MAFS Reunion Recap: Paige Should Have Been Excused - Page 2
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Welp, ladies and gentlemen season 12 of “Married at First Sight,” has finally come to an end. As dialed in as we were to this season, I can also say it’s best that it’s over. I don’t know how much pain and trauma we could have watched Paige endure as she had to react, respond and reinterpret Chris’ unhinged behavior. I don’t know how much longer she could swallow having to excuse and explain his actions. It was all so much. Thankfully, after yet another outburst, Chris left and was largely absent from the second part of the reunion which means things were much smoother this time around. And while we will get to Chris later in this recap, let’s touch on the other couples, the experts and more first.
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Jacob
After a whole season of watching Haley tell the camera crew that she was still invested in their marriage, Jacob was ready to let the choppa sing when he came face to face with Haley at this reunion. Maybe face to face is giving them too much credit. The two did not at one another the entire time they were talking. He told everyone that he was indifferent to be sitting next to her again. Haley is certainly a mean-spirited type of person but she is no match for Jacob’s petty. And after enduring an entire season of Haley refusing to be honest about her feelings and then telling everyone that Jacob didn’t even try in the process, I get it.
I don’t know how a person is motivated to keep trying if there’s not even a flicker of hope. I mean sis balked at holding his hand, at giving him a hug and certainly at recreating that peck of a kiss the shared at their wedding. It was never going to work. And it would have been nice if Haley could have admitted that.
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Kevin Frazier & Haley
Chile. Kevin Frazier, the host of this season’s reunion, was clearly Team Haley. I don’t know what they might have cut from his interrogation but from what we saw, he seemed to blame everything on Jacob. And didn’t seem to find fault with anything Haley had said or done the entire season. What I found particularly interesting was that Kevin was so ready and willing to say that Haley tried because she had sex with him. Umm…if that was the case, we can say the same thing about Chris having sex with Paige. That’s not actually trying. If you’re not attracted to someone and you have sex without that conversation, then you’re using them. And just because Haley’s a woman doesn’t make her decision to use sex any better or worse than Chris. At least Chris found the decency to tell Paige that he wasn’t entirely attracted to her. Haley never said that to Jacob.
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Ryan’s Jam
Aside from his desire to abstain from sex and his hesitancy to say I love you, there wasn’t much to report from Ryan. As such, the show’s producers spliced together a ton of clips of him using the phrase, “my jam.” It’s funny, I didn’t even notice that was his catchphrase, I just knew it was going to be “for sure.” Some people pointed out that Ryan’s take on Erik and Virginia’s marriage was that one person can’t make a decision, the two people in the relationship have to decide to put the relationship first. Folks found that hypocritical seeing as he was the one who made the decision not to have sex in their marriage. Then again, with the way Clara bit her tongue, she might not have protested in front of him.
People also noticed that when they were discussing the way Paige handled her relationship with Chris, he said, “We love you.” They took that to mean he doesn’t really have a problem saying the phrase. I think saying it platonically is a non-issue. I may be in the minority here but I think he loved Clara from a while ago. And if she felt that love from him, she probably didn’t mind waiting for the words to catch up.
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Clara
Clara didn’t say much during this portion of the reunion, other than sharing the fact that she is not a part of the mile high club. What fans found more interesting was her telling viewers of the show to be kind and not make any comments about the couples if you don’t have anything nice to say. That’s a lovely principle in theory. But people come with opinions. And while I do agree that folks can get carried away, putting yourself on national television and then expecting the reaction to be entirely positive is unrealistic.
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Erik
I don’t have much to say about this one. This tweet pretty much sums it up.
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Virginia
Chile I just can’t see how Virginia and Erik are going to make it when sis told the whole world that she would chose her dog Rocky over her husband. It was funny because I don’t like Erik but also very telling. Erik said he knew he wasn’t Virginia’s number one person but I’m sure he ain’t think he was going to lose to a dog. We’ll see what’s in store for these too.
Virginia tried to defend herself with the “sleeping on her homeboy’s couch” argument, saying she wouldn’t do that in her marriage. Still, I think she had a valid point with the fact that Erik wanted her to ask his permission.
What appreciated the most from Virginia’s comments was the fact that she didn’t receive Chris’ apology before she and Erik got to the dinner table. Like she said, it was just talk because as soon as he was triggered he was literally ready to fight. And she correctly identified it as a pattern.
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Nancy
From the wedding, Nancy had pulled Chris’ card. Which is one of the reasons it’s so hard to understand how he was able to dupe the experts. Then again, we’ve seen time and time again Chris deliver a couple of good lines for a time before his behavior spirals out of control. Nancy said that she knew something in the milk wasn’t clean from day one but she was trying not to ruin her friend’s wedding. Still, if she had known all that Paige would endure with Chris, she would have said more. She said that Paige’s people stayed away from the situation because they would have been a little more rah-rah than Paige was. She also said that Chris’ behavior would spark an important conversation about Black men and mental health.
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The Experts
I was happy to see that Dr. Viviana and Dr. Pepper recognized that Haley acted a fool in her marriage. Dr. Pepper called her flat out cold. Dr. Viviana even acknowledged that she behaved one way on camera and another with Jacob. They were a nice counter to Kevin. Pastor Cal thought Jacob could have been more swaggy with Haley. But…it’s like…has he met Jake? Y’all knew he wasn’t a swaggy dude. He didn’t have that to give. And that’s alright.
I think it was pretty clear how Dr. Viviana felt about Chris: utterly disgusted. And I was happy that she spoke up on decision day to force them to basically call their marriage off. I mean it was always some sh*t. We’ve already written about what Dr. Pepper had to say about Chris, much to his chagrin. Pastor Cal said that in their talks Chris always said he was open to whatever type of woman. He gave them the ole song and dance and it worked. Sadly, their falling for Chris’ charms greatly impacted Paige.
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Chris
But something tells me, he’s grown accustomed to the attention no matter how negative it is. I wouldn’t be surprised if we still hear and see him around. Though I doubt it will be favorable.
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Paige
Honestly, I really hate that Paige had to be here at all. The whole thing just seemed like an opportunity for her to relive probably one of the most traumatic or thee most traumatic eight weeks of her life. And there were even some new moments of which she was not aware, like when Chris told Pastor Cal he wasn’t attracted to her face. It was vile.
And what made a bad situation worse was the fact that people kept complimenting Paige on her grace. True, she was graceful but she was also enduring abuse, mentally, verbally and emotionally. And I don’t think we should be encouraging women, especially Black women to take sh*t with a smile. In the midst of Chris’ outbursts, she was still going out to comfort and soothe him. She was consistently asked to recount her feelings in hurtful moments. There were times when it seemed Kevin wanted her to offer an explanation for Chris’ behavior in his absence. And what was perhaps that saddest part was that she still felt the need to apologize for him.
Nancy said that Chris and Paige’s relationship will inspire conversation but all of it comes at Paige’s expense. It’s tragic. And for that reason I’m glad this season is over. The next time I hear from Paige I want it to be when sis is healed from the hell Chris put her through.
