Married at First Sight Dallas: Episode 8

Episode 8 starts off with Dr. P reminding us that the couples are getting back to reality with only 5 weeks left of the experiment. Whereas before they were honeymooning and moving in together, now they’re more to the day-to-day type stuff that makes up life. In addition, the couples are no longer strangers. Uh, relatively speaking. 

The action (and I use that term loosely…) opens with Danielle and Bobby getting up for the day. Bobby shows us his routine: Get up, let the dogs out, make coffee, pack a lunch for Danielle. Danielle remarks that Bobby is beyond her imaginings as she didn’t expect to find a spouse who does so much to help her and make her life easier/better. I bet it’s extra nice because that 90-minute commute from his house to her job is NO JOKE. YIKES. Also, I can’t help but note that if Bobby (or Danielle) packed the lunch the night before, it would save time in the morning. Just saying.

Next up to the high-rise. Rev Cal is visiting Mia and Tristan to check in on them. He starts with Tristan. Cal wants to know how T is with trust. He said he’s getting there. Mia comes back and they tackle the issue of moving to Houston since, as T points out, the lease at this place runs out in a month and his job is flexible and he kinda wants to move. Mia tells Cal she told Tristan that he is home to her so where he goes, she goes, but then she adds that she’s not sure if moving to Houston would let her be her best self. Rev Cal tells them to make a pro-con list to help them make a choice. I think it would be a colossal mistake for them to move together. Or even to stay together. Seriously, these two are doomed. Just end it now, pleaaaaase. 

And just like that, it’s BOYS’ NIGHT OUT. The three married dudes and Cal. They discuss how they feel about marriage. Then, as the meals come out, Cal sets them up for a world of hurt by asking them to rate (on a 1-10 scale) how their wives are so far as wives. (Whatever the hell THAT means…) Cal says it’s for him to have a barometer or where the guys are in their marriage satisfaction and so forth, but really we know it’s just to start trouble with the couples so the show can get good footage of issues-a-brewin’.

Bobby, of course, has no issues whatsoever and gives Danielle a 10. He’s super enthused. She’s perfect. He’s perfect. Their partnership is perfect. This is the best experience he’s ever had in his whole life. The others look at him sorta sick-like, especially Tristan who is stuck married to Stalker Mia. Dave drops another of those “good for you” phrases he doesn’t mean.

Dave gives Amber a more realistic 7.5. He thinks she’s great, and things have been good BUUUUUUUT… she hasn’t been a rock-star yet. He says how Amber stresses herself out and he’s had to sort of be there for her a lot of days. He wonders what if he has a bad day some day? Can she comfort him? (Spoiler alert: When Amber hears this rating, his day is gonna get bad realllllly quickly.) He points out that they agreed that he’d cook and she’d do the dishes, but several times she’s been too tired and he ends up doing the dishes the next day. He goes on to say that she’s got a longer commute and he can come home at lunch, so to a degree he gets it, but he’s still concerned that there’s not enough equity. Rev Cal points out that marriage is never 50-50. Sometimes one partner has to pick up 70-30 for a time, but it can flip back the other way at another time. C’est la marriage.

Tristan gives Mia an 8 (she in no way deserves…) because she has all the ingredients but she’s still working on putting it together. As usual, he’s being generous. He mentions love which starts a conversation about love and being in love. Dave makes something of the distinction, and says he’s fond of Amber but he’s not in love with her. Rev Cal wants to know how he knows and Dave says it’s just something he’d know. Rev Cal says the idea of falling in love the way some people put it sounds like something that happens to you, like falling into a puddle, but it’s not that. His theory is that love is not just this feeling you wait for, but is an intellectual decision to commit to someone and their needs and to do whatever possible to fulfill that until death do you part. It’s about commitment, and he informs the men that they’re all already in love. 

Bobby really likes this sentiment. He says he and Danielle already have that and he wants to discuss it further with her. 

Luckily for us, that scene is now. Bobby and Danielle discuss the night. She’s happy to know he rated her a 10 and she’d rate him a 10, too. Then he explains Rev Cal’s theory on love. He tells the camera that if that’s the definition of love, he’s 100% in love with Danielle. But he hasn’t told her yet because—wait for it!—he’s waiting until it feelsright to say it. Hahaha. So even though he likes the sentiment of love being intellectual, he still wants it to be emotional. Danielle tells camera she feels the same way, but she, too, admits she’s not ready to say the words to him yet. 

