On 90 Day Fiance Season 8, Episode 15, rings were a hot topic.
First, Brandon and Julia were on totally different pages about pandemic wedding planning.
Then, a tearful Amira revealed the vicious texts that Andrew had sent her before her flight.
Jovi and Yara headed to Vegas, but Jovi still couldn’t behave himself and kept ditching Yara to hang with his buddies.
Hazel prepared for her bachelorette party with a difficult but important phone call to her parents.
Stephanie and Harris were getting even more serious about their future together.
Then, Natalie and Mike came face to face on camera for the first time since their breakup.
Natalie told him that she’s keeping the ring this time … but that won’t be the end of it.
Brandon Gibbs and Julia Trubkina
The COVID-19 pandemic is no longer a hypothetical worry for them — the state of Virginia shut down a few weeks ago and it’s uncertain what will open up in the future or when. Remember, this was a point in time when the worst people alive were hoarding years’ worth of toilet paper (reminder that “stock up” means buy maybe twice your usual order, not clear out multiple stores). It was not a fun time.
Their wedding plans were thrown for a loop
Julia laments how she and Brandon had already been struggling with Brandon’s apparent disinterest in wedding planning BEFORE the shutdown. Now, their options are very limited.
Meanwhile . . .
Ron Gibbs received a DIY haircut from Betty. It’s a cute, charming moment that almost makes you forget how they treated Julia for weeks upon her arrival, or how their controlling behavior has impacted Brandon. Almost.
Brandon has a laugh
At first, he is simply entertained like everyone else — and confided to the cameras that Betty is good at cutting hair on DOGS, not people.
But wedding plans?
Brandon seems uncomfortable making things concrete yet, and doesn’t seem to feel the same sense of urgency that everyone else does.
Family meeting
Brandon does acknowledge that they need to do the paperwork soon after Julia and his parents discuss it again.
Let’s do it next week!
When Brandon suggests that he and Julia marry that soon, his parents counter that he likely doesn’t even have that long. Anything could close or re-close at any time. They should get married in the next few days.
It’s not very romantic
They’re on different pages, with Brandon wanting to save the frills and, well, anything that might make the day special until they can have a real ceremony. Even his mother’s efforts to find a dress for Julia to wear seem like too much for him.
But is that realistic?
Julia notes that between the pandemic and the expense of applying for her green card (the K-1 visa is not permanent residency, folks!), a big dream wedding seems like it’s far off in the future.
Julia feels hurt
To her, it feels like Brandon’s desire for a quick “let’s sign these papers because we have to” wedding is a lack of desire for her, echoing his past disinterest in her dress or the wedding venue. Brandon tells the camera that he just doesn’t want to half-ass something now and instead save it for their real wedding ceremony some time later. Neither are the bad guy here, they just need to communicate better.
Julia doesn’t love the idea of a paperwork-only wedding
And her description of Brandon’s attitude was so funny (she has a great sense of humor) that we absolutely had to GIF it for you.
“Thank you so much”
“We go home, take care animals.”
Andrew Kenton and Amira Lollysa
Their segment this episode begins with Amira telling production, as if he’s mystified by it, that Amira just didn’t board the flight from Serbia to the US despite having the ticket and having
“I feel like I failed”
To hear Andrew tell it, he was just so excited for Amira’s arrival and practically had the flowers in his hand before she totally stood him up!
So what is the truth?
90 Day Fiance shows fans exactly what led to Amira not boarding her flight to the US … and suddenly things seem a lot less mysterious.
We see Amira crying in Serbia
And the reason for her tears is soon revealed, as she expresses heartbreak over how Andrew is treating her.
The text messages are VICIOUS
Andrew started pressuring Amira for children, and that pressure turned into brutal, emotionally abusive texts demanding that Amira make promises about their future and that if she doesn’t want to meet his demands, well, he’s happy to move on. That’s the vibe from these nasty, cruel texts.
“My time is limited”
Andrew’s treatment of Amira in these texts … if anyone spoke to me that way, they would be out of my life forever.
Amira almost went through with it anyway
Only at the airport did her tearful panic attack stop her from getting onto the plane.
THERE’S MORE???
Andrew then told her that he didn’t care about “logistics” but wanted her rings back, so he wanted her to mail them to him.
Wow
Amira is heartbroken, but most of us are just feeling relieved. We HOPE that it’s over.
Jovi Dufren and Yara Zaya
Just hours after Jovi returned late and drunk from his bachelor party, he and Yara departed on their journey to Las Vegas.
