Spoilers ahead for the third episode of Fox's Labor of Love, called "10 Things Kristy Likes About You."
Fox's Labor of Love was pretty wild right off the bat thanks to its premise as a reality TV show following 41-year-old Kristy Katzmann on her search for the perfect man, but not because she wants a ring on her finger before the end of the season. Kristy is looking for the perfect man to have a baby with, and the first three episodes have more or less combined The Bachelorette with its dates and Survivor with its challenges as Kristy tests the potential fathers-to-be on their suitability. Now, after only a few episodes, Labor of Love has already run into a huge problem with Kristy's search: the men.
Specifically, the men who may not be willing to just hang out in a house and hope that Kristy chooses them from among the pack to father her child(ren). This process isn't easy on the guys, and none of them actually knew Kristy before the show premiered. In fact, some of them have probably spent more time alone in the mobile sperm unit than one-on-one time getting to know Kristy at this point.
Honestly, not all of them seem that enamored with Kristy, and this isn't Bachelor Nation where ending a season together doesn't necessarily mean love, marriage, and baby in a baby carriage. Kristy is looking at these men as possible fathers of her children, but she doesn't seem to realize that they're evaluating her as the mother of their children. More than one man during "10 Things Kristy Likes About You" admitted that they wouldn't be devastated if Kristy sent them home, and it was clear to me that many of them didn't appreciate jumping through hoops.
This is a show that relies upon a group of men waiting, hearts in hands, to try and woo Kristy into becoming the mother of their child and create a little family unit. The men have to be all-in for the stakes to feel high. As it stands now, Kristy seems to be the only one really into playing the game and test-driving the dudes for fatherhood.
This might not be what they imagined, and Kristy might not be who they imagined. More than The Bachelor and Bachelorette, Labor of Love relies on a solid relationship between people who are ready to become parents, and the guys don't seem to all be prepared to ask "How high?" if Kristy asks them to jump into a situation.
I'm having a hard time rooting for pretty much anybody because the end goal is a baby, and I don't want people who don't know each other all that well to make a huge commitment for their rest of their lives and the life of a child. Maybe I'm too conditioned to the relative frivolity of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, where those who don't find love can just move on to the next Bachelor Nation dating show, and I'm keeping my mind open, but the men not being 100% all-in on Kristy is a problem Labor of Love needs to find a way to fix.
Of course, we're only three episodes into Labor of Love, so perhaps this problem will be addressed and go away as the season progresses. Tune in to Fox on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of Labor of Love, and be sure to swing by our 2020 summer premiere schedule for additional viewing options.
