KateHearts

Jenny wears her self-imposed disastrous financial situation like a badge of honor. "Well, I sacrificed everything and cashed out my retirement account- all $6k of it that I had accumulated at age 60- because of LOVE! I must take a reduced SS payment because, well, I've gotta live while I'm in India and I must go there because I'm IN LOVE and Sumit and I need to be together! I have NOTHING! [she says, rather proudly]- no home, no money, nothing!" I give her daughter and DIL a lot of credit for letting her surf their couch for the past however long. And cheers to them for saying it won't happen again, when she undoubtedly will return again from India, tail between her legs, crying about the injustice of her life situation.

We knew a couple from India with an arranged marriage. They said it was truly considered a business transaction: The husband can provide a good living for his wife/family; the wife is expected to provide children and maintain the home. We asked what happened if there was strife between a couple. They said "you work it out." And if that doesn't happen? "The family gets involved and it gets worked out." Divorce was not as simple an option as here, if at all. I'm sure that Sumit's decision to divorce is being highly scrutinized and is not at all common in his family/culture.

On the tell-all, Yolanda said she had had the flu and that they did not suspect Covid since she was sick in December and that was before the outbreak. So let's at least give her that. I get the distinct impression that the marriage was arranged; that's very common in India and there was mention that perhaps it was set up hastily after Jenny's first visit when Sumit's family surely could see that she would not be providing any grandchildren for them.

She might have dressed ultra-casually, but she looked pretty darn good in those sweats. She is not someone who is about driving about the USA in a motor home. She obviously cares about her hair/makeup, clothing and hanging out in expensive stores and coffee shops. I wish I looked like that in sweatpants and a long trench coat.

I thought it was weird that people expected Avery to apologize to Tom. She needed to say, "I was angry at Tom because ASH LIED AND SAID TOM SENT A SCREENSHOT;" and then Shaun should have asked Ash to apologize to Tom. So many opportunities for interesting talk which were missed. If I were Shaun I would have told Ed to stop his guffawing, unlimited commentary and to give his dog a treat and put it down. I would have told Lisa to put her damn finger down and stop interrupting everyone (and swearing). I would have told Tom I didn't think he was cool, despite his taking a break and smoking on screen. I also would have totally called Tom out on his denial that he wanted to move in on Avery (and his trying to make his "contact" with Lisa an equivalent gesture). David puzzled me because he continued to defend Lana throughout the entire thing (even the fingernails thing, which is ludicrous. (Didn't she have a phone when they showed the scenes of her at the coffee shop, when she was introduced?) For someone "poor" and "shy," Lana was very neatly put together and interested in high-end shopping. But then at the end David was like, "nope, we aren't together." Oh well.

Varya snapped at Geoffrey on night 1 when she saw a comb with the old girlfriend's name on it. Right before the wedding, Lisa was barking for Usman to come into the hotel bathroom to find her hairbrush.

Tom: "David, I could go on the website and talk to Lana if I want to! I don't want to... but I could!" But Tom, you have talked to almost every woman who's appeared on this show!

She kept saying things all season like "He keeps glossing over things and saying they are just fine," or at the tell-all: "I caught him not being honest." She seems to have an aversion to saying "He lies and he omits important facts, which is also a form of lying." Darcey, bless her heart, just looked awful. If I saw myself looking like that in a skype call I would think long and hard about my makeup and plastic surgery choices. The amount of filler she and Stacy use make their faces oddly flat and one-dimensional like a giant dinner plate with protruding lips. And her makeup/tanning color just made her look dirty in contrast to the platinum hair. And again she showed the pathetic side of her where she insists (out of one side of her mouth) that she's fine and "I don't need that negativity!!" while, out of the other side, she's unable to resist standing up to show Tom the body that she feels he is missing. It's really kind of sad. If I have to hear Ed defending his idiocy by saying he did it in the name of love, I'll eat my hat. He doesn't know nor care what love is. I had to laugh at BGL saying to Avery: "Avery. AVERY. A DIET???!! That's petty. Come on, Avery!" Isn't she the one who was snapping at Usman over not finding a hairbrush not too long ago?

