Love Island
Episode 18
Season 8
Episode 18
Editor’s rating
Aniya and Melanie can’t bring themselves to take revenge on KC and Sincere, and the guys (except Bryce) act like fools at Casa Amor.
Photo: YouTube
Every season Love Island USA there are approximately 1 million episodes, and we review them all. Stay tuned for morning recaps of weekday episodes and a recap of weekend shenanigans on Monday.
Aniya, honey, I want to tell you a little story about a beautiful island girl named Olandria, who wanted to leave Love Island villa with Taylor, the country boy of her dreams. Or so she thought. Olandria thought things were going well with Taylor, although they never really interacted physically until Casa Amor came and Taylor met another beautiful islander named Clarke. However, Olandria remained faithful until Taylor said three little words that ended their courtship forever: “I choose Clarke.” While everything worked out well for Olandria in the end, there are no guarantees in this villa and you’re thrown right into an “I choose Clarke” situation that I’d really like to spare you from.
This is what I would say to Anya if she were in front of me. But since I don’t know that, I’m hoping that maybe just putting these words out into the universe will be enough to reach her on some spiritual level, because the thing is, she already knows what KC is doing at Casa Amor. And she still is going to miss out on a potential connection with this beautiful six-foot-four man who wants to teach her to speak Chinese and make her feel beautiful.
I say I’m upset. In Cas, all the boys (mostly all) behave exactly as expected, which is to say, badly, while the girls, especially Aniya and Melanie, seem to have lost some of the rage that fueled them last night.
Girls now have all the advantages. They had already realized that their boys had no plans to remain loyal to them while they were at Casa Amor. They are given the opportunity to choose from 12 new boys, which is double the number of boys they meet at Casa. (I especially enjoyed bringing the new guys on a yacht right past Casa Amor so the OG guys could see the dozen guys coming for their girls.) They definitely slept better since they had separate beds without the French fries keeping them awake, and they wore comfy, unsexy pajamas for once. The girls even have Ariana Madix in the villa all day, personally hyping them up in hopes of finding the best match. And yet! I’d be surprised if half of them decide to come to terms with the shocking events at the end of it all.
The one thing all the girls can agree on, and this goes on from night to morning, is that it’s “Fuck Corbin” all day, every day. Kensi swears she’ll never talk to him again, and I completely believe her. If only Aniya had listened to Trinity when she says about KC, “He fucked with your feelings for the last time, and I’m honestly annoyed.” Same thing, girl.
Ariana arrives in the morning after the girls’ breakfast to tell them the good news: their Casa experience officially begins now. Twelve hot guys are about to enter the villa, whose only job is to make themselves as attractive as possible to the OG girls. Melanie, the secret poet, says, “It’s like when your mom takes you to buffet on Sunday and they have everything. Like, they even got crabs.” Daytime activities include swimming, posing, talking about tuna tartare (Kenzie has never tried it because she tries to stay away from cheese) and, of course, kissing. Aniya gets a lot of love, which makes me happy for her, and Kenzie gets the opportunity to do the splits with a man, which is what she came to this villa for in the first place.
To be honest, I didn’t bother to remember all of their names since the girls can only choose six of them to stay for the rest of their stay at the Casa. They choose Corey, Chay, Gal, Ronnie, Dylan, and Carl, who has his sights set on Aniya. When Melanie takes Anya away for a brief moment to chat, I hope she tells her to go for it. Alas. They say in unison: “I miss my man!” and I’m starting to lose all hope. Especially when Aniya says out loud that she knows KC doesn’t put her feelings first. Yes, exactly, Anya! So what are you doing? Both Melanie and Aniya have talked a lot about getting back and getting revenge, but neither can fully commit.
The more exciting news is that Chay and Kayda have a promising conversation at a speakeasy, and Trinity and Corey really hit it off. If I had to make a prediction now, I’d say Kaida will most likely choose Zach in the end, but I’m not so sure about Trinity.
Trinity, despite the occasional shocking revelation about her sexual history, was the most down-to-earth islander in the villa, often offering sage wisdom sandwiched between jokes. She seems more comfortable with Bryce than with anyone else, but now, for the first time in three weeks, this girl is almost dizzy. Part of me wants to see at least one of these men humiliated—at least until I see how much Bryce misses her.
Wow, boys. I’d like to spend a day inside Candor’s brain for scientific research purposes. He shares a bed with Amora, whom he kissed, but just to “get it out of the way.” However, he tells the boys that he still misses Melanie. He says he’s going to give all these Casa women the same chance he gave Saul. But really he just wants Melanie. Sincere knows that none of this is mandatory, right? He could have simply said, “I will remain faithful to Melanie,” and not share the bed with the girl from Casa at all. This was once a sign of a passing grade on the Casa Amor exam. But Sincere, this psychological mystery of a man, decides not to date the girl from Casa, returns to Melanie and all the time sincerely congratulates himself on his noble behavior. How does this work?
Corbyn is at least less confused. He justifies everything he has done and plans to do at Casa by citing Kensi’s “track record.” Kensi’s “crime list” literally only had you, my boyfriend, but whatever. We’re done with him. Zach, who was rolling around under the fluffy blankets with Alanna, simply reasons that “Casa doesn’t count.” I assure you, it is so. And Alanna kissed your brother and that doesn’t bother you? KC, well, KC is clearly and obviously so much more into Tierra than Ania that it’s almost painful to watch.
Only Bryce struggles to contact anyone in Cas. Instead, he gazes mournfully at the main villa, where, unbeknownst to him, Trinity is taking flirtatious photos with Corey in a photo booth. He tells Candor that none of Casa’s girls laugh at his jokes, but Trinity always does. He almost cries when he says, “I really like her, you know.” He tells the beach hut, “Trinity really makes me feel like I’m in love.” Bryce and Trinity’s relationship didn’t have the same electric spark that Candor and Melanie share—which is more like the kind of spark that causes electrical fires and destroys buildings anyway—but they both noted how their bond has grown over these weeks. When I think about it, I can really see how their sense of humor can really mesh. Does this make Bryce and Trinity marriage this season? I know I was skeptical at first, but I’m glad I was proven wrong. Because that’s a twist that I would have liked.
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