At one point during this episode, AD says her wedding had “such a lead-up for such a crazy letdown.” That’s kind of how this reunion feels. Despite the Lacheys’ best efforts, we don’t get enough revelations to justify a 97-minute runtime. Nick promises to address “every single scandal,” and while I congratulate the Lacheys for paying attention to social media this season and having receipts locked and loaded, this cast is really good at rambling or giving non-answers. There were definitely moments where I leaned in, but there were too many missed opportunities. If we had more follow-ups and less filler, particularly in the bloated second half of the episode, we could’ve gotten much more insight. Don’t get me wrong, this reunion was definitely an improvement from past seasons! But I still think we deserve better.
The reunion kicks off on the Love Is Blind stage, where a live audience which includes past couples from the show is waiting for the Lacheys (who show up after Nick disturbs my peace by telling Vanessa he would “boink” her based on her voice) to bring in the season-six cast.
Our first juicy bit of information comes from Jeramey. He confirms that he is dating Sarah Ann, who walks out to scattered applause. She and Jeramey have been together for almost a year and are now living together, which is the perfect transition into the Lacheys’ announcement that Laura has made time to Zoom in from a work trip in Barcelona. (“Do we clap?” Sarah Ann asks. “No,” Jeramey says.) When Vanessa brings up the Apple Watch theory, Jeramey fumbles and can’t explain himself. He and Laura end up bickering about what happened, and Sarah Ann jumps in and makes things worse.
We see new footage of Sarah Ann telling Laura at the lake house that she’s sorry if she hurt her “in any way” by DMing Jeramey. Sarah Ann says many words, but the most memorable ones are “blasé blah.” Laura warns her to be careful about trusting “clown robot” Jeramey, who she says has been worrying about his image and how he “looks worse than Jimmy.” Back at the reunion, Jimmy is not amused. Meanwhile, Jessica admits to removing Sarah Ann from a group chat with the other women in the cast. Chelsea also whacks Sarah Ann by revealing that she unfollowed all the women — but not their fiancés — and that she and Jeramey have broken up at least two times. Sarah Ann and Jeramey insist their ups and downs helped them realize they’re really in love.
However, the Lacheys question how genuine Sarah Ann is. They point to a TikTok where she says that reality television is “meant to entertain” and concludes, “We didn’t miss with this one, baby.” Sarah Ann says she made the video because of hate she was getting online. I feel like the fact that she’s still living with Jeramey indicates that there are real feelings involved, so I would have preferred to grill Jeramey about Laura’s claim that he said Sarah Ann was “absolutely not” an option. But our hosts are pretty stuck on the possibility that this was all for entertainment. Ultimately, Sarah Ann and Jeramey apologize to Laura, who says she’s been waiting for accountability. Before she logs off, Laura reveals that she’s dating someone and issues another apology for the “bean dip” fiasco.
Trevor time! Nick and Vanessa expose him for having a girlfriend throughout the experiment. (What a coincidence that he and Clay’s dad share both a name and a history of cheating, eh?) The Lacheys read out texts where he professes his love to this girl, says he’ll marry her, and talks about having to “pretend” on the show. She calls him “pumpkin.” I can’t understand why Trevor and his mullet would willingly return to TV when the only excuse he can come up with is that he was not technically dating this girl since he never asked her to be his girlfriend. He says this girl was his type but they had a toxic relationship so he wanted to find someone he wouldn’t normally go for. We’re supposed to believe that if Chelsea had chosen him, he would’ve been fully committed. Trevor adds that he needs “a lot of therapy,” and was genuinely upset when he left the show. An unimpressed Jessica says Trevor could’ve better defended Chelsea from the internet’s wrath. (In a choice of words I truly could never have predicted, she adds, “Even I have asked for a ceasefire on Jimmy.”) Flustered by questions, Trevor eventually says Chelsea is the only person he owes a response to if she wants clarity.
As one of my co-workers astutely noted, Nick sounds like he’s making a MLM pitch when he tells Sarah Ann and Trevor that participating in Love Is Blind is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He says coming on the show with fame in mind isn’t fair to the audience, but especially to other cast members who are fully invested in the experiment. I still don’t necessarily believe Sarah Ann came onto the show planning to entertain us by stealing someone’s man, but I see why she and Trevor are getting grouped together. It’s in Netflix’s best interest to defend the show, so anyone who might threaten the integrity of the concept must be publicly reprimanded.
After Trevor makes a hasty exit, it’s time to check in with Clay and AD. Clay says he felt like “the biggest dick” for saying no at the altar, and has apologized to AD’s mom and sisters. (I hope her little nieces were included too.) “I love you, you are the love of my life, and it was a mistake,” he says, but AD tells him he had his chance and blew it. Clay admits he did the process wrong by not putting in the work first, and chokes up while talking about being in therapy and wanting to be a good guy. “You are a good guy,” she relents.