Ed does that solely for sympathy. "Poor me; I can't sustain a relationship because people don't like me for the quirky, cool guy that I am." He is totally denying his true repulsive behavior: "I cheated on my wife a year into our marriage; I seek out 'hot' girls to give me sexual pleasure; I went to the Philippines to buy a wife and treated her poorly; now I'm alone."

I think, as others have said, the father is as much to blame for all the dysfunction as the neglectful mother or Stephen for the emotional abuse of all of them. Dad seems to want to have these kids dependent on him for some sick reason. I never went to my grown kids' doctor appointments, allowed them to boss me around, or drove them all over God's green earth. While I realize that their size prohibits them from a lot of normal activity, I still think that Dad hovers and micromanages way too much. And his tolerance is extremely low. He's constantly having mini-blowups over trivial stuff. So I can see how Stephen modeled his behavior from his father and Justin just learned to clam up. Not much has changed for Stephen (big surprise!)- he's still manipulating, lying and thinking he's really convincing others that he is growing and changing. His conversation with Dr. Now was pretty much full of nothing. Vague answers, followed by "yeah, something like that..." And he reads his lines well but are we really supposed to believe that he's "making progress," that going grocery shopping (with Dad, using a scooter that he can't figure out how to use) is a big step in "becoming independent"? And all the while he is only using his "newfound independence" (which, I might add, does not ordinarily include marrying someone who declared profound love over skype and is now your primary caregiver) as another way to poke and jab at his family. "They can't move on but look at how well I'm doing!" he gloats. It's all a load of crap and I have to give Dr. Now a lot of credit for listening to him go on and on, knowing that he's a lost cause.

oh, I forgot that part! As they drive around in their aging Nissan (I have no problem with that actually; we drive cars until they fall apart) and speculate not only on the type of car they feel they are suited for, they also use it as an opportunity to dream about the rich type of guy Darcey "deserves" next time around.

You can buy pre-wrapped boxes of candy from See's and other companies. Doesn't mean they are re-gifts. Being that David is from Vegas, I'm surprised he didn't bring her Mrs. M's. Those are made in LV and good... but I am a die-hard See's fan myself. I loved the bowling scenes because I bowl better than that and I was NOT a professional bowler at any point in my life. David, sadly, in addition to not speaking Russian, does not speak body language at all. Lana stiffens at his touch, recoils when he "wins" a kiss after many tries at throwing a strike at the alley, and reluctantly plasters on a smile for his selfie shots. I really think he is that clueless. RE: the Geoff/Varya/Mary "love triangle": another vote for scripted. I was rolling my eyes at the bar scene where, 10 seconds into convening, everyone is down and dirty with the conversation: "wow, you just came here and Geoff didn't know? WHOA!!!" and Geoff's delighted, "And Mary was ON MY COUCH!" ("ooooh, ahhh") I just don't see ordinary conversations going on like that. Or Varya, who has just met these people minutes before, trash-talking their long-time friend Mary and insisting that Geoff doesn't need Mary as a friend. TLC, try a bit harder. Ed's edited version to his Mom was full of lies of omission. "When I got there she said she wanted two kids and I told her I didn't want anymore. She couldn't take it. And she wouldn't talk about her past. She thought I didn't trust her. I planned to propose to her and we had a big fight. I was in love with Rose and wanted to marry her. I'm a big loser." What a load of crap. Here's my version: "I got there and couldn't handle the heat and thought I was going to die. Rose annoyed me the first day by taking money out of my wallet for an 80-cent tip for the impoverished street vendor. Then I noticed that she had really hairy legs and made her shave. Later I figured I'd further improve her by telling her she had bad breath. We visited her home and it was disgusting and I was scared, so I took her to a nice hotel and left her little boy in the house without walls and with rats so I could bang her at a resort. She didn't appreciate the flimsy lingerie I bought her and insisted she wants more kids-- no thanks!!-- so we fought and she ditched me at the resort. AFTER EVERYTHING I DID FOR HER!!!" Thankfully, Mother Ed has a television and will see the true version of the outcome of her years of coddling her little boy. The Darcey/Stacey scenes were just awful. It's sad they lost a brother; does he need to be woven into the story? Every situation they are in seems to be an opportunity for them to emphasize how DESERVING they are of LOVE and RESPECT, which only reinforces that they are massively insecure and totally unaware of what being independent and confident truly entail. Every Darcey intro starts like this: "It's been 2 weeks since I last talked to Tom... [insert "Jesse" a few seasons back] and I'm moving on with my life." Move to a scene where she is either telling her toxic sister or her poor daughters: "I don't need the negativity! Time to be an independent woman! I'm fine!" - only to eventually melt into "I deserve to be treated well! I want my Prince Charming! He's out there somewhere...." and the flood of tears commences. To be emoting over their dead brother and how he would never allow Darcey to be mistreated was just total manipulation on the producers' part. It really turned me off. I don't have much to say about Lisa and Usman other than I would love to know how many times she's said "I'M DONE!" Her comments about "assimilating into each others' cultures" is a joke. Assimilating into his may mean more than putting a tablecloth on your head and washing your feet in the toilet. She is in full-on assault mode every moment of the day (even over a hairbrush!) and is exhausting even for a couple of hours a week. Would love to know what her family thinks of her and this entire fiasco.

