90 Day Fiancé Recap: A Beautiful Mess - Vulture

90 Day Fiancé

Unsure and Insecure

Season 8 Episode 8

Editor’s Rating 5 stars

Photo: TLC

Stephanie is one of those beautiful, rare 90 Day participants who you know doesn’t have entirely good intentions, but you end up rooting for her anyway. If you watched Before the 90 Days, Big Ed is a great example of this wonderful 90 Day character. You almost can’t believe someone like Stephanie exists, but here she is, buying $3,000 watches for a man whose salary she secretly pays.

When Stephanie joined this season, I didn’t think we’d actually get to see her and Ryan together! They were having so many issues long distance, and Stephanie seemed ready to give up on her entire trip. But no, this episode, she takes four planes and greets her — as she has told us MANY times — 27-year-old fiancé. To Ryan’s credit, he shows up with flowers and a balloon and greets Stephanie with actual warmth and affection. Even though he is clearly scamming a trip to America, he at least knows how to put on the right act.

Because that is 100 percent what Ryan is doing, Stephanie might feel better after going through his phone, but it was so obvious Ryan had already cleared any incriminating messages! In all of his interviews without Stephanie, Ryan doesn’t even hide the fact that he wants to see America and he will get to America. Following Stephanie’s rules is a way to make that happen, and Stephanie is happy to give him an exact guide to follow. Whether he’ll still be willing to do that when he finds out she slept with his cousin is another thing.

I also have to give Natalie kudos for her stunning performance this week. She knew she could use Mike’s mom to manipulate him into planning the wedding, and it almost worked. She got Mike to pick a wedding date, but she still didn’t get that dang ring back. Natalie has no real interest in getting to know Mike’s mom or building a relationship with her; she really just sees her as a way to get what she wants. Natalie might want to ask herself why everyone is on Mike’s side and not hers, because it’s very clear that Mike is right. They have too many issues they need to work on.

Their biggest issue is still Natalie hating everything about Mike and who he is. She doesn’t like that he makes jokes. She doesn’t like that he eats butter. She doesn’t like where he lives or his atheism. Mike is starting to see there will be no compromise, and he has no interest in even trying to make the changes Natalie wants. (Also, as someone who went way too deep into the keto diet, I get what Mike’s mom was saying about butter being good for you — it’s just, y’know, not that kind of butter.) I don’t think he’s going to suddenly start planning a wedding just because Natalie manipulated his mom into making him pick a date.

Julia is a lot more successful than Natalie at getting her way, but she also has pretty fair demands. She did not come to America to work on a farm, and Brandon insisting most people would love to work with “cute farm animals” is a total lie! Most people don’t want to work on a farm, Brandon! It’s interesting, because Brandon looked like he wanted to cry when he realized he’d have to leave the family farm to make Julia happy. I think he really thought they’d all get along, move into the same room when they got married, and Julia would learn to love the farm. It’s becoming clear that Brandon really doesn’t want the future that Julia wants. His parents first made him a dating profile on FarmersOnly, which tells me they might know what he wants more than he does. Brandon has never had a real relationship and fell for a beautiful girl who doesn’t really share his interests or values. At some point in their relationship, I think he might resent Julia for making him give up the farm. That being said, Brandon hasn’t shown us he can actually be the man Julia needs and get them their own place. Just like he does with his parents, he’s just saying what she wants to hear.

Andrew and Amira have almost the exact opposite problem: Andrew cannot say a single thing Amira wants to hear. That girl had to take four flights over five days! She’s still healing from the detention process and dealing with the bureaucratic process of immigration. She feels guilty that she made her parents worry and doesn’t know if this could impact her passport in the future. What does Andrew have to say about all of that? Nothing. Because he doesn’t even ask Amira about what she went through or how she is; he just tells her about an amazing steakhouse he went to and all the fun tours he has planned. I could understand if he couldn’t get his money back and decided to just stay, but he is just genuinely, selfishly living it up. Amira can’t even think about the next steps in their visa process, but Andrew is already thinking up his next plan. I hope Amira’s dad got through to her and she just breaks up with him.

Finally, there’s Jovi and Yara and their big ol’ confirmed pregnancy. I can sort of understand why Yara wanted to wait until Jovi was back to tell him, but you can’t really get mad at him for drinking after a flight when he has no idea what’s going on! Yara is understandably frustrated that her fiancé can’t even greet her sober after weeks apart. If she had sent Jovi a “Heads up: I have something important to tell you” text, though, I think he would’ve arrived better prepared. Or maybe I’m just giving Jovi too much credit because I respect New Orleans drinking culture.