Our Dallas “Love Is Blind” crew has officially returned to the small screen. And with them they brought some drama, some laughs, some true clubwear-at-brunch *lewks*, and a lingering question: When the hell was this thing filmed?

Here are a few things we knew:

1. Bartise said on Instagram that he had filmed three shows — “LIB,” “Perfect Match” and “After The Altar” before any of them aired.

2. They repeatedly reference it being a year since the weddings on “After The Altar,” and we know that filming wrapped on the original show in June 2021.

3. It appears to be summer as SK is on his first summer break after 1 year of graduate school.

4. The reunion was, according to production, filmed during a similar time period — “early autumn” 2022.

5. In both the reunion and the After The Altar special, Cole and Zanab indicate that they haven’t spoken since their wedding.

This may seem silly — who really cares? — but the lack of timeline made it hard to place the events of “After The Altar” in context. For example, how much time passed between SK *re-proposing* (!!!!!) to Raven and the cheating allegations that ultimately led to the end of their relationship? (See: The aforementioned NEW ENEMY in the headline of this post.) Did the proposal happen before or after the reunion was filmed? Did Zay and Cole have a conversation at Alexa’s 28th birthday party and make nice before going at each other during the reunion? It’s all a bit confusing.

After recording our whole recap and debating the timeline, we finally got an answer confirmed, which made it all make sense: “After The Altar” was filmed up to AND shortly after the reunion. Mystery solved! Hallelujah!

On this week’s pod we discuss more than the timeline (we promise!!). We get into the thriving marriage of the Lemieuxs, Matt and Colleen’s living situation, Bartise’s fuckery (especially when it comes to Nancy), SK and Raven’s disappointing end, and how absolutely mismatched Cole and Zanab always were. Enjoy! Xo

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We’ve been reading…

I’ve started reading the galleys (early reader copies) of two of my lovely friends’ forthcoming novels: Laura Hankin’s “The Daydreams” and Alison Rose Greenberg’s “Maybe Once, Maybe Twice.” 10/10 recommend pre-ordering both of these absolute gems. -Emma

“The Daydreams” is so good!!!! Can’t wait for everyone to get to read it.

So, my recommendations in last week’s newsletter were a bit of a cry for help, and hopefully also marked the rock bottom of my winter depression! This week I saw a glint of daylight amid the clouds, so I decided to make the most of it and expend the energy to do things that actually make me happier. I made pancakes with the toddler, folded the laundry mountain that had been accumulating for weeks, got work done on schedule, and finished reading Katy Simpson Smith’s “The Weeds” instead of staring at my phone during every free moment. I’d been having trouble getting into the book, with its fragmented, dual-narrator structure and its frequent botanical digressions, but once I made time to surrender to its flow, the momentum soon carried me. It’s out in April. -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

The first two episodes of the new season of the investigative “Smoke Screen” podcast. This season, “Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure” investigates the story of former missionary Mark Grenon and his three sons, all of whom were indicted in 2021 for selling toxic bleach (dubbed Miracle Mineral Solution) as a fraudulent cure for everything from Covid-19 to malaria to autism. -Em ma

Despite shaking off my doldrums a bit, I have not gotten my podcast mojo back — lately, anything that goes in my ears seems to bounce off my brain, and I keep turning off shows after realizing I haven’t absorbed a single word. A positive listening experience from this week: On Saturday, I put on Camera Obscura while I made dinner with the toddler, and it turns out he’s finally old enough to hear “grown-up music” without having an entire meltdown and demanding to put on “The Wheels on the Bus.” -Claire

We’ve been watching…

I craved a comfort watch this week, so I went back to one of my all-time favorites: “The First Wives Club.” This 1996 gem has it all: Diane Keaton! Bette Midler! Goldie Hawn! Maggie Smith! Sarah Jessica Parker! Stockard Channing! ‘90s New York City! A revenge plot! Female friendship! A Gloria Steinem cameo! Just perfection. -Emma

We finally saw a movie! Our evening free time keeps shrinking (the child has decided his bedtime is 8:30 and we have been unsuccessful in nudging it back) and movies, meanwhile, seem to be getting longer? What happened to a tight 90 minutes? So we rarely even try these days. But finally we set aside two whole nights to watch “Tár,” which turned out to be much trippier and more intriguing than the discourse had made it sound. Although, yes, obviously it is concerned with “cancel culture” and the tension between pure aestheticism and moral judgment. Definitely worth two nights of my life! -Claire

We’ve been buying…

Well, it happened again. The new Hill House drop got me. I am absolutely obsessed with two of their new silhouettes: the Adeline dress, which is a perfect tenty mini (so comfy! so cute!), and the Matilda, which can be easily dressed down for a city dinner or dressed up for a wedding. (And yes I have actually already tried both of these on because I went to the Rockefeller Center store.) -Emma

We all know I’m also a Hill House girlie, but my order hasn’t arrived yet so I’m not making any recommendations as of this moment. Instead, a little life update: We finally just replaced our mostly-white quilt, after six years, innumerable pee splatters (from the baby) and poop smears (from our somewhat incontinent but snuggle-happy cat), and countless (surprisingly successful) washes. The final straw? Our son had an explosive nosebleed all over our bed. We actually did get the blood out, but I had already made up my mind; we deserved a new bedspread. I ordered this pick-stitch striped quilt, which was on sale at the time (sadly no longer) and matching shams. On the pro side, it’s heavy and sturdy and not literally dissolving from hundreds of scalding-hot washes; on the con side, it doesn’t fit in our small washing machine, so I have to figure out how to make sure the cat never touches it. -Claire

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