Season 8 of 90 Day Fiance is officially, completely over.
After Part 1 of the Tell All last week, there were still loose ends to tie up.
Most notably, the show had to delve into Amira and Andrew’s drama.
This wasn’t just past drama.
When Andrew wasn’t allowed to direclty confront Amira, he stormed out … and did not return.
Then, Tarik and Hazel spoke about their marriage and plans for the future.
Tarik very rightfully schooled some misunderstandings (and let’s be honest, bigotry) about his polyamorous marriage.
However, he also revealed that he and Minty had spoken earlier that day.
(As Amira’s dad would say, “you do the mistake again!”)
Then, Natalie has long harbored suspicions that Mike cheated with his friend Sarah.
More than once, she has insisted that it’s true.
Finally, fans get to hear from Sarah.
We start where we left off
Part 1 ended with Andrew’s dramatic exit, one that was slightly spoiled by him turning around and asking if he can get a ride back to his hotel. Amira had said that she didn’t want to speak directly to Andrew, and when production asked Andrew to step away while she spoke and return with his side after, he stormed off in a huff. That works just fine for Amira.
Amira does not want to speak to him
Like so many people who have had bitter breakups, she doesn’t want to face her ex. But it’s more than that — she has described verbal and emotional manipulation (and possibly verbal and emotional abuse) and does not want to be subjected to it again.
It’s a complicated situation
Julia feels exactly as Andrew likely wanted people to feel — sympathy for him because he wanted to tell his side.
Rebecca has a different perspective
She says that she heard Andrew say, before his departure, that his only reason for attending was to confront Amira. That, to her, seemed alarming — considering that he and Amira were formerly in love.
Meanwhile, outside …
Andrew is in the car but hasn’t departed yet, and he says that he adamantly refuses to come back in and share his side of the story unless he gets to directly confront Amira (through the screen) face-to-face.
This is relayed to Shaun
Probably a good reminder that Shaun, while excellent at what she does, is told which questions to ask, when to move on, and when to press people for more details. In this case, the producer in her ear tells her, and she tells the cast, about Andrew’s decision to stay put outside.
Nobody likes that
The entire cast emphasizes that they wish that Andrew would come and share what he has to say, even if he has to wait his turn.
Andrew still refuses
He tells producers that he’s not walking into that room unless he can have the conversation that he demands with Amira.
Why is Amira so reluctant?
She explains that she does not want to be manipulated by him ever again, and does not want to speak to him only to wonder when he’s going to yell at her.
The fear is real
Julia is the one who points out that Amira is visibly trembling at the thought of confronting Andrew directly.
So, after the breakup
Amira shares that she did send back the ring that Andrew (immediately) demanded after their breakup. She says that she even sent gifts for Andrew’s family.
It’s unclear if they got them, though
This could mean that Andrew didn’t give them to his family, didn’t tell them that they were from Amira, or more likely, that they didn’t like Amira enough to respond.
As for what happened in Mexico City
Amira says that she truly did not know what was going on. Everything was normal, and then she was in the back room, and then her phone and shoes were taken and she was put in a cell. She claims to still have no real answer about why she was deported from Mexico.
WTF?
Some of the stars had a “well, it’s Mexico” attitude about it, while others were genuinely bewildered and perhaps less dismissive of an entire country.
And after she got her phone back
According to her, Andrew had barely messaged her at all. Rebecca noted that, if she were locked up for days, her phone would probably lose its charge from being bombarded with calls and texts from worried loved ones.
Outside …
Andrew, still adamant that he’s not returning, rides off into the sunset … never telling his side of the story, except on social media (repeatedly).
After all of that, why did Amira go to Serbia?
She says that she did it because she loved Andrew. She even slips, saying “love” first. It can be funny how you get in the habit of saying something in the present tense.
And their breakup?
Andrew had demanded that she get pregnant immediately upon her arrival, or he wouldn’t marry her. This happened at the end of her quarantine in Serbia.
