WARNING: Spoilers for which couples get together in Season Seven of “Love is Blind”

The seventh season of “Love is Blind” is coming to a close after a month. First airing Oct. 2 on Netflix, this show dives in on the components of love. Can two strangers have a connection without meeting face-to-face? Or is physical attraction a deal breaker? A show of betrayal, scheming, tears and laughs, there’s always some kind of drama in each episode.

The show begins with meeting our 14 contestants this season. The seven girls and guys are separated into their respective living quarters, outcast from the outside world, getting to mingle with each other while they wait to get into the “pods”. 

These pods are one of the biggest aspects of this show, it’s the place the contestants get coupled up. Each pod is a relatively small room furnished with a couch, a rug and a shimmery, portal-looking blue wall. This wall is shared with another pod on the opposite side and is the vessel of communication between the couples. They can hear everything the other person is saying but they can’t see each other. Sparks are flying in these rooms as the contestants go on 15 minute dates with each other.  

The set up they have is quite interesting, the switch of the footage from the girls and guys rooms during their dates is fun to follow along and they did it well. It’s interesting to see each person’s reaction to whatever is going on. 

The contestants stay in this environment for ten days, not seeing who they are getting to know until they get engaged. 

To add to the drama, as people are meeting each other, some of the contestants choose to stay open to different connections, causing some heated love triangles that kept me invested. Every episode had couple-specific storylines that kept me guessing who would choose who. 

But despite all of the trouble with the couples, the show doesn’t end at the pods, the goal for each couple is making it to the altar. After the ten days, we follow six of the seven couples to Cabo for their honeymoon. We’ll get back to why we only have six couples in a bit. 

This part of the show wasn’t as charming as the pods. Getting to see how the couples work out is part of the plot, but the meat and potatoes is the separation. These couples have only seen each other face to face for the 15 minutes of their engagement, some very excited with their partner, others seem hesitant. 

The six couples stay in Cabo for a week before moving into each other’s apartments, seeing what it’s like to live together. After all this, the couples decide if they want to go to the wedding. 

Finally being with each other after such a long separation must have been nice, but some trouble was brewing. 

Our “perfect” couple this season, Taylor and Garrett, are finally having a bump in the road. Garrett gets a text from his ex, tells Taylor about it but leaves some parts out. The situation regarding Garrett’s ex and his lies about the texts in the first place was good in concept but the plotline seemed unnatural, it looked like this couple was in need of some drama to drive views up. It looked like the producers saw a small hiccup and went crazy with it.

These types of shows run on drama so it is possible the producers made the situation worse than it was. Whether or not the conflict is truthful is just part of reality television.

Some conflicts definitely shouldn’t have been forgiven as easily as they were, which didn’t feel real, but seeing each pair working things through was one of the best parts. Though the drama kept me watching, the suspense of everyone not knowing their partner’s appearance was engaging and what hooked me to the show in the first place. 

This season, only two couples actually made it to the altar. The dysfunction in the couples this season is blown out of proportion, which led to many breakups…and why one of the couples didn’t make it to Cabo with us. 

This couples’ storyline was infuriating but it was well done. Leo didn’t want someone who only cared about his money but that was all that ever came out of his mouth. In my opinion, Brittany was never there for a true connection. She seems like the kind of girl to go on this show to find a rich husband or use the publicity to get one. Of course the trophy wife girl ends up with the money maker. 

Neither of these contestants had good intentions on this show and they ended up finding each other! Though it was exciting to see the message on the screen that told us we aren’t following their story, I think they lost an interesting plot line in the decision. But having to sit through that awful engagement scene made my skin crawl. The editors ramped up the cringe factor in that torture of a moment. 

What I really enjoyed about this season was the big change the editors made in each contestant’s portrayal on screen. This season seems a lot more even when it comes to showing the flaws of both parties, and this change fed the lack of blindness in love. In past seasons, we would often get couples where one of them was very clearly painted as the “bad” one, and the other was practically pure. 

This time, they encapsulate each person’s flaws and wins. Almost all of these people were shown as flawed in some scenes and likable in others. This small change made a huge difference in finding interesting storylines within the couples. From cheaters, secret fathers and “ick list” makers to heartfelt gifts and letters, most contestants had some bad and redeeming qualities. 

So, what do you think? Is love really blind, can people look past appearances and find a genuine connection? Lots of people say that looks don’t matter in a relationship but the results shown in this season beg to differ.