No one asks AD and Clay about the Thanksgiving footage, or his financial reasoning for saying no. We do learn that Clay’s dad has said sorry, not directly, but “in his way.” There’s a sweet moment where Clay reveals that Brett is the Love Is Blind participant he thought was an example of what a husband should be. “It’s very humbling to hear that, especially Black man to Black man,” Brett responds, sharing that his own parents didn’t have the best relationship.
Meanwhile, Amy and Johnny are still obsessed with each other. We get a sweet montage of their first year of marriage. They’ve talked through disagreements, but still haven’t had a huge fight. I’ve seen a lot of people complaining that this couple is too boring or corny — and I definitely wouldn’t describe them as “fun and funky” like Vanessa did — but I still think they’re cute. Sue me!
The next phase of the reunion is structured around viewer questions read aloud by former Love Is Blind cast members. Here, Netflix’s choices about how to fill time get more confusing.
We only had one couple get married this season. Birth control was one of their biggest issues, but the topic is only brought up quickly during this Q&A. Johnny says condoms were “always an option” but he just didn’t know that much about birth control. “We figured it out and that’s all that matters,” Amy says, confirming that he did not have a vasectomy and she is not on birth control.
Considering how much screen time Jimmy and Chelsea had in the show, the reunion doesn’t handle their relationship in a satisfying way. Chelsea says she found Jessica’s bar conversation about Jimmy a little disrespectful and acknowledges she had insecurities during the show. Jimmy and Chelsea rehash the way she brought up that he slept with his friend; she says she can’t apologize enough, they disagree about whether she hangs out with her ex, and Jimmy says they “misheard each other in a lot of things.” That’s pretty much the extent of the reflection we get on their time as a couple, and most of it is through the framework of their interactions with other people. But judging by some physical contact during the reunion, Jimmy and Chelsea seem to at least be friendly now. How long did it take them to reconcile? What is their relationship like now? It’s an odd choice not to prioritize these questions over stuff like whether Chelsea regrets that Megan Fox comment. (For what it’s worth, Chelsea told EW that she and Jimmy tried dating after the season ended, didn’t speak for months after he broke up with her again, and now support each other as friends.)
The reunion instead introduces beef between Jessica and Jimmy that doesn’t get fully resolved. Jessica said she thought they were friends and was offended by his claim in an interview that she got a “good edit” and stormed out of their last date after 10 minutes. Jimmy doubles down, hedging that it was 45 minutes at most. After Jessica calls for receipts, Netflix shows us that the total time of that date was 133 minutes. Yet after all this buildup — AD and Clay’s heads were swiveling back and forth like they were watching a tennis match — we don’t get to see Jessica vindicated or Jimmy respond to the proof.
It takes roughly an hour and ten minutes until Brittany and Kenneth finally get asked a question, and it’s about whether having sex might have helped with the “crave.” Brittany affirms her commitment to wait until marriage. Kenneth maintains he was on his phone because of his principal duties and is trying to find a work-life balance. He adds that Netflix’s edit made it look like he wasn’t upset about the breakup, but that everyone processes differently and his “emotionalism” was there. Brittany and Kenneth now speak on a daily basis, and are such close friends that they’ve discussed how to explain their bond to potential partners.
The last major revelation is about Matthew, who declined to attend the reunion. After playing footage of Matthew telling Amber and AD the same things, Vanessa asks … if AD thinks Matthew told them the same things. For AD, the issue is still mostly about how she opened up about her late father. But just when I think we’re all on the same page about Matthew, AD admits to going on “two-ish” dates with him after the show and thinking he was cute. (Clay pretends not to care.) Given how devastated AD was after the wedding, I can see why she may have wanted to give Matthew a chance when he reached out to apologize. But she says the relationship ultimately fizzled because of lifestyle differences.
By the way, this entire Q&A portion is regularly interrupted with life updates from former Love Is Blind cast members. I do think having former participants ask questions, provide reaction shots, and share opinions on the season is fun! But hearing them speak at length about pregnancies and new jobs at Netflix? Ehhh. That news could’ve easily been condensed into a short montage of major updates, which could be swapped in for the clips of their proposals and weddings that played at the beginning of the episode. For anyone who doesn’t care about past couples or hasn’t watched past seasons, these segments are just filler for Netflix to flex that the experiment works. (Micah and Izzy essentially showed up to promote the next season of Perfect Match, which they’ll be in with Micah’s new bestie, Jessica.) All of this takes away time that could’ve been spent giving season six’s participants more opportunities for closure, conflict resolution, and reflection. I’m still proud the Lacheys came with receipts — I just hope they use them better next time.