With only a few episodes left of season 7 of 90 Day Fiancé, it's turning out to be one of the most disappointing and lackluster seasons of the franchise. Though die-hard 90 Day Fiancé fans were beyond excited for a new season of the original format, it has not only fallen flat, but it also comes off as way more scripted than the earlier seasons.
On the hit TLC series, couples in long-distance relationships are documented as the foreign half of the couple travels halfway around the world to be with the American and they have 90 days to walk down the aisle. This series showcases the complexities of international romances and the struggles they face. After they've obtained the K-1 visa, or "fiancé visa," that allows foreign fiancés of American citizens to travel to the United States, the men and women experience life in the US with their prospective mates for the first time. They will face cultural differences, language barriers, and the stigma that they are only in it for the visa or money. Once the foreigner steps foot in the US, the couple has 90 days to wed, or else the visitor has to immediately return to their home county.
Fans were excited to finally see some major drama in season 7, with the return of the old format. However, it's been one of the franchise's biggest letdowns. It began with a promising trailer that showed more new couples and drama including pregnancies, stubborn ex-wives, and communicating through translation apps. Season 7 also has the most couples to ever be featured on one season with eight couples total, which is a lot more than the debut season which only featured four and the rest of the seasons have stayed between six and seven couples. Despite having the most pairs, it also seems to be the most lackluster due partly to the fact that it feels like there isn't enough time to fully dive into each couple's unique situations with so many people to follow around.
The cast is made up of seven (fairly boring) new couples and one returning couple, Angela and Micheal, that some fans have wondered why they continue to feature as it's a very toxic relationship which is borderline abusive on Angela's part. The new couples, which feature the bee-keepers, Anna and Mursel, who were one of the slowest burning couples which interestingly has turned out to be one of the most interesting storylines of the season, but it took nearly the whole season to get there. Next up are Tania and Syngin, they have a frustrating dynamic as Tania leaves Syngin to go study (mostly party) in Costa Rica to become an herbalist for 30 of the 90 days they have until they have to marry, which means just a lot of video chat arguments and watching Syngin walk around aimlessly in her backyard. Next, Robert and Anny's storyline just seems very forced, like Anny is trying to duplicate Anfisa's character from season 4, however, it just doesn't seem as authentic coming from Anny.
Then there's Blake and Jasmine which are just as bland as Jasmine's cooking. Then Mike and Natalie, which fight a lot, but Natalie just seems to shut down during fights and just watch Mike with her intense stare, leaving Mike clueless as to what he did to trigger such death stares. Then there's rich guy Michael and his young model bride, Julianna, whose storyline seems to revolve completely around money. On top of the already dull characters that were cast, fans have pointed out that some of the situations that are occurring also seem quite manufactured. For example, when Robert took Anny to go look at a two-bedroom apartment just to be told at the end of the tour that he's already signed on for another year-long lease on his old one-bedroom apartment.
With only a few more episodes left until the tell-all, fans are hoping that the remainder of the season will pick up and the real drama will drive the season, not just manufactured scenes. As of right now, most of the fans are forcing themselves to watch the remainder of the season, and missing the real MVP couples, like Chantel and Pedro, Anfisa and Jorge, and Larissa and Colt. Regardless, here's hoping that the tell-all will make up for lost drama, if not, there's always 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days season 4 right around the corner to look forward to.
90 Day Fiancé airs Sundays at 8pm EST on TLC.