Wall St.Journal 27Feb2020

A12| Thursday, February 27, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Diana is living the life in Florida.

Both their husbands have died.

Getting together is difficult. I live

in Maine and Millie in Massachu-

setts. Although we are separated

in miles, we have the internet.

In my later years, my closest

friend was Judy C. Judy died of

pancreatic cancer in January. Judy

and her husband Louis, my hus-

band Bob and I traveled together

everywhere. We had such fun. I

still mourn Judy’s death. Some-

times I forget she’s not here and

talk to her anyway. Nothing can

ever take the place of a friend who

knows you perhaps better than

your family.

Enjoy your friends, live for the

moment. It all passes so quickly.

—Janine Pellerin, Saco, Maine

Josh Rivera contributed to this
FROM LEFT: PHIL RAPP; JANINE PELLERIN; BOB BRICKLEY article

Be a little introspective and no-

tice how you feel after seeing a

friend. I know I feel great for sev-

eral hours AFTER I’ve spent some

time with a friend. It’s clear to me

that that’s causal. After my book

club meeting—all of whom have

become good friends—the high

lasts for at least a day!

—Marnie Mueller, Hartford, Conn.

I was friends with my friend

from grade school. We met when I

was four and he was three. We had

been friends throughout our lives,

until he died of cancer about 10

years ago. I have some friends

from a 12-step program I partici-

pate in. But after 30 years, I

wouldn’t classify any of them as

close friends. We are friends be-

cause we battle the same prob-

lems. But culturally we are quite

different. I do have about three or

four good friends from work.

We’ve been friends for over 15

years. We’ve changed jobs, but

stay in contact. One of these is a

very close friend. I’m very grateful

that he’s my friend.

—Eric King, Rocklin, Calif.

Interestingly, I find my best

friendships...of which there may be

three or four, require little mainte-

nance at all. Maintaining them?

They become part of me. We are in

so many ways the same. There is a

“oneness” about us. Conversation

flows, laughter abounds. I always

Phil Rapp, left, a reader from Denver, with friends he’s known for about 30 years.

Maine reader Janine Pellerin, bottom,

far left, writes that she has had

friendships lasting nearly 65 years.

In the ‘Love Is Blind,’

finale, who will marry

is the big reveal.

NETFLIX (4)

LIFE & ARTS

What Reality Fans See In ‘Love Is Blind’

The season finale of Netflix’s reality dating series arrives, after interest fueled by episodes' release in batches

Bob Brickley, right, with a close friend.

TV gimmicks. “Love

is Blind,” on the

other hand, takes

some of the wildest

aspects of the

genre—isolation

that leads people to

make rash deci-

sions, high stakes, a

big reveal and awk-

ward moments ga-

lore—and ratchets

it up.

“ ‘Love Is Blind’

is pretty much ‘The

Bachelor’ on ste-

roids. What got me

hooked was these

couples saying ‘I

love you’ in the first

episode after, like,

five days,” said An-

astasia Przyzyla, a

26-year-old psychol-

ogy grad student

and self-described

reality-TV junkie.

That, and the fact

that they get en-

gaged sight unseen.

Ms. Przyzyla cre-

ated a “Love Is

Blind” discussion group on Face-

book that racked up 6,000 mem-

bers, including castmembers Lauren

Chamblin and Matt Barnett (though

Mr. Barnett only lasted a day before

leaving the group after members

began screenshotting his profile).

“I saw the preview and I knew

I would be hooked,” said Stepha-

nie Wurz, 33, a teacher in Spring-

field, Va.

“Dating is challenging. I have a

TBI [traumatic brain injury], and

that can be difficult for a lot of

people to adjust to on dates,” said

Dina Riccobono, 36, who founded

another “Love Is Blind” Facebook

fan group, and started a podcast

called The LovePod, which grew

out of instant friendships formed

there. “I wish that more people

would judge personality first. Dat-

ing apps are awful and we’ve got

to find better ways to connect. So

that’s what drew me to it.”

Part of the excitement has been

generated by timing. Netflix re-

leased the series in three

batches—the first five episodes de-

buted Feb. 13, four episodes on

Feb. 20, and the finale will post to-

night. That schedule allowed fan

interest to build.

Within the first week, there

were more than 56,000 unique

mentions of the show on social

media, generating more than

350,000 likes, retweets and com-

ments, according to data from

Talkwalker, a social-media analyt-

ics firm. “That rate of engagement

would be considered extremely

members’ fingers in their Insta-

gram photos, like ‘Is that a ring?’

When no, that’s not a ring, that’s

his finger!” Ms. Przyzyla said.

In the end, eight couples chose

to become engaged, Mr. Coelen

said. Producers had bandwidth to

follow only six couples, so two

were sent home after the first

round. Now all that is left to find

out is who will get married.

Already, some fans are yearning

for more. “I’m sad that it’s almost

over,” Ms. Wurz said.

Mr. Coelen declined to share

spoilers, but dropped one tidbit.

