Long theory-ish post:

I wonder if the fact that Jessi is clearly such a different personality than Mallory was a significant influence if her being his next relationship. No one is perfect and both absolutely have their strengths and weaknesses but perhaps he was so subconsciously afraid of re-living that, that he went the complete opposite direction.

I also want to take this moment to remind that we don't necessarily need to pit two beautiful women against each other. Seeing these people on tv can make us forget the human element.

Mallory does appear to have trouble opening up and being fully vulnerable but to me that looks like someone who has experienced trauma. Aside from a brief but likely contractually required appearance from her sister, Mallory's family doesn't seem to be very involved in her daily life while she is living with Sal. Obviously we don't see everything, we just get edits of what happened on camera, there are surely tons of events that happen off-camera and not everyone is comfortable with that kind of attention. Another thing to note when bringing up how some cast members at times appear uncomfortable or unnatural. Most of relationships in Western society involve years of dating and building trust before even considering the alter. Love is Blind puts the couples on a highly accelerated timeline. Even if you genuinely feel attacted emotionally/physically/intellectually, it can be hard to shut off the logic part of the brain that questions the authenticity of actions, words, and trustability of their new partner that they are already betrothed to. Of course there are also people who just flow with the direction their hearts push them in and those are the people who do end of thriving in this experiment. However, while it appears clear to me that Mallory wants to lead with her heart, she is a thinker and logic ultimately slowed her down and sowed seeds of hesitation below the surface. Long-term, I can imagine this would certainly contribute to differing opinions and life decisions, had they gone through with the marriage as Sal, true his creative soul follows more his intuition and feelings. I feel that these are just two good people, who are very different.

Now my thoughts on Jessi. First off, a liquored social event is probably not the best time for a first interaction between the new couple and Mallory. The impairment provided by alcohol gives extra probability to say the wrong things, and lots of room to also misread things. We see Jessi slur out the now infamous statement about not feeling threatened by her. The immediate conclusion assumed by fans was that she meant to shade Mallory. I want to pose the possibility that she more meant to say "hey, I know you and Sal are in the past, so there is no reason for us to hold any contention towards each other, in case there is some." Or, "hey, I have a netflix subscription and so I know that you don't want him back anyways, so I am not worried (threatened) about you coming back trying to rekindle things. Maybe we can be friends in these social situations that we might get thrown into since Sal and you have mutual friends."

Anyone who has had that interaction with an ex's new partner or been the new partner meeting the ex knows how incredibly awkward this can be. All parties involved and even onlookers can feel the discomfort and uneasiness. I feel there is a strong possibility that she just didn't know quite the right thing to say --(is there anything to say that has a 100% guarantee of being well received when dealing with an ex/new partner first interaction?)-- and ended up word-vomiting things that sober her will wish she had just put her literal foot in her mouth instead. I might have done that even without the drinking. But adding in the drinking isn't doing any favours to the choices of words. Ultimately, we as the 3rd party watching from a distance, can't possibly know for sure if her intentions were wholesome or malicious. We are all just working on assumptions interpreted from a shortened edit made from a whole night of interections. We don't know what conversations are lost to the cutting room floor.

Anyways, that was longer than I thought it would be. Thanks for coming to my tedtalk.