‘Love Is Blind’ Season 3 Review: A Fascinating Relationship Study, with All the Drama You Love

Love Is Blind changed Netflix when it debuted in February 2020. It proved that Netflix could turn out high-concept and high-stakes reality romance shows that make Love Island and The Bachelor look tame, and ultimately led the streaming service to launch a year-round reality romance lineup including Too Hot to Handle, The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, Indian Matchmaking, Love On the Spectrum, Dated & Related and lord knows what else is coming. Some of these shows were fascinating explorations of how people from different backgrounds approach relationships, and another followed a dozen sex idiots boning their way to bankruptcy. Now Love Is Blind, the show that redefined Netflix’s approach to reality TV, is back for Season 3 and… it… feels like a brand new show?

The question mark is there because, yes, I am incredibly surprised by this. Season 1 was a reality show car crash, the likes of which we’d never seen before. Season 2 didn’t have the newness working for it, so it went full-on bananas and gave us maybe the most chaotic reality TV season on Netflix. Now we’re at Season 3 and… as someone who paid way too close attention to Love Is Blind Seasons 1 and 2 (as well as the After the Alter follow-ups, so help me god), it feels wild to report that I think Love Is Blind has somehow… become a good show? And I don’t mean “good” like how watching Shaina destroy people with a squint was good TV. I mean Love Is Blind may have become a well-crafted reality show — nay, a docuseries — about the incredibly complex, at times confusing, sometimes dangerous world of love. Who saw this coming? Certainly not I, for I remember when a dog was given a goblet of wine on this very show.

But having seen the first 10 episodes of Season 3 (no spoilers ahead!), I feel I can confidently state this is a season unlike the previous two, and the differences are significant. This is first evident in the dating portion of the season, because it speeds by with comparatively few jaw-dropping moments. Season 2 treated the pods like traps as the singles blindly walked into one mortifying misunderstanding after another. This time around, though, the pods and proposals fly by. Don’t let the slow start fool you, because the real drama starts when the honeymoons begin.

What follows is a series of incredibly tense interactions and even harder conversations. The couples talk about uncomfortable issues, address seemingly insurmountable differences, and unpack lots of deep psychological issues (and sometimes their partners notice… sometimes). The editing keeps you in every conversation for what feels like an eternity, like you’re locked in the room with these strangers and you can’t find the key.

All that being said, this dramatic reinterpretation of Love Is Blind still has plenty of moments that will make you wince, cackle, and scream. The men are particularly great for reality TV, as most of them spend the entire season with their feet firmly shoved ankle-deep in their mouths. The show is as addictive as ever, once the show gets out of the pods and into the real world, and it will definitely spark plenty of conversations (and, more importantly, memes). But honestly, the  most surprising thing about Love Is Blind Season 3 is that somehow this show figured out a way to weave complex relationship studies through all the drunken shenanigans we expect from Netflix reality shows. Could a deeper, smarter Too Hot to Handle be next…?

Love Is Blind Season 3 kicks off on Netflix on Wednesday, October 19.