Jovi seems to have poor impulse control
He not only partied longer than Yara had asked him to, he also invited a bunch of his friends to the wedding. That goes against Yara’s wishes, and makes her very sweet gesture of inviting Gwen to the wedding kind of moot. Thoughtless.
Even on the trip, Jovi’s all about his buddies
Yara keeps feeling like she’s playing second fiddle to a whole gaggle of people. Also to every alcoholic beverage known to man. It’s not fun. She’s his fiancee and she’s pregnant with his child.
Jovi doesn’t seem to get it
Yara is really questioning if their whole life together is just going to be Jovi disregarding how she feels and just doing whatever he feels like doing.
Yara calls her friend Lera
Feeling out of place — like she’s on another planet, which is a fair way to feel out west in the middle of a desert and surrounded by huge sculptures of dinosaurs — she calls up a friend of hers in Ukraine, the only friend who knows that she’s pregnant.
EXCELLENT editing
Yara tells Lera how she’s feeling, and the editors put her voiceover on exactly the right part of the footage — Jovi ignoring his pregnant fiancee to snap selfies with his friends like he briefly forgot she exists.
Some people don’t like that Yara “complains too much”
There are times when she doesn’t complain enough, though perhaps she realized that this eccentric location was not the best place to voice her concerns to Jovi.
For what it’s worth, Jovi DOES realize that she’s unhappy
Of course, Jovi in his voiceover talks about it as if a bad mood is just something that has happened to Yara, like a stomach ache, instead of something that he is repeatedly causing. (Jovi’s not a bad dude, he’s just … not behaving as he should)
Jovi’s friend asks the prenup question
One, there’s a strong chance that production asked her to stir the pot or that she decided to do it on her own as a favor to the couple’s reality career, so let’s not blame her for asking if Yara’s going to sign a prenuptial agreement. Two, prenups are ALWAYS a good idea. If you don’t sign one, then you’re going by the divorce laws of whatever state you happen to be in, so don’t think of it as “do I want a prenuptial agreement?” think of it as “do I want to work out a plan with my spouse now OR do I want to play state law roulette with our finances and assets?” Three, Yara’s response here — joking about Jovi’s old couch — was the perfect deflection.
At the hotel, Yara speaks
She talks to Jovi about how he doesn’t seem to prioritize her even though this is their trip for their WEDDING, which doesn’t seem to bode well for other times. She’s right to say it. Jovi might love her, but that’s not enough to make a marriage work by itself.
Jovi is apologetic
Yara hopes that he’s sincere about wanting to change and be a good husband to her … but she also notes that she doesn’t have time to see if he will change or not before they marry.
Tarik Myers and Hazel Cagalitan
Their segment was especially heartwarming this episode, beginning with his daughter, Ari, trying on her dress to be their flower girl at the wedding.
Ari still needs to be talked into it
A lot of kids don’t like wearing fancy outfits (to this DAY I am bitter about a one-hour photoshoot when I was four), but Tarik adorably talks to Ari about her upcoming role in the ceremony. So cute!
Hazel has an uncomfortable call ahead of her
She wants to come out to her parents before she gets married.
At home, she was always closeted
Hazel can live as her authentic self as a bisexual woman in the United States with Tarik in ways that she could not in her hometown.
Hazel’s sister is also bi
Unfortunately, Hazel already saw her parents respond to her sister with appalling bigotry. Hazel is afraid of the same treatment.
It’s time
Hazel mustered her courage and told her parents that she’s bi.
Hazel’s mother does not respond well
A lot of things can explain why someone would respond to their child’s identity by announcing that they’ll pray for their child to be someone else. Nothing can excuse it.
Hazel’s dad, on the other hand
After an extended period of silence, he tells her that he’s happy if she’s happy. That is much more accepting.
Time for her bachelorette party
Tarik isn’t there, of course. But in addition to Tarik’s friends (including Angela, who is SO GOOD), Hazel’s friend whom she made on Instagram was able to travel down and be there. Also, they were sure to clarify that they underwent COVID-19 testing (hopefully not the rapid kind) before the party to make sure that filming was safe.
Nice!
Everyone assembles in a very nice-looking room. Were it not for the K-1 visa, we’d be giving them grief for having a wedding during the pandemic at all, but as things stand, they really don’t have a choice.
Yes, there’s a stripper
The stripper was actually hired by Tarik, who knows Hazel’s taste. That’s actually a great idea — what better way to show that a couple belong together than to show how well they know each other’s tastes?
And this woman is RIGHT up Hazel’s alley
Again, Tarik really hit it out of the park. And Hazel’s obvious thirst is so cute!
Also, kudos to this stripper
Sex workers of all kinds are superheroes even during normal times. Performing on reality TV for a bachelorette party during a pandemic is no joke. She even gave some pointers on twerking.
