Zuleikha

Yeah, I don't see how Shayne would have access to drugs in the pods. The crew member claimed crew gossip was that Shayne did supplemental testosterone and cocaine. I don't find that impossible to believe at all! But I do find it unlikely that he did that in the pods, and his behavior in the pods was pretty similar to his behavior out of the pods. Maybe he was on cocaine at the wedding, or maybe he was just nervous as hell because he wanted Natalie to say yes but knew she was probably going to say no. We know that Shayne is very physical in how he expresses his emotions.

I do want to be careful to take the thread with a grain of salt given that we're all pretty confident the crew member was wrong about the dates. Some of the stuff reported about Shayne was secondhand gossip, and we don't know exactly what the alleged additional fights with Natalie were really like. Natalie either still cares about him as a friendly-ex/maybe current friend? or is willing to fake it in her interviews and Instagram interactions for some reason. (Deepti, by contrast, comes across as totally done with Shake.) I wish they had followed one of the other engaged couples instead of Kyle/Shaina, too. Caitlin/Joey look like they were sweet, and Kara/Jason sound like they had drama.

What Irlandesa said. The crew member's claim about the limited time for pod dates conflicts with other interviews. All other interviews that have discussed this have been consistent that once the contestants are past the initial speed dating round, they have lengthy hour-long dates. It will be interesting to see if any of the reunion stuff matches up or conflicts with the crew member's stories.

An alleged crew member from Love Is Blind Chicago did a Reddit AMA and gave some amazing behind-the-scenes gossip. One bit of information conflicts with other behind-the-scenes interviews I read, so it may not all be accurate, but the Reddit mods said they verified that the person is a crew member.

I don't think she was fine with it. She had several interviews where she expressed frustration and confusion about why they weren't very physical with each other. I swear there was one talking head where she explicitly said that she wanted the Shake of the reveal back.

I am very curious how things will go at the reunion. Deepti seemed genuinely hurt by Shake, but I'm a little perplexed by it. She knew he wasn't physically attracted to her. Even if she didn't know he was talking to other people about it, she knew from his actions that the physical connection wasn't there and they talked about it at least a bit. But in her interviews about choosing herself, she seemed to be framing it like Shake did something mean to her as opposed to what I think it really was--the chemistry just wasn't there in real life. They probably should have broken up after Mexico rather than try to force something to work that wasn't working. We've all talked a lot about Danielle, Nick, and even Shayne benefiting from good therapy, but I wonder if Deepti may need it, too. There have been hints all along that she's very self-sacrificing. Maybe she needs to choose herself more in more aspects of her life. I actually liked that Shake tried to turn failed wedding into a party. I don't think he had any intention of saying yes, so it was nice that he didn't want all the work that went into the reception to go to waste. I wonder what happened for Natalie/Shayne and Sal/Mallory. (I'm also really wondering if either of those two couples are still together. Unlike most here, I think Mallory really did love Sal. I think she's not very emotionally open. But she also acknowledged that he wasn't her standard type, so I won't be surprised if they didn't last.)

I was wondering the same thing when he first started calling her Deeps. But her Instagram handle is lifewithDeeps, and she has a picture of herself in front of Mylar balloons spelling out Deeps.

Post-show interviews are starting to trickle out. If you haven't watched the wedding episode, these will have spoilers Interesting one with Deepti (the interview is with Buzzfeed, but I hate their layout, so I linked to Yahoo's summary of it instead) Interview with Natalie -- I found this one really interesting. Interview with Shaina

I would be very surprised if Shake's family didn't also watch a lot of Bollywood films.

This was a horrible show that I still enjoyed. I suspect there is no point trying to make sense of any of it, but things I don't understand: a) how did Svetlana have the ability to mind control people and when did she acquire it? b) why did she use it to make the four people commit such gruesome, attention-grabbing acts instead of just having them commit suicide? c) why did Su Yin help Anya and Faina? was Anya actually involved with him at any point? was Faina? was he just that motivated by the possibility of a threesome (and wouldn't he have spoken with Faina explicitly about it given that they seemed to be good friends?) d) everything to do with Becca e) why Svetlana masterminded Anya being brought in from the cold. if Svetlana was sacrificing herself as part of a long con to embed Anya in the CIA, it seems like there would have been far easier and more reliable ways to do it. if Svetlana's plot was genuine, why would she want the risk of Anya's opposition?

