The second you think you have some of the couples figured out, they surprise you.
Ups and downs are a natural part of the process, and Married at First Sight Season 11 Episode 10 was filled with them. Some unlikely couples made progress, and others stalled.
Do you think there is hope for Miles & Karen and Henry & Christina after a rocky start?
Olivia & Brett
Olivia and Brett are an unusual pair because of how they’ve been coasting by in the middle. They have moments when it seems as though they’re getting along well, but their issues are never as glaring as the two most challenging couples, but they aren’t doing as well as the more stable pairs.
If I had to place a bet on whether or not they will decide to stay married by the end of this, I would say it’s a hard no. For one, it never seemed as though they were genuinely attracted to each other physically or personality-wise.
They said they were, but what they said and what we saw and still see never matches up. But it feels as though they’re too poorly-matched to last.
It feels as though we’re watching two new roommates trying to navigate living together instead of an actual married couple, and it carries over to their outings as well.
Olivia going rock climbing with Brett was the first time it felt as though she was willing to do something he was interested in without being prompted or forced into it.
Their date was OK, and they got along well, but there is no real chemistry or heat between these two at all.
And then Olivia dragged Brett out to “Trivia” night with her friends, and they hit another wall. A couple of things have become clear about Brett during this process.
Brett is surprisingly an introverted person, so when he gets pushed out of his comfort zone, he becomes an asshole. We’ve seen it many times before, and he drinks to loosen up as well.
Brett was outside of his comfort zone, and he was bored as hell, and it was not the best combination. Olivia got upset that he didn’t show any interest in her Game Night with her friends, but while he was coming off a bit standoffish and not pretending to be into the games, it was hard to blame him.
In his defense, Olivia said it was trivia night, but that wasn’t exactly true, and none of her friends were participating or seemed into either. Hell, the man hosting it seemed bored.
Brett wasn’t the only one not having a fun time, but it hurt Olivia that Brett wasn’t making more of an effort. But man, it was the second time she took him on a questionable date. The gator boat ride was a snoozefest too.
They will have a tough go of things because of their incompatibility. Olivia had a set idea of what type of man she wanted, and Brett doesn’t fit that.
While he doesn’t even come close, it’s again becoming evident that Olivia isn’t prepared for an actual marriage that involves the merging of two people with their own agency and ideals.
Olivia is happy with Olivia and her lifestyle, her hobbies, and her friends, and I don’t think ANY man will fit into her life if she isn’t prepared to make room for him.
She got annoyed when Brett was helping her make the bed, and she wasn’t used to someone having a different sleeping pattern beside her.
Olivia needs a Traveling/Activities companion with “benefits,” and that’s about it. It’s hard to imagine her handling a long-term husband even if he did make enough money and like ALL the same activities she does.
Amani & Woody
Woody and Amani are one of the top couples to beat, but there have been cracks appearing bit by bit as the season progresses.
They have some fundamental differences that are coming to a head, and Amani has some genuine fears about their future. The different opinions on how to discipline children are one of a few little things that have gotten in their way, but they never worked through. The hair thing was another.
But Amani is worried about how quickly Woody fell for her. He has told her already that he loves her, and she hasn’t been able to say it back.
Woody is a lot to deal with, and he’s so energetic, and Amani has admitted more than once that he’s someone she has to keep up with often.
She expressed a fear that if she didn’t catch up to him fast enough, that by the time she got to where he was, he would lose interest.
It’s a real fear, especially with Woody, who seems so enamored with this process that it’s overwhelming. Sometimes it feels like Woody is saying all the things he feels like he should and doing what he’s supposed to, but it’s hard to tell how real it is.
And Woody has some feelings about Amani not sharing his thoughts and operating at the same speed. He also has some controlling tendencies that seem to get to Amani more and more.
They’re one of the most lovable couples on the series, but they aren’t perfect, and it isn’t smooth-sailing no matter how much they operate as the duo who have it all figured out or as advisors for the others.
Amelia & Bennett
Speaking of trying to get to what’s real, the other lovable duo has a similar issue.
The more time they spend with each other, the better their getting to know each other, and with that comes annoyances.
Bennett likes to keep things tidy, and Amelia is someone who isn’t as concerned about all of that. Amelia went into this process essentially saying that she was wanted a househusband, so it should come as no surprise that she expects Bennett to do all the housework.
Bennett felt it was only fair that they share duties, but when he mixed up a bunch of different tasks and made a game out of them choosing which ones to take on, Amelia conveniently chose all the things that required the least amount of actual work.
It would’ve irritated the hell out of me, but Bennett seemed to roll with it.
Amelia was there to take care of him when he wasn’t feeling well (and looking back, it makes you wonder if Bennett had COVID-19 before it became rampant). And she did make him a cake and all before.
