90 Day Fiancé: B90 Strikes Back! gave audiences the chance to experience Season 4 of 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days in a whole new light. This time around several participants re-lived their moments on the season and took a chance to defend themselves against the scores of critics on the internet. As this series draws to a close and 90 Day Fiancé: HEA Strikes Back! gears up to start in October, there are some things worth re-evaluating ahead of this premiere.
While I think it's nice to get additional commentary from the likes of Big Ed Brown on what went wrong with Rosemarie Vega, there is a much uglier side to B90 Strikes Back. These people often have to reply to some of the meanest tweets on the internet about them, and while some take it in stride, others did not.
Earlier in the season, I wrote about how David Murphey shouldn't have agreed to B90 Strikes Back! if he wasn't prepared to joke and make light of his situation. Now as this draws to a close, I've come to realize that almost everyone on this program is directly being asked to respond to mean comments about some of the worst things they experienced and stuff that may still impact them in their real lives.
It's also an uneven playing field because these participants like Stephanie Matto are then asked to respond to someone with a clever comeback they know nothing about. More often than not it just gives them a chance to make a generic burn, or resort to self-deprecating humor. One isn't particularly entertaining, and the other just more or less forces them into insulting themselves in order to seem like a good sport.
With another spinoff in this format and potentially more on the way, I would love to see the Strikes Back! genre get just a little more positive going forward. More positive tweets, or at the very least, more constructive ones that lead to more questions rather than insults. Mean tweets can be fun to read in terms of watching an episode, but it hasn't been all that enjoyable watching these subjects respond to the snark they're subjected to.
I personally would like to see more Tik Tok content inspired by the show, and just more positivity in general. Don't get me wrong -- valid criticism is always welcome on 90 Day Fiancé, and sometimes, people need to be put to task. Still, it's important to remember these reality stars aren't on the level where this gig is making them tons and tons of cash. These people are willing to relive some painful moments for the sake of fan entertainment; the least TLC can do for future installments is to select some tweets that are a little less biting.
90 Day Fiancé: HEA Strikes Back! is due to premiere on TLC Monday, October 5 at 9:00 p.m. ET. Continue to stick with Cinemablend for all the latest happening in the franchise, and for the latest in television and movies.
