Welcome to Love Is Blind's Postmodern Era

From a structural standpoint, Love Is Blind has hardly changed since it premiered in February 2020, but the show has long since passed the point where it can be described solely as a dating experiment. Over the past two seasons, in particular, cast members have become more aware of the cameras and the way they're perceived by viewers, with Season 4's Micah Lussier and Irina Solomonova embracing their inner villain in a bid for screen time, and Season 5's Lydia Velez Gonzalez and Uche Okoroha hiding their relationship history from producers and the other participants. Still, it's easy enough for these members of the Pod Squad to maintain plausible deniability: Maybe Micah and Irina are just bullies in real life, and Lydia and Uche truly believed their past relationship was irrelevant because they formed strong connections with other people.

The same can't be said for Season 6 single Matthew, who makes one of the worst first impressions we've seen yet on Love Is Blind. (And that includes the guy who loved cheetah print and asked Bliss Poureetezadi if she's "ever murdered anybody.") Within the opening minutes of the premiere, it becomes clear that Matthew, a 36-year-old financial advisor, is far more concerned with selling a specific version of himself to the viewing public than actually meeting the Charlotte-based women on the other side of the wall. How ironic, considering he promises AD, a real estate broker (and former cheerleader for the New England Patriots), that his intentions for coming on the show are pure: "I'm certainly not doing this to become a C-list celebrity," he tells her.

Matthew characterizes himself as a small-town guy stepping out of his comfort zone in hopes of meeting his perfect match. "Having conversations about our emotions is probably not somewhere I would excel," he says in a confessional, explaining that while it may seem like he has a "cold personality," it's only because he feels "uncomfortable" talking about love. "But if I can find my wife from this experience, then I guess that's something I'm willing to do."

But Matthew's actions run counter to the narrative he's writing about himself. He arrives at his first round of dates with a list of numbered questions and slings snarky comments when the women pick one that's already been requested by someone else ("Try to be something different," he says), and balks when someone asks a question of him in return. Even more telling, he walks out on a date altogether after deeming Sarah Ann, a customer service manager, too long-winded.

And yet, Matthew manages to charm AD, who describes him as "a pistachio" with a hard shell and soft interior. AD admits she rarely goes for "the nice guy" — her other connection, outgoing entrepreneur Clay, is more her type — but because she "want[s] something real," she's open to exploring a relationship with the awkward, introverted Matthew.

For their first few days in the pods, it seems like AD has found what she's been looking for in Matthew. Jokes about their biggest fears give way to more intimate discussions about the recent death of AD's father, and by the end of the premiere, Matthew explicitly states that he intends to get down on one knee, although he says he doesn't know if he "could propose to somebody without asking permission" from their father first. "There's a large part of me that thinks there's really only two outcomes from this, and that's either with you or not," he says. "You give me the word. If you want to leave, I'll leave with you... I'll take you to the top of the mountain and propose to you."

AD leaves the conversation "smitten," but her pre-engagement bliss is short-lived. In the women's quarters the next day, her friend Amber gushes about her own date with Matthew, revealing, "He talked about, like, asking my dad. And if he can't do that, we can leave. I was like, 'I'm fine with that. I'll leave too.'"

Love Is Blind doesn't show any footage of Matthew and Amber's date, which suggests the cameras weren't rolling at the time, but her retelling is so similar to AD's experience that it raises major red flags. AD tells another friend that she feels "like a f*cking idiot" for believing Matthew, when in fact he's been repeating the same lines "almost verbatim" to another woman. "I don't want to be the one feeling like I'm really looking for love, and the boys just are playing another football match," she says.

When AD confronts Matthew, he denies telling her and Amber the same thing before invoking the show in his defense, saying, "I'm being recorded. It's not like I can hide that." This is manipulative, in and of itself: While there may have been robo cameras mounted in the pods, it doesn't seem like a camera crew was physically present for his most recent date with Amber — why else would Netflix not treat viewers to that footage? — which is something Matthew would know, and AD would not. He then flips the conversation back around and suggests both AD and Love Is Blind are somehow to blame for the debacle. "You watch the show?" he asks. "You think me proposing is, like, the most romantic thing ever. I would love to give you that moment. The moment would be the one of the greatest moments of your life. You thought that was going to happen with me... And then you may get to the end of this and somebody doesn't even propose. And that probably hurts."

Later, after Amber decides to "bow out" of the experiment — "What the actual f*ck is wrong with men?" she asks aloud, all but ensuring her moment of viral fame — AD stands her ground, insisting Matthew "played with" her feelings. She leaves the door open for an apology or an acknowledgement that there's something worth salvaging here, but he's too focused on how fans will react to the situation to engage with her. "America, they do love a good underdog, and they do love comebacks. I think I've now got the entire country of America on my side," Matthew says. The comment elicits a deserved eye roll from AD, who accuses him of "thinking about the lights and the camera and the action" rather than "the process" of finding love.

As they say goodbye, Matthew says he's sniffling not because of his breakup with AD or Amber's departure, but because he "broke somebody's heart on national TV" and "America's going to be watching." When he storms into the men's quarters, he declares he's "going to go get Amber," and while the show doesn't follow up on this particular development, her earlier comment suggests she won't be open to rekindling their romance.

Matthew's inability to separate the dating experiment from the experience of being on the show is the surest sign yet that Love Is Blind has entered its postmodern era, a period marked by participants so familiar with the process that they believe they can manipulate the drama to their advantage. This makes for fascinating, self-referential TV, but in Matthew's case, it also spells his doom: His desire to play producer is the final nail in the coffin for him and AD, who leaves the pods happily engaged to Clay. As the Netflix franchise continues to expand, it stands to reason that Matthew won't be the last single to attempt to control the narrative, but for now, his journey serves as a cautionary tale about the cost of trying to game Love Is Blind.

The first six episodes of Love Is Blind Season 6 are streaming on Netflix, with subsequent episodes dropping in batches every Wednesday through March 6. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.