Love Is Blind Failed the Women in Season 9

Season 9 of Love is Blind has earned a dubious honor, and it's one we could have seen coming from the beginning. For the first time in the show's history, zero couples said "I do" at the end of the experiment, which is supposed to determine if two strangers can really fall in love without seeing each other. And this time, the fault might not be on the participants, but on the casting.

The idea of Love is Blind, kind of like The Voice but for dating, is a little out there to begin with. Couples must commit to marriage before ever seeing each other, with the show claiming this approach serves to put an emphasis on the emotional connections and take away the usual distractions. And there are some success stories to be found in this unconventional approach. But increasingly, it feels like those had to do with the fact that the people participating didn't really know what to expect from the experiment — or what the reaction to it would be — and not with the premise of the show itself.

Season 9 has already broken the mold, and not in a good way. The season, which saw only two of the five couples who got engaged even make it to the altar, ended with an empowerment montage to the tune of Miley Cyrus' "Flowers." It's meant to be a lighthearted moment, filled with cutesy scenes from the season to signify that Love Is Blind isn't the end of these people's journey. They can still go on and find love. It just rings hollow considering how we got this ending in the first place.

More on Netflix:

• The best TV shows on Netflix
• The best movies on Netflix
• Everything new on Netflix

Because the truth is, none of the women had a choice this season. Even the two that actually made it to the altar, Ali and Kalybriah, who both struggled with making the right decision for themselves because that would mean hurting the person they'd picked, weren't really close to saying yes. And they shouldn't have been.

In Anton, Ali had a man with a lifestyle that didn't fit with hers, and that, frankly, didn't seem to fit with the idea of marriage. When a conversation about his drinking habits reveals he'd drunk most of two six-packs of beer and half a bottle of tequila in less than a week, Anton dismisses Ali's concerns by saying he doesn't have a problem because he can quit anytime. He just doesn't see the need.

Still, Anton seemed shocked when Ali told him, "I can't be your wife. I feel like the person that I fell in love with in the pods isn't the person I've gotten to experience in real life." This is the same man whose reaction to her valid concerns about his drinking was to throw in her face the fact that she didn't clean up much in between nursing shifts. Clearly, Ali saw what her life would have been like as a stay-at-home wife and mother with Anton and decided to run the other way.

Then there's Kalybriah. She spent all season trying to guide Edmond towards being a better man, even after he threw a fit after she said she wanted to wait till marriage to have sex — complete with tears about how he was a "nice guy" and if she had one-night stands before, why wouldn't she sleep with him? And then, come their wedding day, she still had to placate him as she said no.

"I'm so sorry. You deserve someone that is 100% at the altar and I'm not 100% right now. And my 'no' doesn't mean that I don't love you. It doesn't mean that I don't accept you. I know, I'm so sorry," she said. But she'd been very clear about her issues with Edmond before, and gotten a not-so-favorable response from him, which made the whole thing seem like she was just being nice because of the setting.

And if Anton and Edmond's problems were that they were one person in the pods, and a different person after — or one person when the cameras were off, and a different one when the cameras were on — as Kalybriah told Edmond in an earlier fight, the other men didn't really come off looking much better.

Joe broke up with Madison after earlier revealing she was not what he expected and he usually dated "thinner" women, right after the wedding dress/tux fitting. Then, after letting his fiancée go through the fitting and that excitement, only to break up with her, he went on to date Kacie (yes, the one who gaslit Patrick!), whom he had apparently flirted with when he was still engaged. Real stand-up guy, that Joe. At least he saved Madison the heartache of being left at the altar.

When it comes to Megan and Jordan, she was the one who made the choice, but even though he clearly couldn't see it, he shouldered a great deal of the blame for it. Because yes, Jordan had a kid, who was a priority, but he spent the entirety of his time on Love is Blind acting like he was a single father, not someone with a present and loving co-parent, and asking Megan to basically retool her life to fit his without offering anything in return. Oh, your fiancée wants to have a chat about your day when you get home? Tough luck, I'm too tired. She wants to maybe go on a trip with you? Oh, well, I'm a father, so I can't do impulsive things, even when my kid isn't around.

More on Love Is Blind:

• Nine seasons in, Patrick and Kacie show Love Is Blind's hypothesis is showing cracks
• The men are not alright in Love Is Blind Season 9

Jordan's kid already has a mom, but it seemed like what Jordan wanted was a backup one, not a partner. And Megan just wasn't around for that.

Ironically, "being LGBTQ+ is a fad" Nick may have ended up the least outwardly toxic of the men by virtue of the fact that Annie — who agreed with him on his views — spent so much of the show being sure that she wanted to marry him, that all of us, including Nick, grew concerned. This is the kind of process where doubts are expected. They're normal. Nick's concerning views aside, at least he ended the relationship early on without stringing her along when he didn't feel he was ever going to be sure about her.

The question, of course, is how all of these men who absolutely did not want to get married, and who didn't even seem to be trying to be good partners, made the Love Is Blind Season 9 cast. And we cannot forget that Season 8 was also pretty messy, as has been the case with every season since perhaps Season 4. How has Love Is Blind gotten here? And, is there a way out?

It's hard to tell. Maybe, at this point, we just can't trust reality TV dating shows. Maybe we never could. Or perhaps, casting needs to stop looking at wannabe influencers or pretty faces on Instagram who could provide drama and go back to looking for people who are interested in the premise of the show. And yes, participants can lie. It's hard to get it 100% right. But it's also hard to get it as wrong as Love Is Blind did in Season 9 unless you don't actually care about the "love" part anymore.

Love is Blind Season 9 is available to stream on Netflix.