Episode 4 and Episode 5
Season 8
Episodes 4 – 5
Editor’s Rating
4 stars
****
These Islanders’ ability to create drama with minimal interference from production was on full display over the weekend.
Photo: Peacock
Each season of Love Island USA is approximately 1 million episodes, and we are recapping all of them. Check back for morning-after recaps of weekday episodes and a Monday roundup of the weekend’s shenanigans.
Unfortunately, somebody has to be the first one dumped from the island, and as much as one might wish it were Bryce, whose only strong connection so far is with Zach, Sean was the one left standing alone at the end of the recoupling. This week, the girls got to choose who to couple up with, with one exception. As the new bombshell, Corbin was allowed to select a girl first, and he chose Kenzie. I’m not saying I thought Sean and Kenzie were endgame, because clearly they weren’t, but, like Kenzie, there’s a part of me that feels he’s gone too soon. Sean had all the makings of a good Islander, willing both to lock it down and to “explore other connections” (God, I hate that phrase). Still, we all know he never really had a shot with Trinity because not only is he old (29) but he already has a child.
After a weekend of turbulence, even with Sean gone, we end on a relatively high note. All conflicts have seemingly been resolved, and everyone appears to be more or less happily coupled up. But my favorite thing about these Islanders is their willingness to create drama with minimal interference from production, which was on full display over the weekend. We hardly even needed a bombshell to cause chaos in the villa because we have Melanie and her inability to self-regulate. Couple that with Bea’s tendency to end difficult conversations with the phrase, “Thank you for taking accountability for your actions,” and you’ve got fireworks, baby.
Now that she knows her temporary boyfriend, Sincere, might one day cheat on her, Melanie spends the next two days throwing herself into chats with any boy who crosses her eyeline. Simultaneously, as she’s still feeling threatened by Katie-oops-she-means-Kayda, Melanie uses the Boss Bitch challenge to literally dunk her in slime. It’s really not worth explaining the mechanics of the Boss Bitch challenge — if you’ve seen this show before you already know it involves mess, kissing, and tabletop dry-humping. But Kayda is not one to take a sliming lying down and responds on her turn by naming Sincere as the Islander who most deserves a “promotion” from his couple. Also doing a little slime-slinging is Bea: Gabriel pulled Kenzie for a chat the day before and Bea is miffed at Kenzie for this, so she dunks her in slime.
All of this is far more interesting than the fact that, throughout the challenge, bombshell Corbin is hiding in the money closet and secretly making out with all of the girls. By the evening, you think all is well again because Bea and Kenzie have worked out their conflict, Kayda and Melanie have worked out theirs, and everyone has washed the slime from their hair. Then suddenly, Bea is scolding Melanie for stepping on Kenzie’s toes with Corbin and Melanie is repeatedly shouting “Give me ten!” as she chokes back angry sobs. By the end of the night, Melanie is sobbing on Sincere’s shoulder as he strokes her back and assures her everything is going to be okay, which means these two are officially back on. And all of this conflict arose naturally, as God intended, without any need for an elaborate door setup.
That’s not to say Corbin isn’t here to cause problems. In his first chat with Kenzie, he tells her she is his type exactly. “Your eyes,” he sighs. “Fuck.” Since their kiss during the challenge was so long ago, would she like to remind him what it was like and kiss again? She would, and they do, and I’m thinking, Good for Kenzie! Now she has three possible matches in her back pocket, which should theoretically make her the safest single girl in this villa. Then Kayda arrives and takes Corbin to the speakeasy for their first one-on-one chat. Corbin tells her their kiss was so long ago, would she like to remind him what it was like and kiss again? But she, being slightly less single than Kenzie, would not like to kiss Corbin again right now and declines. I guess Corbin didn’t consider the fact that all of the girls get ready together at the same time every morning, because he seems surprised that this immediately gets back to Kenzie in the morning. She rightly clocks this as fuckboy behavior, and he sheepishly admits, “In my past days, I was a player.” If Kenzie knew that he also recycled his “your eyes, fuck” line with Kayda (which I’m now convinced he got from a romantasy book), perhaps she wouldn’t have let him off the hook. But she doesn’t and she does. I still don’t really understand this, personally. Yes Corbin is tall and has a very deep voice, but the man has also never been to a concert — by his own admission. There must have been a severe lack of spark between her and Sean, because she says after the recoupling that she was going to pick Corbin anyway.
While all of this inner turmoil rocks the rest of the Islanders, Aniya should be getting paid some kind of fee for her services as villa therapist. She spends most of her days validating feelings, nodding, and agreeing that that is pretty messed up, whatever “that” might be. Instead of telling the beach hut how “giddy” KC makes her feel, as she should be, she’s out here running group meditation sessions that she has to make up on the fly. Now I want to believe that she and KC are solid, because in the one interaction we see them have this weekend, KC is saying everything one hopes he’d say. He doesn’t just say she looks beautiful, he specifically compliments the flower accessory she’s added to her hair. He compliments her skin, saying he thinks darker-skinned women get the short end of the stick but he loves melanin, causing Aniya to tear up a little bit. I want to believe, because I believe in finding true love in this villa, but they are simply not on my screen often enough to get an accurate read. All I know is that, at the recoupling, Aniya is the first to choose.
Trinity, the unbothered queen, is the last to choose. Bryce has been putting in a lot of work with Trinity and seems to have her at least partially convinced that their friendship vibes are just the foundation for a beautiful romance in the very near future. She tells him she was an ugly duckling as a child and he tells her a sad story about getting bullied as a child for being so pretty. It helps that Sean has waited until the day of the recoupling to finally pull Trinity for a chat, which she says she has been “itching” to have. It goes fine, but it’s not sparky enough for there to be any real doubt who Trinity is picking to couple up with at the end of the day.
So where does that leave us? With three new bombshells on the way, I wouldn’t stake money on the strength of any of these couples — not even KC and Aniya. Corbin probably has a copy of The Game stashed in his suitcase. Gabriel is all too ready to stick his tongue up the nostril of any willing participant. Melanie could blow at any second. Kayda is more than open. Trinity is still bored. And KC remains a mystery. All I know for sure is that the good vibes are not going to last.
• “He’s like this huge-ass tree, and I’m like this little squirrel in a tree.” —Kenzie
• “I’m from New Hampshire. Do you know where that is?” —Kayda
• “I’m not blind; I’m just missing my leg.” —Bea
• “It was daylight savings!” —Trinity
• “I asked my mom recently if dragons were real.” —Kenzie
• “I grew up watching Ella Enchanted.” —Kenzie
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