I had my fingers crossed that this would be the episode where Alina finally kicked Steven to the curb. With his manipulative gifts and messages to other women, it truly seemed like Alina had finally had enough. Steven was pretty openly hooking up with and saying “I love you†to other girls before he came to Turkey. Sure, he finally deleted his social media, but that’s not enough to make up for what he did!
Alina seems like a smart girl who would see through his gifts and ice cream, but sadly that’s not the case. Steven takes her on one magical boat ride, plays the piano badly, and now these two are officially engaged. He can’t even get the words marry me out of his mouth! Sure, he’s nervous, but I think it’s a sign of deeper doubts. Frankly, he knows he can propose to Alina to keep her happy now, but he knows there’s no way he’s going to have all the paperwork ready to actually get married any time soon. Alina and Steven talked to a lawyer who explained the many complicated steps they have to take, and Steven has started on none of that. We can only hope Alina realizes this is the plan soon.
Otherwise, she may end up like Jenny: forever engaged to a man who has no real intentions of marrying her. Sumit has never been straightforward with Jenny except when he says she needs to stop pressuring him into marriage. We’ve never really known what Sumit wants from the relationship or what future he sees with Jenny. After “Stop the Excuses,†Sumit’s desires are finally clear: He wants his mommy and daddy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sumit as happy as he is with his parents in the house. He wants a traditional Indian lifestyle, where his wife serves his parents tea in the morning and keeps the house clean. Jenny is clearly shocked by this.
I don’t know if Jenny was genuinely sick, but I do think she needed time to deal with this new information. She’s finally realizing she isn’t the woman Sumit wants, but she has invested so much time in this relationship she’s willing to try yoga to make it work. Jenny just seems so unhappy. She doesn’t have the same spark she had in earlier seasons. Sumit isn’t brave enough to be honest, but his parents are definitely willing to tell Jenny how it is. I can’t be mad they’re around when I just want Jenny to leave this man.
I can’t say Victor is as bad as Sumit or Steven, but Ellie is definitely more outspoken than Jenny and Alina. Victor and Ellie are in their house, and they have a ton of work to do to clean things up after the hurricane. There’s no electricity, and the floors are still flooded. Even though they do have running water, they can’t even see the blessing in that because they’re so busy arguing with each other. Victor says Ellie doesn’t help as she’s washing dishes and recounting all the money she has given him. Victor, to his credit, doesn’t seem like he’s being mean to Ellie so much as he’s just upset with the situation. He’s devastated and dealing with trauma, and, well, Ellie is nagging him about wet clothes.
Sadly, circumstances beyond our control can sometimes end a relationship, and that’s what these two are dealing with in Colombia. Ellie wanted to be there for Victor, but she should have given him time to be with his family and rebuild. These two are in completely different head spaces right now.
Kenny and Armando are dealing with a similar issue. Of course, they’re deeply in love and I never want them to leave each other, but wedding planning and Armando’s family are ruining things. Armando’s dad finally said he’s not attending, and this is clearly difficult for Armando to accept. He has come a long way in being more open with who he is, but his father’s rejection is causing him to regress a bit. Kenny is fine telling Armando’s dad to screw off, but that would obviously devastate Armando, and he hates that it has come to this point. Kenny is homesick and upset that he isn’t getting the one thing he wanted at the wedding, which only increases the tension between these two. If I thought Kenny and Armando were getting boring, I was wrong.
And now, I must save the end of this recap for the evilest woman in 90 Day Fiancé history: Ari. Where to begin with this horrible person? Let’s get Avi’s surgery out of the way: It finally happens, and everything goes great. Ari calls Bini before the surgery but doesn’t really keep him in the loop while it’s happening. She doesn’t even video-chat with him after so Bini can see his son! But hey, maybe she did and the producers cut that stuff out because Ari hit a new level of evil this week.
After discovering Bini has been using the house he pays for to make music and hang out with friends, Ari decides she isn’t returning to Ethiopia. It doesn’t sound like Bini is cheating; it sounds like he’s just lonely and has time to spend with friends. I think his sisters were telling Ari she needs to come back home because Bini misses his family, not that Bini was fooling around. Ari has been looking for any reason she can find to stay in America, so she uses this moment to give Bini an ultimatum: They can move to Kenya and start over, or Ari will stay in America. Ari is already uncomfortable in Ethiopia; how does moving to another country without knowing the culture make sense?! She knows Bini will never go along with this and she can stay in America while blaming him. Ari was incredibly cruel throughout that conversation, and Bini just seems defeated.
90 Day Notes
• “I have three, four, five cases of diarrhea; I handle all my work†is one of the best 90 Day quotes of all time now. Gotta respect Jenny for not doing the nose thing.
• Steven hiding the book in his bag was so irritating. I hate him. I wanted Alina to step on those flowers.
• Sumit has been dating Jenny this whole time and never mentioned his daily-yoga expectation?
• I literally forgot Corey and Evelin were in this episode. But yeah, they were there.