Ok did anyone notice that in Yoly and Mal’s confusing reunion fight, they kept rapidly cutting back and forth between shots where Yoly still had lipstick on and shots where she’d wiped it off? Like, I get it, it’s edited, but at least TRY to make it seem like it’s not totally spliced together lol. Also I fully have turned on Lexi - she’s so unreasonable and acts so morally superior!!
When the seagulls were fighting over that garbage, I thought: There is NO possible way Maddy Court doesn’t reference this in TV Dinner. Iconic B-roll moment!!!
Spin off idea: Sharmaine, Natasha, and Alicia do a Couple’s Therapy: Queer Love show where they just dish out hot reads, skepticism, and harsh reality checks. Aussie’s brother can host.
The dads on this show: Is Vanessa’s dad just Vanessa wearing a beard?? Because their resemblance is wild. And Lexi’s dad’s face is so stern throughout any scene he’s a part of, then he opens his mouth and says something so supportive. You could not pay my dad enough money to come on the show and pretend to take it seriously.
Okay so I was hella rooting for Yoly and Xander *until* we had the group meet up and Xander was basically proposing to Yoly and they were semi-hiding from their pre-ultimatum partners. I was so incensed when Xander went back inside and Mal was like, "Do you wanna be with Yoly?" and Xander said "I don't know." XANDER YOU BASICALLY JUST PROPOSED. IF YOU WANT YOLY SAY IT WITH YOUR WHOLE CHEST. Vanessa is in no way my favorite, BUT she doesn't deserve to be your backup choice.
The lack of backbone and ownership of their choice was so unattractive to me. Like, it would be hot to help with the housework, save for the babies, treat me like a queen, rock me in the bedroom, AND stand up for how you feel about me. To me, that made Mal my choice automatically.
1) During the second trial marriage with original partners and the dinner with Lexi's parents, Lexi revealed that Rae promised not to sleep with Vanessa. Someone else mentioned it, but I think it should be mentioned twice because wtf! It changes the context of Lexi's behavior considerably for me.
2) As an insight from two trans people (my girlfriend and me): Aussie just needs to transition. Yes, Aussie has some major trauma that needs resolving, but there's a thing that happens with trans people where all of your problems are magnified when you're not yet "out" (or decided, though both seem to be the case for Aussie). It's hard to show up authentically (or at all) in a relationship when you don't even know what "authentic" looks like for you gender-wise. It's kind of like, transitioning doesn't FIX your other problems, but it makes you WANT to fix them, or at least makes the fixing seem manageable. We can also both share that this is a fairly common thing in trans circles.
Have only seen up to episode 5 and read this anyway because I don’t mind spoilers and your first recap is what encouraged me to/warned me about watching! Some thoughts & questions:
- Lexi is 1000000% showing her age in episodes 3-5. The thought of telling my parents anything about MY sex life let alone my EX’s, over a meal, in front of my NEW WIFE made me so stressed out! Also I liked how (they probably edited) her dad not saying or responding to anything until the very end of the meal and then sharing some confusing/generic marriage wisdom.
- if Rae doesn’t leave this show single….she is truly between a sex pest rock and an alarmingly possessive hard place and I feel so bad for her! I also love her energy and my wife and I have not stopped laughing about her first night with Vanessa when she’s clearly exhausted and regretting her choice and is like “can I please go to bed”.
- the entire conceit of this show makes no sense but I also couldn’t really understand how the trial marriages function - at one point in her first fight with Aussie, Mildred was like, I have to cook and clean before work, and Aussie was like I see my friends every night. Do they still work during this show? Do they just like go and live their non show lives except in the mornings and evenings?
- honestly props to Vanessa for being the realest and fakest one on this show, simultaneously. I deeply loved when she was getting attacked at the dinner with Lexi and Yoly was like “what are you doing [with Rae, with your life, etc?]” and Vanessa was like “Yoly, I don’t know”. Is Vanessa actually practicing radical transparency and just a deeply confused person whose honesty and confrontational style exposes that? 🧐
- I loved all of the friends so much more than the people on the show except for Vanessa’s dad although that did really explain a lot about Vanessa in a short amount of time.
- it’s kind of interesting to compare Lexi and Mail and Xander and Yoly, because I think they’re all thrilled about how deep and real their connections are with these new people, but Xander and Yoly show a much more realistic version of that. I say kind of interesting because nothing on this show is that interesting or even makes sense!
- what was the resolution with Tiff’s dog!? I can’t tell if they are still sleeping on the couch because even on their final night with Sam they started out in the bed but then also had a segment on the couch next to the dog!
