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Love is Blind endured a season in which no one made it to “I do,” but it never lacked confidence in its bizarre social experiment. Season 10 marks a milestone for the reality Netflix juggernaut, surviving five years of streaming and somehow finding a place on the list of Netflix’s longest running original series. This season is also personal for one of the series’ hosts, as all the couples bracing the pods are from the great state of Ohio, which is the same state that gave us Nick Lachey (and weirdly half the staff of Den of Geek).
If you’re thinking: Ohio is an interesting choice, you’re not alone! Ohio has long occupied a strange place in the internet’s imagination. It doesn’t quite have the same gnarly reputation as Florida, but it’s certainly not viewed in a normal way by the people who’ve only flown over it. Since the mid-2010s, the “Only in Ohio” meme surge soundtracked by Lil B’s anthem “Swag Like Ohio” inflated the Buckeye State’s image online. By 2022, TikTok had turned Ohio into a digital fever dream. Creators heavily leaned into the state’s supposed uncanny valley vibe, making absurd, glitch-in-the-simulation images look like an average day in Ohio.
So when the Midwest singles were announced, one question emerged: would this season humanize Ohio or confirm everything the internet already thinks? Based on the first batch of episodes, the answer might be worse.
This season feels painfully mid. It’s bloated with way too many engagements, uneven screen time, and much fewer unforgettable pod moments. But buried in these skippable episodes are flashes of moments that felt strange and uniquely Ohio. Maybe these moments won’t go viral in the same way Andrew did with his eye drops in season 3, but they’re strange enough to linger.
If anything good came from this first batch of episodes, it confirmed that Ohio has not yet been eliminated. Here are the most “Only in Ohio” moments that deserve to be turned into noise edits with cryptic text and zero coherent context.
Mr. Brightside Connor
There’s nothing more Ohio than proudly declaring that your favorite song is “Mr. Brightside.” To be fair, it’s not like it’s an out-of-place deep cut, and it’s still far more reasonable than Zach and Bliss’ season 4 pick,“I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack. So when Connor, one of the cast members who makes it out of the pods engaged, announces that The Killers anthem is his “favorite of all time” to Briana, a University of Michigan alumna, it feels like a romantic regional destiny.
There’s something so charmingly corny about Connor walking out of the pods to that booming melodramatic chorus like he’s emerging from some kind of suburban coliseum and not a Netflix soundstage. It’s not only funny on the surface, it’s also hilarious how earnest this introduction to Connor feels. This is him. Your classic millennial Ohioan who loves The Killers and is passionately anti-Ohio State. Only in Ohio could “Mr. Brightside” function as both a love language and cultural shorthand.
“Notebook-Esque” First Time
Not all Ohio men are charming, as evidenced by singles from the Midwest like Amber saying at the couples’ first meetup she normally has “a strong distaste for men.” There’s always a Shake-from-season-2-adjacent menace lurking in the pods, and Steven is no exception. But unlike Shake, he doesn’t leave engaged.
At first, he seemed harmless enough with Emma. But that facade cracked when she shared the story behind the scars on her arm from a childhood surgery and how bullying left her feeling undesirable for years.
Instead of responding with, say, empathy, he grabbed another White Claw and made it his turn to be vulnerable. Apparently, the most vulnerable thing one could share is a retelling of losing their virginity with the self-awareness of a middle school boy. He called it “Notebook-esque” and pressed Emma about her first time because women’s first times are always also perfect and never awkward or uncomfortable.
Poor Steven was shocked when hers wasn’t cinematic and that she wasn’t pursued in that way until college. Then, to make an uncomfortable situation worse, he called her “a late bloomer” right after she talked about being bullied. The fact that this happened in the first episode set the stage for the tone of the season. Fortunately, the other men had more redeemable conversations, but Steven is not exactly a shining example of Ohio’s dating pool.
Keya Standing on Business
We’ve seen plenty of women enter reality dating shows claiming to be a “girls’ girl” after the internet reacted to Micah and Irina’s behavior in season 4. People have done lots of unadmirable things on this show, but get called a “mean girl” on TikTok, and your life is basically over.
Keya stood 10 toes down, calling out Kevan for keeping her around until the last minute. She only got clarity from him after his other connection, Tyler L., left. While one can admire Kevan’s honesty, he should’ve known by how calmly Keya reacted to all his indecisiveness that a storm was coming.
