90 Day Fiance--"The Clock is Tickin'" summary s6e1

I have never watched this show. But Smila001 asked if I would look at it, and I did ask for bad reality shows. If you've never heard of this show, “90 Day Fiance” refers to the “fiance visa”. You can enter the US to get married, but the visa expires after 90 days. So by the end of that you either need to be married to a US citizen, or you go back home to wherever. So it's moving in and changing your long-distance relationship to a regular one, but with added pressure. Also a caveat: I have no idea about the legality and/or realism of this type of visa. As far as I know, there is some scrutiny from the government, to make sure it's not a fake marriage. Judging from the preview, no one here is trying to do that at all, so maybe all the scrutiny is before the visa is issued? My sister is married to a British man, but he came over here first on a work/student visa, so I don't think they ever dealt with this type of visa at all. Also they got to know each other without that deadline. (click for more)

So first of all we are dealing with six different couples. Which feels like a lot. Maybe they'll focus on a couple of people each episodes? First up is a preview, where we can see conflicts like some guy didn't clean his apartment before bringing this girl home, and a couple of people already have babies which makes things very complicated.

Ashley and Jay. Ashley is 31 and lives in Pennsylvania and is a bartender. She has two kids already. She says she spends her free time taking self-defense classes. I thought it was kickboxing, but at some point self-defense classes aren't useful? Right? Like, you already know everything. She says she's been engaged twice and broke it off both times because she was cheated on. She also says her personality is that she doesn't put up with people's shit. After the second engagement she decided not to deal with men. Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Of course then she went to Jamaica for a wedding with a bunch of friends and met some guy at a bar. Jay found her on social media and now they talk a lot. He's only 20. Ashley insists he's mature, but what social media we see, he looks like a typical 20 year old. It's immature but I'm 42 so of course it looks bad to me. He reminds me of my high school students, which I guess is appropriate for someone who can't drink legally in this country. Ashley also says she's usually attracted to clean cut white boys and Jay is not it. Six months later she went back to visit and he proposed after she'd been there for 8 days. She says it's like someone sent Jay to her as a reward for her rough life or whatever. So to recap: a woman with two small children and two broken engagements, who was taking a break from dating, fell in love and got engaged to someone who she's known for six months and has physically spent less than two weeks with. Is this how this show is? I'm trying not to judge, but I'm judging her pretty hard. Apparently everyone is telling Ashley that Jamaican men go through women, and cheat on everyone, and she knows he's hot and gets attention, but she's sure that he probably used to be like that, but she's hoping he's totally changed. Oh girl.

Jay has one more step to get this visa, and Ashley is traveling to Jamaica to be with him for the interview. Or support him, I'm not sure she's allowed to be in the room? Then he'll move to the US. But first! Meeting with BFF Natalie to talk about this whole situation. Natalie has met Jay, but they didn't get along. Natalie starts by pointing out that Ashley has only experienced Jay while on vacation and partying. Good point.

Natalie wants to be happy for her friend, but then Ashley interrupts her to confirm that Natalie still believes Jay cheated on Ashley. That while in Jamaica she overheard him say that he was sleeping with two other women. Ashley calls this no proof. Natalie didn't make something up. I mean, it's not like no one has ever made up something like that to come between two people, but that's a big jump to make. Obviously Natalie is more concerned than she might otherwise be, because of Ashley's history. Then Natalie says that Ashley has been cheated on by every person she's ever been with, which makes me immediately yell at the screen. People cheating on you is wrong, but if EVERY person you date eventually cheats on you, then the common factor is YOU. Either you're drawn to the type of person who cheats, or you suck and people cheat on you to get what they need. But this is a giant red flag for me.

