This post contains spoilers for the Love Is Blind Season 5 finale.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of a townhouse with a sketchy HVAC system must be in want of a husband who can afford to help her take care of it. That said, Stacy insisted during Love Is Blind’s Season 5 finale that she wasn’t unsure about marrying her fiancé, Izzy, because of his bad credit history.
“I’m not talking about money,” said the woman whose father once told her groom-to-be that, while love might be blind, it also sometimes “wants to fly first class.” Instead, Stacy said, “I’m talking about honesty—trust.”
On Friday, Netflix revealed which Love Is Blind Season 5 couples actually got married after blind dating in the show’s “pods.” Last season, only three pairs made it down the aisle, and this time around, that number dwindled to two—Stacy and Izzy, and Lydia and Milton. If this show is truly a romantic “social experiment,” one wonders at which point a true scientist would decide enough is enough and call it a day.
As charming as Love Is Blind’s ur-couple, Season 1’s Lauren Speed and Cameron Hamilton, might be, subsequent seasons have struggled to capture a romance as compelling as theirs—and our top couple for that distinction this season broke up partway through, thanks to an unfortunate, oddly coincidental love triangle that producers swear was accidental.
This season, almost all of Love Is Blind’s most fascinating twists happened off-screen—like Johnie’s budding relationship with Chris after they both went home single, and Aaliyah’s painful decision to flee the show after finding out that Uche and Lydia had previously dated. Fan-favorite Renee, who has been lurking in the shadows all season, apparently got engaged and made it to the altar in a storyline that went unaired. As tightly produced as this series might’ve been in its first season, this one’s been kind of a mess.
Stacy and Izzy’s fate seemed uncertain from the moment they left the pods. She didn’t love how he showed off his “lost and found” drawer of other women’s possessions when she first visited his apartment, and he didn’t appreciate how appalled she seemed to find that he, a 29-year-old man, owns zero dishes and exclusively uses paper plates and plastic cups. Before he’d even moved in with her, she was asking whether he’d be willing to help pay for a new HVAC system if it broke; he, in turn, declined to mention his bad credit history until the last-possible minute. These two might have chemistry, but when it comes to real-life stuff, there’s little to inspire confidence.
Nevertheless, Izzy had been eager to “fight” for Stacy—a turn of phrase they both seem to love—for just as long as she had doubts. “I don’t care about money. I don’t care about... anything,” he said this week. “She always said that she needs someone that can stick around when shit's hitting the fan, that doesn’t run away, so I’m gonna keep fighting. It’s what you do when you love someone.”
Although Stacy affirmed how much she loved Izzy at the altar, she ultimately said she hadn’t reached “100-percent certainty”—and so, she said “no.” This was a sensible decision for which she should have been rewarded, but despite his cool, calm, collected attitude at the altar, Izzy later confessed that he was hurt. Then, he got more pointed.
“It makes me wonder, why are you 33 and single and not married?” Izzy told producers in a confessional interview. “I’m 29 years old, and I can give you everything that fucking rich 45-year-old man that you always go for and always fail with can’t give you.”
It’s unclear what, precisely, made Izzy change his mind from the altar, where he said that “it’s fair to the both of us to be in that right spot.” By all accounts, Stacy made a rational decision; the pair obviously has a lot to work out, and while she didn’t want to break up, she asked for more time to resolve it. Izzy, meanwhile, later insisted that, because of this decision, he had to wonder: “When is ever going to be the right time?” Maybe after more than a few weeks?
Stacy vowed to do whatever it takes to fix things, but Izzy seems like he might be eager to end things before she can (because he’s convinced she inevitably will). We’ll have to stay tuned until the cast reunion debuts on Sunday to find out whether they’re still together. But as inevitable as Stacy and Izzy’s differing feelings at the altar might’ve been, I’ll admit that Milton saying “yes” to Lydia caught me by surprise.
It’s not that I don’t think these two are deeply in love. On the contrary, they seem to be fully enraptured in the kind of romance that makes “blind” weirdos out of everyone. Still, Milton is so… floppy.
Lydia and Milton’s age gap came up a few times throughout the season; she was 30 at the time of filming, and he was 24. To make things harder, he’s a really “24-year-old” kind of 24-year-old. As in, he claims to be nationally ranked on Pokémon Showdown—which, though technically true, might inflate viewers expectations of his actual ranking, as fact-checked by the game’s official account on social media. Milton is the kind of guy who, when in need of a pencil to write out some last-minute vows at the wedding venue, dumps out his entire bag on the floor to look for one. (I will say this: With all those dental floss picks, he’s really taking care of his oral health.) This is a guy who walked all the way down the aisle before asking his wedding officiant if his jacket should be buttoned—and who, weeks ago, responded to his sister’s serious, reasonable questions about his relationship by calling them “super uncomfortable” and asking her to “chill out, dude.”
In spite of this—and their differing communication styles; the warning from Lydia’s ex, Uche, who claims she obsessively followed his female friends on social media and once sent him a photo of his driveway with the words “I see you;” and the explosive fight that ensued afterward when Lydia claimed Uche had been unfaithful and was mischaracterizing her—these two crazy kids still said “I do.” Then, he missed his cue and kissed her before the ring was even on her finger.
Once again, this season ended with testimonial interviews from all of its participants—including exes like American flag-enthusiast JP and kindergarten teacher Taylor, who broke up earlier this season (basically) because he didn’t like how much make-up she wore during their reveal. Although many of them are either broken up or have wound up dating different partners from the ones they initially chose in the pods, the cast once again attested to the power of this “experiment.” No matter how many twists this show adds, however, it’s hard to shake the feeling that each season is somehow more predictable than the last.
