It’s recommitment day on this episode of Married at First Sight, and each of the couples speaks to the experts about what they need to be able to say “yes” on Decision Day.
Will the couples be honest with each other and express their true needs?
Talks with the experts
As always, the chats with the experts are informative and chock full of good advice for the couples. The underlying message to everyone from Dr. Viviana and Pastor Cal was to “communicate with your partner” and “share with them how you really feel.”
While Jessica and Austin are happy overall, and on the same page about their marriage, Jess still struggles a bit with not knowing exactly how Austin feels about her.
She desperately wants to tell him she loves him but is afraid to because she worries that he won’t reciprocate. Understandable.
Dr. Vivian’s advice to Jess is to take a risk and tell Austin how she feels. She says she’ll try, but when it comes down to it, she chickens out.
The couple has a great talk, nonetheless, and are both very happy with the current state of their relationship and look forward to their future together.
I want you to want me
Katie talks to Dr. Viviana about her concerns about how much of a “dreamer” Derek is.
She explains how he has a never-ending bucket list of things he wants to do, see, and accomplish. It makes her nervous that he might be too immature an unrealistic to be able to handle marriage and a family.
On the flip side, when Derek speaks to Pastor Cal, he expresses his concerns about Katie not “being supportive” of his dreams.
He doesn’t feel there’s anything wrong with having dreams, and he believes he can and will achieve most if not all of them.
When the two chat, Katie admits that she needs to be more open-minded and supportive of Derek’s dreams and says she really does want to be “his biggest fan.”
But… she lets him know that she fears his dreams will be more important to him than committing to her and their marriage. She tells him, “I want you to want me.”
Derek grabs her hands and tells her “I want you.” (more than once) Katie’s face lights up as these are exactly the words she wanted to hear.
It looks like these two really are on the same page.
The lying needs to stop
When Michael and Meka talk to the experts, it’s the same old song and dance.
For Meka, it comes down to Michael being honest. For him (no matter how he tries to explain it away as “vulnerability”), he needs more attention, affection, and wants to have sex.
It seems like these two are equally committed to making this marriage work. However, it will probably never happen until Michael feels comfortable being his true self with Meka.
Michael needs to feel validated – as a man – and wants to feel wanted.
Unfortunately, because of his constant lying, Meka can’t trust him.
The door is never really open to intimacy and affection. If Michael could go a few days without lying, maybe Meka would warm up to him, because it feels like there is some true attraction there.
Until that happens, neither one of them is going to get what they need from each other.
Stop the cycle, Michael.
Giving up or giving in?
Taylor talks to Dr. Viviana and continues to blame Brandon for everything. She doesn’t own up to any of her actions and keeps saying how “committed” she is to make things work.
She claims all she wants is for them to be able to “move past” everything that happened in Panama, and with her Instagram video, and give it another shot.
Brandon, on the other hand, isn’t sure he can do that. He feels Taylor’s actions were spiteful and were purposefully and she intentionally meant to hurt him.
He’s having trouble getting past this and feels Taylor is still living like she is single, going out partying with her friends, etc.
He does not want to continue with the marriage if that’s how things are going to be.
Pastor Cal reminds Brandon about why he got into this in the first place and why the two were matched. He tells him they can make this marriage work if they both commit to putting all the past hurts behind them and start fresh.
Brandon meets Taylor at the apartment to talk, and surprisingly, the two spoke calmly to each other.
Taylor doesn’t seem to be her normal, somewhat aggressive self and appears genuinely interested in making things work. They both agree to let the past stay in the past and push forward.
It was uncomfortable to watch because you could tell deep down Brandon was probably just giving in to the pressure from Pastor Cal. With Taylor, it seemed like she was trying to save face – on camera.
Move in or move on
The best expert chat of the night was when Mindy spoke to Dr. Viviana. It was like Mindy finally had a breakthrough of sorts and had finally reached her breaking point with Zach.
Mindy was honest about her lack of faith in Zach and his commitment to the marriage. When asked what it would take for her to say yes to Zach on Decision Day, she said she has a few demands:
- She needs Zach to spend more quality time with her off-camera, and in general
- She needs to know more about the communications between Zach and Lindsay
- She needs Zach to tell her what he was accusing her of lying to him about
- She needs Zach to move in
When Zach meets with Pastor Cal, he basically tells him he has not been a good husband and that he needs to do better.
He asks Zach about his talks with Lindsay and Zach assures him there was no “emotional” cheating going on. Zach admits he could be trying harder and says he will.
Mindy is looking forward to her discussion with Zach and tells us in a confessional that she thinks Zach will be spending the night. She is very happy about this.
Zach comes over with a backpack and the two dogs. It appears he really is going to spend the night, and things are looking hopeful.
They chat, and Mindy lists her demands.
When asked to see the text messages between him and Lindsay, he tells her he has deleted everything. She is disappointed but decides to move past it.
He then agrees that he will make more of an effort to spend more quality time with her, on and off camera.
Next is the topic of the accusations about her lying about something. Mindy says she needs to know what he was talking about and asks if he will tell her what it is.
He says he will, but we don’t get to see any of that… yet.
Last, Mindy brings up Zach moving in. He asks her, “can we talk about it?” and immediately goes on the defensive and starts on one of his nonsensical ramblings.
He says a whole lot without really saying anything at all. No official commitment to move in completely anytime soon.
Mindy seems happy that he is at least staying the night, but when bedtime rolls around, Zach informs her he will be staying in the guest bedroom.
What a slap in the face. This guy is a complete as*hole.
Poor Mindy. She needs to throw Zach out, give him the ring back, and file for divorce. She deserves much better.
Can Mindy please be the next Bachelorette?
Married at First Sight airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Lifetime.