The second season of Love Is Blind will make you a believer

It’s been two years since Netflix’s hit “social experiment” Love Is Blind debuted, sucking up the internet’s collective attention just before the first pandemic lockdowns, when we were relegated to our own pod-like apartments and socializing through Zoom dates. In its second season, the high-stakes reality show does a better job of getting viewers invested in the relationships in the pods, before the drama of the real world sets in. If the first season presented the series as spectacle, the second shows how the couples that result from this intensive dating experiment try against the odds to make their unconventional relationships work.

For anyone who missed season one, the experience that Love Is Blind offers is falling in love sight unseen. A group of single, marriage-minded people enter a “facility” where they speed-date in one-person pods, narrowing down their pool to a few people and spending hours talking to determine the partner with whom they’ll spend the rest of their lives. (Bachelor rules apply—heterosexual marriage is forever and we don’t speak of the flip-a-coin odds.) The committed couple can only see each other in person after getting engaged; they’re given a month to get to know each other in the real world before their wedding. Season two follows the same post-pod formula, with a honeymoon-like tropical vacation followed by weeks living in shared apartments in the lead up to the altar.

Even in its second go-round, Love Is Blind still feels like a breath of fresh air when compared to a machine like the Bachelor universe. Long-running dating shows can feel like they’re cramming their contestants into a strict formula that follows a similar arc every season. Outside of the overall pod/vacation/apartment structure, none of the drama on Love Is Blind feels produced. The most compelling conflicts come from the contestants’ own neuroses and complicated pasts, especially from those who tend to self-destruct. (Yes, there are a couple of candidates for the next Jessica, though there’s no exact match for season one’s most drama-provoking participant). The show has also leaned into the dynamics created by all the contestants having dated each other, to an entertaining effect.

While the couples who seem unlikely to make it are always fun to watch through our cringing, viewers will have more than one couple to root for in season two. The first five episodes span the pod and vacation arcs, inspiring a healthy amount of skepticism balanced with hope. After season one seemed to jump from first meetings to proposals with several couples (the most obvious being Kelly and Kenny, followed by Damian and Gianna), season two takes the time to show how each of the relationships built through the conversations. Quick yet substantial scenes capture the chemistry between the couples as they discuss their pasts and what they want for their lives. Few of the “I love you”s feel jarring, nor are the proposals out of the blue.

The new pod episodes take care to show some of the hypocrisies of the “social experiment” itself. The contestants’ testimonials sound based less on blind faith and more on “This is ridiculous, but it worked once, so I’ll try it.” There’s also more humor, which could be attributed to this round of contestants, who were cast in Chicago rather than season one’s Atlanta. The contestants’ astonishment at the connections they build makes the whole thing a bit more believable. There’s also a lengthy bit where some contestants try to suss out whether the person they’re speaking to is their type, physically. The show gives the recipients space to call out the shallow questioning, but even after tackling issues of race, age, class, sexuality within relationships, it still lacks body diversity.

Love Is Blind also honors the participants’ emotions. Each of the new cast members seem honest and open during their testimonials, which showing the thoughts behind the displays of affection. Most are self-reflective about their dating habits and needs, making it even more surprising when they show interest in someone who doesn’t want the same things.

The series falters when it tries to get ahead of the plot lines and tease big developments. After a big upset between one of the couples, the rest of the cast speculates on what happened without offering anything new, as if we’d forget about the drama while those involved are off-screen. The casts’ interactions onscreen feature some revealing and tender moments, but discussions about people who aren’t there can feel like catty gossiping. One artful shot shows a literal red flag flying in the breeze. These moments signal the discussion that’s sure to crop up around the show, taking the viewer out of the suspension of disbelief that the show needs for the “experiment” to land.

In season two, Love Is Blind proves it knows exactly how to tell the casts’ stories. It avoids the sensationalism of the first season, instead focusing on the relationship building within the pods and balancing that aspect with the love triangles. Once the couples leave the pods, there’s more emotional heft behind their proposals, so viewers remember each person’s intentions behind the drama. Maybe it’s because this second look at love without in-person connection comes after most of the world has gone through some version of their own pod socializing, but this time around, Love Is Blind isn’t just bizarre—it’s moving.