Natalie believes Ashley just wants to be in love very badly, and she tries to get Ashley to see that she's the one Ashley leans on when she gets cheated on, and she's just thinking of Ashley. Yeah, I don't get a feeling of “my best friend fell in love and I'm threatened”. I get “I'm sick of picking up the pieces and I'm going to nip this in the bud”. Ashley says in confessional that she gets that Natalie is concerned, because you always hear stories about “foreign guys”, but that's totally not what's happening. Ashley then says “Maybe I don't care what he's doing over there when I'm not around” which is...pretty desperate. I don't expect someone who has broken engagements because of cheating to then say they don't care what happens when they're not around. It's not her business. He's young, and they totally don't have an open relationship, but she can't expect him to 100% behave himself while he's in Jamaica. Yes you can expect him to behave himself. Girl. “Honestly if Jesus himself came down and said he cheated on me, I wouldn't do anything about it.” GIRL. You were talking about being a strong woman and not depending on anyone, but now you want this man so badly you don't care who he's fucking right now. HOWEVER! If Jay cheats on her while he's here, she'll kick him back home. No. If he's currently sleeping around, why would he ever stop doing that? You can't go from “oh, whatever you want” to “one chance and then that's it.” Not unless you've had an explicit conversation about what is OK when you are not in the same country, and I'm pretty confident that hasn't happened. Natalie reminds Ashley that she doesn't have to go through with it, but of course Ashley doesn't think anything is going to be terrible.

OK time for some different people. Colt and Larissa. Colt is 33 and lives in Vegas and is a software engineer. He has cute cats but also lives with his mom. She cooks and cleans for him and drives him to work. Already this is not looking great. I mean, live with your parents to save money or whatever. But if a man says he's a momma's boy I'm inclined to believe him. Also they've leaned on each other ever since Dad died ten years ago. I mean...that's just a long time to only have each other, without any unhealthy dependencies. You know? It's an adjustment even with healthy relationships. Mom says she does everything around the house and makes his bed and spoils him. His free time is spent alone with the cats. There is a shot of him holding a treat in his mouth so the cat can lick it. Bleh. He says in interviews that he thought he'd never get married, because he always ends up with a broken heart. So he thought maybe I should go outside the US to find a girl. Yeah that's not the greatest strategy. Larissa is from Brazil and is 31, and all the shots of her here are thirst traps. She's hot, and knows it when posing for selfies. They decided to meet, so they both went to Cancun, where Colt lost his damn mind and proposed after five days. So what you're saying is, you're a nerd who lives with his mother, doesn't get out much, and a hot Brazilian girl fell in love with you and doesn't mind that you live with your mother, and wants to marry you. I'm sorry but this girl is way out of his league and I would LOVE to hear from her about why she's in this relationship. Because Colt is claiming it's because maybe she wants to be adventurous.

Larissa has her visa, but not physically in her hand. Colt had bought her a plane ticket, but now he has to buy a new one because it's for today. Why can't they wait until she has it and then get a ticket? This makes no sense. They Skype and Colt calls her “darlin'” a couple of times which makes me cringe. I don't know, maybe she likes it. Meanwhile Larissa is telling him that he should just get the next flight, while he points out how expensive it is to eat these tickets when she doesn't know if she'll have the visa in time. He has a really weird attitude to her, and a weird look on his face when he's explaining he can't afford the fees. It's a little condescending and it rubs me the wrong way. Larissa doesn't see why they should postpone the trip. Well tell her to pay for her own plane ticket. Problem solved. Larissa then claims to be hurt because I guess Colt claimed to be sad she was still in Brazil, and now is being logical about not buying her ticket? He's not upset enough? She seems a peach. So now she's sulking because he's not upset enough to spend a pile of money on her plane ticket. Buy your own ticket, you're 31 years old. He thinks it's just that she's emotional and he's rational. She does seem manipulative. Colt also seems like he's acting superior, because he's more logical. I can't tell if he's always like that, or if thinks that it's better to be that way so he's making sure to act like it on TV. “It's a dynamic that may present problems.” Yeah, no shit.

Jonathan and Fernanda. Jonathan is 32 and likes the gym but also is a real estate broker and a workaholic. He's very independent and doesn't like being told what to do. He used to party a lot when he was in college. We don't mention if he's changed at all. It sounds like he hasn't, he and his friends party a lot and hook up and so forth. He met Fernanda, who is 19, on vacation in Mexico. The first thing he talks about is how hot she is, and everyone stares at her when she walks in the room. Eventually he says that she brings the best out of him. Also she is opinionated and jokes that he's “stolen her youth”, and that he's experienced so much more than her. He's afraid one day she'll say “you already lived your life” and dump him. He would visit her in Mexico but he would have to take time off work, so he proposed after 3 months. That sounds bad but that's how he described it. He's going to Mexico to pick her up. They Skype, and she says she's ready to go with him, but not ready to say goodbye to her family.