Stephanie Davison and Harris
With Ryan Carr out of the picture, Stephanie and Harris are now closer than ever before. Harris is certainly much nicer than Stephanie and also isn’t sexually assaulting her (a huge step up!), but fans are still alarmed by how under the influence Stephanie appears.
Sure, why not
Harris climbs a tree to retrieve a coconut. It’s one of those “what a goofy thing to do” moments that lightens the mood from a lot of Stephanie’s more upsetting storyline.
Their time together is almost over
Soon, Stephanie will return to the US — without Ryan, of course.
Harris wants to join her soon
He longs to be in Michigan. That said, anyone praising a hot day in Belize in the summer as “nice” might be in for a rude awakening in Michigan. Just a thought.
Messy
Harris cracks the coconut and lets Stephanie drink directly from it. It’s cute but messy, which describes a lot of things about Stephanie.
Yikes
Ryan continues to call Stephanie, which is gross and creepy considering how things ended.
Speaking of exes
Stephanie pulls out a fairly recent photo of Harris with his baby mama at a birthday party. Stephanie wants to make sure that those two aren’t still an item, that she wouldn’t be tearing them apart by scooping up Harris for herself.
Harris insists that it’s over
He tells Stephanie that he is eager to move on with her, that his ex is just his co-parent.
Stephanie likes hearing that
In her voiceover, she says that she’s still feeling guarded. In person, she seems to really enjoy hearing exactly what she wants to hear.
It’s time to go
Stephanie hands Harris a $100 bill from the best little purse that I’ve seen in my life (it’s gaudy and hideous and I’m obsessed), telling him that it is for “snacks.”
Harris at first thinks that it looks fake
Harris has seen American money before but never a $100 bill, apparently.
Okay, wow
Harris reveals that $100 equals out to about two weeks of work for him. That actually checks out with Belize’s economy.
Stephanie seems … happy?
We hope that Stephanie is okay. A lot of her head movements and the way that she speaks are … concerning.
Rebecca Parrott and Zied Hakimi
Their segment begins with Zied describing his wedding outfit which begins to sound more and more like a clown’s outfit, to Rebecca’s alarm.
Things just aren’t going her way
The two go shopping at Target, where Rebecca is clearly in a bad mood and not just because they’re in a store during the pandemic. This is just not how she wanted things to be. Zied sees it, but realizes that there’s nothing that he can do to cheer her up.
Zied has his own issues
He’s sad and misses his family, which segues into him calling his sister, Wiem.
Zied calls his sister
He and Wiem briefly catch up … and then she seems to suggest that he and Rebecca should not marry.
“Are you sure you want to marry her?”
That is not a bad question, exactly, but it’s sort of a leading one, especially after someone is already so close to walking down the aisle.
Wiem also doesn’t understand Rebecca’s history
In real life, it’s very easy for someone to meet multiple horrible men, and it’s also possible to fall in and out of love multiple times without either party being awful.
Zied explains
What his sister is really getting at is not Rebecca’s history, it’s that he moved there and is so far away.
Frenemy time
Rebecca stopped by in anticipation of her wedding to touch base with Melanie. On Bares All, Rebecca said that she and Melanie weren’t even friends anymore, but maybe that was filmed … between this and Melanie’s last episode? Who knows.
Mike Youngquist and Natalie Mordovtseva
Today was supposed to be the start of Mike and Natalie’s life together as a married couple.
Natalie is a wreck
Her face is so smudged with makeup and misery from her tears.
Michael has yet to be seen
We heard the description of the announcement of the breakup from Tamara, but Mike seemed to hide when the cameras arrived.
Here’s the plan
Tamara is driving her to Seattle, where she’ll spend the night in the hotel and then fly to France the next day. From there, she’ll have to take a train or a bus to Ukraine because they’re not allowing flights.
How could he do this to her?
Natalie is very afraid, and not without reason, that she could be exposed to COVID-19 during this travel.
She also says goodbye to Beau
To be fair, his criminal history is lengthy and alarming, though we’re sure that he was very nice to Natalie.
Mike emerges
He has clearly been crying and he looks younger in this moment, somehow. He offers some weak apologies to Natalie. We’re sure tha the means them, but what could possibly make up for this?
Natalie’s done with him
She tells him to find an American girl and be happy. She also promises to block him.
Oops
Mike also asks for the ring back from Natalie.
Turnabout is fair play
Natalie gets to give him a taste of his own medicine, telling him “no.”
Heartbreaking
Natalie cries as they begin to drive to Seattle. And we know from the previews that even that is not the end.