REVIEW: ‘Love is Blind’ Season 11 Episodes 1-5 Are A Good Balance Of Messiness

Love is Blind returns for Season 11 to see if this cast can find love, sight unseen. Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5 hosts men and women from the home of Mark “Marky Mark” Wahlberg: Boston. Season 10 was disappointing for the lack of couples getting to the altar, an issue that persists from Season 9. The only ones who were happily married were Vic and Christine, and they had the most green flags from the pods. However, the editing and production barely showed them, but might’ve helped them avoid the pandemonium of the other couples. 

Season 11 hopes to change the results of the last two failed rounds of Netflix’s world-famous dating social experiment. The Bostonians making up the newest pod squad range in age from 28 to 40. Among the men, there’s a beekeeper who’s buzzing at the thought of falling in love, a bouncer at Southie’s busiest bar, and a retired baseball player who hopes to knock this experience out of the park. As for the women, get ready to meet a NICU nurse with a weakness for tattooed athletes, two women who immigrated to the United States as children, and one skin-care guru who’s breaking her personal rule about never dating Boston men.

Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5 contain one of the older groups of Pod members across the past ten seasons. Potentially, this is a solution for getting more couples to the altar and saying, ‘I do’. It could also be that the dating pool for contestants just happened to skew older. From the general vibes of conversations, a good majority of the Pod members get down to the hard-hitting questions and answers. So, almost everyone is mature and aware enough to articulate their intentions and what they’re looking for. 

Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5 open with a reveal that John had been recently diagnosed with MS.

One of the biggest open reveals to come out of Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5, to the audience, is that John was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) right before coming into the pods—but he doesn’t let that stop him from finding the love of his life. He tells women he grows close to about his diagnosis, such as Sarah, a health-care program manager by day and a bartender from time to time. The two hit it off really well, with John mentioning how he loves his dog Judeau—named after the iconic Berserk character. It’s no wonder they become the first engaged couple from the pods from Love is Blind Season 11. 

The other couple who initially hit it off is Cam and Aneha, who find common ground on Hinduism—as Aneha talks about being Hindu off the rip. Crazily enough, Cam responds by saying he brought the Bhagavad Gita (a Hindu scripture as important as Abrahamic texts such as the Bible, the Quran, or the Torah) with him to read in the Pods. They also go on a date listening to “Bartender” by T-Pain, featuring Akon, where Cam viciously shakes his booty.

Ultimately, Cam proposes to Aneha over multiple dates in Love is Blind Season 11, Episodes 1-5, making them the first and only interracial couple of this season. Aneha had her eyes set on Cam from Day 1, but Cam was in a love triangle with Malaine—but it was a green flag when he broke things off with Malaine before growing closer to Aneha. Aneha is the second Hindu female contestant of Indian descent to be proposed to on Love is Blind. The first Hindu female contestant, Deepti Vempati, was engaged to a Hindu male contestant, Abhishek “Shake” Chatterjee. Shake was an absolute menace to Deepti, so hopefully, Aneha will have her happily-ever-after with Cam. 

There are some tough conversations in Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5.

Going back to Malaine in Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5, she also dates another guy, the deep, sultry-voiced Wilson. At the end of her experience, she gets dumped by Cam and decides to ghost Wilson since she doesn’t see him as marriage material. However, this leaves room for Wilson and Wilnie’s relationship to grow, leading Wilson to propose to Wilnie. Currently, it’s unclear whether Wilson chose to continue dating Wilnie because Malaine left or not, but it could be something shown later in the reunion episode at the end of the season. 

Through some tough conversations in Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5, the fourth couple to get engaged is Stew and Jax. Jax has some hesitations with Stew since he has never told any of the women he’s dated in the past, “I love you.” At the face reveal, things start to take a turn, though. Stew is infatuated with Jax’s looks, and Jax looks to be too. It isn’t until the end of the episode that Jax shockingly says she wasn’t romantically attracted to Stew, and decides to leave without telling Stew herself. 

The last episode of Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5, wraps up the pods with Stew being shocked about what happened with Jax’s decision to leave; Rob proposes to Michaella; Blake proposes to Erika; and there were some loving and steamy moments from the 20 minutes of Mexico footage revealed in this final episode, Episode 5. The final two engagements and face reveals appear mutually safe, with only Blake and Erika’s worries revolving around Blake being a contracted yacht captain who travels for weeks sailing around the world for rich clients. The Mexico footage appears happy and clean as a whistle so far. 

Speaking of Benita, she is the absolute package in Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5.

The teaser for the next parts of Love is Blind Season 11 reveals that Stew and Jax meet outside the show, so audiences will get some resolution to Jax ghosting Stew. Another major plot point will involve Benita, one of the two U.S. citizens who emigrated to the country at a very young age. Benita came to the U.S. with her family as refugees from Kosovo. 

Speaking of Benita, she is the absolute package in Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5, a baddie who is socially and emotionally intelligent. She reels in Boston native and the most stereotypical Bostonian and man’s man, Morrey, along with Captain Blake. Morrey and Benita initially hit it off because they are both highly sociable souls, but she senses his hesitation over time with his other match, Sarah.

Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5 look to be a good balance of impending messiness.

Both Benita and Sarah read Morrey like a book in two different ways: Sarah doesn’t like the identifiable toxic male tropes she’ll have to teach him, and Benita doesn’t feel he’s marriage material. As for Blake, Benita also reads Blake’s hesitations between her and Erika, and at a certain point, Benita learns that Blake won’t choose her. Blake says, in the moment when Benita walks out of their Pod room, “Maybe that was a mistake,” as he rejects Benita to lock her in as his fiancé.

Blake even says in the confessional, “Benita is like a fun battle axe. I don’t know if I want to marry that.” Despite seeing Benita leave after turning down her top two choices, the teaser for the next batch of episodes of Love is Blind Season 11 shows her returning and talking with Blake—which could shake things up for him and Erika. 

Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5 look to be a good balance of impending messiness for some couples and a wholesome adventure for others. The mini-reunion with the engaged contestants and those who didn’t secure an engagement but were connected to one of the engaged contestants is always so bait-y. This social event almost always leads to some messy situation, but also has the opportunity for people to get some closure. 

Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5 has a smaller Pod dating pool and an older age range to see if that leads to more couples reaching the altar. The editing this season ramps up the pacing of the dating in the Pods, really cutting camera coverage for about half the contestants. The coverage shown is entertaining and captures as much drama as it can. Only time will tell if having more mature couples results in more marriages going through at the altar. 

Love is Blind Season 11 Episodes 1-5 are streaming now exclusively on Netflix. The next batch of episodes will be released on October 21st.