“Love is Blind” is a Terrible Show That I Swear Never to Watch Again…But When is the Second Season Airing?

Remember when we first went into lockdown? Hands up if you thought it was going to be three weeks! I remember sitting on my couch tweeting “432 hours till my kid is back in school. How will I cope?”

432 hours! Turns out it was what felt like 432 years. 

During those first weeks of lockdown, I watched a lot of Netflix. Had I known I was going to build an intimate long-term relationship with all streaming platforms, I might have taken it a little bit slower. But in those early days, I thought three weeks was a long time. And so I threw myself into it, partying online like it was 1999 rather than 2020, the longest year on record. And I got completely obsessed with the reality TV show Love is Blind.

I am not really a fan of reality shows where everybody has to (appear to) be straight for the format to work. And at first, Love is Blind scored no points with me at all, until…it was all I had. 

I have to admit I kind of self-loathe watched my way through it. The heteronormativity. The stereotypes around gender. The assumption that marriage will somehow bring happiness. The BORING conversations. Can you imagine being stuck in an elevator with any of the contestants? Love might be blind but in that scenario, survival would have to be deaf. 

And yet, two episodes in I WAS HOOKED.

Why? No one was particularly likable. No one was particularly interesting. Everyone was good-looking, but kind of in a boring, conventional way. But as lockdown intensified and I realized I was permanently confused and terrified, watching a show where people who should be confused and terrified were not was just so damn comforting. My life seemed almost calm compared to the rollercoaster that was Amber and Barnett. Observing Damian and Gigi was like watching the Titanic – super dramatic and definitely heading for an iceberg. And my self-esteem was convincingly shored up by measuring myself against Jessica, whose toxic agonizing whether Mark was good enough for her had me screaming into a pillow. No. Wait. Lockdown had me screaming into a pillow. In any case. Screaming took place. Not Jessica’s to be sure, at least not for any fun reason.

After the first season, I promised myself I would never put myself through that again. Why would I? The world was about to open up again… . And one year on, here we are. Still mostly indoors. Still mostly isolated. I am so bored with my actual friends. No one has done anything interesting for over a year. Please Netflix. Bring that magical mix of dysfunction and hope back on my screen. Love is not blind, but it is wearing a face mask.

Lalita Dee
Author: Lalita Dee
Lalita Dee is a writer and comedian originally from Amsterdam. Her observational and narrative humor describes her queer experiences as she navigates her way through the US, the heteropatriarchy, and single motherhood. Her humor has been described as “intelligently hilarious” as well as “some feminist BS."