Married At First Sight - Season 2 - Episode Discussion - *Sleuthing - Spoilers*

I will preface this by saying that I have not seen season 1.  Season 2 is my only experience with the show.

Based on some things that came out in the reunion show last night, I feel like the editing sheds a very unfair light on many, if not all, of the participants in some way.  I did not realize that there were "filming days".  I thought that the cameras stuck with them for the whole time to capture what truly was going on.  If Sean and Davina only spent 10 days together out of 42, that means that the camera only shot them for 1/4 of the time they were together.  How is that a fair, honest and accurate representation of what they each did and how much effort each put in?  Sean and Davina were not a good match, even on paper.  I understand what the experts thought they were doing given their backgrounds but I think this one was just never going to work.

I don't think that Jaclyn was forced to say yes.  I think that she was expecting Ryan to say he wanted a divorce, but when he said he wanted to stay married, she felt like she should stick it out and see what happened.  The look on her face when he said he wanted to stay married - you could tell that she was surprised, and that she was planning on asking for a divorce.  I really love Jaclyn, and I wish that she had stuck to her guns even though it would have been hard right after he said he wanted to stay married.  Ryan strikes me as the kind of guy that wants to keep Jaclyn "in his life" as he said, maybe as a safety net, or maybe because he really does feel a connection with her but he's too emotionally stunted and immature to do anything with it at this point.  Either way, kudos to Jaclyn for moving on.  It really was in her best interest.  One question I do have though - they were very open in the editing about Sean and Davina not spending nights together.  Why was the same not done about Ryan and Jaclyn if he wasn't staying there at night.  Why when they did their individual interviews during the show did Jaclyn never say, "Ryan doesn't sleep here at night".  Why did the cameras never show him leaving for the night or where he went when he did?  That seems shady to me on the part of the show.

As for Jessica and Ryan - I was 100% Team Jessica... until last night when she pulled out that $100 bill.  At that moment, I wondered what other things like this she had done throughout the 6 weeks that we didn't get to see.  It made me feel like she plays very innocent and plays the victim well, but that there are things unseen that she did to push buttons with Ryan.  That does not in any way excuse ANY of Ryan's behavior at all so don't think I am saying that.  It just gave me a glimpse of her character that I hadn't seen yet.  People don't just suddenly do something like that to goad someone or put them down out of the blue if their character otherwise is someone that doesn't do those things.  She knew what type of response that would evoke from him and I think that is what she was trying to do, was to get him to blow up to make her look like more of a victim.  I think that it backfired though.  Ryan - IMHO he has some serious issues he needs to work on.  Aside from the fact that he had a very specific type of woman in mind that he wanted to be married to (someone just like his grandma) he obviously has serious anger management issues and communication issues.  If he really was cheating, of course that is an issue all in and off itself.  I think he needs to do a lot of work on himself before he ever gets into another serious relationship.

I love Jess, and I didn't see it as her being anything but trying to do to him, what he's been doing to her all along. But she did it in the safety of all those present. Yes, it was obviously planned, and she shouldn't have, but I do understand why . It seemed like she had a lot of built up resentment towards him for the way he treated her, and she wanted to make the point, that no matter what anyone says, 'you and I know you stole that hundred dollars' at least that's what I felt it was.... when the dr. c scolded her, she started to tear up, so I think this is all very still very raw for her. The editing last night was awful, and almost gave me a headache it was so choppy. So who knows what else was said.

BusyLizzie wrote:I love Jess, and I didn't see it as her being anything but trying to do to him, what he's been doing to her all along.

IMO that's exactly what she did, and it made her look bad. It would have spoken so much louder if she had stayed on the high road and maintained her integrity and maturity. I still think she got the short end of the stick in this pairing, and especially in light of current events with the restraining order and alleged threats to her and her family. I just wish she wouldn't have sunk to his level. It was disappointing.

I also liked Jessica throughout the show. I wondered why she didn't leave when he stopped speaking to her over that $100 bill incident. She already had dealt with his blow-up during their honeymoon over the piercings and tattoos. I do think Ryan took the $100, and I can understand Jess being hurt and upset, but that $100 bill incident on the reunion didn't do her any favors. IMO she shouldn't have gone to his level.

I don't think she sank to his level, even though it wasn't the classiest thing to do. Still a long way to go to his level. I think it was more of a final statement on the money issue, because she knows he's a broke gambler and she's probably disgusted by the charade and his lies. She wasn't gonna out right call him out on all his BS about his job etc., maybe because of his threats, since he's made it clear that his reputation means more to him than anything. So this was her way of letting her feelings be known. Passive-aggressive? Yes. Deserved? Absolutely.

I agree, she shouldn't have. She is still too raw from the hurting, so her anger got the best of her. The experts < I really hate calling them that, as I think they're a pathetic example of experts... anyways walked on egg shells with Ryan. They had the opportunity to ask him some serious questions and they didn't .

I'm not trying to convey that I don't think Ryan deserved it, because he really deserved way more than what he ever got.  He mistreated her almost the entire time they were together and I think she should have left long before the 6 weeks was up.  I guess my point really was just that up until she did that, I had never seen her do anything of that nature and it does kind of make me wonder if there were other things we didn't see that were of that same nature.  

The experts < I really hate calling them that, as I think they're a pathetic example of experts... anyways walked on egg shells with Ryan. They had the opportunity to ask him some serious questions and they didn't .

I completely agree.  I had a list of questions in my head that I was hoping they would ask, and they never really asked much of him at all other than why the $100 thing bothered him so much and about the Valentine's Day incident.

I too have tons of questions for Ryan. I'm believing Jessica didn't do things like that while alone with him, for fear of his temper. But of course I'm just guessing.

mrbored wrote:
I don't know..I think Ryan R is a pretty bad guy.  True, compared to Sean and Ryan D's issues his don't seem as severe but I think he hurt Jaclyn immensely.  

True, I guess in comparing him to the other two guys I failed to see that just because he's not a screamer like Ryan D he was still wrong and his actions did not reflect his words. Also, reading about Jaclyn's cat, I have no way to even pretend he's a good guy.

JMHO guys but I think Jess was provoking Ryan on purpose. She was in the safety of the group and had at lest a chance of getting an outburst on film/mic. She works for lawyers. I can see them trying to provoke a rage (not unlike the rages she had been subject to during the 6 weeks) in order to get the rage documented. Then the lawyer can subpoena the uncut tapes. Maybe this will give Jess grounds to sue the network for putting her in physical danger? Just thinking out loud here.

JMHO guys but I think Jess was provoking Ryan on purpose. She was in the safety of the group and had at lest a chance of getting an outburst on film/mic

That's kind of what I meant when I said she knew what type of response she was going to get. The problem I have with it is that it was SO out of character from anything we've seen from her, it looked very contrived, which would not necessarily look good for her in a legal setting. A provoked incident with an expected response (one would expect that he would get upset with her doing that to him) is much different than all of the unwarranted things he did to her. Someone in the legal setting may look at that provocation and say, well, okay, she is doing stuff to instigate this situation.

Why when they did their individual interviews during the show did Jaclyn never say, "Ryan doesn't sleep here at night". Why did the cameras never show him leaving for the night or where he went when he did? That seems shady to me on the part of the show.

Probably because none of this fit the narrative the producers wanted to present for that particular couple. IMO, the other two couples were probably so obviously disastrous, they couldn't hide it in the editing. Their only shot at something decent was Jaclyn and Ryan R.