Over the course of seven seasons, the cast of Love Is Blind have had difficult and sometimes consensus-breaking conversations about issues such as race, religion, money, birth control, and abortion.
But there’s one topic that’s virtually unavoidable in the real world, yet rarely brought up in “pod” conversations. It’s politics. I’ve never seen prospective couples explicitly ask each other how they voted. And while Love is Blind premiered in 2020, at the end of Trump’s polarizing term, his name was never spoken on screen.
And now Season 7 is set in Washington, DC.
The latest in a dating experiment promoted by the show itself, it follows singles in the Capitol area and arrives in the final stages of yet another contentious presidential election. This season also marks the first time contestants discuss their personal political beliefs from a partisan perspective.
“Okay, let’s get started,” Monica Davis, a 36-year-old sales executive, asks Steven, a 33-year-old electrician, during an early morning pod date. “Did you vote in the last presidential election? And the election before that?” Stephen Richardson explains that he voted for Trump in 2016 “because I didn’t like Hillary[Clinton].” However, he came to “disdain” President Trump’s behavior during his time in office and voted for President Biden in 2020.
“I’m willing to admit that my first vote wasn’t the most educated vote,” he told Monica, who would become his (briefly) fiancée, but he didn’t know if he was being racy with another woman. Until she caught me texting.
This isn’t the only mention the former president received on the pod. Bodan Olinales, 36, and Marissa George, 32, are both military veterans who bonded over their shared liberal views. Marissa confessed that she dated a Trump supporter for three years and felt that they “just have different ideas about how our society works.”
“At the end of the day, are you going to vote for a guy who tried to overthrow the government?” Bodin says. “I’m never going to agree to that.”
“I’m not going to vote for a rapist, right?” she replies.
Marissa ends up getting engaged to Ramses Prashad, 34, who works for a justice nonprofit and may be the most talented person to ever appear on the show. With hair that rivals Marissa’s older brother, 80s R&B singer El DeBarge, and wearing leather pants and a Coogi sweater, Ramses quotes James Baldwin in “Love Is Blind.” He was also the first to use the phrase “the hammer of American imperialism.” While taking a sip from the golden cup. When Marissa says that the movie Barbie made her realize that she can’t be with someone who supports the patriarchy, Marissa says, “Did you need Barbie to make you realize that?” sneer. He also openly despises Marissa’s military service and tells her he will break up with her if she re-enlists. (On the other hand, the only reason he should judge Marissa is Marissa’s belief that Adam Sandler is more interesting than Will Ferrell, but I digress.)
On the other hand, this season’s political leanings are not surprising. Washington, D.C., is one of the most overwhelmingly Democratic areas in the country, and Biden won 93% of the vote there in 2020. This entire region is filled with people who work in government, advocacy, lobbying, and the military. And while this season’s cast doesn’t have any Congressional staffers, it does have a number of military veterans and at least one, Taylor Krause, a “clean energy policy consultant” who recently released a white paper on hydrogen.
Ramses Prashad and Marisa George eventually become engaged.
(Netflix)
But in the past, Love is Blind producers have often left out overtly partisan dialogue, or the arguments have often felt so vague that they’re almost incomprehensible. (In season 1, Giannina Gibelli and Damian Powers got into what appeared to be an argument about Trump, but no one was sure of it.) The single “Love Is Blind” , strangely enough, there is no strong polarization, as if they exist in a parallel world. It consumes the rest of the country, forcing many Americans to evaluate their neighbors, potential romantic partners, athletes, and favorite pop stars based on how they vote.
There were some coded dog whistles (for example, Sarah Ann Bick in season 6 referred to herself as a “patriot,” or “Republican”). But for the most part, viewers are left to draw conclusions about contestants’ political leanings based on circumstantial evidence such as their social media histories and penchant for star-studded clothing.
As such, Season 7, with its frank and uncomfortable discussions about the role of politics in people’s intimate lives, feels like a watershed moment for Love is Blind, as the bubble of escapism finally bursts. It also highlights our bipartisan reality, especially as we approach an election in which issues such as abortion, IVF, and child care will be central to how people vote, especially women, who were most affected by Roe’s ouster. I feel like I realized it too late. vs. Wade and takes the brunt of parenting. Many experts believe that the gender gap in this election is between women who mobilized to support Vice President Kamala Harris because of her stance on abortion and men who were attracted to President Trump’s fierce masculinity. I expect it to be bigger than ever.
But as seen in Ramses and Marissa, there is more to compatibility than a mutual disdain for Trump or shared support for liberal ideas. Upon returning to Washington, D.C., the couple’s initially happy relationship begins to fray as they discover that even if they are politically aligned, their personal values are not necessarily the same.
The first sign of trouble appears when Ramses expresses concern about Marissa’s military service. Marissa knew that when she got engaged. “I don’t think of politics or anything like that as existing in a vacuum,” he says. “These ideas impact real people.”
In other words, the personal is political. That’s especially true when it comes to marriage and family, but to Rameses it seems an increasingly empty and selfish slogan. In last week’s series of episodes, he and Marissa shared a tense and angry conversation about birth control. (The exasperating conversation about family planning has become a kind of “love is blind” metaphor.) She says she doesn’t want to take the pill, but he doesn’t like the idea of using a condom during sex. It’s not fun,” he says hesitantly. ” Even though he too has been adamant about not starting a family in recent years. (Not for the first time, and here I ask: Has anyone on this show ever heard of IUDs?) Ramses, or at least the edited version of him seen on the show, is a hypocrite and says he doesn’t have an IUD. He is a person who boasts that he has it. “Don’t try to conform to traditional expectations of what masculinity should look like,” he says, while letting his fiancé make choices about his body that cause him minor inconveniences.
This week we witness another painful battle. It appears that Marissa refuses to have sex with Rameses because she is sick, exhausted, and having severe PMS, but Marissa makes Rameses feel guilty for the lack of physical affection. He even hints that he is having second thoughts about marriage because of this one rejection. Marissa, usually cheerful and cheerful, is clearly deflated and exhausted by her partner’s demands. She listened to his concerns and countered that he might not want or be able to have sex in the future for various reasons. For example, if you have just given birth. “This will probably happen many times in our relationship. Will this be a problem for you?” she asks.
“That’s a fair question,” he answered.
This is also a question he is not yet ready to answer. Because, despite his liberal stance, he still cannot fully accept his fiancée’s bodily autonomy. Love is Blind fans have already begun attacking Ramses, accusing him of being a toxic “gaslighter.” There’s still a finale and a reunion left, so Ramses has a chance to redeem himself, or at least provide some context to his cringe-worthy conversation with Marissa. But this season has already made clear that while love may be blind, relationships are always political.
