As the Married At First Sight couples continue their journey the stresses of living together are becoming more apparent. This is why I enjoy this phase of the process so much. Things area always flowers and butterflies until you get back into your normal environment. This is when we get to see everyone’s real personality. This episode definitely doesn’t disappoint. There is some drama with a capital D from some unexpected sources.
The lives of the couples merge as they invite friends and family to housewarming parties. It is interesting to see the couples get ready for their first party together. The added stress of making everything perfect while trying to get along only makes it more entertaining. During a group outing things get crazy when one couple gets into heated exchange. Let’s get straight to the recap!
Katina and Olajuwon
Olajuwon meets with one of his married friends for some friendly advice on the status of his relationship. Despite Pastor Calvin Roberson’s advice, he is still feeling nervous about consummating his marriage too early. He also is still not letting go of his desire to have Katina spend a lot more time in the kitchen. Meanwhile, she meets with one of her friends to dish about Olajuwon. Her friend reveals quite a few things she discovered after meeting him. Apparently, he has never seriously dated a black woman. Katina immediately gets defensive and although she was concerned initially, she doesn’t see it as a big deal. Frankly, I think there are a few red flags that she just sweeps under the rug. I don’t know if she doesn’t want to deal with the problems or she genuinely doesn’t mind. I can only speak for myself, but if a guy I barely knew was talking to me like he talks to her on occasion, I would be done.
Katina and Olajuwon keep things interesting with double shots and store bought chicken at their housewarming party. Two things that is absolutely necessary if you want to soften any blow. Katina’s friends aren’t quite sure about her husband. During the party the group split up with their friends giving their significant other advice. From what I gather, Katina is either just a really patient person or desperately wants things to work out. Which I guess works because Olajuwon is a lot to deal with.
Lindsey and Mark
Mark visits his best friend and shares how he is still on the fence about his wife, Lindsey. On one hand, he loves how supportive and caring she is, but he still struggles with her blunt personality. Like I said before, she is definitely not for everyone. But if you can get past her in your face demeanor, there is a lot of love there. In a short period of time, she has already faced more challenges and supported her husband more than any other wife on the show. I don’t think that is something that you just take for granted.
Lindsey and Mark invite friends and family to their new home for their housewarming party. They play games and make pizza while discussing some of the issues in their marriage. Their guests give them each some sound advice on how to handle their situation. Instead of talking to their friends, I think they need to be talking to one another. I believe most of their disagreements lie in the fact that they don’t really understand each other.
Lindsey gets into a small tiff with Katina during a bowling outing with the group. In response, Mark gets very upset and changes his demeanor towards his wife afterwards. When confronted, he tells her she should have just let the situation go. To add insult to injury he adds, if she can’t be a team player, things won’t work. Naturally, Lindsey is infuriated by the accusation that she is unwilling to be a part of a team after everything she has done for him. Honestly, I can understand her point. This woman is taking off work and putting on hazmat suits and helping him deal with his numerous issues.
Mark wants Lindsey to dim her personality to make him more conformable. It’s clear he is a very non-confrontational person, which is the opposite of his wife. She just wants to feel supported the same way, she has supported him. It’s apparent that Katina doesn’t like Lindsey and makes no effort to hide it. Instead of always apologizing, maybe Mark could help defuse the situation. Lindsey goes on a tear infused tirade in the bathroom with a producer about her frustrations with Mark. And boy does she go there. She talks about everything from his roach and bedbug infested apartment to him being a mama’s boy. Whew! He has roaches, as well? If this is true, I have to side with Lindsey. If she ignored all of that and didn’t judge him, I would think he has a lot of audacity to judge me too. To be fair, I understand Mark wants her to be the bigger person, but he also needs to decide if he can accept that she is a strong willed person.
Noi and Steve
Steve is feeling the pressure since his conversation with Noi about his employment status. He still doesn’t want to work a traditional 9-5, but he wants to ease her apprehension. During breakfast, they discuss their conversation with Pastor Calvin further. Steve wants his wife to try to understand his philosophy on life, while she is left wondering if he even has a plan. I can see how she would be frustrated working all day and not knowing what he intends to do to help support them.