Jonathan then reveals that he considers himself the provider, so he's given Fernanda many things. Like money for college, and an apartment, and a Jeep that he's currently driving around. There it is. Oh and also breast implants. Which he is worried about because he hasn't seen them yet and he hopes they turned out OK. I mean this seemed mostly normal, or at least normal for this show. He seems like a party guy, he proposed, she seems sweet, their conversation was reasonable and no one got manipulative or delusional. Oh, but he's given her a ton of money and bought her breasts. He says everyone thinks she's using him, but he knows she's going to be the perfect wife. Honestly he seems like the kind of guy who would do something like this, and be fine with a hot wife and an imperfect relationship, so I'm not seeing a ton of red flags. At least not compared to the first two couples.

Kalani and Asuelu. Kalani is 29 and from Southern California. She has a five month old son named Oliver. He's very cute. Being a single mom is hard but she's got a lot of family support. Her dad came to the US from Samoa when he was 12, and had a hard life, but worked hard too. Also she mentions they're Mormon. Dad didn't want his kids to have a hard life (understandable) so he wanted them to marry white guys (...no). Kalani used to have a thing for older white men. Marrying a white guy does not automatically mean you have an easy life. Anyway, Asuelu is a 23 year old Samoan and is Oliver's father. He's never left the island and lives on a farm. Kalani met him because he was the activities director at the resort she vacationed at. “He kind of semi stalked me? But it was sweet”. Girl. She lost her virginity to him on the second visit (Mormon, remember). Her family thought he did this with all the tourists so they did not approve. Then she got pregnant and her family flipped out. Her sister also accused him of just doing it so he could come to the US. Kalani took Oliver to Samoa to meet Asuelu and then Asuelu said of course Oliver should grow up in the US.

It's a few days before Asuelu arrives and Kalani is kind of freaking out with juggling everything. Plus Dad is not happy about it. He naturally wants to be sure Asuelu is coming for the right reasons, and that he's going to take care of their son. Dad interviews that he doesn't approve of their relationship, but it's too late for his opinion at this point, so all he can do is protect her. As they sit on the couch, he says to Kalani “Well you know how I feel about your being with my kind of people.” He's worried about the pace of life here. You know, I'll give him that because he knows the difference himself. Then Dad says that he knows his daughter is worried because “I speak louder with my hands than with my words.” Yeah, I'd be worried too. Don't threaten to beat your new son-in-law. Kalani tries to reason with her dad, that he should trust her enough to know she wouldn't be with someone who wasn't a good person, and Dad interrupts her to say “Well we'll see, won't we?” and her face falls a little bit. Dad says he's worked hard for 30 years, and he's not going to allow anyone to come in and fuck it up for them and for Oliver. Kalani is worried he just has decided not to like Asuelu and it'll ruin it. Then she just casually mentions that she wasn't honest with her sister, and she needs to come clean before the wedding. But then we go to commercial before there's more explanation.

Eric and Leida. Eric is 40 and lives in Wisconsin. He's an avionics technician, was a Marine, and “loves America”. He has three kids from his previous marriage, and we see their names and ages (21, 19, 11), so I guess they'll make an appearance at some point. He dated a few women after his divorce, but that didn't work out. So he thought about making his way to Turkey or Syria to fight ISIS, but then he decided to have one more try. Yes, that is actually what he said. He put an ad in an international website, and specifically said he was looking to start over in life, with someone who wanted to come to the US. I mean I know everyone else was accusing the fiance of using the citizen to get to America, but he basically just got on the internet and said “please use me to get to America.” Leida told him she was a teacher from Indonesia, a former model and actress, former pageant winner, and med school graduate. Eric shows a glimmer of hope when he says he didn't believe her and assumed he was being catfished. But apparently Google convinced him she was telling the truth. So he went to visit her for two days and then he proposed. To be fair, he basically said in his ad that's what he wanted. Leida is closer to his daughter's age than his own age. But he's convinced she's the one. His family is not thrilled, but that's not shocking.

