While we all know 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After is currently airing, we are also all aware it is the most tiring of the spin-offs. At this point, there are few viewers still interested in couples like Sumit and Jenny or Michael and Angela. Who wants to see Big Ed every week? After years of following all those couples, I couldn’t see what else there was to say about them. It’s like TLC knows people are bored of the Happily Ever After concept because they decided to offer a new season of The Single Life simultaneously. So, here we are! Even though we’ll be joining people we’ve followed for years, there are no rules in the world of 90 Day: The Single Life.
Everything you know about the 90 Day franchise goes out the window in The Single Life. It’s not like Before the 90 Days since people like Debbie and Natalie are looking for suitors in their country. It’s not like the original 90 Day Fiancé because people like Caesar and Tonya are just here to share their freakshow dating experiences.
It may sound rude, but The Single Life is mostly the bottom barrel of 90 Day participants — The people who love the attention of being on the show and need to be on it even if they have no logical reason for being around. Debbie wasn’t even in a relationship on regular 90 Day Fiancé! She’s just a fan favorite who keeps the Colt drama around. Natalie? Any viewers who know her story know that she is an absolute monster who will destroy any man she tries to date on this show.
It’s odd because The Single Life is clearly for people who are fans of the 90 Day franchise. If you don’t already watch the other spin-offs, why would you care who these random people date? But the show tries to distance its characters from the details of their origin stories. It summarizes things so people like Tania, Natalie, and Caesar seem like better people than they actually are. Tania was jealous and constantly controlling Syngin. She was selfish and often put her own needs ahead of his! After they broke up, she made money making videos kissing her sister! Do I really think she should be dating when she’s clearly still dealing with her divorce? The Single Life doesn’t care! She’s ready to mingle!
It’s not like The Single Life wants us to feel sympathy for these people, though. When it comes to someone like Caesar, it should be sad that he wasted money on a woman who was catfishing him. But Caesar keeps setting himself up because he insists on only dating Ukrainian women he believes fit a list of stereotypes. Caesar isn’t interested in a real woman or relationship; he is interested in the idea of a beautiful blonde woman who will put up with him in exchange for citizenship. When Caesar complains about the amount of money he needs to spend to bring a wife back from Ukraine, I do not wish him any success!
If there’s any character The Single Life has treated with kindness, it’s Debbie. Debbie willed her way into the 90 Day universe and became a fan favorite. She knows what energy to bring to a Tell All, and she’s obviously willing to go along with the producers’ ideas. Even though her dates in past seasons felt fake and forced, Debbie deserves love! She had to put up with Colt! She’s a widow! It just feels good watching her live life on her terms. Also, we don’t have seasons of evidence of Debbie being horrible like we do for Tania, Natalie, and Caesar. The peripheral characters like Debbie and Veronica fare better on the show because of this.
It slows things down when Colt busts into the picture to confront Debbie about their falling out. Their argument felt like a relic from an old season of Happily Ever After. Colt, leave Debbie alone. Go get a job. Debbie is having a hot girl summer, and that’s what we’re here to watch.
Natalie is probably the person I wanted to see least this season. I don’t know how Natalie has manipulated the producers into giving her an angel edit when we all know she tortured Mike when they were together. She ended their relationship by moving to Miami and dating other people without telling Mike. Despite their separation, she expected Mike to keep sending her money and file her green card paperwork. If Mike even mentioned another woman, Natalie would fly into a rage. Not to mention all the insecure arguments she would start whenever she felt like Mike was having a good time with his mom.
The Single Life would probably work better this season if it embraced her status as a pure villain. Josh, her love interest, will obviously be sacrificed at the altar of Natalie’s jealousy. Josh is a modeling agent. Natalie says she will never date a man who works with beautiful women. Wow, I can’t wait to see where this inevitable conflict goes. She is going to destroy that man.
I am excited to switch gears and dive into The Single Life coverage! Veronica and Tiffany will be introduced later this season, and I’m most excited about them. Tiffany was always sweet and deserved better than Ronald, but I can’t imagine dating will be easy with two kids from your jealous ex-husband. And Veronica? Outside of Tell Alls and Pillow Talk, we’ve never had a chance to see things from her perspective. Tim is one of the franchise’s oddest people, and I want to see how she survives their friendship.
90 Day Notes
• Deb doesn’t need to share her vibrator habits, but I’m glad she’s comfortable enough to do that, I guess. Her video date was cute.
• Caesar desperately trying to go to Ukraine as war approached is certainly a choice. Doesn’t he know there are Ukrainian women in America? Oh, that wouldn’t give him the power dynamic and control he wants? Right! He really thought that woman’s profile said she liked washing dishes and got excited.
• I think Tania is still in love with Syngin. At least she can admit she still needs to process their relationship and isn’t trying to rush into anything serious. Syngin was on The Single Life last season, but he’s now dating some Instagram influencer, if you were curious. One time I left a comment saying he should hit me up if they don’t work out and he liked it. I will keep you updated on any developments there.
• Colt has clearly been in a lot of therapy to deal with his co-dependency issues. He’s not wrong about Debbie forcing him to become an adult when his dad dies, but he can’t get past his own feelings to really listen to why Debbie is hurt.
• Tania, I’m so sorry you didn’t get to hit up sex clubs with Syngin. I do not want to see you lick a bald man’s head.