What followed was simultaneously the most respectful and the nastiest dismantling of a man on reality TV. The way Keya let down Kevan with such cunning precision and grace deserves to be studied. Because when else has a cast member told a man in his 30s that he was never ready for marriage and needs to get his shit together, only for him to thank her for her time afterward? That’s how well Keya read him. He literally thanked her for destroying his confidence after thinking he had it all figured out.
She also brought up Tyler and asserted that she also deserved better. Normally, when women try to be more ballsy and speak plainly on this show, it’s received poorly, but Keya held her head high, wasn’t overly rude, and still let Kevan down painfully. This has to be an “Only in Ohio” moment because how often do we see a harsh breakup delivered this seamlessly?
“I Expected a Little More Depth to This”
We finally leave the pods in episode 5 and get a taste of what the cast is like in the real world. As usual, people acted differently when meeting face-to-face, but this time it was so unsettling how guarded everyone was at the first couples meetup that Briana told multiple people she expected “a little more depth” to the gathering. Where is the vulnerability? What happened to the hours of conversations all these people spent getting to know each other? Why is everyone acting like strangers? It’s fair to say, she wanted to cut to the uncomfortable talks with pod exes
Conversations between pod exes rarely go well. There’s always a few uncomfortable moments of borderline cheating that end up getting played at the reunion. Before she and Connor really spent time getting to know each other, Briana wanted a vulnerable and vaguely flirty conversation with Chris that delivered closure beyond their pod breakup. And her desire for that conversation, even if it was innocent, made Connor very uncomfortable. It’s not looking like their shared love of “Mr. Brightside” is enough to propel Connor and Briana to the altar.
All Devo Wants To Do Is Read A Book And Watch The Sunrise
After finding out they’re the only couple that hasn’t consummated their engagement, Brittany W. can’t help but wonder if Devo is holding back emotionally because she hasn’t welcomed sex in their very new union. In turn, Brittany tells him she’s open to taking that next step if it will bring them closer, but Devo remains guarded. God forbid a man wants to sit in silence and not talk about his emotions on the “talk about your emotions” show.
As Brittany builds up the strength to confront Devo, telling him she doesn’t even feel engaged, he explains with the classic Midwestern reasoning that sometimes he just doesn’t want to talk. He’d rather read outside while watching the sun rise instead of staying in bed until Brittany wakes up. She originally didn’t want to rush into a sexual relationship, and that’s fine because outside of the pods, Devo doesn’t want to be intimate with her period, emotionally or physically. Production also did him so dirty zooming in on his feet during this conversation for absolutely no reason. Thank you, Love Is Blind, for creating even more uncomfortable Ohio memes.
Telling Your Fiancée They’re Not Your Type
At the first couples meetup, people didn’t have too many complaints about their respective partners, but if he had to say something negative, Alex H. would tell the guys and Brittany that his fiancée Ashley is not a type he generally goes for. That’s right: Alex, who in all the scenes with just Ashley can’t keep his hands off her, is apparently not into blondes. Could have fooled literally anyone watching. Everyone in the pods likes to say looks don’t matter, but how often does someone add, “It’s not really a problem, but I must tell her she’s not my type”? With their strong physical connection, it feels odd that Alex places such emphasis on his attraction to darker features; a preference he feels so strongly that it’s only right to break the news to Ashley, or else he’s being dishonest.
He also encourages Brittany to tell Devo, who is already guarded, that he’s not her usual type either. Because everyone knows Love is Blind is all about finding the right person who looks exactly like all of your exes. At least these Ohioans are honest?
Messy Suitcases
Mike really doesn’t like that Emma has untidy suitcases. He not only brings it up to the guys as a defining flaw at the first meetup, but also tells Emma later that he hates how unorganized her suitcases are. As long as she got all her stuff from the pods to Mexico, who cares how unorderly she packed them? What an odd thing to get hung up on. It seems like Mike has the same urge that Alex does in looking for red flags for the sake of it. People from Ohio are so ordinary that this cast really has to dig deep to bring the drama.
Turns out Emma’s actual number one, Connor, welcomes the mess and doesn’t stress about clothes left on the bathroom floor, which coincidentally rubs his fiance Briana the wrong way. Hopefully, these messy star crossed lovers find their way back to each other soon.
The first six episodes of Love Island season 10 are available to stream on Netflix now. New episodes premiere Wednesdays, culminating with the finale on March 4.
The post Love Is Blind Season 10’s Most Distinctly Ohio Moments appeared first on Den of Geek.
