Spoilers for The Ultimatum: Queer Love season 2 episodes 1-3 follow.
The first season of The Ultimatum: Queer Love was delightfully chaotic, bingeable, brain-rot TV viewing, and we were seated for every episode (why should the straights have all the fun with The Bachelor?). The first seven episodes of season 2 have just dropped, and the discourse about one messy masc has already started.
For the uninitiated, the show features six couples who are all navigating an “ultimatum” in their relationship by dating other people who are in the same boat. ”One partner is ready for marriage, the other may have doubts," the official synopsis reads. "In just over eight weeks, each couple will either get married, or get out, after they each choose new potential partners in a life-changing opportunity to get a glimpse of two different futures."
The first week of the show is dedicated to all of the couples splitting up into 12 singles and then dating each other, and AJ who was the recipient of the ultimatum from her partner Britney, takes full advantage of this, flirting her way through most of the cast.
Even though the entire point of the first few episodes is to date around, AJ has faced a backlash both on the show and on social media.
The complaints largely boil down to this: AJ is a player who led the other cast members on.
But AJ was just playing the game that the show sets up. They were supposed to date around, and she did. People on the cast are just mad she’s better at it than they are. She’s a smooth-talking extrovert with big top energy, and a lot of them had hearts in their eyes every time they looked at her.
Both Bridget and Marita get angry and confront AJ when they are all deciding who they want to shack up with for a trial relationship, and AJ doesn’t pick them.
Admittedly, AJ seems a little glib when she’s talking directly to the camera in her confessionals, but technically she didn’t actually do anything wrong, and even admits to wanting to play the field, hilariously calling herself a “hoochie daddy without the shorts.”
Everyone was quick to label AJ a villain, but she just understood the assignment. You know, the one where they were supposed to date a lot of people.
The internet has also had a lot to say about AJ, accusing her of “love bombing” and being a “massive f*ckboy,” and that she’s just “saying bullshit” to get the women to fall for her.
Counterpoint: She’s just a good flirt! She identifies what a woman is into quickly and uses that to flirt with her. She locked in on the fact that Marita wanted to be romanced, and that being open about sex was important to Bridget.
But Bridget did the exact same thing. She supposedly had a connection with AJ, but was also disappointed that Pilar picked Kyle instead of her, before Bridget finally landed on Ashley for her trial marriage, whom she also dated and liked. Sounds like she was dating around and flirting with a lot of people. Why does that sound familiar?
And it’s not AJ’s fault Marita put all her eggs in one basket — it also seems like she just picked the first person who used the word “romance” on a date.
“Watching it back, it was kind of crazy to see that, that people thought that I was like, in a way, plotting to get to get with certain people,” AJ recently told PRIDE, “like I never went around telling people you should choose me, pick me as your number one. The fact that people already had that in their hearts and wanted to go on more dates with me, like I honestly thought that was a little surprising.”
Again, admittedly, AJ confessing at the end of episode 3 that she could see herself marrying her brand-spanking new trial partner is wild when you’re the one who was afraid to get married. You don’t know each other! Britney deserves better.
Also, why is no one talking about how Dayna tried to convince Magan that leaving the show because she was uncomfortable was quitting their relationship, and pressured her to stay on? And she seems completely indifferent to the fact that Dayna is struggling with gaining acceptance of her queer identity from her conservative Lebanese family.
AJ might be messy, but there are actual villains on this show.
