There were multiple disasters on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season 3, Episode 5.
There were also some heavy, long-overdue conversations. Some were a bit of both.
Evelin fessed up to her family that she and Corey had married a year and a half earlier.
But Corey has a confession of his own that he fears could ruin everything.
Ariela’s tireless efforts to embrace Biniyam’s culture have led her to visit a holy site with him.
Ellie and Victor travel together to the ruins of Providencia to survey the devastation left by the storm.
Sumit is finally prepared to talk to his family about what he’s now calling an engagement to Jenny.
As he predicts, it doesn’t go well.
Speaking of long-needed talks, Armando sits down to talk to his dad about his engagement and wedding plans.
It brings tears to both of their eyes … and had the same effect upon a lot of viewers.
Finally, Steven With A V and Alina go see an attorney to learn about getting married in Turkey.
It starts with them hitchhiking there and ends even more awkwardly.
Corey Rathgeber and Evelin Villegas
Now that Evelin has come clean to her sisters, she needs to tell her family. She knows that they will be disappointed, because they want to celebrate this with her (and they celebrate everything, apparently).
Evelin wants support from her sisters
They’ll be there when she breaks the news, but if she’s hoping that they’ll speak in her defense, she shouldn’t get her hopes up. They’re not going to defend her because they don’t approve.
Everybody gathers
Evelin and Corey’s nervousness is palpable. Corey, in particular, looks apologetic — because he has wanted to tell them for a long time, and it’s clearly been eating at both of them.
They’re married!
Corey and Evelin were married on June 11 of 2019 — long before the pandemic and before Corey went to Peru and had his fling with Jenny, but Evelin’s family doesn’t know about that.
They’re WHAT?!
Cenet, Evelin’s mom, is stunned. People aren’t jumping for joy because they felt excluded by this news. They also remind Evelin that marriage is for keeps, as far as their family is concerned. Evelin admits to the camera that, honestly, she feels “trapped” in the marriage now that she has told her family, though she does apologize to Corey.
But there’s another revelation to come
Later, Corey tells Raul that there’s something that he has to tell Evelin. He’d sworn to her that it was just a quick (and unsuccessful) hookup, but he and Jenny dated seriously during his time in Peru. He met her family, and they were planning to find a place to move in together.
Raul is stunned
He always put Corey on a pedestal, but now? Sure, Corey thought that he and Evelin were over, but they were still married — and of course, they got back together — and he hasn’t told her? The guy’s a mess.
There’s more
Corey never formally broke up with Jenny. He moved back in with Evelin intending to pack his things and leave, then COVID-19 lockdown forced them to stay together, then they fixed things. He just … stopped replying to Jenny. He ghosted her without explanation and never told Evelin the truth.
Corey has to do two things
First, he needs to tell Jenny that it’s over and why. Second, he needs to come clean to Evelin about all of this. Raul warns him that, if he doesn’t, Raul will do it for him.
Ariela Weinberg and Biniyam Shibre
While Biniyam has embraced aspects of Ariela’s lifestyle like “having a refrigerator” and … actually, that might be it … she continues to bend over backwards to not only support Biniyam’s cultural leanings but to participate in his, but not her, religious practices. In this case, visiting a holy water site, to which they walk on foot, he explains, for reasons of spiritual clarity.
Ariela’s polite interest rubs Biniyam the wrong way
Ultimately, when you’re speaking to someone who has fundamentally different beliefs than yours about the nature of the world — for example, if one of you believes that a specific water source might have supernatural and miraculous healing powers — it’s difficult for either to ask the other questions without sounding patronizing.
OH
Sometimes, it’s easy to wonder why Ariela keeps trying to make it work with Biniyam since he seems to put so little effort into being a good partner. After all, Ariela, for all of her issues, does make a considerable effort with him. Then you see Biniyam pose under a stream of water and you’re like “oh, okay Ariela.”
Ariela did not enjoy her time
She was weirded out by there being a topless woman there with her without explanation. It was also an extremely cold stream of water with a hefty pressure and it sounds like she had a bit of brain freeze. We can see how that would be a bit of a shock, honestly.
Ellie Rose and Victor McLean
Ellie and Victor were reunited in San Andres, but are now taking the boat to Providencia with bags and boxes of relief supplies for Victor’s family.
The devastation is a horror to behold
It’s not just the houses or the deaths — the land itself has been wrecked. The episode shows before and after shots, but Ellie says it best — even though this was a storm of wind and rain, the devastation is as if the greenery of the island had been burned.
Victor’s family has not fared well
They are alive, but their homes are piles of debris and rubble — as is the case for almost everyone, save for a lucky few who have concrete homes.
Ellie will do what she can
She starts by giving Victor’s sister, Mary, a whole bunch of supplies. It won’t conjure her a new house, but it’s clothing for her and her family and some other essentials. Losing a house can mean losing, well, everything.
Victor got lucky
His house, despite being made of wood rather than of concrete, is still standing. It’s not fully intact — part of the roof is gone, and so is a window. But compared to everything else, it’s like a spire. Houses next door to him were reduced to tatters.
Ellie can’t exactly be “relieved” when so many are suffering or dead
Meanwhile, she has to admit that this does call into question the wisdom of moving here to be with Victor. Even if his house were totally fixed tomorrow (and it won’t be — there are obviously more pressing needs for construction and repairs right now), Providencia is “apocalyptic” right now … what kind of life can Ellie and Victor have here when everything has been laid to waste?
Jenny Slatten and Sumit Singh
Jenny might not be able to use a missionary visa as a loophole, but her Hare Krishna chanting was comforting and calming, so she and Sumit go out to purchase prayer beads so that she can continue.