Noi and Steve decide to prepare some homemade dishes from their cultures for their guests for their housewarming party. Everything looked really good and I love the effort they put into the food. Later, Noi and Steve’s friends pull them to the side separately to get their take on things. It’s obvious they have great chemistry, but they have very different ideas on life.
Surprisingly, Noi and Steve get into an argument over gluten free noodles. Sigh! The first time she makes dinner for them, Steve puts on the noodles he prefers on the stove, as well. When he returns to the kitchen, he is irritated that his noodles were overcooked and she didn’t bother to check them. Shortly after, Noi picks up her bag and dog and storms out of the house. He attempts to contact her to apologize, but receives no response. Sigh! Is this really about noodles or something else? Could Noi have checked on his noodles? Yes. Should he have let it go because she was cooking everything else? Yes. If they are getting into this big of a fight over food, there has to be something else going on. But I don’t think its okay to leave in a fit of rage and ignore your husband’s worried phone calls and texts.
Noi shows up the next day and is still visibly angry. She explains that she felt that he was being rude by complaining about the noodles. In return, he explains why her behavior was unhealthy and frankly immature. She even begrudgingly admits that it wasn’t a good idea to bring her frustration to social media. Wow. This is just crazy. Noi, you have a lot of growing up to do if you think anyone is going to put up with these types of tantrums. I am glad that despite apologizing, Steve sternly calls out her behavior. The guy has literally been the one doing all the cooking, since you moved into the apartment. I think it’s a little weird she expected all this gratitude from cooking once. Maybe in the future, you help Noi to understand your dietary restrictions if she intends to cook.
Jasmina and Michael
Michael meets with his sister to discuss the current state of his marriage with Jasmina. Although they received some sage advice from Pastor Calvin, they still have a lot to work on. His sister advises him to get to know his wife and earn her trust. I wholeheartedly agree. Jasmina is guarded, but that doesn’t mean that her walls can’t come down eventually. Meanwhile, she meets with one of her engaged friends. She goes over some of the communication issues she has had with Michael, thus far.
Despite all of their previous issues, Jasmina and Michael seem to be on better terms. They are even able to laugh about how their housewarming party would have gone had Pastor Calvin never counseled them. When they each meet with the others loved ones separately, they gain more insight about their significant other. I was happy to see Jasmina admit that she does really like Michael, which hasn’t always been clear. I think with compromise and some tweaks they have the ability to have a successful relationship.
Alyssa and Chris
Chris makes the difficult call to his mother to break the news about his impending divorce. As he tells his story, you can see his mom feels bad about what her son had to endure. In fact, she sees through the bs and thinks Alyssa only was looking for 15 minutes of fame. I am still upset that he was forced to deal with this situation on national television for so long. If anything, it only makes him look better. Lesser men would have handled the accusations and character assassination totally different.
Alyssa meets with one of her friends and discusses the demise of her marriage with Chris. Much like with the other couples, she lies about her time with her husband. It’s almost as if she doesn’t realize that a camera crew is following her around. Does she not understand that there is video evidence of what really happened or is she just a pathological liar? Whatever it is, she is probably not going to like all of the bad press she will receive after going on this show. I find it odd that someone who rescues animals can be so cold.
During a group bowling outing, Chris breaks the news to the group that he and Alyssa are getting a divorce. I don’t think anyone is surprised by that tidbit of information. Alyssa is the only one who is still pretending she put her all into the relationship. The lies! Can this be the last time we have to watch this woman on screen? I just can’t handle her gas lighting everyone in HD every week.
TELL US –WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT NOI AND STEVE’S FIGHT? IS LINDSEY TOO MUCH OR IS MARK NOT ENOUGH? DOES ALYSSA WANT 15 MINUTES OF FAME OR JUST THE PERFECT HUSBAND?
[Photo Credit: Lifetime]
