Stream It Or Skip It?

The last few seasons of Love Is Blind have shown that no, love isn’t blind. In fact, love’s eyes are wide open, given the fact that those seasons have had its share of conflicts and breakups well before people made their decisions at the altar. It’s been getting to the point where the show seemed to be getting away from it’s stated purpose. The seventh season, which pairs up singles from the Washington, DC area, might be trying to get back to the promise of those early seasons.

LOVE IS BLIND SEASON 7: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: In the men’s quarters, someone expresses that their date may not like him as much as he likes her, then an impromptu singalong of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” breaks out.

The Gist: Season 7 of Love Is Blind features 20 singles from the Washington, DC area, and by now you know the drill, even though hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey lay it out for the show’s participants every single time.

The 10 men and 10 women go on “dates” in the “pods”, where they communicate through a glowing wall. The only way to exit the pods and see each other is to get engaged. The engaged couples then go on a getaway to get to know each other. Then they go back to the “real world” and live together for three more weeks. Then at the altar they have to decide whether to get married or walk away.

Among the participants highlighted in the first episode are Taylor Krause, who almost immediately connects with Garrett Hoseman, but won’t mention her mother’s name to him because it gives away her ethnicity. Leo Braudy has suffered a lot of loss in recent years, but it has left him in charge of his family’s top-tier art dealing business, and he’s terribly afraid that whoever he connects with will see his money before seeing him. He connects strongly with Hannah Jiles, who quit her six-figure job to go on the show, but also connects with the flirtatious Brittany Wisniewski, who seems OK with spending her mate’s money.

Hannah is also charmed by former pro punter Nick Dorka, but just feels like she’d have to be perfect for him all the time and she doesn’t want to be perfect for a guy. Ashley Adionser and Tyler Frances get along right from the start, and he reveals the hardships his Serbian mother faced while raising him and his siblings alone.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Love Is Blind Seasons 1-6.

Our Take: The first episode of LIB Season 7 feels relatively drama-free. Sure, there’s some of the usual dramatics where two people are vying for the same person on the other side, but that’s not unusual. At least for now, though, the DC season is starting off with the same hopeful feel that the early seasons had, when the people going in might have actually done the show with actual romantic intentions instead of just getting some airtime on a reality show.

The only one so far that may be in that latter category is Brittany, given the fact that she has no problem telling the very wealthy Leo that she does not believe in a 50-50 expenses split when it comes to a married couple’s finances. In fact, it sounded more like she was looking forward to maintaining a “certain lifestyle” with the money of whoever she matched up with, whether she had her own career or not.

Leo is another interesting case. He has no problem telling his dates, or the guys in the men’s quarters, about his wealth. He wears a Rolex, for heaven’s sake. But he doesn’t talk about it from a standpoint where he’s doing it to puff his chest; it’s coming from a more insecure than that, indicating that he’s been severely burned by women in the past who just saw dollar signs. If that’s the case, it seems that Hannah would be the right person for him, but people have not been known to make sound judgements in the pods, even if they can’t see the face behind the voice.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: After a rejection, we find out that the rejected person is going home while the person doing the rejection starts to have some doubts.

Sleeper Star: Ashley and Tyler feel like they’re going to be this season’s “stable” couple that has no drama and proves the concept of LIB works.

Most Pilot-y Line: Let’s just say at this point when we see the Lacheys pop onto our screens, we just roll our eyes. This show really doesn’t need hosts anymore.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Is Love Is Blind going to reel in the craziness and get back to showing what the show is supposed to be about? We don’t know for sure, but the first episode is a good start toward that goal.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.