Thank you so much for this. Despite not being a 'marriage' person myself, I'm officiating a queer wedding for my best friend in a month. The guys getting married got their moms involved, and everything has devolved into a quasi-catholic norm-core shitshow complete with Bible readings. One of the toxic, homophobic dads just emailed me a ring "blessing" to share that made me want to vomit. "Love is a perfect, never ending circle..." The same dad called his son the devil when he came out, and weighs his wife every morning, so like, spare me. My radical queer wedding speech is amazing and, if I use it at this point, I'm afraid I risk blowing up my friendship as my friends try to keep mommy and daddy happy (something I'll never understand). I was so relieved to read your words about this show and to remember what a joy it is to be queer in a world that wants to put everyone in a box.
Ugh I am retraumatizing myself watching Vanessa manipulate and torment Xander. “Say it back” and all this “I’m really ready to change this time” hearts and flowers BS. This show should be a psychology case study.
Ok there’s no way Xander and Vanessa end up together. I did a very deep dive of their socials and there’s no way!!
I was once secretly dating someone in college who had a bf and we had sex but she would not let us kiss!!!! It was wild but then Vanessa asking about mouth stuff made me feel seen in a “yeah that was confirmed wild” sense. This girl and her bf and still together 10 years later and I accidentally walked by them twice in one day while visiting NYC two years ago.
Did you get to the very end of the ep? Mal proposes with a speech and ring and all.
This host is so so so bad. Nick and Vanessa Lachey host the straight eps and they are helpful and interactive and feel more real and less scripted.
Can you explain how this show might be scripted? I don’t understand reality shows and how scripts work. On that note, Tiff and Mildred’s have that fight about her ex wife and Tiff has papers on their lap and I’m like is that script notes???
I think Yoly lives in Chicago too? Her Instagram seems very “chi for life” and for some reason I thought they lived together.
I don’t know how you recap this show because it’s entirely insensible.
Oh also, Lexi is on this show 90% to boost her OnlyFans subscribers.
re:mildred and tiff’s therapist - has anyone listened to tiff’s podcast? i sort of wonder if they’re the type of person to share the rest of the story on a podcast...
Ok did anyone notice that in Yoly and Mal’s confusing reunion fight, they kept rapidly cutting back and forth between shots where Yoly still had lipstick on and shots where she’d wiped it off? Like, I get it, it’s edited, but at least TRY to make it seem like it’s not totally spliced together lol. Also I fully have turned on Lexi - she’s so unreasonable and acts so morally superior!!
When the seagulls were fighting over that garbage, I thought: There is NO possible way Maddy Court doesn’t reference this in TV Dinner. Iconic B-roll moment!!!
Spin off idea: Sharmaine, Natasha, and Alicia do a Couple’s Therapy: Queer Love show where they just dish out hot reads, skepticism, and harsh reality checks. Aussie’s brother can host.
The dads on this show: Is Vanessa’s dad just Vanessa wearing a beard?? Because their resemblance is wild. And Lexi’s dad’s face is so stern throughout any scene he’s a part of, then he opens his mouth and says something so supportive. You could not pay my dad enough money to come on the show and pretend to take it seriously.
Okay so I was hella rooting for Yoly and Xander *until* we had the group meet up and Xander was basically proposing to Yoly and they were semi-hiding from their pre-ultimatum partners. I was so incensed when Xander went back inside and Mal was like, "Do you wanna be with Yoly?" and Xander said "I don't know." XANDER YOU BASICALLY JUST PROPOSED. IF YOU WANT YOLY SAY IT WITH YOUR WHOLE CHEST. Vanessa is in no way my favorite, BUT she doesn't deserve to be your backup choice.
The lack of backbone and ownership of their choice was so unattractive to me. Like, it would be hot to help with the housework, save for the babies, treat me like a queen, rock me in the bedroom, AND stand up for how you feel about me. To me, that made Mal my choice automatically.
Two things:
1) During the second trial marriage with original partners and the dinner with Lexi's parents, Lexi revealed that Rae promised not to sleep with Vanessa. Someone else mentioned it, but I think it should be mentioned twice because wtf! It changes the context of Lexi's behavior considerably for me.
2) As an insight from two trans people (my girlfriend and me): Aussie just needs to transition. Yes, Aussie has some major trauma that needs resolving, but there's a thing that happens with trans people where all of your problems are magnified when you're not yet "out" (or decided, though both seem to be the case for Aussie). It's hard to show up authentically (or at all) in a relationship when you don't even know what "authentic" looks like for you gender-wise. It's kind of like, transitioning doesn't FIX your other problems, but it makes you WANT to fix them, or at least makes the fixing seem manageable. We can also both share that this is a fairly common thing in trans circles.