They Skype and she says she's ready. Also she's bringing her five year old son. And she says she's going to miss how her family spoils her. We get a video of the house she lives in, where we see they have domestic workers and a big house with a room with basically racks like at the department store, full of clothes. Eric knows that he can't provide her lifestyle. I mean, his apartment seems fine, but not to someone with cooks and maids.

Time for Ashley and Jay again. Ashley's headed to Jamaica to help Jay with his interview? But now we get interview time with Jay. He's a tattoo artist, and surrounded by family. Also girls who like him and think he's sexy. He also claims women ask him to tattoo their boobs and get turned on by the machine. Sure. Then he tells us he lost his virginity when he was 8. EIGHT. This is not elaborated on, but he seems...proud. That is not something to be proud of? He's always had plenty of girlfriends, and does admit he has had an American woman before, but he was just using her for money. And that's after he stole her from his dad. But Ashley swept him off his feet and he hopes he can settle down. He does at least admit he should stop sleeping around. He visits his sister, who is sad he won't be there for his niece's birth, and says they'll all miss him. He's worried about getting to the US and having to deal with all of Ashley's friends and family and exes, and Natalie. Jay claims the story Natalie told about him sleeping with other women was a “crazy-ass lie”. He says if he did something and she saw it herself, that's one thing, but hearsay is not acceptable. So when he gets to the US he's just going to stay in the house...? That makes it sound like he thinks he's going to be tempted to sleep around, so he's going to stay home so no one will see him doing anything he's not supposed to. Jay's sister says he's had a lot of women. He claims that's one thing that's going to stop. His sister does not look convinced. In confessional he says that's stopped.

Colt goes over to his cousin John's house. First of all, he rings the doorbell and then immediately knocks, which is obnoxious. You can hear the doorbell. Also you know they know you're coming, there's no way the producers would allow him to just show up without warning them and making sure they're home. His cousin's wife answers the door wearing a flower crown, and I'm sorry but that causes me to make an immediate snap judgment which is not the best. All three of them go outside to hang out and have a conversation about all of this, because of course. Supposedly Colt thinks his cousin just wants to make sure he won't get hurt. John says he would love to meet Larissa and see what she's like. Lea pipes up that maybe she's not shallow and is looking beyond physical looks, and she likes Colt because he has a sweet soul. Then John says maybe he has a 12-inch penis, you never know. HA! OK I'm revising my initial snap judgment.

They sort of all giggle about how Colt has thought about this a lot, and Lea says “Well when you know, you know” and she gazes at her husband adoringly. You get the sense that's how it happened for her. John turns to Colt and says “Yeah I'm not so sure” which is funny to me. Marriage is important (“very important”) and this is a big step (“yeah”). Colt admits he's only spent eleven days physically in Larissa's presence, and he proposed after the fifth day. His attitude here...I can't put my finger on it. It's awkward, but it feels like he's trying to act for the camera. But he can't act, so it just ends up obnoxious and condescending. John says “this is gonna be fun”. Then he says in confessional maybe she's kinky and likes nerds. I really like John. OK so here's another example of the attitude. John asks how Colt knows he and Larissa are in love. Colt says he just knows, but almost immediately asks how John knows he and Lea are in love. I feel like he thinks he's being logical, saying “how does anyone know they're in love?” which is already annoying because it doesn't answer the question. But he's not giving that message. The message I'm getting from him is more accusatory and offensive, and less logical. More “well if you're going to question me, maybe I'll question you because maybe you don't know what you're doing either.” I don't know if I'm making any sense. And the episode is like, only half over. John and Lea have been through ups and downs and have kids, but John says he didn't really fall in love until he had those experiences with Lea. So how does Colt know this is the one? When he saw her, it was like a lightning bolt, he doesn't have the words, that feeling has only grown. But how does he know Larissa feels the same way? Colt says John's not the first person to ask him this, but then they cut to John in confessional saying he hopes she's not using Colt. Colt never answers the question. He just says he believes everything she says. Colt knows John is just looking out for him. I figured it out. When he's talking, he cocks his head to the side and does the one eyebrow raise, which makes him look smug and superior, and then he's trying to sound confident but it's landing on “you couldn't possibly know anything about me”. Colt claims he'll regret it if he doesn't do this.

