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I dismissed Milton from 'Love Is Blind' as a nerd, but he's actually the best man on season 5

Esme Mazzeo   

I dismissed Milton from 'Love Is Blind' as a nerd, but he's actually the best man on season 5
Entertainment4 min read
  • At the beginning of "Love Is Blind" season 5, I dismissed Milton as a nerd.
  • But he might be the best catch in the franchise's history.

From the first conversation Milton Johnson and Lydia Velez Gonzalez have in the "Love Is Blind" season five pods about sedimentary rock, I dismissed him as a geek too young to commit to the marriage experiment, even if he had the best intentions.

Lydia describes Milton and their conversation as "nerdy" at least three times in that first scene, although she means it positively. She also voices concerns that 24-year-old Milton is too young to handle her 30-year-old Puerto Rican self.

But Milton proves two skeptical Boriquas wrong and turns out to be the season's best catch, and potentially the best partner in "Love Is Blind" history. Here are all of the reasons why I hope Lydia and Milton live happily ever after, chatting about rocks, for years to come.

Milton is the best communicator of the guys this season

Despite what he says on episode two about having difficulty with vulnerability, Milton is actually quite good at expressing himself and his emotions. While Lydia is crying about desperately wanting to be loved for who she is, her honesty and tears don't make Milton uncomfortable.

He affirms Lydia's desire to be loved as valid and assures her that she is his first choice and that he is ready to give her what she wants. He even tells her she'd be a great mother, which is important to communicate to a future life partner if you've ever considered having children.

Immediately after he asks her for advice about how to open up emotionally, he takes steps to show that he wants to improve and explains that he uses humor as a shield.

He is also effective at emotionally supporting Lydia in episode eight after her brutal confrontation with her ex Uche Okoroha when she worries it will affect her relationship with Milton.

"Look at you, you're a fucking grown-ass woman. You're a badass. You have a great-ass job, you make great-ass money. You're independent as fuck. Fuck everybody else," Milton tells a crying Lydia, quickly reminding her that they have better places to be and have to bid their dramatic castmates goodbye.

That's honestly the pep talk of my dreams from a potential partner, in spite of all the references to ass.

To top it all off, Milton is extremely clear about his sexual attraction to Lydia, and he doesn't withhold affection from her or play games. At the cast meet-up when he briefly leaves a crying Lydia to go talk to Uche, he even asks her friends to look out for her.

I don't care how old you are — this is dreamy behavior.

He's the funniest person on the season, but his humor is never disrespectful

Milton is also the funniest season five cast member and lowkey maybe one of the funniest people "Love Is Blind" has ever had on the show. He and Lydia have a fun dynamic in the pods that sticks throughout their journey.

I admit there were times when I wondered if he'd gone too far when joking about Lydia's accent or her confusion about words. But Lydia always takes the joke in stride and never seems offended.

Sometimes Milton's humor appears to come at unfortunate times, like when he tells Lydia, "You should have seen this piss I just took, it took like 20 minutes," at the cast meet-up on episode eight while they were both essentially right in the middle of a tense confrontation with Uche.

Yes, the comment comes at a bad time and he doesn't appear to recognize that or care. But it is also hysterical and lightens the mood, at least for me while watching the dramatic scene.

Then, there is how he supports Lydia during his solo conversation with Uche when Uche is trying to warn him about Lydia. Milton deftly sidesteps that conversation and starts going on a tangent about multidimensional calculus and explaining how all three of them are on difficult parallels to each other.

It's confusing and again, he appears earnest. But it's also a surprisingly effective way to keep his relationship with Lydia private and protect her while throwing Uche off. It's hysterical and brilliant, whether Milton means it to be or not.

Milton further protects Lydia at the reunion

During Sunday's reunion, Milton stands up for Lydia when her past with Uche takes the spotlight.

Uche's former love interest, Aaliyah Cosby, is at the reunion to confront Lydia about her past and whether or not she knew Uche was going to be on the show. During their conversation, Lydia clarifies for Aaliyah and the public that she and Uche spoke about the show's casting announcement, but didn't know for sure that they'd cross paths in the pods.

Milton steps into the conversation to defend Lydia's character and explain to Aaliyah that he set up strong boundaries in the pods with Uche and other men to make sure that the bond he built with Lydia was authentic.

Though he is respectful, the implication of Milton's words is that if Uche and Aaliyah's bond were strong enough, it would've lasted. Lydia made mistakes while handling her past in the pods. But Milton's words at the reunion move some of the blame for Aaliyah's subpar experience off of Lydia.

Whether Milton's right or not, he behaves the way a husband should when his wife is facing criticism he feels is unjust.

On the reunion, Milton and Lydia also admit that they had a "safe emoji"— the oil barrel — during the cast meet-up in case Lydia's confrontation with Uche became too much to handle. When he discretely flashed her the oil barrel emoji during the conversation and she nods, Milton gets Lydia out of the scene as soon as possible.

Their actions prove that both Milton and Lydia take extra steps to protect each other's emotions.

Milton was criticized by everyone in the experiment — including Lydia — for being too young. But his actions prove that he's more than just ready for marriage — he knows what a strong and healthy one looks like.

TL;DR — forget Captain America, I'm looking for my own personal Milton.


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