There are other improvements to make
Jenny is tired of being left by herself at home when Sumit goes to family functions, and she encourages him to make a stand and talk to his family about how they treat him. After all, the way that they treat Jenny is bad, but the way that they treat Sumit is even harder to watch. Sumit should love himself to stand up to them.
Speaking of Jenny being excluded …
Sumit’s sister-in-law, Shree, is pregnant. That is exciting news and the family will be gathering to celebrate … but not Jenny.
The celebration is at a Gurdwara
Gurdwaras (unsure of why the captions spell it this way; we even see it written out correctly on the episode later) are Sikh shrines, but as holy places they are open to people of all faiths. As Shree explains in her voiceover, it is customary for them to visit a Gurdwara when there is good news.
Of course, Anil and Sahna are there
As excited as they are about getting their first grandchild, it’s a reminder that they would like more grandchildren from Sumit, which Jenny cannot give them. Just a reminder that no one is “owed” grandchildren.
To his credit, Sumit does arrive with the intention of speaking up
His promise ring to Jenny has seemingly been retconned or redefined into an engagement. That’s happy news for them, but I feel like we’re very deliberately missing part of that story.
Sahna is downright tearful before Sumit’s arrival
She misses him living with her and with Anil and having him around. She is overjoyed to see him when he arrives.
But Jenny was not invited
As Shree says, Jenny is totally welcome to come any time in the capacity of being Sumit’s “friend.” But Amit quickly adds that Jenny is not, and seemingly will never be, family.
Sahna and Anil are standing firm on this
Apparently, because “society” is against Sumit being the May in a May-December romance, his parents fear the social consequences for themselves if they embrace Sumit’s happiness. That’s just no way to live.
Sumit is engaged
Saying it out loud is important. Notably, he’s not the only one to share this news in this episode. Unfortunately for him, it does not go well at all.
“Total disaster”
Sumit’s parents get up and leave and walk away, one by one. Even attempting to discuss his plans to marry Jenny makes them too upset. It seems that Sumit will have to choose — live his life for himself with the woman he loves, or give up on his happiness to win the approval of his parents who in turn want to win the approval of random strangers.
Kenneth Niedermeier
Armando goes to speak with his mother, Virginia, who confesses that she’s had a year to do so but has not yet told his father that he’s engaged.
That’s a bit of a surprise
Armando’s parents know that he’s gay (he has unfortunately had to come out more than once — it’s a sad fact that many people have to come out more than once when they receive homophobic reactions the first time), but not everyone knows that Kenneth proposed to him or that he said yes. Most can probably guess, since he’s not filming for “90 Day Boyfriends.”
She wants him to know that she loves him
You can’t love someone while not accepting part of who they are, and she stresses that she does.
She wants Armando to tell his dad
Virginia feels that this engagement news will be best coming from Armando.
The next day
At the rental where they’re staying while visiting Armando’s family, Kenneth and Cassidy (and Truffle) offer emotional support to Armando as he prepares to tell his dad that he’s engaged and that he and Kenneth are planning a wedding date. They are there for him, but the actual conversation is something that Armando has to do alone.
Kenneth wants this to go well
Overwhelmed with emotion for the man that he loves, Kenneth tells the camera how proud he is of Armando and that he wants Armando’s family to lift him up. Oh this is so sweet.
Armando is nervous about disappointing his family
He has also never had a real emotional conversation with his father.
Armando Sr. has some regrets
He admits that he could and should have been more accepting when Armando first came out. Armando recalls how the two of them just spent time in silence after the family learned that Armando was gay, that it was his father’s awkward but sweet way of showing love and acceptance.
Armando breaks the news
We’re guessing that this was filmed in late 2020 (or maybe even mid 2020; the pandemic really played with filming schedules), so Armando is telling Armando Sr. about the plans for him to marry Kenneth in 2021.
Armando Sr. is happy for him … but …
He’s not sure if he’ll go. It’s not an “I won’t attend a gay wedding” thing necessarily. As he points out, he doesn’t always go to his nieces’ quinceaneras, so he’s not read to give Armando an immediate “yes.” That’s not a perfect answer, especially since he has gone to a wedding, but it’s something.
Steven Johnston and Alina
Steven and Alina are in Turkey for 90 days and plan to marry there so that he can travel to be with Alina in Russia. He’s goofy as hell and she’s only 20, so viewers are uncomfortable with where this is going, but they clearly care about each other a lot.
Steven, no!
Instead of taking a rideshare or a taxi or doing as countless other stars do and taking a producer vehicle, Steven opts to hitchhike to the meeting, which he has done before. Alina is uncomfortable because she’s a normal person, and Steven goes way out of his way to convince a driver to stop for them (literally he jumps out into the road). Absolutely not.
They meet with an immigration attorney
He tells them that this is no simple matter of walking into a courthouse the marry. There are numerous hoops to jump through, plenty of red tape to cut, and various other analogies that boil down to marrying being neither easy nor fast … so they should start sooner rather than later.
Like … get started now
The problem is that this is supposed to be their time to get to know one another and be sure that they want to commit to spending the rest of their lives together.
Alina’s down
Even though she is only 20 and absolutely too young to be married, Alina is SO ready. It’s hard to tell how much is horniness yearning to breathe free (she has never had sex) and how much is … something else. Steven is more hesitant, and that bothers her.
Alina wants to wait one more week only, then start the marriage process
To her, hearing Steven balk at that is a red flag, because she’s worried that he’s interested in talking to other girls and isn’t fully committed. Steven’s not thinking about that at all. Instead, his worries are that he views marriage as an eternal vow, not just a bond between two people in love. He also hasn’t told her that he’s had sex before and is worried about how she will react.