Filippa Kindblom: « Love on the Spectrum » is unpolished honestly

« Where have you be all my life? »

That question poses 26-year-old Connor from Atlanta repeatedly during his second date with Georgie. He is so overwhelmed that he has to leave the dinner table to process his feelings. Fortunately – and it’s really lucky – he’s mosquito and the camera is rolling, because the stage is one of the best in dating: n’s rich history.

The scene occurs in the third season of Netflix reality series « Love on the Spectrum ». All participants are on the autism spectrum. Several of them have never been dear, never gone on a date. In the program, with their heads before, they throw out in what is unfortunately often called the dating jungle.

The result is unpolished honestly – yes, in the absence of better words purely. It may sound infantilizing, which is also a recurring criticism of the program, but I’m just jealous. I scream straight out when Connor and Georgie finally kiss each other for the first time and he gets so taken that he loses the feeling in his legs.

Or when 27-year-old Madison opens the second date with the words « I have not been able to stop thinking about you » and within an hour has come together with their « cowboy prince ».

So there it is! To be in love. Yet you almost never see it, either on television or in reality. People wrap themselves in complicated meaning buildings, vague synonyms, hold back so as not to « be too much ». Misunderstand each other, suspect each other. Dating – a minefield where you risk being hurt and protects yourself by not letting in.

« Love on the Spectrum » is a reverse mirror where all the emotions are verbalized, all the time, so honestly it goes. One might think that constant announcements of feelings and questions if it is okay with a hug would stifle the fire.

But no. It’s the fuel.

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