constantly said and did during his time in the pods. I found his behavior inexplicable and therefore fascinating. In my list of notes on the episodes, a sizeable number of entries were just quotes and actions from this alumnus of St. Stephens and St. Agnes School turned NFT hawker. Here is some of that list: 

• His decision to spend many minutes giving the camera a definition of sprezzatura, which he knows about because of his worldly and financially blessed upbringing
• His many loud air kisses to both his dates in the pod (I am talking actual “mwah mwah mwah mwah”). 
• The fact this his big “surprise” for his night date with Brittany was that he went into her pod and sprayed his cologne around
• Every time he said something like “I’m pretending this pillow is you and I’m cuddling it,” or “pretend your blanket is me and I’m hugging you.” 
• His tendency to ruin a tender moment with a curse word. “I fucking, have real fucking feelings for you.”
• The fact that he absolutely reamed Hannah for breaking up with him when he still actually wasn’t ready to choose her

Every moment when this man and his Rolex were on camera was unpredictable and beyond the scope of my understanding. But he won’t be featuring in future episodes: He and Brittany took their own trip to Miami and broke up a few weeks later.