Usually, a 90 Day Fiancé finale promises some sort of drama. As the title of this finale suggests, there should at least be some fighting. That’s not the case with The Other Way’s second season, which has ended on a pretty drama-free and positive note. There are no major blowups or breakups. Ari doesn’t run away with her baby in the middle of the night. Yazan and Brittany aren’t put in any danger. Kenny and Armando aren’t forced to cancel their marriage. Deavan and Jihoon get married, but we hardly see the issues that cause their relationship to dissolve. Even Jenny, Sumit, and his parents work things out.
I suppose the episode’s title is more descriptive of how these relationships will always work. Ari and Biniyam have so many cultural differences — they’ll never stop fighting. Kenny and Armando will always have to fight for their marriage to be seen as equal. And Jenny will always have to fight the voice in her head telling her that she’s getting played. In all of these dynamics, there’s a choice either partner has to make, and it’s whether or not they’ll keep fighting for each other. By the episode’s end, Deavan is the only person who seems to have given up, which is surprising considering all she and Jihoon have been through. Even Tim and Melyza decided to keep passively fighting for their relationship in separate countries.
Deavan’s sudden return to America was sparked by COVID-19 quarantine annoyance with Jihoon, apparently. There must be more to the story, because running away from your baby’s dad because he’s playing video games in quarantine doesn’t seem particularly fair. She’s also taking the risk of traveling with children during a pandemic because of some vague idea that leaving Jihoon will make their relationship better? Their wedding was sweet, and Jihoon worked hard to turn things around for them, but Deavan was never as invested. I don’t think she’ll go back to Jihoon at all, but I wonder if there was more to the whole “Jihoon is looking at pictures of other women†thing. Maybe being in quarantine together made his porn habits too unbearable.
Brittany and Yazan are another couple I expected to break up during this finale, and while they promised to stay together at the episode’s end and look into a K-1 visa, I don’t think that will happen. Brittany knew absolutely nothing about the K-1 visa process, and she’ll probably give up once she realizes the cost and effort involved. Despite Yazan’s request that she ignore the risks, Brittany is finally being sensible. I was worried she’d try to stay in Jordan and push the drama with Yazan’s family for the sake of reality TV, but she isn’t playing games anymore. Yazan also doesn’t really want to go to America, and his family probably wouldn’t like that either. It seems likely they’ll break up before we see them pop up on another 90 Day spinoff.
Jenny and Sumit somehow managed to secure their positions on season three of The Other Way, with Jenny accepting Sumit’s weird semi–promise ring. Jenny knows she can’t stay in the country unless they get married, and she said she wasn’t staying unless they got married! But look at her! Going back on her promises and saying yes to a ring that means literally nothing. She offered Sumit a promise ring weeks ago, and he said no because the engagement ring meant more. Now he’s offering her something he knows will mean nothing to his family! It’s sad that Sumit’s parents are emotionally manipulating him, but they both knew that was the risk of telling his parents. Sumit put them in this situation, and I’m pretty sure he did it on purpose.
Sumit’s declarations to his parents never even seem like genuine love for Jenny. I think he appreciates Jenny and they definitely have weird sex they’re both into, but I don’t think he expected Jenny to go this far with things. Jenny misrepresents their relationship a lot this season, but real fans know the full story: They met when Sumit was originally catfishing Jenny. Sumit told the truth, and Jenny decided to keep seeing him. Jenny and Sumit were dating when she came to visit him, but they lied to his parents and said she was just a friend. His mother befriended Jenny, thinking she was just a visiting tourist. Then she found out Jenny was sneaking around in the middle of the night to sleep with her son! Of course Sumit’s mom feels betrayed, so it’s weird Jenny erases all of that and acts like their relationship is just based on innocent romance.
At least Ari got a real engagement ring this episode. Even though everything is saying these two should not get married, they’re at least giving their relationship a real chance. Of course, Biniyam thinks Ari is filled with an “evil spirit,†and Ari thinks Biniyam is a child she can’t trust, but these two are trying to make it work. I’m not sure why Ari was so freaked out about the holiday event — there were other children and babies around, but I wonder when this was filmed. If this was near the beginning of COVID-19, I can understand her concern. Producers probably removed that context to make her seem more dramatic, since there was little real drama to be had this episode.
What, you thought Kenny and Armando were going to give us drama? Absolutely not. Kenny and Armando got to ride off into the sunset together after learning that their marriage request was approved. I absolutely clapped when Armando read the email, even though I figured they’d get a positive response. It’s still odd that they have to go through all of this while every other heterosexual couple in the 90 Day Fiancé universe can get married on a whim, sometimes days after meeting someone.
With 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way ending, it’ll be interesting to see which couples they bring back next season. Couples like Kenny and Armando offer a lot more insight into the cultural differences Americans face moving abroad, and couples like Jenny and Sumit and Ari and Biniyam bring the drama. At the same time, this format of 90 Day exposes less realistic couples like Brittany and Yazan pretty quickly, which is irritating when they take up so much episode time. Either way, season two has solidified 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way’s place as one of the best 90 Day spinoffs.