“Without giving anything away, the

people who decided to get married,

anybody that does that is still to-

gether today,” he said. “That’s going

on almost a year and half.”

high,” said Rafael Sternbach-Le

Noury, marketing operations man-

ager for Talkwalker. The overall

data suggest it’s almost twice as

buzzy as Netflix’s other reality hit,

“The Circle.”

Moments have become memes,

such as when cast member Jessica

Batten let her dog sip from her

wine glass during a fight with

partner Mark Cuevas, or when an-

other cast member, Giannina Gi-

belli, said, “I’m the luckiest girl in

the whole world.” Because the

show was filmed in 2018, cast

members have a long trail of Insta-

grams and other social-media foot-

prints that viewers have sifted fu-

riously for hints about the finale.

“We have members of the group

zooming in on pics of the cast

IN THE ROUGHLYtwo weeks that

the new reality dating series “Love

Is Blind” has been streaming on

Netflix, critics have called it every-

thing from “offensive to human

dignity” to utterly “bonkers.”

Fans, in the meantime, can’t

look away, especially as the season

finale streams tonight. Netflix

even announced yesterday that

there would be a reunion episode

March 5.

One reason for the mania is the

premise: A group of 30 singles are

isolated from their phones and

families, then admitted to a posh

TV prison with separate sleeping

quarters for men and women. The

early episodes of the series center

around their dates with individu-

als on the other side of the

“pods,” where they can’t see one

another but sit and talk through a

glowing blue wall that would oth-

erwise look something like a con-

fession booth. Within days, cou-

ples pair off; six of them get

engaged. It’s only after they’ve ac-

cepted a proposal that they get to

see one another.

From there, they are whisked to

Mexico for a romantic vacation.

After a week, it’s back to Atlanta

(producers did all the casting

there), where they move in to-

gether, meet families and prepare

for their nuptials.

The finale is focused on the

wedding ceremonies. The question

is, which of the couples will actu-

ally go through with it? (The

trailer shows one bride running

away from the ceremony in her

wedding dress, leaving fans to ob-

sessively post their guesses online

about who it was.)

The idea behind the series is to

test a hypothesis that seems apt

for the age of Tinder: What would

happen if young singles didn’t

have devices, distractions or physi-

cal attraction to draw them to-

gether? Can the participants cre-

ate a lasting bond—or at least, one

strong enough to get them to the

altar for filmed ceremonies just

four weeks later?

“When you talk to people about

the experience of dating and the

swipe culture, they feel so dispos-

able,” said series creator and exec-

utive producer Chris Coelen. “All

of the studies say if you’re genu-

inely interested in a lifetime com-

mitment, the most important thing

is emotional connection. So we

thought, if you had people who

truly fell in love for what’s on the

inside, could that love overcome

the obstacles?”

The show is Netflix’s latest

foray into reality series about dat-

ing, following “Dating Around,”

last year’s twist on the genre.

“Dating Around” had no hosts,

elimination ceremonies or reality-

BYAMELIAHARNISH

“‘Love Is Blind’ is

pretty much ‘The

Bachelor’ on steroids.”

–Anastasia Przyzyla

feel so blessed and nourished

whether I’m actually with them or

on the phone. The relationships

are “reciprocal.” We try to be

more interested in one another

versus trying to be just interesting

talking all about ourselves. Aver-

age duration of my best friend-

ships? 20+ years.

—Bob Brickley, Atlanta, Ga.

My friendships have lasted al-

most 65 years. I’ll be 84 in May.

Millie, Diana, Judy C., Judy B. and

another Judy C. have brought me

love, laughter, joy and sorrow. We

waded through it all and survived

what life handed us, together. Never

any false faces, we knew each other

too well and being our old selves

was a treat and a joy. We almost

never judged each other.

Now only Millie and Diana are

left. Millie can no longer drive,

AFTERThe Wall Street Journal

published an interview with Lydia

Denworth, author of a new book on

the science of friendship, readers

shared stories of the relationships

that bring meaning to their lives.

Here are edited excerpts of

some of their comments.

I’ve believed for some time that

the primary components of a happy

life are: work or activity that pro-

vides a sense of purpose; enough

money to cover one’s needs, plus a

little extra; and quality relation-

ships with friends and family.

Blessed to have good friends

and family, means a lot!

—Phil Rapp, Denver

I lost my best friend to cancer

eight years ago and still dream

about her three or four times a

month. I fear I will never find an-

other like her even though I am

married to a great guy. I feel be-

reft often when I remember her.

—Donna Swan, Maryville, Tenn.

As you age, friends start to die

off, leaving you with fewer each

year. Those over-55 housing devel-

opments can sometimes lead to

new friendships. It can be difficult

to make new friends if you are still

living in the same place. It’s up to

you. Make friends!

—Bob Cavagna, Southold, N.Y.

BYANDREAPETERSEN

‘Part of Me’: Readers Share Secrets to Friendship

Cameron Hamilton and Lauren Speed are among the

couples who fell in love before seeing each other. The

show isolated single people in ‘pods’ (upper right) to

foster an emotional connection and potential marriage.