I didn’t think the rep was the least bit rude.

This is where Darcey really shows her immaturity and insecurity. She constantly spouts these little self-help nuggets: "It's a new beginning!" "I'm going to start taking care of me!" "I don't need that negativity in my life!" "I deserve better than that!" "I feel empowered!" but then the veneer wears off and she's repeatedly reliving events that occurred with her exes, crying over what she "lost," wondering why she can't find love, doing things like returning keys and agreeing to meet these guys when it's obvious that the relationship is long dead and buried. Then her poor daughters are there to watch her fall apart and bolster her with their own tired pat phrases like "you're worth it, Mom! You are a good person!" Darcey is one of those women who validates herself based on her physical appearance which translates into her attractiveness to a man. As much as she wants to deny it, she isn't independent and self-sufficient; she just needs to be attached to a male who thinks she's hot and says all the right things. Which leads her to superficial relationships that die out very quickly because there is no substance or emotional connection whatsoever. Of course, TLC doesn't help because they keep dragging the useless exes into the scene, where they read their lines dutifully ("I loved Darcey; we had a wonderful relationship") which just makes her cling onto a desperate hope that maybe, just maybe something will reignite there. To add to it, she's in a bizarre, unhealthy competitive relationship with her twin, which only reinforces her insecurities. Sisters who have to one-up each other with plastic surgery and mimbo boyfriends who are constantly sniping at each other don't have each other's backs, as they would love to make you believe. It's sad.

Agree. At first he came off as a sympathetic character; very quickly (with the leg shaving request, the hysteria over heat and poverty, among other incidents) I think he became generally seen as intolerant, pampered, and a rather creepy sex tourist.

