The first four episodes aired on May 24. Ultimatum: strange love there’s enough delicious drama and spice to dive into. Marking a strange twist on Netflix’s hit dating reality show, the show’s premise remains the same: five couples are introduced, and half of each couple issues an ultimatum: marry me or move on. Bye bye Ultimatum: strange love, we’ve seen new acquaintances speed up a date by a week and set their partners up for a trial marriage. As usual, some couples are a little more dysfunctional than others, and some are downright adorable. And, of course, we have our resident villain, the hallmark of the reality dating show, who, unsurprisingly, has made it into Vanessa Papa.
Vanessa came to the show with her four year old partner, Xander Boger. In keeping with how free-spirited she is, she obviously got an ultimatum. From her first interview with Xander on the show, she made her beliefs crystal clear: “I don’t want permanence and stability. I want freedom. And that’s not exactly what marriage is made of,” she says firmly. . So, the second five couples become single, Vanessa is thrilled with her freedom and eventually starts dating. Lexi Goldberg And Ray Chung-Sutton, which coincidentally are one of the original pairs. After Vanessa’s last date with Lexi goes sour, she decides to hook up with Ray for a three-week trial marriage, and naturally, drama pervades Vanessa’s every move.
How Vanessa Becomes “Ultimatum: Strange Love Villainess”
Vanessa does have the makings of a reality TV villain: she’s noisy, obnoxious, self-centered, and unapologetic. Even her partner Xander suspected that she would clash with other actors. “Vanessa isn’t for everyone,” Xander said. Insider TV. Xander also noted that from “the first cocktail party, people didn’t get along with her.” It’s pretty obvious that she’s in the wrong crowd - she stands out like a rainbow peacock, and her lewd jokes tend to fall flat. But her demonization really starts on her last date with Lexi. Before that, she was just a young woman who would rather date just about anyone than be shackled by monogamy. After Vanessa’s questionable and absurd comment that Xander would potentially be asexual were it not for her, Lexie’s tirade follows, wondering about Vanessa’s motives. Insisting that Vanessa was here for the “wrong reasons” (an idiosyncratic trait of reality dating TV villains), Lexie acts like she’s been blinded. Vanessa may only be on the show to enjoy her freedom, but she has been completely open and transparent about it from the start. She is not ready for marriage. Her immaturity, selfishness, and rash comments make it easy to portray her as a villainess. But we can at least commend her for her honesty, however direct she may be.
How Montage Benefits From Vanessa’s Attitude
By the end of Episode 2, it becomes apparent that some vital scenes related to Vanessa’s journey were not included in the final cut. She has a dramatic change in tone during this episode, from her offhand remarks to her emotional outburst before the selection ceremony. She is accused of hypocrisy for crying about Xander being interested Yoli Rojas, but she also mentions Insider TV that she was more vocal about her fear that Xander would fall in love with someone else during her and Lexi’s dates. She says the scenes were cut. While we can’t confirm for sure if this is true, it’s clear that different standards apply to Lexie than to everyone else.
During the formal dinner, Xander flippantly mentions a previous date with the Bumbles that Vanessa didn’t know about, and Vanessa promptly yells “fuck off” at her. Later, the table scolds her for this and calls her childish. But when Mel Wright says something petty about his ex-partner, they laugh. A bit hypocritical, isn’t it?
The show uses the characterization of Vanessa Lexie and tries to force a villain narrative on her. While Vanessa is indeed immature and selfish; she doesn’t fit the usual manipulative or malevolent villain pattern. The conflicts at the selection ceremony and at the party can also be taken as Vanessa just feeling cornered and throwing a tantrum more than anything else. In fact, the nighttime conflict was entirely provoked by Lexie, who could rip a page out of Mal’s book and take Vanessa aside to talk to her alone. Instead, the entire table turned on Vanessa again, who was visibly stressed and defensively incoherent afterwards.
On top of that, they acted as if Vanessa had taken advantage of Rae, relieving Rae of any responsibility in the consensual communication. Even Vanessa’s joke about being an influencer is twisted as a motive for fame (she barely has 1,000 Instagram followers at the moment, even if she’s not deluded enough to believe she’s an influencer). Vanessa’s status as the show’s villain depends solely on her reactive nature and directed editing - we’ve seen more believable villains.
Vanessa is no match for real reality TV villains
Hated reality TV stars are the bread and butter of the industry, and there are many iconic ones out there. From Brandi Glanville V The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills whose propensity for excessive conflict has become tiresome—to Juan Pablo in his season Bachelor who was involved in the most memorable confrontation on reality TV. Vanessa pales in comparison. She’s reactive, immature, and probably needs to grow up, but in these four episodes, she never once tried to cheat on anyone and go out of her way to hurt a relationship, despite Lexie saying she had “the power in her hands” to destroy relationships.
In fact, everyone has this power and is under this threat; they are all in tentative marriages with strangers for whom they could potentially develop feelings or discover what they lacked in their original relationship. Reality TV villains usually evoke feelings of hatred, disgust, and a desire to silence them every time they appear on screen; watching Vanessa makes us want to give her a tranquilizer to calm her down, and maybe a little therapy. At best, Vanessa is just a “villain” compared to the rest, albeit a rather unconvincing one.
Source: Collider
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