Jonathan goes to a restaurant to meet up with his friend Dani, who is a girl. There's a bunch of talk about how she is his wingman, but she became his wingman because they were the only single people left in the friend group, but he hasn't told Fernanda about Dani, but he's sure Fernanda will understand his relationship with Dani. But what IS your relationship with Dani? Because there's no solid explanation as to why you didn't try to date Dani. Not even a “she's like a sister to me”. So is she an ex? Is she a lesbian and not interested in you? Did you try to hook up and she turned you down? Do you not think she's attractive? Listen, there could be a million reasons, and I'm not saying straight men and straight women can't be platonic friends, but this does not seem like a guy who has platonic straight female friends who he's never hit on or hooked up with, and some of those reasons are probably more concerning to a fiance than other ones. Dani is feeling protective because Jonathan has always said he doesn't want to be married. Fernanda bought him a wedding ring already, like an engagement ring. He says it's because she's super jealous, which he has already experienced, but he likes it. Yeah, I'd buy it. Jonathan says he's ready but nervous, especially about having to consider another person in your life. True. The friends are happy for him but also concerned that they haven't met her, so they have no idea what she's like. Jonathan points out it takes 60 days to close on a house, so 90 days is not enough time for much of anything. Dani says none of them believe him that he didn't know she was 19. Does she have an ex-boyfriend? Does she know about HIS exes? Has he thought about maybe one of his exes will introduce themselves to her? He knows it's a big sacrifice for her to leave her family and come to him, and he's hoping everything will go smoothly. His mom also worries about him some. I think he's aware that the littlest thing might cause this to fail, partially because she's so young, but partially because she'll be alone here but for him so if she doesn't think she has him, it would be easy to leave.

Eric pours himself a beer and sits on the balcony. He lives in a two bedroom apartment, with his 19 year old daughter, and then Leida and her son are going to move in. So it's going to be a big change. Oh, just kidding, he asked his daughter Tasha to move out to make space. She's dragging her feet. Partially because moving sucks, but also even though she pays some of the bills, I'm sure Eric cuts her a break. She says she's not just going to up and leave, and he needs to give her some time. It's not clear how much notice he gave her. Tasha says it'll be crowded, but she's not going to walk out the minute Leida shows up because it's not her problem. I wonder if she's on the lease and Eric can't legally get rid of her. Because if she's not, then it kind of IS her problem? Tasha asks the very good question that if Leida has all this money, then why move to America? Eric says “because she loves me”. Tasha has no reason to trust Leida. Why would you move to Wisconsin? Eric says Tasha knew this was coming, which leans towards Tasha having plenty of warning about moving but her dragging her feet. Tasha argues that Leida isn't HER family, not yet, and even though Eric has to make her a priority, Tasha doesn't need to make her a priority. Does Tasha think she can just refuse to move and outlast Leida? Because at 19 I would have moved just to avoid my dad's new wife and small child. Eric tells her she needs to at least make an attempt to get along, and Tasha is not hearing it. Eric then admits he hasn't told Leida about the apartment, which is probably a bad move, but also she could have asked herself, you know?