But she did the last-minute talk with Shayne before she saw Kyle. I don't think she finds Kyle attractive, which didn't help. But her acceptance regret was immediate and consistent. I agree with this, too. How could anyone leave the conversation with Shaina's family and think the logical conversation to have was about the importance of living together because the wedding was in two weeks? That was a there's-no-way-this-wedding-is-happening meeting!

Someone posted an Instagram of him with an ex. She's an OB/gyn (or possibly studying to be one, can't remember the full details). So I Shake has had relationships with intelligent women before.

She expressed doubts immediately after getting engaged--before she met Kyle and long before she saw Shayne. To me, her body language and voice both looked wary when she saw the ring box and throughout his whole proposal. I thought she came across in that conversation as expecting that she and Kyle were both on the same page that religion was a major issue and then like a deer in the headlights when he went through with the proposal. Shaina brought it up consistently--I don't think she ever said or did anything on screen to indicate that her concerns were insincere. If you look at how much Mallory cried when she said no to Jarrett, it's clearly not an easy thing for the women to turn down the proposals. I thought Jessica really wanted to turn Mark down last season as well.

Shayne and Natalie seem so cute and in such a good place these past two episodes that I'm concerned the editing is throwing us for a curveball. Both of them were showing saying they were "100% yes," but usually editors will manufacture uncertainty at all costs. The editors even manufactured uncertainty with Lauren and Cameron last season (although I don't think anyone fell for it). It's making me really scared that something goes wrong. I like several of the other couples, but I don't like them as couples. Sal/Mallory could be fine, but I feel like they both faded once the love triangle with Jarrett ceased to be a storyline (although unlike others, I think Sal's serenading is cute and Mallory seems to genuinely love it). I don't have a good sense of their personalities outside of the cutesy romantic dates. So I really want the joy of Shane and Natalie. I pretty much only want Sal/Mallory and Shayne/Natalie to go through with the weddings. No one else seems ready as a couple, although I think Iyanna/Jarrett and Danielle/Nick both have potential. (Shake likes what he likes, and what he likes doesn't seem to be Deepti. Sometimes attraction can't be forced and it just is what it is. I don't think it's necessarily internalized racism. Deepti's pretty, but no one is sexy to everyone.)

No, I do look at it in a way in which it is not leading him on. Kyle knows the rules of both show and life; he knows that proposals don't always equal marriage (in life as well). She was upfront when they first met about her concerns, and she left the first night in Mexico. He had no reason to be confused that Shaina had a lot of doubts--way too many to be talking about going through with a marriage in two weeks. I saw how he was with her family, and during the conversations when she tried to talk to him about her faith. To me, he came across as glib and dismissive--like he didn't really believe that she believed in Jesus. He acted like he thought being okay with her saying grace at meals and taking the kids to church was all that's involved. He was talking about moving in together after that disaster of a meeting with her family without a real conversation about how she felt.

The show's editing in the Mexico segments was really odd. Shayne and Natalie clearly have real feelings for each other. They're actually quiet sweet, and I will be sad if they don't end up married. I also thought it was interesting that part of why Shayne wanted to talk to Shaina at the beach party was to confront her about shit stirring in his relationship. She misread so much, and it was just weird! Like she was actually right about how the show portrayed her in the pod episodes, but then thinking she was some kind of villain in his relationship? She wishes she was that significant! I do feel for her with Kyle. I think she felt pressured by the situation and said yes, but she knew right away it was a mistake. I don't know that she truly led Kyle on as he seemed to think. She was clear even when they first met that she was very concerned about the religion. I thought Kyle was also very rude about Shaina's faith. He claimed he was going to compromise, but he also came across as having no respect for her faith or the role of faith in her family's life. I don't think he understood what a compromise would look like. I don't understand Shake's issue with not feeling an animalistic attraction for Deepti. That type of attraction doesn't usually last through the years of a long marriage... it's new relationship energy. Maybe it's just not there for him, but he doesn't seem like he's trying to build it. Nick's family is something else. I felt like I got such great insight into him and why he connected with Danielle. They are both very damaged people, and it is easy to see why. Sometimes two damaged people can heal each other; often not. Even though Nick shit stirs, and Danielle actively sabotages, I'm rooting for them. Sal and Mallory seem solid. Iyanna and Jarrett seem like they may be rockier. I'm not sure Iyanna's as into Jarrett in real life where she has to share him with friends as she was in the pods, where she didn't. Jarrett's life also looks difficult to blend with having a normal 9-5 job, though.

