Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast
Throughout human history, the language of plants has been the language of both love and horniness. The Victorians had floriography, and in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Kate Hudson had a love fern. In the erotic poem “The Song of Songs,” Solomon wrote, “I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” And on Love Is Blind Season 4, close-ups of languishing houseplants have become an unmistakable symbol for relationship decay.
Netflix’s most addictive dating show has always loved an awkward home tour, and its camera has always coveted a dirty pile of laundry. These moments, when each person combs through the other’s living space, are among the most telling in a show that’s all about what makes two people click—both in the short- and long-term.
The home tours, fresh off of the show’s honeymoon-like vacation phase, offer viewers a peek into how well the pairs might mesh once hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey release them back into the wild. The flies around Cole’s ghastly, uncleaned toilet from last season will forever be burned into my memory, but this season appears to have discovered a slightly more… poetic visual device. As Kate Hudson’s Andie Anderson taught us, nothing spells “trouble” in a relationship quite like a dead fern.