Kalani unpacks, and reveals that she's living with her sister, but right now she's in an Airbnb because her sister hates Asuelu and refuses to live with him. Her sister Kolini has really helped out with Oliver, but Kalani told her sister Asuelu cheated on her, and now her sister refuses to give him a chance. Apparently it was while they were on a break, but she was hurt so she played it up to her sister and it backfired. Now Kolini hates him, but Kalani's forgiven Asuelu and wants her sister to forgive him since they're getting married. So they're going for drinks and she's going to “come clean”. Kolini knows she's not as close with her sister, but she blames Asuelu for cheating on her sister and won't forgive him. Kolini wants the best for Kalani, but then she threatens that Asuelu is going to be “put through tests” and he'd better pass. I get what she's saying but you can't test people like that. Also “or else” I mean what is she going to do? So Kalani and her sister are both crying, and Kalani feels like it's her fault that Kolini hates him. Kalani dances around the subject a LOT. In confessional she straight up told us they were on a break, she doesn't consider it cheating, but when she was upset she played the whole situation up to her sister. Now she's saying she kept secrets from her sister, like the exclusivity of the relationship, and Kolini interpreted this as cheating. Kolini responds that she was told he cheated, so are you saying you weren't exclusive so he didn't cheat? Kalani quickly responds with an offended “No!” and then says she wasn't honest about their relationship. They wanted to be together but it wasn't realistic, so they both left it open. Kolini doesn't know what to think. Let me note that when they were talking about tests and crying it was the middle of the day, and now it is dark out. Kolini says she was told they were together, and he slept with someone else, and Kalani was upset, so now she's not sure what to think. Now I think she's mad Kalani lied to her, because it sounds like a lot of the support was due to Kolini feeling bad that Asuelu cheated on her sister. Plus she now feels like she's supposed to forget the year of hating him, and magically they'll be best friends overnight. Yeah it doesn't work that way. She gets real sarcastic about it and Kalani leaves the table to go cry in the bathroom.

Kolini says this is why she hates Asuelu, because she wouldn't have this issue with her sister. Eeeeeehhhh...he didn't make her lie about the relationship, or sit on it for this long. I'm not saying she shouldn't be upset, because finding out you hate someone because someone else lied to you about it is upsetting. Kalani says she doesn't know how else she can say that she lied, as if the problem is that Kolini doesn't believe her, and not that she lied in the first place. I think Kolini believes it was a lie, I don't think that's what she's upset about. Kalani is mad now, saying she's saying the truth and Kolini has already decided what she wants to hear and she's mad they don't match. You know, if Kalani would show any remorse or maybe apologize, that might be a good thing. Kolini goes outside to where Kalani is doing her confessional and says “Why are you so upset?” like she has no right to be. Kalani is convinced that her sister won't accept that she lied, and Kolini says she doesn't know how to react. Kalani claims that people in the family have feelings about Asuelu based on what she has or hasn't said, and that's what she's trying to tell her sister. What? They've never met him, so of course everyone's opinions are all based on Kalani. “I don't know what else to say.” How about “sorry I lied”? Kolini then claims that all this drama and upsetness is because Asuelu is in Kalani's life. No, this is all because Kalani decided to lie for sympathy and didn't come clean until the night before Asuelu is set to arrive and blow up her spot. Kolini asks again what Kalani wants her to do. This is the key which Kalani has avoided this whole time. Does she want instant forgiveness? Because she doesn't really seem to want her family to blame her instead? I don't hear a lot of remorse. And you can't expect people to change their minds overnight. Asking for Kolini to give him another chance, sure. Kalani says she just wanted to get everything into the open, and now she wants everything between them to be better. But it won't be better after five minutes. It needs time. Kolini wants her sister to be happy, but now she feels like she has to get over it, or else. I think she feels like she's not been given time to process, which she hasn't. They hug, but Kolini feels there's still a lot to talk about, and maybe it'll be better to have Asuelu here to hear his side of things. That's promising, even though she says she won't make any promises. Kalani is “disappointed” and more confused, but I think she doesn't get to be offended in this situation.

