We all know it’s possible to develop to develop deep, passionate feelings about someone you only know through their voice. It’s called “listening to a podcast.” But would you agree to marry your favorite podcaster, sight unseen?

This is the conceit of “Love Is Blind,” a Netflix reality show about 28 hopeful singles who step into custom-built pods (coincidence? we think not) and speak to each other through an illuminated but completely opaque wall. After a dating period, some couples choose to get engaged, after which they’re able to meet face-to-face, enjoy a honeymoon together in Mexico, and then spend a few weeks living together in their hometown. The grand finale is a legally binding wedding; at the altar, each half of the couple responds “yes” or “no” to the wedding vows to reveal whether they wish to marry the person they met in the pods.

Season 2 of the series just dropped, with the finale — in which we learned which couples would say “I do” in front of all their nearest and dearest — hitting Netflix on Friday.

While season 1 brought us sweet angel babies Lauren and Cameron, as well as irritating but well-matched Barnett and Amber, season 2 had nothing for us but train wrecks. Of the six couples we see get engaged in the pods, at least three seem to actively dislike each other, and most of the ones who like each other aren’t attracted to each other. Their relationships range from “distant but friendly acquaintance” to “drunk hook-up turned chaotic two-month relationship that ends with a screaming match outside a Denny’s.” Nick and Vanessa Lachey, we beg of you: Do not make any of these people get married.

We’ve also gone from a season with essentially one villain — Jessica, aka “Messica,” who got engaged to Mark but couldn’t stop trying to pry Barnett away from Amber — to a season that is roughly half villains, several of whom seem like worse people, fundamentally, than a Jessica who was mostly drunk and spiraling.

Take Shake, who starts his pod experience by asking the women, through thinly disguised questions (“would I have trouble lifting you on my shoulders at a music festival?”), how much they weigh. He seems to have a breakthrough by connecting with Deepti, and through their conversations he processes how he dealt with his own body insecurities by seeking out thin and conventionally hot partners. But once he’s with Deepti in the real world, his superficiality takes over again; soon, he’s sharing his lack of sexual attraction to his fiancée with everyone but her, and in cruelly mocking terms.

Heading into the finale, we were morbidly curious about who would end up legally tying themselves to each other, but not exactly rooting for any of them to take the leap. In this episode, we talk through each couple, from most to least dysfunctional. We also decide whether each person is our enemy (Shake!!!) or our friend (Deeps wlu). Enjoy! xo

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We’ve been supporting…

This has been a rough news week. Between virulent anti-trans/anti-gay governing directives and legislation in Texas and Florida, and Putin launching the most significant war Europe has seen in 80 years by invading Ukraine, there has been a lot to feel depressed and scared about. In an effort to feel less useless, we’ve been donating.

Here are some organizations that you can support:

• Transgender Education Network of Texas, which works to lift up the voices of Transgender Texans.

• Allgo, a Texas organization which nurtures and celebrates queer people of color by building, educating, and mobilizing communities toward a just and equitable society.

• Zebra Coalition, a Florida-based network of organizations which provide services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and all youth (LGBTQ+) ages 13 – 24.

• Fiesta Youth, an organization supporting and empowering LGBTQ+ youth in San Antonio, Texas.

• Nova Ukraine, a Ukraine-based nonprofit which provides citizens with food, household and clothing essentials.

• People In Need, which is providing humanitarian aid to over 200,000 people on the ground in Ukraine. They provide food packages, emergency shelter, safe access to drinking water, hygiene items, and coal for heating.

We’ve been reading…

“The Season: A Social History of the Debutante” by Kristen Richardson. As a lover of Jane Austen novels, and Regency romance novels distantly inspired by her biting romantic comedies, I had always been vaguely aware of the shared DNA that linked them to “The Bachelor.” But never having paid much attention to the more recent incarnations of the debutante tradition, the connective tissue between them had been less obvious to me. As soon as I picked up Richardson’s history, however, the ongoing influence of the debutante in American society — its purpose, its form, the values it promoted, the rituals that shaped it — came into sharp focus. Highly recommend. -Claire

Shamefully, I had never read Eve Babitz’s “Sex and Rage.” After she died, I ordered it from Bookshop, and because it was backordered, I just received it. Hot take: Babitz, a great writer. -Emma

We’ve been watching…

“The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window,” a bizarre Netflix series starring Kristen Bell as Anna, a grieving mom who drowns her sorrows in giant glassfuls of red wine and preoccupies herself by watching her neighbors through her upscale suburban window. If you’ve read or seen “The Woman in the Window,” it’s basically that — but a spoof. The show mostly leans more into reproducing the genre elements rather than parodying them, though there are enough goofy moments to make clear, periodically, that it’s not a serious show. It’s almost as if the goal was to intentionally create something camp, a so-bad-it’s-good delight, which I’m leery of. But Bell and the cast are phenomenal, and there are a couple of genuine laughs each episode… plus, I somehow got sucked into caring about the ludicrous “mystery.” There are worse ways to spend a laundry-folding marathon. -Claire

“Love Is Blind: Japan,” because I simply needed more. Is this cause for concern? Probably. -Emma

We’ve been listening to…

“Chameleon,” the Campside Media podcast about the scammer who convinced countless Hollywood strivers that they had just gotten their big break. Typically posing as big-name female producers like Amy Pascal and Debbie Snyder, the scammer would offer up-and-comers in the industry a job on a blockbuster movie filming in Indonesia — but once they arrived, having fronted their own travel expenses with promises of reimbursement, the promised meetings with production would never happen. I remembered reading some news coverage about this years ago, but nothing that cracked the mystery, so when my brother mentioned this podcast, I was intrigued. The first season of the pod, created by Vanessa Grigoriadis and Josh Dean, dives into the details of the scam, and slowly unravels the identity and motivations of the person behind it. -Claire

“Twin Flames,” a new Wondery podcast about Jeff and Shaleia, a young couple who got big on YouTube because of their romantic coaching — specifically their quest to help the lovelorn find their “Twin Flame,” a divine love connection that followers were encouraged to pursue at any cost. The podcast interviews former members of the cult-like community that Jeff and Shaleia formed, and it’s chilling stuff, which exposes how our cultural obsession over the primacy of couples can be harnessed in really dangerous ways. -Emma

We’ve been buying…

My makeup journey continues. This week I dipped my toes further into Kosas and DIBS, and grabbed Kosas’ brand new foundation to try, as well as DIBS’ Lip Definer (I’ve been using their Lip Liner, which doubles as lipstick, and been loving it). -Emma

I’ve been making a number of purchases that didn’t work out lately — Everlane wide-leg jeans that just didn’t fit me right, moisturizer that broke me out, a dress that looked dreamy on the model and pioneer-frumpy on me. Currently I have a sack full of returns to make and a lingering sense of guilt for all the wasted deliveries, and I just want to go back to trying on jeans in store. Here’s something that has worked out, so far: the Mielle Honey & Ginger Styling Gel that my stylist used after my last haircut. It’s a lighter hold than I usually use, but it’s so slippery and moisturizing and smells like a spicy tea. -Claire

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