Have only seen up to episode 5 and read this anyway because I don’t mind spoilers and your first recap is what encouraged me to/warned me about watching! Some thoughts & questions:
- Lexi is 1000000% showing her age in episodes 3-5. The thought of telling my parents anything about MY sex life let alone my EX’s, over a meal, in front of my NEW WIFE made me so stressed out! Also I liked how (they probably edited) her dad not saying or responding to anything until the very end of the meal and then sharing some confusing/generic marriage wisdom.
- if Rae doesn’t leave this show single….she is truly between a sex pest rock and an alarmingly possessive hard place and I feel so bad for her! I also love her energy and my wife and I have not stopped laughing about her first night with Vanessa when she’s clearly exhausted and regretting her choice and is like “can I please go to bed”.
- the entire conceit of this show makes no sense but I also couldn’t really understand how the trial marriages function - at one point in her first fight with Aussie, Mildred was like, I have to cook and clean before work, and Aussie was like I see my friends every night. Do they still work during this show? Do they just like go and live their non show lives except in the mornings and evenings?
- honestly props to Vanessa for being the realest and fakest one on this show, simultaneously. I deeply loved when she was getting attacked at the dinner with Lexi and Yoly was like “what are you doing [with Rae, with your life, etc?]” and Vanessa was like “Yoly, I don’t know”. Is Vanessa actually practicing radical transparency and just a deeply confused person whose honesty and confrontational style exposes that? 🧐
- I loved all of the friends so much more than the people on the show except for Vanessa’s dad although that did really explain a lot about Vanessa in a short amount of time.
- it’s kind of interesting to compare Lexi and Mail and Xander and Yoly, because I think they’re all thrilled about how deep and real their connections are with these new people, but Xander and Yoly show a much more realistic version of that. I say kind of interesting because nothing on this show is that interesting or even makes sense!
- what was the resolution with Tiff’s dog!? I can’t tell if they are still sleeping on the couch because even on their final night with Sam they started out in the bed but then also had a segment on the couch next to the dog!
Looking forward to/dreading the next few eps….
I believe Aussie, Sam, and Sharmaine are at Baja Betty’s in San Diego 🧐 you’re right Maddy! Can confirm, it is a very gay Mexican restaurant.
Thank you so much for this. Despite not being a 'marriage' person myself, I'm officiating a queer wedding for my best friend in a month. The guys getting married got their moms involved, and everything has devolved into a quasi-catholic norm-core shitshow complete with Bible readings. One of the toxic, homophobic dads just emailed me a ring "blessing" to share that made me want to vomit. "Love is a perfect, never ending circle..." The same dad called his son the devil when he came out, and weighs his wife every morning, so like, spare me. My radical queer wedding speech is amazing and, if I use it at this point, I'm afraid I risk blowing up my friendship as my friends try to keep mommy and daddy happy (something I'll never understand). I was so relieved to read your words about this show and to remember what a joy it is to be queer in a world that wants to put everyone in a box.
Natasha = problematic fave
Ugh I am retraumatizing myself watching Vanessa manipulate and torment Xander. “Say it back” and all this “I’m really ready to change this time” hearts and flowers BS. This show should be a psychology case study.
My wife and I posited that Lexi invited her parents into the show because she doesn’t have any close friends (??) same for Vanessa!
Ok there’s no way Xander and Vanessa end up together. I did a very deep dive of their socials and there’s no way!!
I was once secretly dating someone in college who had a bf and we had sex but she would not let us kiss!!!! It was wild but then Vanessa asking about mouth stuff made me feel seen in a “yeah that was confirmed wild” sense. This girl and her bf and still together 10 years later and I accidentally walked by them twice in one day while visiting NYC two years ago.
Did you get to the very end of the ep? Mal proposes with a speech and ring and all.
This host is so so so bad. Nick and Vanessa Lachey host the straight eps and they are helpful and interactive and feel more real and less scripted.
Can you explain how this show might be scripted? I don’t understand reality shows and how scripts work. On that note, Tiff and Mildred’s have that fight about her ex wife and Tiff has papers on their lap and I’m like is that script notes???
I think Yoly lives in Chicago too? Her Instagram seems very “chi for life” and for some reason I thought they lived together.
I don’t know how you recap this show because it’s entirely insensible.
Oh also, Lexi is on this show 90% to boost her OnlyFans subscribers.
Was anyone else dying at Sam being like “why are you calling me mate?!” bc Aussie starts calling her mate when they get triggered/mad
re:mildred and tiff’s therapist - has anyone listened to tiff’s podcast? i sort of wonder if they’re the type of person to share the rest of the story on a podcast...