Over the course of seven seasons, “Love Is Blind” contestants have shared difficult, sometimes groundbreaking conversations about topics such as race, religion, money, birth control and abortion.
But one topic has been largely absent from the conversation in the “groups,” despite being virtually unavoidable in the real world: politics. We never saw any potential couples explicitly asking each other how they voted. And although “Love Is Blind” premiered in 2020, at the end of President Trump's divisive term, his name was never spoken onscreen.
Then came season 7, set in Washington, DC.
The latest installment of the dating experiment, as the show is promoted, follows singles in the Capitol region and comes in the home stretch of another contentious presidential race. It also happens to be the first season in which the contestants discuss their personal political beliefs in partisan terms.
“Okay, let's get this started,” Monica Davis, a 36-year-old sales executive, asks Stephen, a 33-year-old electrician, during an early date. “Did you vote in the last presidential election? And the elections before that? Stephen Richardson explains that in 2016 he voted for Trump “because I didn't like Hillary [Clinton].” But he came to “despise” the way Trump behaved in office and voted for now-President Biden in 2020.
“I will happily admit that my first vote was not the most polite vote,” he tells Monica, who (briefly) becomes his fiancée, until she catches him sending saucy text messages to another woman.
It is not the only mention that the former president receives in the pods. Bohdan Olinares, 36, and Marissa George, 32, both military veterans, bond over their shared liberal views. Marissa confesses that she dated a Trump supporter for three years, but discovered that “there's just a difference in how our society works.”
“At the end of the day, are you going to vote for a guy who tried to overthrow the government?” says Bohdan. “I will never agree to that.”
“I'm not going to vote for a rapist, am I?” she answers.
Marissa eventually gets engaged to Ramses Prashad, 34, who works at a justice nonprofit and may be the most performatively awake person to ever appear on the show. With hair that Marissa's brother compared to '80s R&B singer El DeBarge and a wardrobe of leather pants and Coogi sweaters, Ramses is also the first person on “Love Is Blind” to quote James Baldwin or wear the phrase “hammer of American imperialism.” ”between sips from a golden cup. When Marissa tells him that the movie “Barbie” made her realize that she couldn't be with someone who supported the patriarchy, he scoffs: “Did it take 'Barbie' for you to realize that?” He also openly disparages Marissa's military service and tells her that he would break up with her if she re-enlisted. (Meanwhile, the only thing he ought What I'm judging Marissa about is her belief that Adam Sandler is funnier than Will Ferrell, but I digress).
On the one hand, this season's political bent should come as no surprise. Washington, DC, is one of the most overwhelmingly Democratic places in the country: Biden obtained 93% of the votes there in 2020. The entire region is full of people working in government, advocacy, lobbying and the military. And while there are no congressional staffers in this season's cast, there are numerous veterans and at least one “clean energy policy consultant,” Taylor Krause, who recently posted to white paper about hydrogen.
Ramses Prashad and Marrisa George finally get engaged.
(Netflix)
Previously, however, it often seemed like the producers of “Love Is Blind” were doing everything they could to avoid overtly partisan conversations, or that the discussions were so vague as to be almost incomprehensible. (In Season 1, Giannina Gibeli and Damian Powers had what appeared to be an argument about Trump, but no one knew for sure.) The singles on “Love Is Blind” seem to exist in a parallel universe, curiously devoid of intense polarization. That consumes the rest of the country and forces many Americans to evaluate their neighbors, potential romantic partners, athletes and favorite pop stars based on how they vote.
There have been some coded dog whistles (for example, season 6's Sarah Ann Bick, who described herself as a “patriot,” meaning “republican”). But for the most part, viewers have had to draw conclusions about contestants' political leanings based on circumstantial evidence like their social media history or their predilection for star-studded clothing.
All of which makes Season 7, with its frank and uncomfortable discussions about the role of politics in people's intimate lives, feel like a defining moment for “Love Is Blind,” when its escapist bubble finally bursts. It also feels like a belated recognition of our hyperpartisan reality, particularly as we approach an election in which issues like abortion, IVF and child care will be central to how people cast their votes, especially the women, who have been the most affected by the fall of Roe. against Wade and bear the brunt of parenting. Many experts expect this election to feature a larger gender gap than ever between women, mobilized to support Vice President Kamala Harris because of her stance on abortion, and men, drawn to Trump's boastful machismo.
But, as we see with Ramses and Marissa, being compatible involves more than mutual disdain for Trump or a shared support for liberal ideas. The couple's initially happy relationship begins to fray when they return to DC and realize that their personal values don't necessarily align, even if their politics more or less do.
The first signs of trouble appear when Ramses expresses reservations about Marissa's military service, which he was aware of when they became engaged. “I don't see politics and that kind of thing as something that exists in a vacuum,” he says. “These ideas affect real people.”
In other words, the personal is political. It's true, especially when it comes to marriage and family, but for Ramses it increasingly seems like an empty and selfish slogan. In last week's episodes, he and Marissa shared a tense and infuriating conversation about birth control. (The infuriating conversation about family planning has become something of a “Love is blind” trope.) She says she doesn't want to take the pill, but he resists the idea of using a condom during sex “because it's not pleasurable” even though it is. also adamant about not starting a family for several years. (This is where I ask, not for the first time: Has anyone on this show heard of an IUD?) Ramses (or at least the edited version of him we see on the show) is a hypocrite, someone who brags that “You don't try to follow traditional expectations of what masculinity should be,” and yet you make it difficult for your fiancée to make decisions about her body that create minor inconveniences.
This week, we witness another painful fight: after Marissa apparently refuses to have sex with Ramses because she's sick, exhausted, and has a nasty case of PMS, he makes her feel guilty for the lack of physical affection. He even hints that he is having second thoughts about getting married because of this one rejection. Generally cheerful and optimistic, Marissa is visibly deflated and worn down by her partner's demands. She listens to his concerns and then responds that in the future she may not want or be able to have sex for various reasons, such as if she has just given birth. “This will probably come up several times in our relationship. Is this going to be a problem for you? she asks.
“That's a fair question,” he replies.
It's also something he's not prepared to answer, because for all his liberal stance, he still can't accept his fiancée's bodily autonomy. The “Love Is Blind” fandom has already begun to turn against Ramses, accusing him of being a toxic “gaslighter.” We still have an ending and a reunion left, so Ramses has a chance to redeem himself, or at least provide some context for his chilling conversations with Marissa. But this season has already made it clear that while love can be blind, relationships are always political.
