The NESSENTIALS

Recap

Twin Love (airing on Amazon Prime) is introduced with some pop culture science courtesy of the Garcia Twins (here still going by their more famous WWE surname, Bella). But quickly the reality love format is explained by voice-over: identical twins are split up, to live in two different houses, where the question is whether they can prioritise forming a love connection over a twin connection. No, the question is whether they fall in love with the same dating pool. No, the question is whether they can last until the end – as eliminations and not-so-covert surveillance seem to form part of the para-social game.

We are introduced to:

• Brittnay and Whittnay lean on each other after the death of their mother and work hard
• Madison and Morgan from Loganville in Georgia, who want partners secure in their relationships to respect the twin bond
• Mickey and Jair (26) work together as boxing coaches, with more confessionals than interview segments
• Luke and Seth love line-dancing and their faith
• Cameron and Ceara (24) say they’re easier to tell apart based on Ceara’s fake titties, who is also the twin that’s been cheated on (no causation, just correlation)
• Samer and Samir (32) shake hands with the hosts, and explain about their Syrian backgrounds and living the American Dream, which attracts gold-diggers
• Aaron and David (27) also stress their entrepreneurial credibility, though Aaron cautions that he doesn’t believe in true love
• Zoie and Baelee (22) haven’t been in relationships, though Baelee has more experience with guys – though they prove not to be entirely reliable narrators
• Matthew and Andrew (24) start off with swears, and some forced high energy, self-describing as party and frat dudes that aren’t the assholes they look like
• Sabella and Hanna seem the most shook by the separation aspect of the show, having described living on different floors in college as spending time apart

It’s interesting to note that some folks have ages attached to their chyrons, while others don’t – though I freely admit to missing some.

Girls and guys cling to each other, confessing how hard this will be, as they thought they could rely on their emotional support twin. They are then lined up opposite of another, with the hosts repeating the same script. Sabella is all cheered by the dating prospect, while Matthew wants to rise to the challenge of winning over Ceara, who seems entirely disinterested. Madison thinks she can work with what’s on offer.

To engineer some initial conflict and artificial bonding, the twins play “Crush At First Glance” (as if Love at First Sight is commonly subverted like this), picking photos of the twin of the opposite gender they are most attracted to. Seth articulates the juicy part: what if nobody picks your picture?

Editing ensures that we see twins in both locations choosing at the same time, establishing more of an argument that the purpose is if twins are attracted to the same types of people (let’s not confuse a crush with love, this game is clearly more physical than emotional).

Interestingly, in the Garden House, all black women choose Aaron, and all white women choose Luke. Luke and Aaron find this validating, while the others seem determined to change the women’s minds.

In the Vista House, tastes differ much more between the women: two picks for Jair (Whittnay, Madison), one for Andrew (Ceara – psyche!), one for Samir (Baelee), and one for David (Hanna). Seth plays off not being picked coolly, flirting with Brie instead.

Turning the cards in the Garden House, Aaron chooses Brittnay – leaving Sabella unmatched; Mickey chooses Sabella; Samer chooses Zoie – as does Luke, creating another match; and Matthew chooses Cameron. It’s revealed that matching provides more time at the cocktail party that night to get to know each other (stealing fairly from the Bachelor franchise).

In the Vista House, David chooses Hanna back; but Jair also chooses her, leaving him unmatched and Madison butt-hurt about his avoidance of blondes to break his bad relationship cycle. Samir chooses Baelee back, creating another match, and leaving Andrew unmatched, as he also chooses Baelee; while Seth chooses Ceara.

The show highlights that Mickey/Jair and Samer/Samir were attracted to the same twin set, as were Hanna/Sabella. Madison seems open to date outside of her ethnicity while Morgan’s initial attraction was the same as hers, as is Baelee with her confirmed match, Samir. All other twins (David/Aaron, Brittnay/Whittnay, Matthew/Andrew, Luke/Seth, Cameron/Ceara) chose first impressions mirroring their own ethnicity.

The hosts leave these revelations, letting contestants make continued and new connections. Sabella tells Mickey she would have chosen him if he had made better eye contact with her. Baelee realises that Samir falls outside of her age-range preference, though she seems open to his persuasion. Madison clears the air with Jair about his avoidance of blondes, and they bond over boxing, with her determined and him wondering if he should ignore his own rule.

At the cocktail parties, sister matches Baelee and Samir peel off first for a private moment in Vista House, while Zoie does the same with Luke in Garden House.

Baelee is fully aware that her sister has a different type – interestingly suggesting they undermine the premise of this show, unless one or both relationships don’t pan out – and nails Zoie’s pick in Luke completely. She raises age as a concern, while Samir believes he can show, rather than tell her, how young his soul is. Baelee hopes he is honest about wanting to settle down though.

Zoie and Luke bond over liking country music. They both agree that the format of the show seems primed for making more genuine love connections than if they were with their twins. Zoie and Luke mutually choose to kiss when prompted by the “This or That” card, while Baelee chooses the hug option, giving Samir no say in the matter – which the hosts note in a voice-over. I wonder if I’ll ever learn to tell them apart without seeing them.

Ceara and Andrew are shown as the first unmatched pair to seek solitude, talk about aliens and spirituality on a balcony. They don’t see eye to eye on everything, but there’s light laughter, indicating that birds of a feather don’t need to flock together.

