The Love Is Blind Season 8 Political Talks Are Making Me ITCHY

Love is Blind is one of those silly reality shows I know I can't take too seriously. These people are trying to find their one and only on a Netflix show, and you know what? That's fine. At least Season 8 of the hit show has been a little more refreshing than previous seasons. With just the weddings left to air, it's been pretty boring in terms of drama and big reveals.

Except for all the political talk. Specifically, hearing two couples — Sara and Ben, Virginia and Devin — bring up their feelings on voting, social justice, and religion.

Y'all. It's making me itchy.

It's not because I think those things are uncomfortable to talk about. On the contrary! The entire premise of the show is to fall in love with someone for who they are first and then see what they look like later. So I'm constantly amazed at how few "deep" conversations many of the couples have while in the pods, instead covering the same "first date" bullshit you could have with a guy at the Starbucks counter, like, "Do you want kids?" and "What's your dream career?" Sure, yes, that's important, but if you know that dating a guy who votes conservative or has a differing opinion than you on abortion rights is going to be a problem, why wouldn't that be the first thing you'd ask them?

Yes, Virginia, I'm talking to you.

To be fair, what's happening throughout this entire season is smart, capable, confident women having to explain over and over to their flustered, bumbling fiancés why they think it's important to give a shit about other people. It doesn't seem like anyone is actually fighting through opposing viewpoints; it's just obvious that these guys have never given it much thought. They live in Minneapolis, yet Sara still has to really push Ben in the pods to talk about George Floyd and the rise of Black Lives Matter. And even then, bro's response is that he just tries to "stay out of it."

Sir.

(Dare we even mention that he shared in the Year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-Four that he didn't even vote in the last election? Or that Sara had to ask him to clarify that he would be OK being around her gay sister? Babe.)

This isn't 1996 anymore. You can't just vote a different political party than your partner (or not vote at all) and it mean that you just have differing views on taxes or war. Things are much heavier now, much more intense, and people (usually women) have incredibly strong feelings about where they stand. It's one thing I have really appreciated about this season of Love is Blind — the women are solid. They are strong and confident in their feelings and are comfortable expressing them to their soon-to-be husbands, even if the reaction they're getting in return isn't that great.

Now I'm talking to you, Ben.

On their very last date before the wedding, Ben looked like he was holding in an eye roll as Sara shared how she went out of her way to listen to a sermon from his church (a church she's also already attended with him and was deeply unsure about) to see if she could connect. She's putting in the work and making a compromise to keep her husband happy, but he seems completely unwilling to do the same.

Sara shares that she didn't appreciate the LGBT messaging of the church, and Ben's reaction is so gross. I shouted, "This guy is such a weenie!" because the look on his face was similar to the face I see on every guy who can't stand a woman sharing her political views and passions about social justice. He absolutely looked like, "Omg, here she goes ranting about this again." He went so far as to say he felt like her constantly bringing up his church's views on LGBT was causing a divide and taking away from the things they actually connected about.

Where are the Lacheys? I need to have a word with them. And somebody fill up my damn goblet again.

I don't think any of these women are desperate for love. I believe they love their fiancés and are excited to get married. However, I do feel like there's also a level of "I can change him" happening in everyone's political talks.

When Virginia and Devin speak about politics, it's weeks after they've met in the pods. They're in bed — after the Honduras trip, after they've moved in together — and Virginia presses Devin to ask her the "hard questions." He falters a bit before they start talking about how they vote, and Virginia wastes zero time. She's a democrat, her whole family is democrat, she always has and will vote democrat. She mentions gay rights and abortion access, and Devin is literally looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. He makes some comment about how his family votes conservative and that he thinks Christian faith plays into their voting choices, but Virginia shuts that shit right down. She's a Christian, too, she shares, but she thinks her Christian faith has her vote democrat.

The entire exchange is baffling because how are you just now talking about this? Not to mention the absolute gall of these men to hear their future wives speak so passionately and succinctly about how they feel and be all "abuhhhhh me no like politics" and bash their heads with a stick like a caveman? This is your wife! This is a core value!

Could somebody bring me one of those little sushi boxes they get in the pods? Tysm.

What I ~really~ need is for Sara's sister Lisa and Lisa's partner Kelsie to scoot over and hand me one of those golden goblets. As Sara is getting her wedding dress on, Lisa and Kelsie take a moment to share that they both think they're too sober for this wedding (and for watching this show, I agree) before seriously looking at each other and expressing their fears that Sara is going to say yes because she thinks she should. And honestly, I'm with them.

Sara says several times throughout the season that she and Ben's views are aligned, that she knows his heart, and that she believes that he supports her. But it's so obvious how important it is for her to also have a partner who speaks out — who isn't just on the sidelines ignoring everything and then saying, "Yeah, I don't have an issue" when someone brings it up. At one point on their last date, she mentions him going to a church that doesn't align with what he says are his beliefs on the LGBT community, and he straight up says it's not his responsibility to tell people when they're being wrong. Sara's face is very much like, "What the f*ck?"

Because of course it is. When it comes to matters of social justice, it really is our responsibility to call out racism and discrimination and hate. It's clear that both Sara and Virginia deeply feel that way, but are (as of right now) set to marry men who seem totally turned off by their wives getting passionate about this. Was there anything more infuriating than Ben saying he was "too tired" after Sara spoke to him about how she listened to his church's sermon and had thoughts?

This entire season is proof that women are constantly doing the work. Men just get to skate on by, hearing things and knowing it doesn't really affect them, so they can ignore it. Men get to pretend the world is still working because, in general, it is for them. The women have to be the ones putting in the effort, shaking things up, speaking out. The women on this show are going above and beyond — Sara listening to church sermons to make a connection with her religious husband even though she doesn't believe, Virginia painting this quaint picture of being pregnant with a baby on her hip and cheering on her husband as he coaches basketball — and the men are just giving them things like, "I've never felt this way before" and "You're such a good cuddler."

I truly hope love works out for all of them. I hope that their husbands are better men than their fiancés... that they just keep growing, learning, and listening. I hope the wives don't get burned out having to explain why LGBTQ rights are a serious issue or why a woman's body is her body, regardless of how the men who impregnated them feel.

And I hope I have a deep enough golden goblet to get through these wedding ceremonies.