On Love Is Blind Season 4, introverted Paul Peden is winning support for pushing back against his fiancée’s mean girl friends. Micah Lussier’s judgy besties Micayla and Shelby did their worst to convince Micah that Paul wasn’t right for her. Paul, who doesn’t stand up for himself a lot, made it clear he wasn’t too concerned with Shelby’s opinion. It wasn’t the first time that a problematic friend of Micah’s put Paul in an awkward situation. Remember how Irina Solomonova, Micah’s “best friend in real life,” came over and started touching Paul’s leg? When Micah tried to address this with Paul, he put her at ease quickly by being as honest as possible. Micah reserved her annoyance for Irina, and confronted her while Irina hilariously back-pedaled. As episodes reveal issues, and we see more Love Is Blind‘s Micah’s red flags Paul should run from, why is Paul still there?
This has led many watchers to assume that Micah and Paul’s relationship is just for the cameras at this point. On one Reddit thread full of such speculation, comments reflecting on their lack of chemistry and calls for Paul to dump her are common. We also know that Micah gives Paul the opportunity to answer first at the altar from previews. As she does, she looks pretty guilty and upset. Although Micah’s friends are snobby, break boundaries and judge, Paul is clearly aware of the problems but doesn’t say anything. It just seems like he is too nice, diplomatic, and finds making quick decisions difficult. He did struggle to break things off with Amber Wilder in the pods, and is in his own head a lot. However, Paul’s red flags pale in comparison to Micah’s. Let’s review them all.
Love Is Blind’s Micah’s Red Flags — The Wrong Friends, Questionable Kwame
Micah, Shelby and another friend taking a candid photo together back in the day (Instagram).
Micah’s meanest moments have always come when she’s around her “friends”. When she’s interacting with Paul’s mom Elizabeth or off on her own with Paul, she seems kind if not overly warm. But when Irina shows up, she’s laughing behind Bliss and Amber’s back at their expense. When best friend Shelby criticizes Paul and he brushes it off to her face, Micah takes her side, telling Paul not to “be like that.” Micah seems more like a chameleon, adjusting to the other people around her to avoid conflict. For example, Micah did confront Irina over her getting handsy with Paul. However we never saw the final outcome of this interaction. Also, Micah works to maintain the image of a kind person with her charity work and time as a teacher, but this might just be more people-pleasing.
Also, Micah’s refusal to cut things off for good with Kwame Appiah has been covered to death. At the end of Episode 8 we saw that he still “has a place in his heart” for her. We can’t rule out the possibility of a throwdown between Micah and Kwame’s fiancée Chelsea Griffin if this continues. And, with a live reunion promised for April 16, things might come to a head with nobody to enforce order. Paul can’t pretend to be an absent-minded professor forever. He has to know about Kwame’s inability to get over himself and man up, dating back to his time in the pods. Will mild-mannered Paul reach his breaking point? Questions will continue to swirl as the countdown to the weddings and live reunion ticks down.
The tension in their relationship have definitely contributed to Love Is Blind Season 4’s best memes.
Love Is Blind’s Micah’s Red Flags — Poor Treatment Of Paul
Irina and Micah flirting with Kwame in the pool (Netflix).
Micah may be too conflict-avoidant to say how she really feels about Paul. She’s clearly not a fan of his outdoorsman lifestyle and his button-down shirt wardrobe. Paul’s place was a lot cleaner than Kwame’s bachelor pad dump, but Micah wasn’t all that impressed. She criticized the multiple types of wood, Paul’s off-the-street furniture, and his knife collection. Paul really seemed too nervous to push back against her plan to redecorate his entire place (perhaps he knows it could use a sprucing up). Then there was the tension the two clearly had over Arizona, which is where Micah works sometimes. We don’t know what Paul’s problem with Arizona is (the state has some lovely forests and lakes) but he might not want to leave the Pacific Northwest. However it doesn’t seem like Micah is giving him a lot of choice in the matter.
She also made fun of Paul’s analytical, intellectual nature along with her friends. Another red flag.
Then there’s the very weird dynamic of Paul having the same name as Micah’s father Paul. It should be pointed out that Micah looks a lot like Paul’s mom, which is also a little strange. However, Paul couldn’t have known what Micah looked like in the pods. (Or maybe she described herself to him and we didn’t see it?) Normally, Micah’s fiancé and father having the same name would just be a bit of a coincidence. When we look at Micah’s calculating, people pleasing behavior, we can’t assume she didn’t just pick Paul because the name felt comfortable and familiar. Paul may be wondering if he’s just fulfilling a role for Micah, or he might not even know. Either way it’s not a good situation for him.
Find out if Micah and Paul got married at the end of the show.
