Love Island<\/a><\/p>\nEpisode 8<\/p>\n
\n Season 8<\/p>\n
Episode 8\n <\/p>\n
\n Editor\u2019s Rating<\/p>\n
4 stars<\/p>\n
****\n <\/p>\n
\n The Bryce-Trinity chat is painful to watch after seeing Zach\u2019s sabotage working its magic.
\n Photo: Peacock\/Peacock\n <\/p>\n
Well, if you tuned in last night specifically to hear the result of America\u2019s votes, you were probably sorely disappointed. We\u2019ll have to wait until tonight to see the messy recoupling play out. I know I\u2019m dying to know who Jen ends up with. (I kid, but this really would\u2019ve been a valuable episode to get to know her a little better and see what she\u2019s doing to build on her vibe with Gabriel or even Zach. Instead, she\u2019s still just a sounding board for Sol.) It\u2019s a bit like Love Island is trying to re-create the feeling of blue balls that the Islanders are going through.<\/p>\n
Still, I actually had a lot of fun with the messiness of episode eight. It\u2019s not the worst thing in the world to push the recoupling a day when there\u2019s already so much going on. And Iain Stirling\u2019s multiple jokes about the crashed Love Island app worked for me. In fact, he was in good form all night, especially when he pointed out Sincere\u2019s inappropriate Three Little Pigs metaphor. (That was also just his weakest analogy yet, even with Bryce doing his best to save it.) The \u201cplot\u201d of this season is speeding up, and thus I cannot fully get onboard with calling this a \u201cfiller episode.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not only did the usual Melanie-Sincere miscommunications play out last night \u2014 more on that in a second \u2014 but two major love triangles (Melanie-Sincere-Sol and Kenzie-Corbin-Caleb) came crashing together. Kenzie starts this episode on a good note, flaunting her new roster life to her partner, but things go downhill after Melanie pulls Corbin for a chat and he requests a kiss. Some of the men on this season are literally incapable of any form of connection that doesn\u2019t involve making out.<\/p>\n
To Melanie\u2019s credit, she doesn\u2019t go through with it. Before Kenzie can escalate to a full crash-out, the two have a healthy chat and clear the air as best as they can. Honestly, Melanie has a decent showing in episode eight. There\u2019s something dark-sided about Sincere\u2019s total lack of transparency with her about his developing parallel relationship with Sol; it\u2019s vaguely nauseating to see Melanie get her hopes up all over again when we know he has no intention of actually prioritizing her or backing off his new crush. It\u2019s okay that he wants to explore two people \u2014 as he repeatedly points out, that\u2019s Love Island \u2014 but be honest about it! This is snake behavior, and it\u2019s just pushing Melanie closer to delirium. Maybe she\u2019s the Kaylor of the season, not the Huda.<\/p>\n
Let me start here: I haven\u2019t always been sure how to feel about Bryce and Trinity. They\u2019ve settled into something pretty cute (after initially feeling more akin to season seven\u2019s Austin and Chelley), but they haven\u2019t gotten quite enough screentime for me to feel confident in their personality match. Tonight, though, I really started to buy that Trinity likes Bryce \u2026 which makes it all the more painful to see him moving away from her.<\/p>\n
And who\u2019s the devil on Bryce\u2019s shoulder throughout all this? Zach, the Art Donaldson to his Patrick Zweig (or would it be the opposite?), who repeatedly tells him that he and Trinity aren\u2019t a good match and that she doesn\u2019t even like him that much. In a way, it\u2019s partially his fault that Bryce is looking elsewhere now and going after his girl. The scene of the two boys discussing Kayda is kind of funny, especially the number of times Zach laughs and encourages Bryce to go for it. He knows Bryce doesn\u2019t stand much of a chance with her; she made that choice when she picked Zach over him in the big bed, and nothing has changed since. How could Bryce move on from getting cucked in the big bed?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019m looking forward to the inevitable scene when Bryce pulls Kayda for a chat. That might be the cringiest scene ever, and I already suffered through the Bryce-Trinity chat at the end of episode eight. Then again, maybe he deserves that embarrassment.<\/p>\n
The mess wasn\u2019t restricted to just those two clusters of characters. I\u2019m glad Gabe is being honest with Beatriz about kissing Jen and Sol, but it\u2019s still pretty crazy he kissed both of them! Have all these men forgotten that kissing someone outside a challenge is a little different from the semi-compulsory makeout games? I know that Love Island is about finding the right connection for you, but Gabe\u2019s behavior does not read like he\u2019s interested in finding his soul mate. Bea also pulls Corbin for a chat, trying to see if he\u2019s \u201cmore than a pretty face,\u201d which he sadly is not. He claims that \u201cour vibe is there\u201d but then immediately pivots to talking about Melanie. Also wanting three kids is not a personality trait.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Aniya and KC are back on ostensibly solid ground again. It\u2019s a good sign that KC is telling the other guys about how much he likes her, but I\u2019m feeling unsure about their long-term viability \u2014 especially because they basically just agree to have fun, and it can\u2019t all be fun. What would be happening now if Sol expressed her interest in KC instead of Sincere? Still, lots of pairings get a turn as the happy background couple, and this is their time. Let\u2019s enjoy it as long as it lasts.<\/p>\n
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