Love on the Spectrum US Season 2 Review: The Emmy Award–winning docu-reality series has returned with a second instalment on Netflix on January 19, 2024, with a diverse group of neurodivergent people jumping into the complicated arena of relationships and romance. In addition to the old familiar faces of Abbey Romeo, David, Dani Bowman, Steve and James B Jones, we’ve got newcomers Connor, Journey and Tanner also joining them in this journey to find heartfelt companionship. Karina Holden and Cian O Clery and co-produce the American version of the original Australian reality series. The new LOTS season has 7 episodes, all with runtime ranging between 42-45 minutes.
Experience a range of lovely experiences from Abbey and Romeo taking off for their first trip to Kenya that culminates with a sweet Lion King-themed serenade, to Journey stepping out for her first date ever, Connor looking for someone to share his strongly-held interests in common and more. Autism expert and author Jennifer Cook, who is on the spectrum herself, also joins the cast for guidance and quick tips that prepare the participants for the dating world.
Watch the Love on the Spectrum US Season 2 Trailer
Love on the Spectrum US Season 2 Review
As if this reality series wasn’t heartwarming enough already, its creators one upped the standards by welcoming more representation and goofier moments that’ll instantly get you wondering why you haven’t been watching this series all along! Love on the Spectrum US series is back with a new season that not only marks the comeback of the much-loved OG cast members, but also equally charming newcomers, further revealing the vast range of the autism spectrum disorder in the honest attempt to do away with stereotypes.
It’s just fitting that this series originally began on the Australian front, because much like it, the 2022 Australian reboot of yet another Australian drama series, Heartbreak High, brought up the well-articulated representation of an autistic character, Quinni, played by Chloe Hayden.
Quite similar to what that series addressed head on when in a scene Quinni opens up to Sasha, when they’re starting to get closer to each other, about her being autistic, but Sasha’s plain uneducated and dismissive response to it is that she’s “met autistic people”, and Quinni apparently didn’t check the boxes of what she perceived neurodivergent people to be like, Love on the Spectrum, too, attacks the same misconception by positing all these autistic people at the centre of a widely “normalised” experience that is dating.
Herein, the show brings forward not just them, but also their families and how they’ve had to adapt accordingly much like how the people in question have also come to level with social cues that may otherwise seem to be out of their pre-established vocabulary. Sensitively treading the ground, this series focusses on representation not just for the sake of pulling the pseudo woke card, but to actually portray the spectrum with the distinctly various colours of experiences it harbours, while simultaneously normalising and humanising the subjects in the picture.
As soon you get into the series, even if you do so for the first time, it’s hard not to love it and the people who’re introduced to the world through it, as most of them have also gained the title of “pseudo celebrities” now, as James, refers to himself. You get to see them in their element, leading with their emotional intelligence (which mainstream fictional content largely jumps over conveniently) while also introducing us to their tics and everything.
At the bottom of it all, the image of these participants looking out for potential romantic partners, again all across various ages (from 18 to as old as someone in their 60s), is essentially a smart and heartwarmingly humanising context to prove the point that the show’s been trying to make all along. Lighthearted humorous moments further reveal the funny sides of all the people involved and it leaves you with no other choice but to laugh along to the genuine banters they engage in.
It’s an uplifting experience to see the whole “finding love” rigmarole on a reality show in such an unadulterated fashion, that it almost makes you believe in love again if you didn’t already. Sliding away from how the other commonly known dating shows role, this particular season of the Love on the Spectrum series advances to new levels of authenticity, doing away with the scripted nature of such shows, by even inclusively stitching in the different shades of the rainbow – sexuality and romantic spectrum – too (in another significant feat of the new season, there are moments when even non-autistic people go out on dates with the regular cast of the show, as opposed to the former concept).
Over the two seasons of the US set version of the franchise, for the first time, we’re introduced to a black person who also happens to be a lesbian. This simple yet assertive introduction goes a great length in terms of formulating a healthy format that takes into account not just the spectrum of different autism experiences, but also people of different ages looking for genuine connections.
Interestingly enough, they all equally dread awkward silences as much as the other person while also fearing running out of things to say on a date. Another striking highlight is that the show includes the representation of each one of them standing with different levels of romantic experiences – some of them being in a longterm relationship with their partners that they even easily bring up the idea of getting married, while others wanting to navigate through their sexual needs, as someone else nervously heads into their first-ever date or kiss or hand-holding moment.
Plus, you’ve got to love the parents too. I truly appreciate all the open talks that Connor’s mother and Dani’s aunt had with them on a regular basis, regardless of how tough these conversations may be.
Love on the Spectrum US Season 2: Final Thoughts
I know calling a show a “breath of fresh air” has become unironically a run of the mill concept itself, but seeing the chances and great strides Love on the Spectrum US Season 2 has taken to encapsulate the ever-expanding experiences of the autism spectrum, it truly is a breath of fresh air in the reality TV domain considering how OTT has been over-stuffing us with cis-heteronormative romances so far that have barely had anything to do with pure untainted love or partnership.
If you go through the list of American reality shows on Netflix concerned with the romantic twist, it’s nearly impossible to enjoy watching any of them without being bombarded with excessive gossip and the fiercely voyeuristic vulgarity that’s become synonymous with dating reality shows. Thankfully, that curse has been positively broken with the emergence of LOTS, and the best part is that this show isn’t strictly addressed to the neurodivergent audience, because romance is anyway not for the faint-hearted, and that relatable bit hits everyone equally hard.
Love on the Spectrum US Season 2, or as some sources refer to it as the overall Love on the Spectrum Season 4, is now streaming on Netflix.