THAT explains it
Remember, this was reportedly filmed in February, so not all of the episodes had aired just yet.
Andrew didn’t waste any time
After their breakup, Amira returned to France … where she learned that Andrew was already back on the dating site where they had first met.
Wait, how did she know that?
Shaun isn’t actually in charge of the questions that she asks, generally, but she did ask how Amira learned that — a fair question. The answer is that she received an email notification from that site.
Now, many months later, Amira has moved on
Amira is dating a new man and says that he may be the love of her life. However, her new man is also an American. And he’s also in California. Amira seems to have a type.
Backstage …
Brandon admitted that he’s confused by Amira and Andrew’s story and feels like it isn’t adding up.
Jovi agrees
Remember, Jovi has traveled to numerous countries for work, and he has never had an experience like Amira describes. Did she just get very unlucky, or is she leaving out part of her story?
Moving on to Tarik and Hazel …
The two are are participating from home after a possible COVID exposure, but Hazel confirms that she is still hopeful to get a girlfriend at some point in the future when dating is a viable option.
Julia had some questions
She asks if this means that Tarik will have “two girlfriends.”
No
Tarik emphasizes that it’s not about having two girlfriends. He wants to have one wife — Hazel. Polyamory comes in many forms, and not all of them involve plural marriage or equal dating partnerships. Tarik and Hazel will both come first to each other.
Rebecca’s insecurities come up
Rebecca is generally well liked by fans, but she gets weirdly judgmental about this and tries to tell Tarik that he should have “made his choice” if he’s gotten married. That’s not how this works, Rebecca.
Tarik explains
With more patience than they deserve, Tarik explains how countless thousands, possibly (likely) millions of married adults are polyamorous in one form or another. Incidentally, the numbers back him up on that, as much as weirdo bigots dislike that.
Zied is judgmental
His different cultural background — being from Tunisia — explains, but does not excuse, his opposition to other people’s relationships.
Hazel echoes things
Hazel emphasizes that Tarik is her husband and the man whom she loves, but that the two of them also want to date a girlfriend.
Here comes Minty
Minty, the woman whom Tarik and Hazel briefly dated many months earlier, whom Tarik had dated beforehand. Tarik’s impulsive reaching out to Minty during the pandemic and general reluctance to cut ties with her caused real insecurities for Hazel.
Minty explains her side
She says that Hazel has jealousy issues and couldn’t handle being a throuple relationship. It’s possible that she’s right … it’s also possible that Hazel would be fine otherwise but has specific issues with Minty.
When was the last time that Minty and Tarik communicated?
“Today,” Minty reveals. TODAY?!?!?!
Okay, Tarik can explain, he promises
So when Tarik previously expressed a desire to keep in touch with Minty, Hazel set a boundary — it should be in a groupchat that includes her so that there’s no unseen texting. If she demanded that all of his texts were like this, that would be controlling, but this is a special case.
But …
Hazel does genuinely want Tarik to just delete Minty’s number. He hasn’t because they are now “friend,” which is true, but sometimes you make choices to better your relationships.
There’s some confusion here
Julia, following a comment by Natalie, asks for clarification — is Minty a friend, or is she Tarik’s former lover? (The answer of course is both)
Yara explains the core concept
The idea here is that the three of them all have sex with each other, because all three would be in a relationship … though in their case, only for like a day or two.
Julia was bewildered
It’s easy to think “how in the world does a 26-year-old woman find that shocking,” especially given that Julia has worked in clubs before. Some cultures here in the US see threesomes as normal milestones in life, others as rare treats, others as unthinkable, but to Julia, it sounds like a foreign concept. The reason may be rooted in her Russian origins. Russia is unfortunately deeply, deeply homophobic. It’s not just government officials and it’s not just citizenry, it’s both. That doesn’t mean that Julia herself is homophobic, but people from extremely bigoted cultures may have less awareness about sexual matters. (It’s doubly sad, because before Peter the Great, Russia was literally the most LGBT-friendly country in Europe)
Actually, that’s not quite how it worked out
They explain that they never got a chance to take things to that level, because Hazel decided to end the throuple before they took that step. That’s new info, actually.