Colt hasn't talked to Larissa for a couple days, because he had to reschedule her flight. But she doesn't have her visa. What are you going to do? So they Skype, and she says she has her visa. He already bought her a ticket for two weeks from now. The grin just stays plastered on her face, and she is not happy. Well then buy your own ticket. He rescheduled her flight for two weeks, so he wouldn't have to keep changing it. Now she's saying he promised she could come when she has the visa. Well, that's what's happening? She says maybe if he had talked to her before he changed the ticket, she could have told him she loved him and wanted to be with him. But he made a decision by himself. Well it's his money. She says he's American so he can do it? This is a trainwreck. He argues with her that they have to make plans for the future, and it would jeopardize them to buy plane tickets just because she wants to be here sooner. She counters that if you love someone, you have to do anything to be closer to them. For the millionth time, does she not have a job? Buy your own damn ticket. I don't like his patronizing Dad tone here, but he's right. Oh, then she accuses him of having doubts about them. Oh of course he doesn't have doubts. I worried he would cave here, but he says they have their whole lives so what is a couple of weeks? What's your hurry? Somehow, it's that she loves him and she thought he felt the same. Well, now he has all this time alone so maybe he can do some things to please her like maybe work out every day and shave off his beard. He calls her darlin' again and says he loves her, and her response is “I'm stuck in Brazil for two weeks.” I know they could have put that in there for editing, but ugh. Also, he has a beard here, and in confessional he doesn't, which to me says he shaved it for her. After she wouldn't say “I love you” to guilt him into buying another plane ticket. He's disappointed, because she “doesn't understand the larger picture” and he has to “think of these things for us both”. These statements are combined with his tilting his head back so he's literally looking down his nose at the camera, and a tone of how wise and grown-up he is. I was feeling bad, but he's so obnoxious. But why can't he see the giant red flags here?

Eric goes to have lunch with his ex-wife and his other two kids. He doesn't want to have to choose between his current kids and new kids. He says that when he was in the Marines, their relationship was much better. But when he was home, it just didn't work. His ex says they get along and still work together as parents. They didn't realize how soon Leida was coming. His oldest is weirded out that she's close in age to Leida. The 11 year old doesn't have much to say. Eric does ask what his ex thinks, but she doesn't know anything about Leida. Eric talks about how much money Leida has, and so his ex asks why he's not going over there, then. “Because it's America.” She could live comfortably there, but it's still better here. His ex doesn't want her to overstep “parental” boundaries. But she wants Eric to be happy, so I think she's trying. Eric says she won't try to push his ex out. They'll have to interact, but she's not the enemy. There's no reason they can't get along. Eric admits that Leida didn't want to meet his ex, because she doesn't understand child support, and she has an issue with it. He's framing it as a cultural thing, because in Indonesia it's not a thing and Leida doesn't get anything from her first husband. Eric claims he'd pay it anyway, even if it wasn't court ordered. You know, he might. But he pushed the “court ordered” part to Leida. Eric is worried about making everything work financially.

Jonathan is headed to Mexico to get Fernanda, and now he's going to have to get responsible. After five days in Mexico, they came back to the US. They're very lovey in the airport. Fernanda interviews that she thought he was hot in the club, and now she's here. Then she says that in social media and TV everyone else sees America as perfect, but all her life is in Mexico. Then we have to talk about her breast implants, which she says make her more comfortable. They joke about how this is jail. His car trunk is full of shit, which, why didn't you clean out the trunk before she got there? She says he can't live his life this way. She says she wants a bed, but they don't have one, he just moved into the house, and she wanted to be involved in the house, so he didn't buy a bed. They get to the house, and there's no electricity. Heh. She asks if he's poor. He says it's storms. Her first night in America, she's sleeping on a couch with no power. “Fuck me.” Heh. He gives her a tour, and there's lights, so maybe it's the TV lights? As he's talking about which room will be his office or whatever, she's opening drawers and immediately finds some women's underwear. He claims that's hers, but then immediately the next words out of his mouth are that it's old. Good job, dumbass. He says he just moved the dresser without cleaning it out. It's some ex from years ago, and now she's pretty pissed off. She knows he dated a lot before her, and now he's stopped, but Fernanda says you never know. She says she told him to clean. It sounds like she knew he'd have stuff like that around the house, which is why she told him to clean it before she got there. He fires back that she's got mens clothes in her house, that she said were her father's. But she lives with family, and he lives alone. She says in interview that she just asked for one thing: don't bring your past. We're not talking, take down your photos of you and your exes, we're talking look in your dresser and get rid of your ex's underwear. I don't think that's unreasonable. She knows they exist, but she doesn't want to see it. Jonathan knows he fucked up. He begs forgiveness, and she says to ask tomorrow.

Coming up this season: some serious drama, you guys. It's tiring (it takes well over twice as long as the episode actually is to write about it) but I kind of want to see what happens? Also I'm sorry but these are long paragraphs. Let me know if they're impossible to read.