What I don't understand is what changed from the pod to the in person behavior. Natalie seemed very verbally effusive in the pods, but she was mean in the scenes that we saw. Shayne didn't seem to hide that he wanted a lot of affirmation in the pods, but all of a sudden Natalie seemed to only be about mean jokes. It came across as very weird to me, especially since he was open that he didn't like it. To me, it seemed like she was pushing him away in Mexico. Maybe she's not actually into his physical looks?

I am so confused about all of these couples. I don't understand Abhishak's issue with Deepti. She's very pretty, and he seemed very attracted to her when they first met. I wonder if there is polite coding for them not being sexually compatible. It's an unfortunate plot line, though. I feel like the show isn't giving us great insight into Nathalie's personality since she seems like a bit of a wet blanket, but the cast seemed to think she and Shayne made sense and had similar personalities. Danielle and Iyanna both probably should have gone through more therapy before being on the show, but I still have hope that they may make their relationships work. It seems like the potential is there. Sal is going to sabotage himself if he stresses out about Jarrett. Mallory chose him over Jarrett in the pods, and it seems like she's choosing him continuously outside as well. But if he asks her too many times, she's going to potentially change her mind. Why are Kyle and Shaina still on the show. Shaina broke it off. She doesn't want to be with a non-Christian. Religious compatibility is a legitimate issue. Is the show not letting her break it off? Because that's really shitty to both of them, and there is enough drama with the remaining couples. We don't need another uncomfortable Messica situation.

I wish they would keep things feel good. I didn't love the "let's laugh at the delusions" of the edit for Abhishek and Trisha. Maybe there will be some kind of redemption arc (Abhishek and Trisha? Oddly, I can actually see that working), but I like watching the connection. I don't want the producers mocking people who are in a weird, vulnerable situation. The bit of connection between Deepti and Abhishek was interesting, though. I like when the conversations start to get to interesting topics. I feel like the whole season could be the pods. There were so many interesting people and not nearly enough time. I want to see more of Iyanne (? can't remember people's names) and how she navigated having to talk about her childhood with other people and Jarrett because his voice is lovely. Shayne and Natalie are interesting. I think there's more there than we were shown. His reaction was strong--like he was genuinely reacting to screwing up the relationship he cared about. I think he's killing time and having fun flirting with Shaina, but I think Natalie really was his #1. It is hard to understand what they see in each other. Shayne and Shaina seem like more of a match.

At some point this episode, it occurred to me that the Mod Squad probably started as a joke in the Writer's Room based on the idea of a pun from Mod (the 60s style) and Mod (modding as cyborgs). But then they utterly failed to translate it to something interesting or believable on screen. The series could have been much better by writing Boba Fett as competent, and I don't know why the writers made the choices they did. But on the other hand, they provided wonderful fanservice and really can I ask for much more than Boba Fett riding a rancor, Grogu putting the rancor to sleep, live action Cad Bane, and Fennec single-handedly eliminating all the leaders?

It's a shame the writers clearly struggled so much to find a quality story for Boba Fett to soak up time before the Mandalorian episodes, but at least these past two episodes have been amazing. The time off from Grogu made the power of the cute strong again. It was ridiculous. The de-aging on Luke worked much better here as well, so deepfake guy should feel proud. I don't think they could have pulled off granting Luke so much screen time without his skills. I will never understand why the writers chose the weird flashback structure instead of telling a straightforward story of Boba Fett and Fennec Shand struggling against the Pyke Syndicate (or the Hutt Syndicate). We did not need any of the Tusken Raider stuff.

