“Perfect Match” - Episodes 5 & 6 Review
“Perfect Match” returned on Feb. 21 with couple drama heating up and challenges getting harder.
Episode 5 - “Blind-Sided”
This episode picks up from where last week’s finale left off, and it only gets better from here.
Francesca and Damian go on their date and sort through what happened with them on “Love is Blind.” Damian says that, if given the chance, he’ll take the time to devote himself to Francesca in the villa. Ines also goes on a date with Bartise, and while it was good, viewers could see that they had no real spark.
Francesca brings Damian back to the house in front of Dom, who gives another teary monologue to the camera. Francesca puts on her victim complex and talks to Dom, where she basically tells him that he’s going home.
Dom packs up when Ines comes into his room and basically yells at him to get his rose-colored glasses off and give it another try. Georgia, at Ines’s discretion, matches with Dom just to keep him in the house.
Meanwhile, Izzy matches with Bartise, which leaves Ines with the choices of Shayne, Nick and Chase. Just when viewers think Ines is going to get a break in this episode, she matches up with Shayne as a last-minute resort.
The next day’s challenge involves the couples lining up based on who they think are the most compatible and least compatible couples, and… that’s the whole challenge. Send Joey and Kariselle to the boardroom.
The couple (now official!) sends Shayne on a date with Chloe from “The Circle” and the pair’s eccentric personalities hit it off quickly; then, send Dom on a date with Colony from “Selling Tampa” but knew from the moment he saw her that he was going to stay with Georgia, despite Francesca’s wishes.
This episode is only the start of Francesca’s “pretty privilege.” There is no way she should be able to get away with what she does, yet people like Joey and Kariselle are always on her side.
Episode 6 - “Love is Savage”
Shayne comes back beaming from his date with Chloe, while Dom struggles trying to find a spark with Colony. When they get back to the villa, Dom tries to pawn Colony off on Bartise so he can go back to Georgia.
Ines has a heart-to-heart with Chloe where she tells her to match with Shayne because she cares about his happiness. Ines, then, gets upset and is comforted by the cast and ends up matching with Bartise (as a second choice, again) at the discretion of Kariselle.
Izzy and Colony are left without matches and are sent home.
The next day’s challenge involves couples with sponges taped on to them, running into water, and bringing themselves back to a trampoline where they have to get the water out of the sponges, into a water jug, and retrieve a ping pong ball to win (I feel significantly dumber than I did after watching this sequence).
Francesca and Damian win the challenge and vow to shake things up in the house. They send Ines on a date with Will from “The Mole,” which Francesca wanted to do originally but was stopped by Dom in an earlier episode. The episode cuts off by Francesca mentioning that she’s the only one left to go on a date.
Francesca just gets more unlikable in this episode because… girl. It’s 2023. Who refers to themselves as a “savage” anymore?
For example, when Francesca and Damian are on the date, she toasts to winning the challenge and “running” the house but completely forgets to mention toasting to him until he points it out. The entire point of the game is to find a perfect match, but she’s viewing it as a competition for pride instead of for love.
Poor Ines. She’s the nicest girl in the house by far, and the guys keep using her as a placeholder. When is someone finally going to step up?
Adrianna Gallucci is a first-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email amg7989@psu.edu.