Dave and Amber are furniture shopping. She moved into his place but wants to make it feel like theirplace. They’re looking at furniture and the vibe is good. Until Amber finds out Dave rated her a 7.5 and she feels shit about it. Her insecurities about being a bad wife have now been confirmed. She wants to know what she has to do to be a 10. When he tries to defend himself and say nobody rated anyone that high, he had to be like, “Well, ok, Bobby rated Danielle a 10, but that’s ridiculous. Nobody is a 10.” Amber rolls her eyes and says, “Danielle is, apparently.” Dave also thinks Amber getting upset about this is ridiculous. Amber thinks he should at least have rated her an 8. She wonders if she’s exceptionally bad or if his expectations are too high, but either way, I don’t have a good feeling about them buying furniture now. I’m betting Dave doesn’t confess Tristan gave Mia an 8, either. LOL.

Oh, speaking of Mia and Tristan. Turns out Mia is on the dating app Tristan’s friend Goober is on. When he confronts her about it, she tries to claim she thought it had been deactivated and she’d deleted the app from her phone. Tristan tells her he doesn’t trust her. He’s shutting her out and doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. Who can blame him? They FaceTime with Dr. Jessica and it’s more nonsense. Try to hang in there, blah blah. Don’t take off your ring or threaten divorce because that’s emotional blackmail, blah blah. (We weren’t privy to anyone saying that, but I’m thinking if Dr. Jessica is mentioning it, perhaps it came up in the part of the conversation we didn’t see.) Try to give Mia a chance to prove herself, blah blah. When the call ends, Tristan again says they’ll get through this. Honestly, again, I don’t know why he’s bothering. It’s one thing to keep forgiving someone you’ve known and with whom you have an established relationship because maybe they deserveanother chance. But what has Mia done in the past three weeks except lie to him? (And even though the stalking charges she’s facing weren’t done TO Tristan, he’s gotto be thinking of Mia having done them to someone else and thinking about those as another strike against her.) 

Danielle is cooking for Bobby. She wants to show him that if he’s sick or something, she can take care of him. She clearly doesn’t cook often, but he appreciates the gesture. He says it’s good, but the amount left on his plate indicates the meal maybe wasn’t a 10. 

Amber is still obsessing over the 7.5 rating and brings it up at her dinner with Dave. He insists it’s not a bad rating and there’s always room for improvement. She wants to know what she’s doing or not doing that’s such a big problem. Dave says she’s aware that she’s been stressed and it’s made him have to do more than she has. She makes Dave give her an example. He says, “Well, for instance, you said you’d do the laundry. But I’ve done laundry the past two weeks.” She gets her back up immediately and says, “Your laundry! It isn’t like you’re doing more than you would’ve already been doing. It’s not like you’re doing mine.” He says, “Right, but it’s something we discussed and something you said you were going to be in charge of.” Then, conveniently, the editing shows the very conversation wherein Dave and Amber divvied up their domestic responsibilities. He said he’d do the cooking and would handle the garbage. Amber said she’d do laundry. Amber doesn’t like this reminder and she says, I never wanted to be a wife who had to do extra stuff for a husband, and this is one of the reasons I was always never wanting to get married. OUCH. Meanwhile, Amber, hon, if that’s the case, get divorced now. 

Dave thinks Amber is creating problems and is trying to be patient with her. He’s also shaken by her bombshell comment. Amber tells camera she doesn’t know why she made such a big deal about it and she’s not sure where they’ll go from here because she’s said some things she shouldn’t have and can’t take back and Dave probably won’t forget. Hi, Amber, GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD, GIRL.

Dr. Pepper comes on with a helpful insight about knowing the couples have baggage they’ll need to work through but hopefully they can so they get to enjoy the love they crave and deserve. 

Tristan and Mia are going bowling. Mia bowls with the bumpers up. Fun fact: I bowled a 7 once. (Obvs Ididn’t have the bumpers up.) They have a fun night. I wish this episode was over already.

Amber sits down with Dave and admits she overreacted. She thinks it’s because she has feelings for Dave and is scared of getting hurt, so she caused a fight to protect herself. Dave thinks they need to focus on the good and stop letting fear be an impediment. Dave likes that Amber said she has feelings for him, but he’s also a little bothered that she keeps letting her insecurities get in the way. He appreciates her apology, but he also wants to see an active change. While I agree with some of Dave’s perspectives, he really does seem kind of unbending and judgmental. I don’t like him.

Next week…Dave insults Amber yet again, Mia’s sister acts like a bitch to Tristan, and Bobby might have his first issue with Danielle. (Or not. I bet there’s no issue whatsoever and it’s just editing trying to make us think there is because that’s the only drama we’ll see with these two.)