“The Real You” does a lot to reveal the truth behind a lot of this season’s relationships. Eventually, everyone’s true intentions come out over the course of their respective 90 days, but red flags get waved quickly here. While some of the couples, like Brandon and Julia, and Jovi and Yara, are young, innocent fools making the best of their international romance, the other couples are making, like, huge life-altering mistakes.
Look at Andrew and Amira, for example. Amira trusted Andrew’s plan. Now she’s being detained, and all her fiancé can do is call baggage claim at the airport and ask if anyone speaks English. Amira’s father is worried, and now he has to talk to a grown man with a ponytail. It’s unfortunate Andrew had to meet Amira’s dad under these circumstances, but Andrew created the circumstances! He knew the possibilities and pushed Amira to take this risk. He does seem upset that his plan didn’t work, but he wasn’t showing enough guilt for me. I really hope this is enough for Amira to end their relationship. She deserves better than this in every way.
Stephanie is getting exactly what she deserves. Ryan ignores her 14 phone calls, and she can’t get in touch with him to tell him the obvious: She can’t go to Belize because the borders are closed. Ryan tells her that he’s been busy working. You know, at his resort job that’s … incredibly busy with tourists when the borders are closed? Not that it matters, because Stephanie knows exactly how much Ryan is working. Remember, she secretly pays his wages because her friend owns the resort! So, Stephanie knows Ryan is just ignoring her, but she also can’t say that without revealing the truth. Then it all reaches a wonderful peak of silliness when Ryan starts saying his job and earning a paycheck is what makes him feel good.
Stephanie is financially manipulating the situation, and she’s quick to bring up the money she gives him. But Ryan is right: She does all of that because she can’t say sorry, and she has a lot to apologize for. She slept with his cousin, and the job he loves so much was her creation. When Ryan says he has no interest in going to America and doesn’t know why they’re engaged, I had to give the guy kudos. He is absolutely being upfront about his feelings. I think Stephanie can only relate to cats now, though, because it just went over her head. It was like she was only listened to how many times he said her name, and everything else was gibberish. If he drains her bank account, that’s on her.
I love that this season has more male scammers, honestly. It’s a little better than the usual dynamic: Man lies about his wealth, only to bring his well-meaning fiancée to an apartment where she does not get a dresser. Twice this episode, men tell the grown adult women they’ve asked to live with them that they expect them to hang up all of their clothes in a closet. I don’t know if this is a widespread misconception about women, but I don’t think we prefer to hang our clothes on hangers. Personally, I think it’s annoying.
Imagine you travel across the world and you just want to unpack your stuff and a man throws a bunch of wire hangers at your stack of T-shirts? Mike and Tarik both subjected their fiancées to this, and it’s the first time I truly want to scold either one of them. Emptying out dresser space for your partner is like Relationship 101. Mike tried to act like it was a big deal to talk about it, but dude, it’s a dresser. I thought Natalie’s nice-girl act was strange, but her conversation with her mom made it clear: Even though she wants to scream about everything, she thinks she has to act sweet to get that ring back. She’s still Natalie though, so she just can’t do it. The moment she brought up the smell in the closet, Mike said “strike three” in his head. He is not going to marry her.
Tarik was worse than Mike, though. It’s one thing to tell an adult they have to hang all their clothes up. It’s an entirely different thing to tell them you also expect them to share a bed with your child for the foreseeable future. Tarik seems to think he can subject Hazel to a lot of nonsense because she comes from a poor background, and that really isn’t fair. From their wedding to their sleeping arrangements, he really doesn’t give her space to negotiate or compromise.
Hazel has only been in America for two days, and she has every right to be annoyed. Tarik doesn’t have Hazel’s best interest in mind. When she finally met his daughter, he said he couldn’t ask for anything more at that moment. What about Hazel’s son? He didn’t even think to mention Hazel’s son! At least Tarik’s friends called him out a bit and seemed to reassure Hazel — even if they forced her to awkwardly wear that scarf for the entire evening.
Finally, we have mirroring narratives with Jovi and Yara/Rebecca and Zied. As Jovi departs, Zied arrives, and we get to know them both a little better. Look, I thought Jovi and Yara would be this season’s fake couple that’s on the show for Instagram followers, but I am really rooting for these two! I love that they cleared the air before his flight and she made sure to explain her feelings and say she wasn’t mad! I loved that Jovi understood her feelings and frustration! I know I’m just explaining basic human communication, but for 90 Day Fiancé, this is not something you see a lot.
Yara also has some of Jovi’s friends to hang out with, and they aren’t afraid to be honest with her. I think they’re curious to see how much Jovi has really changed or if he’s just going to get sick of this after a few weeks. I believe in Jovi and Yara’s love, however.
And maybe … I even believe in Rebecca and Zied’s relationship too. I’ve been pretty harsh on Zied because I think he wants to get five years out of a relationship with Rebecca then run for the hills with his green card. I still think that’s true, so I get why her daughter and future son-in-law were watching them, but come on. Did they really have to go to the airport and force Zied to get drinks? I don’t trust Zied, but I don’t think he was going to do anything horrible to Rebecca in the hours immediately after landing at the airport. The man just got off an 18-hour flight, let him rest. I rarely like to take Zied’s side, but he has traveled across the world to be with a woman who has his face plastered on her credit card, bedspread, towels, curtains, and car interior. Leave them alone to do what they came here to do!