Yara is so good
Additionally, Tarik emphasizes that polyamory is not all about threesomes and sex — it’s about having enough love for more than one person.
“Different strokes for different folks”
Shaun very diplomatically has a live and let live attitude.
Julia, why?
Julia is once again visibly judgmental about other people’s lives. Last week it was about cosmetic surgery. This week it’s about polyamory. NEVER have I had my opinion of someone change so negatively at the Tell All. Julia was my favorite all season before this.
Now to Mike and Natalie
We are treated to a painful repeat of Natalie’s accusations that Mike cheated, first aired at the previous season’s Tell All and again repeated during this season. Natalie looks ashamed, and she should. As you may recall, she was convinced that Mike boned his friend, Sarah, right before her wedding … when he visited her to be her best man at her wedding.
Sarah can speak for herself
Before they delve into the allegations, Sarah says that she from a very early point in Mike’s relationship didn’t see it working out, because Mike is a fun, playful person and Natalie is very serious. That’s true, though it’s always possible that Sarah hasn’t seen Natalie’s playful side for … a lot of reasons.
Natalie admits that it was projection
She doesn’t quite have the English to say it plainly, saying that she “had a fear,” but she acknowledges projecting that fear onto Mike and Sarah.
As for what happened
Sarah notes that a bunch of people stayed at her house. It was the plan that her husband-to-be would be there, but he didn’t end up being there that night, but a bunch of other people were. She also announced that she was going to shower to everyone in the house, common courtesy when you’re the only host and someone might need something (I can confirm that I absolutely do this, despite the sorry state of my hair before showers). And, for what it’s worth, Sarah doesn’t remember Mike being “half-naked” or whatever as Natalie claimed.
This next part is painful
Yara and Rebecca and Julia all chime in with the same bizarre thought — that they don’t love the idea of their husbands having close relationships with women. Yara, at least, acknowledges that hers is a personal preference, not a universal truth.
Oh, Rebecca
Rebecca’s insecurities have gotten the better of her more than once. It’s no surprise that the woman who responded to an offer to loan Zied a moving truck as if it were a game of footsie under the table would not be happy if Zied had a bunch of close female friends. I’m so sorry that Rebecca feels this way but she needs to realize that this is her issue and see, like, a therapist.
JULIA, NO
Julia basically thinks that men and women can’t be friends, or at least that’s how she presents it at the Tell All. Honestly, this reminds me of that Tumblr post from years ago making fun of this kind of thinking, where the conclusion of the post is the joke that “bisexuals have no friends. there is only prey” followed by a series of velociraptor noises. A goofy post, but the crux of it is that countless people manage friendships with one or more genders to which they are attracted just fine, and the people who think that this is impossible are just being weird.
Sarah had more to say, however
Sarah delved into her first “meeting” with Natalie being after that nothingburger of a sleepover. She was going to pick up her wedding cake, Mike Facetimes with Natalie, and introduced the two of them. According to Sarah, Natalie asked her “Are all American women whores, or just you?” It sounds like things got progressively worse from there.
Natalie denies that question
However, she does acknowledge that they both said a lot of nasty things to each other with escalating volume before Mike took the phone and turned it off.
Here’s how Natalie remembers it
At the time overwhelmed with the idea that Mike must have cheated with this woman, she was trying to interrogate Sarah. That’s how she remembers it.
The end!
A lot of things were not resolved, but may be by the end of Happily Ever After? Season 6, which starts in a week. And it was sweet to see Yara and Julia hug after the Tell All, even if Julia’s Tell All appearance was such a crushing disappointment for her fans.