Aaron and Brittnay, who matched, talk about their partner wishlist, both seeking family because they don’t have strong familial relationships – does this commonality mean they match better, or does the wishlist stay strong? Aaron mentions he has a son, which Brittnay did not see coming, though she talks herself into not thinking it’s a dealbreaker. Aaron also comes right out of the gate with being a love sceptic. Brittnay appreciates the honesty, but thinks what he says makes him come across as a player, and indeed, he negotiates her up from a hug to a peck, to some lingering kisses goodnight.

David and Hanna have sexual chemistry, though Hanna tries to pump the brakes as her sister can’t do it for her – David turns out to be different to her expectations, which she likes. She considers herself bold, while David doesn’t, seeing that in his brother instead (he must have felt those kisses with his twin telepathy, even if they occurred later at night). Hanna says he makes her feel comfortable, as they have sweet hugs and banter.

In the group setting of Garden House, the twins raise being separated from their siblings. Sabella takes this hard, walking away in tears, so Morgan goes to check on her, leaving the others speculating about what Sabella is doing and thinking – she might not last very long.

In Vista House, Aaron and Seth talk about the same topic, confessing to tears without shame. The rest of the men steer the conversation to who their twins would pick, and who they are more attracted to. Jair admits to the connection with Madison, giving this particular blonde a chance.

The next morning, Whittnay experiences the same separation anxiety (of the title!) that Sabella did the night before, with all of the other women rallying around her. Hanna makes the case for being more independent of their twins, and improving their confidence.

The hosts return to the houses, after the girls of Vista House fan girl over them, sharing that twists are to be expected. The b-roll of high-heeled legs walking towards the houses indicates that the surprise of the day is another set of twins, stealing from Love Island with late entrants – though whether my guess is right, remains to be seen in Episode 2.

Nessential Power Ranking

As this isn’t a format where contestants are ranked, but rather matched, for success, I’ll be picking the twin that I think is more likely to come out of this experience either matched, or open to starting a relationship, based on the edit. I am not pitting them against each other.

Brittnay v Whittnay

Brittnay is connecting with her match, Aaron, while Whittnay is still relying on her old relationship too much in favour of building new relationships. I do think Whittnay is better supported by the rest of the girls though, so she may remain confident in continuing the experiment, while Brittnay might not continue to choose Aaron.

Sabella v Hanna

Hanna also has clearly hit it off with her match, David, while Sabella is near-hysterical about not having her sister there to support her. Hanna isn’t held back by the same fears, despite acknowledging that she’s not fully trusting her own judgement right now. This should serve her in trying relationships out though.

Cameron v Ceara

Ceara actually has a storyline, as of now, with Andrew’s interest in her signalled at the start (despite picking Baelee at first glance), while she was clear in picking him in the first “game”. Cameron, on the other hand, has not acted on Matthew’s interest in her – interesting to note the same dynamics of interest from the male twins here, by the way – and has no in-roads with Luke while Zoie is still matched with him.

Zoie v Baelee

Zoie and Luke have very superficial things in common, from the conversation we heard, but they also are in a similar place in life and age, while Baelee isn’t sold on Samir’s supposed desire to settle down, despite him being a decade older. If he gives off player vibes, she needs to decide if she’ll play along, or play with someone else.

Morgan v Madison

Madison has her eyes on her perceived prize, Jair, wheedling him into giving up on his first rule: no blondes. That might or might not be healthy in the long run, but it could certainly see them matched in the future, while Morgan is building friendships over situationships for now.

Seth v Luke

Luke has also hit it off with his match, Zoie, and his confidence in the process (another Bachelor-ism) will aid him in pursuing this (or other) love connections without giving his brother much thought. Seth, on the other hand, might still sting a little from the Crush at First Glance rejection, guarding his heart (yep, another catchphrase).

Jair v Mickey

Jair has been snared by Madison over a mutual love of boxing, a hair colour he is attracted to, and her determination (though he might also be scared to say no), while Mickey needs Sabella to overcome her separation anxiety if he wants a chance at a match (unless the Episode 2 surprise entrant take a shine to him).

Matthew v Andrew

Andrew shooting his shot may well pay off, considering Ceara is open-minded enough to believe in aliens. Matthew, on the other hand, might have more work on his hands with the invisible Cameron, again, unless the Episode 2 surprise entrant takes a shine to him.

Samir v Samer

Samir has got to be confident, based on the match with Baelee, compared to Samer, without a match and with an interest in Zoie, who would not see him as her type. Samer, too, needs to rely on forging an emotional connection, or late joiners, but we didn’t see any evidence of capability in the first episode.

David v Aaron

David and Aaron both matched, but if Aaron gives off player vibes to Brittnay and she has issues with him having a young child (that he has left to go on a dating show for, another classic Bachelor trope), David’s more sensitive approach is likely to see him building a stronger connection.

Additional notes

Twin Love has dumped all of their episodes at once, but I don’t have the mental bandwidth to watch and recap all episodes with commentary in the same timespan.

I am fascinated by this show: hosted by reality stars, the Garcia twins (of WWE fame, then spinning off to Total Divas, and Total Bellas), and with elements of reality dating shows, something I’ve loved since the days of Next, Date My Mom and the likes. More to come soon, I’m sure.