Geoffrey, on top of being a gaslighting manipulative ex-con, is a total drama queen. Describing his trip as "disastrous," telling his sons that "after a lot of words she said NO," and describing with fairybook detail how he wants someone who is "all in! Who says, yes; I want to spend my life with you!!" Puh-leeze. He sure is adept at leaving out crucial details to make things look like he is a pathetic victim who was used. He went to a new country; met a nice, pretty girl and had sex with her; met up with his Russian pal; did a little camping and sightseeing and bought some t-shirts for his kids. He needs to just go away. I am so happy that Ericaw basically said "F%*&$ you" to Steph and is moving on. If only everyone else could do the same thing. I would love to see Stephanie's YouTube channel crash and die with a whimper after all of this. I was DYING when David checked himself out in the hotel mirror with a "lookin' good!!" As they say here in the South, bless his heart. I would love for the producers to quiz "Lana" about things she and David have supposedly shared with each other. I bet she gets a 0% on that. And did you notice his "mmmmm" as they hugged.. ew. As for Yolanda, the other completely delusional cast member- she's just kind of too stupid to be real. "I axed him if he really was hisself in his pitcher." What don't these people understand about someone sitting behind a computer screen with a made-up identity? I'm thinking she just wanted exposure because she lost a lot of weight. Whatever. She's boring. Ed can just get off our TVs now, for good. I was gleefully watching him open that hotel room door with his look of shock that Rose wasn't there. Poor guy... not really. What I find rather amazing about him is, here he is, a guy with a lot against him (physical limitations/deformity) -finds someone willing to marry him in his 20s, has a kid and CHEATS on his wife within what appears to be a year's time. Does he really think he is so much of a catch that he can just have his pick of women? 28 years alone says a lot about you, Ed- not all the women out there. He wasn't too bad looking as a younger man, so makes me think there is a lot to be desired in the personality department. I am afraid after the 90DF fiasco he won't have a lot of women beating his door down. Baby Girl never disappoints, while making me infuriated at the same time. "Usman messed up. He didn't do what he was supposed to do." Then at the dinner table with the foul mouth, the accusing stabbing finger, and her COMPLETELY lame explanation that "I was trying to connect to wi-fi using his phone and it opened up to his messaging," or some such nonsense. How great to have a spouse who is constantly monitoring your every move and checking your phone. Usman must really think that the USA is just paved with gold and singers like him just wallow in money, fame and fortune. But thankfully, BGL quickly put that to rest as she gunned him down with what was basically a "you're a nothing, nobody, piece of shit and I own you" speech. Glad she reminded him that she's older. Could she just follow through with her threats and go away?

I think while, as many have said, Avery seems level-headed and is asking relevant questions and drilling into what Ash is about, she is still not willing to fully confront some glaringly concerning issues about him. For example, when Sian stated that she and Ash had divorced a year ago, Avery very cautiously said, "ohhhh?" and rather than saying, "He told me it was ten years ago!" (HUGE difference) she sort of skirted around it, saying, "I was under the impression that maybe it was more like a lot longer...?" While I get that she doesn't want to sound like she's calling Sian a liar, it's known between the both of them that Avery is still in the "getting to know you" phase and is looking for information. And then she uses phrases like "Ash sugarcoats everything." No, Avery. HE LIES. Yet she still refers to him as "the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with." How could she be thinking that when he has lied numerous times, has tantrums when she tries to discuss important issues, and acts like he's tweaking when she asks him a simple question? I re-watched last night and was gobsmacked my Goeffrey's total manipulation in the cab and at the airport. "THIS IS IT! I'M NOT COMING BACK!" And he needed to stop with the sad little "I'm heartbroken; she doesn't know how much she HURT me" comments. She is trying to say let's take it more gradually and he is not having it. Then his pouty "are you gonna get out of the cab and say goodbye?" followed by "want to talk?" Then he insists on a hug, all the while expecting she is going to say yes, let's get married. If I were her, I'd accept that all of his behaviors added up to a big old NO and said, "Oh, well; anyone who offers an ultimatum and pouts and freezes me out when I want to take it slow is a big old NOPE for me. Have a nice life." And then she pulls the old run back into the airport deal only to have him think, here's my chance to have the upper hand. Mistake, Varya. He is absolutely disgusting. Enough has been said about Ed and Rose and he totally burned his bridges in trying to be a sympathetic character after episode 2. And his comments that he is going to "let her calm down" still showed that he is delusional enough to think she will reconsider and come running back into his arms (à la Varya) because he is here to save her and provide her with a queen's lifestyle. He is also absolutely disgusting and someone needs to tell him that his blindingly bright hot-pink shirt is not attracting attention in a way that is positive.

BUT that was after Ed became offended and said something like "we've been talking all these months and YOU DIDN"T TELL ME you had an ulcer?!" It's all. about. Ed.

why is this sexist?