I have loved Temuera Morrison as an actor since Once Were Warriors, and I love the character of Boba as we got insight into him in Clone Wars. I've thought the issue with the show was the bizarrely bad writing/storytelling structuring from day 1. This episode confirmed it for me. I love Pedro Pascal as much as the next sf/f fangirl, but I do not believe Pascal's voice acting is so much more charismatic that it explains the quality difference. My only guess for what's gone on with the show is that the writers hit writer's block early on when breaking scripts and ended up making running out of time and making some bad, desperation choices. They could write this episode because they knew where Mando is in his character journey. For whatever reason, they don't have a handle on that for Boba and Fennec. It stinks because I think what we've seen of present-day Boba suggests that there was a viable concept in the idea of two fighters functionally trying to retire by going into management and struggling with it. I wish we'd gotten that show. But I'm super excited for Mando, s3 now so that's good. I was actually meh on it before this ep because I wasn't sure there was more story. I share the concerns about the spacecraft. The starfighter is nice and fast, but where do you sleep or go to the bathroom or store a bounty?

I'm not sure why the show thinks we'd be interested in more of Echo based on what we're getting out of Hawkeye. She's pretty bland at this point, and as a secondary antagonist with so few episodes left, it's hard to see how she's going to pop. I'm also confused by whether she has her comic-book counterpart's mimicking abilities. If so, the show hasn't made that clear. I expected that Marvel greenlighting a TV show with an inexperienced actress as lead meant she was going to be grab the screen from moment 1. But as it is, I don't care if I see more of her or not. I'm more interested in the LARPers. I appreciate that the show is one long eulogy for Natasha. It's nice to see her character get what she deserves. They're doing right by Hawkeye, too. Renner's done a great job with everything. Hawkeye finally feels like a real character to me. The show has to be careful with Kate. Her vibrancy and peppy optimism is a great counterbalance for Hawkeye, but her going off on her own in the apartment was irritating. She's a character who's obviously going to walk a line between lovable and hateable, and I think it was a poor writing choice to have her be so annoying in that sequence. The show's been very scattered with plot, but somehow it continues to work for me.

I haven't watched the anime, so I am viewing this cold. I liked it, but knowing where they wanted to go, I think they needed to give us more of Vicious abusing Julia in the earlier episodes. Not that I particularly want to watch that, but I think we need to understand that time's moved forward for Julia, too, and in ways that broke her from who she could have been. I do buy the resentment of Spike because pain and trauma is not logical. Julia suffered. Spike could have saved her from that. That equation is what matters for emotions far more than that it was reasonable for Spike to believe Vicious. Julia's heel turn had some foreshadowing, but I think could have had a little more. It would have been good to have some indication of what her motives were... if she's used to the comforts of wealth that the Syndicate brings or if she wants the power or exactly why she's staying in a dangerous situation. The actress does better with evil Julia than with meek Julia. It's stupid to leave Vicious alive, but presumably that's a contrivance for the next season. Radical Ed had Ein, which is weird since we last saw Ein abandoned. I don't know how the character needs to be, but this was not the best introduction to her for us non-anime viewers. She seems like she's going to grate. I hope she's dialed down when she has more screentime and plot significance. I feel for Jet, who is just a sweet person who got massively screwed by life. I wanted him to go with Faye at the end. I don't think it's good for him to be by himself, all sad.

I haven't watched the original anime, so I have no basis for comparison. I thought this episode was amazing. The friendship chemistry between Vicious and Fearless was wild. I bought them as having that brothers-from-another bond in the very first scene. I actually felt compassion for Vicious when he was talking about his mother's suicide. In the first episode, I thought John Cho was embarrassing trying to pull off the body language of skilled bounty hunter in the fight scenes. I don't know if the fight coordinator got better at choreographing for him or if Cho trained hard, but I completely believed him in the Neptune cartel scene. He moved like a skilled killer (well, like a media portrayal of a skilled killer. Fortunately, I have no real-life experience!) I've hated Julia all season. The actress is a great singer, but I didn't think she was strong enough for her role. But even she was great in this episode!