Bennett stepped it up by getting some unusual looing singers to come to the house and sing for Amelia, and he had a nice dinner and all planned for her. It’s adorable how tapped in he is to her, even in such a short period.
Bennett and Amelia even had an adorable double date with Miles and Karen. Bennett and Miles have the best and most underrated friendship of the season, and he made a hell of a wingman helping Miles out with the intimacy issues with Karen.
But Bennett is starting to have some reservations too. Reality is setting in, and Bennett is concerned that Amelia is enamored with him right now, and she’s putting him on a pedestal.
He shared some of the things that she does that annoy him, including more commentary about her lack of housekeeping or half-ass attempt at it (who doesn’t wash the entire dish when doing the dishes?). But Amelia couldn’t think of anything Bennett did that bothered her.
He even gave her a list, and she had nothing to say about it. It seems trivial, but Bennett’s frustration is warranted here. He’s concerned, and he’s been down that road of either putting his spouse on a pedestal or vice versa.
He knows it doesn’t lead anywhere positive. For one, there’s always a chance that little resentments will build up and come out in different ways.
I think Bennett wants to know that their relationship is REAL. They can’t be perfect, compatible, and pleasant all of the time. Amelia didn’t pick up on any of that yet, so it’ll be interesting to see if she ever does and how it’ll affect them.
Christina & Henry
The group date went well, and the other couples saw that Henry and Christina seemed to be getting along better.
Christina even made a joke announcing that she was pregnant, which garnered some fun reactions from the others.
Amani, who seems to have stepped in as the resident couples’ therapist since the experts have been weirdly MIA, pulled Henry aside to talk.
Henry was honest with Amani about his feelings regarding Christina. He shared with her the issues he had with Christina’s impatience and rudeness, and he acknowledged that those were turnoffs and dealbreakers, but Christina has been working on it, and they’re doing much better.
It was unfortunate that Amani went and shared everything Henry said with Christina and Olivia. Assuming Henry was confiding in her, under the guise of them forming a friendship, of sorts, it sucks that she told Christina everything verbatim.
Nevertheless, Christina was livid about Henry telling Amani more than he’s ever told her. These two suck at communicating, but it seems as though they don’t know how to do that with success.
Both of them are more open to the cameras and other individuals than they are each other.
Christina confronting Henry about what he said was a lot, and while on the one hand, she came in hot and came across “impatient” again, on the other hand, it was probably necessary.
She put his feet to the fire, and she didn’t give him much time to respond before firing off more questions, but she waited for some form of an answer and wanted to nail him down to something.
She asserted that she can deal if Henry isn’t interested in her and he doesn’t want to seem like an asshole on TV, but she needs to know where she stands.
It bothered her that he didn’t share that her impatience was a potential dealbreaker (although he did, maybe she wasn’t listening) and that he told Woody that he found her sexy when he hasn’t shared positive affirmations and compliments with her.
Henry says he doesn’t know if their marriage can work yet, and if he had to say if there’s a future between them at that moment, he would say no.
But this is an eight-week process, and these two are just hitting a stride, so it’s a reasonable answer. He’s not saying they couldn’t be something in the future, only that they need to take the rest of their time together to figure that out.
Later on, while they had their one-on-one time, answering each other’s questions, they were cute and endearing. It’s the most intimate and real they’ve been ever.
Karen & Miles
Karen’s intimacy issue has become the biggest wall in her relationship.
After the scheduled sex incident, instead of resolving it or talking through it, she took off and spent the night elsewhere. They had a discussion when she returned, and Miles apologized, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve gotten to the core of their issues.
Miles spent some time talking to Woody about their relationship, and when he talks about it out loud, you feel for him even more.
It keeps feeling as though he’s pouring more into this relationship and doing whatever he can to make Karen comfortable and move at her glacial pace, but he’s feeling neglected in the process.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what Miles is getting out of the process. They aren’t making any forward movement at all. You got a sense of how difficult this has been for them when Woody was reacting to everything Miles was telling him.
Karen did take him to an intimacy class, and while there, she gave him a massage. It was a way of giving him some of the affection and affirmation that he craves.
It’s insane that the entire time she was massaging him, I was afraid biology would rear its head (pardon the pun), and if Miles had a natural, uncontrollable reaction to her, she would feel uncomfortable or bolt again.
She’s so skittish when it comes to any affection, sex, or intimacy. It’s not so much that she has these issues as it is that she signed up for this accelerated process.
But it also feels like she’s carrying baggage from her previous relationship and holding that against Miles. It’s not fair to him to make him pay for things that happened in the past with someone else.
But she tried to make some efforts, and he appreciated them. Sometimes when she points out the efforts that she’s making, it can feel like the acts themselves aren’t genuine.
But we’ll have to see.
Over to you, MAFS Fanatics! Have Olivia and Brett stalled in their relationship? Are Bennett’s concerns valid? Can Henry and Christina make it after all?
Hit the comments below!
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Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.