Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Perfect Match’ Season 2 on Netflix, Giving Some Of The Platform’s Most Infamous Dating Show Contestants A Second Shot At Love

Netflix’s Perfect Match is back for a second season, and the all-star dating show is more chaotic and more fun than ever. The show brings together an array of contestants who have all appeared on other Netflix shows to see if any of them can find a love match, but in its second season, it throws in a few twists to shake up the trysts, like bringing in contestants from last season who have some personal history with this season’s contestants.

PERFECT MATCH (SEASON 2): STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “Hi. I’m Nick Lachey,” our host says, decked out in a bathrobe while reclining in a lounge chair. “And right now ten of the sexiest and most eligible singles from all across the world and across the Netflix universe are converging right here in Tulum, Mexico. Why, do you ask? It’s all in the name of love, of course.”

The Gist: Perfect Match combines some of the biggest personalities from other Netflix shows in an attempt to pair up and finally find love. All of the faces are familiar if you watch shows like Too Hot To Handle, The Circle, and Love Is Blind, but some are definitely more infamous than others, namely Harry from Too Hot To Handle, who immediately and proudly claims that he broke up Perfect Match season one winning couple Georgia and Dom when he cheated with Georgia.

As each of the contestants are introduced, we’re reminded of what shows they used to be on and they’re given a cheeky on-screen description. The Trust alum Tolú’s says she has “Main Character Energy,” Love Is Blind‘s Izzy’s says he “Has Amazing Credit Now,” and Harry’s simply says “Too Promiscuous To Handle.” Harry also points out that he’s already dated three former cast members from season one of this show and his reputation precedes him. Tolú exclaims, “They got me in the Harry season?!”

Then Nick Lachey arrives to explain that during their first night in the house, the ten contestants have to create five matches which they’ll self-select, and then they’ll compete in a series of compatibility challenges which will determine if they’re solid matches, or if they want to try dating other people. Throughout the game, new contestants will be thrown in to mix things up, but on the first night, the five men and five women simply have too mingle in order to pair up. The next day, the first challenge involves the five couples trying to use their body momentum to slide on a track, essentially by simulating sex and thrusting their pelvises at each other. Genuine laffs abound watching some of them struggle.

Harry and his match, Too Hot To Handle‘s Elys, prove a surprisingly compatible match, while Bryton (Squid Game: The Challenge) and Dominique (Too Hot To Handle), who were the first match to hit it off, bicker like siblings and seem to exclusively exude toxicity and criticism toward one another. So when Harry and Elys win the challenge, their prize is that they get to go to The Boardroom and choose two new contestants to add to the group. In this case, they decide they want to give Tolú and Dominique the chance to make new matches for themselves, and they choose two new men to enter the game, including Dom, the winner of season one. You’ll recall that Harry cheated with Dom’s ex, Georgia, so on the one hand, it’s surprising that he’d deliberately choose Dom to join the game because that could certainly make some drama for him, but on the other hand… in choosing Dom to go on a date with Tolú, maybe it’s actually a selfless act? I guess we’ll see!

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Perfect Match is like an amalgam of all of Netflix’s dating shows, but with a twist, in that the contestants get to bend the rules and play God every so often when each episode’s winners get to send their fellow competitors on dates with new people.

Our Take: The cast of season two of Perfect Match seems to have been hand-picked for their senses of humor and innate ability to create soundbites. It’s a genuinely fun bunch to watch, especially because, at least in the beginning, they all get along with each other and seem to be invested in each others’ matches. (Of course there can only be one winning couple, but along the way the drama seems to only exist among the more tempestuous couples.)

From the jump, it feels a little like the Harry Jowsey show, given that the Too Hot To Handle star has made a name for himself dating many of the stars within this insular Netflix dating show cohort. But the thing is, Jowsey’s chest-puffing, bed-hopping ways come off as self-aware and he has a quality of forgivability that’s both charming and infuriating. (Maybe it’s just that he’s shed his baby face and gotten more “sturdy” as they say on Bridgerton, but he’s giving me “every character Leo Woodall has ever played” and I’m probably conflating the two men into one adorably smug British scamp.)

I don’t think anyone watching the show expects Harry or his fellow contestants to find marriage on this show (even though many of them claim they want to), but as a social experiment, it’s pretty interesting watching these veteran reality stars turn their past show experiences into a litmus test for what they’re looking for in a partner now.

Sex and Skin: All the contestants are dressing to flirt – think bikini tops, open shirts – and they’re very candid about their sexual proclivities. While we haven’t seen anyone go to bed together just yet, there’s already some toe-licking, and no one on this show is shy about discussing favorite sexual positions or other sexual superlatives.

Parting Shot: “Lord, I already know it’s going to be messy,” Tolú says when she sees that she has been set up with none other than season one winner Dom, who was hand-picked for her by Harry and Elys.

Performance Worth Watching: Too Hot To Handle‘s Harry Jowsey is the man of the hour, mostly because his reputation has managed to intrigue some of the women on the show, while turning off some of the others. “Don’t judge me by my red flags,” he says, summing himself up perfectly.

Memorable Dialogue: “Bryton is an interesting character. He’s someone who wants to be himself at all times,” says contestant Bryton, speaking in third person. Is he going to do this all season?

Our Call: STREAM IT! Perfect Match is good summer fun. While we truly don’t have much invested in who wins the show or whether any love matches are actually found, with a series like this, it’s more about the journey than the destination.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.