Warning! The following contains spoilers for the 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days episode “False Starts And False Promises.” Read at your own risk!
90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days is known for its awkward moments, perhaps more so than any other spinoff in the franchise. With that said, most of the cringey situations that happen on the TLC show are usually the result of the cast members themselves, and not so much the way the show's creative team edits the episodes.
There’s always a first time for everything, though, and I feel the latest episode took things a BIT too far when it came to how (and how long) Alina Kasha and Caleb Greenwood’s bedroom scene played out.
When Alina and Caleb returned to their hotel room after dinner with her friend, one thing led to another, and they began the all-important act of foreplay. Such actions seemed to indicate things were only going to get more intimate when the cameras shut off. The problem, however, is that the cameras didn't fade to black, and instead remained fixated on the couple slowly undressing and making out for quite some time.
I clocked the sequence from start to finish, and it ran a little over two minutes, which may not seem like a lot on paper, but when watching a TV couple make out for one of the first times ever, it felt like an eternity. I’ll argue that I got the gist of what was happening at the 20-second mark, meaning everything beyond that just felt excessive, making for a borderline voyeuristic experience. Perhaps if this was the norm for this franchise, it might not have felt as icky, but it's not, and it did. And I'm not alone in that line of thinking, as evidenced by this fan's thoughts.
How why how whyyyyy WHYY is the camera crew in the bedroom for THAT LONG with Alina and Caleb @TLC #90DayFiance #90dayfiancebeforethe90daysJanuary 9, 2022
I will concede that 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days spent a lot of time in the past couple of episodes focusing on Alina’s worry that Caleb wasn't interested in having physical intimacy with her. But the start of the episode laid it out that they'd progressed in that department, and viewers got the gist that things were on the up and up long before that camera stopped rolling and the kissing sounds ceased.
It’s possible that 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days kept the arguably too-long scene in there to show fans how Caleb, who is standard height, and Alina, who was born with a rare form of dwarfism, get physical. I do understand the potential intrigue of normalizing such intimacy between lovers with height differences, but given that this is a real couple in a real relationship, it still felt a bit rude to intrude on that particular area of their coupledom, though I suppose that is some of what couples who do reality television sign up for.
Awkward moment aside, 90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days is holding its title as one of the best spinoffs of the franchise in Season 5. Alina and Caleb are definitely a couple I’d like to see in future seasons, though that’s assuming they are still together at the season’s end. Will their short-term issues impact their relationship, or is it just being played up for the camera? We can only wait and see!
90 Day Fiancé: Before The 90 Days airs on TLC on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET. This season is flying by, but there’s still plenty of time to see some added drama that could make upcoming episodes even more interesting.