I don't think she is selfish, really- she is trying to figure out if he's really even telling her anything that's true. I would be extremely suspicious (especially after the way he has behaved, talked in circles and given her numerous self-help book platitudes) of his assertion that Sian was totally fine with him bringing their son to America with a woman she does not know. Avery seems to be awakening to his deal- he's a (in her eyes) good-looking guy who gives her mind-blowing sex; but by the way, he's vapid, struggling for money and willing to bring his very young child to America to pursue some sort of dream. Or maybe to escape his debt and failing "business" in Australia. Not to mention that he can't have a reasonable conversation about their supposed relationship without being a huge offense-collector, storming off multiple times, and name-calling and gaslighting her. (the scene in the street where she is trying to explain her view and he says, "ok, ok, it's all my fault then..." and turns away was very telling). Ed truly makes my skin crawl at this point. At first he was able to present a rather sympathetic character- a divorced guy with a grown daughter who doesn't understand him; a quirky photographer who rides a cute scooter around town with an adorable dog; a guy who was, unfortunately born with a chromosomal disorder that made him short and out of the realm of what's considered traditionally attractive. Oh, and he and his mom are close! But sooner rather than later we learned that Ed is "in love" with a very young girl who he thinks he can manipulate and mold into his dream toy. He insists she shave her legs, use the mouthwash he (so caringly) chose for her, wear the garish lacy teddy HE chose. On top of that, he's a spoiled little diva who hates the heat, abhors the fact that others in the world live in impoverished conditions, can't even tolerate a cute wild monkey going after his backpack (how many times did we hear Ed say "I'M DONE!! I'M DONE!"?) But alas, the laugh's on us (and Rose). We see his game and watch happily as Rose tells him SHE doesn't want HIM. And leaves. I wanted to scream when Ed narrates, "Rose isn't here and I'm sad and scared. " Woe is me, Ed. You got what you had coming to you. Geoffrey and Varya pretty much bore me because I can't believe he really thinks she's his soulmate. How many times do we hear "we've been through SO MUCH," or "we've had our ups and downs"? You've spent what, 10 days together? Rolled in the sack a few times, went camping, and you dropped the bomb that you are an ex-con. Do we really expect this relationship is a thing at all? I hope she dumps his sorry ass at that picnic table.

Well, after his five minutes of "trying" to reach out to Darcy and fix things (complete with sad romantic music) he drove off with a bagful of insults- she's going to be alone at 55; I expected this type of ending from her; I'm excited to see the new love of my life; blah blah.

Brandon's title was "Life of the Party." He described how much fun he was.

What I found suspect about Taylor's description of the events (after the "umm, so like, we were at a bar next door, and then I said, hey; let's go to this other bar! And so we did, and um... there's a rooftop at this bar- Brandon had done some work there before, but he said he wasn't going to go there anymore- and I got water, because they have free water there! and I was turning to get a napkin because I spilled my water...") included that she was going down the stairs (presumably to leave) and Brandon approached somehow and she (paraphrasing) went back up towards him "to try and see if I could calm him down." totally unnecessary. She knows the nature of the beast; they have a very spotty history; and by her accounts she wanted to get on with her life. She could have just kept on descending the stairs and left. They both are very dramatic and both deserved to be arrested, IMO.

Well, legally- Brandon couldn't attend the reunion if Taylor was there. So I am sure that the Powers That Be didn't want to touch that with a ten-foot pole. Besides, Brandon basically said at decision day that he was over and done with all of it.

This was Michael to me every single minute on this show. He never looked relaxed; never seemed to have a conversation that flowed naturally- it was as if he was trying to come up with a "right" answer as if each question, no matter how benign, was an accusation. Stiff and stilted. Always looking to the side. A lot of the time totally checked out with his earbuds in. He's another one who seems to have a lot of anxiety (not excusing his lies) and maybe realized, too late, he was not meant to be filmed. Very strange affect.