90 Day Fiance Season 9 continues with Episode 2.
Shaeeda arrives, beginning Bilal’s unhinged “test” involving driving a work van to his childhood home to see how his fiancee responds.
Emily nervously heads to pick up Kobe, but not before hearing a friend’s honest concerns and worrying if she’s being “selfish.”
Jibri brushes off the concerns of his friends and family and goes all out to prepare to welcome Miona.
Kara gets to see good friends in the DR before she and Guillermo fly home to the U.S. Once there, Guillermo is detained.
And we are introduced to a new new couple.
In contrast to Kara and Guillermo’s six year “age gap,” Yvette and Mohamed are more than two decades apart.
Yvette has a lot going on in her life, but her friends clearly have reservations about her 25-year-old fiance.
1.
Bilal Hazziez and Shaeeda Sween
Bilal has designed an elaborate “prank” for Shaeeda, following months of refusing to show her his home or his car and hiding his lifestyle from her. He’s picking her up in a well-used work van, not his Mercedes, and planning to take her to his childhood home, which is in need of repair in several ways, both inside and out. Some fans are praising this as genius, others as a bouquet of red flags for controlling and toxic behavior.
2.
Pranks aside, the reunion is very sweet
We’ve seen couples with more PDA, but given Bilal and Shaeeda taking their shared faith very seriously, their embrace is certainly enough.
3.
Shaeeda is eager to get to know Bilal
She has asked to learn more about his life — and he has declined. While many of us would flatly refuse to go live somewhere without seeing the home first, Shaeeda loves him enough to make the trip to Kansas City, Missouri. She hopes to get some questions answered, too.
4.
Oh no
Shaeeda hilariously describes Bilal’s (fake) vehicle as a “Scooby-Doo van,” which is amazing. She thought that the somewhat more generic car (what was it, a Chevy? I don’t know anything about cars) beside it was his and did not imagine that this super sketchy van, loaded with stuff as if Bilal hadn’t even tried to tidy it up before she came.
5.
As respectfully as possible …
Shaeeda tells Bilal very calmly and directly that he is not meeting her expectations. She’s not comfortable even putting her luggage in the back the van, which was not cleaned or cleared out and appears to have some sort of work equipment.
6.
It gets worse
Many people would love to have a house that they own outright, even on in disrepair, but there’s a difference between suddenly coming into home ownership and doing what Shaeeda believes is happening — finding out that the man you love, who has hidden his lifestyle from you, is living in a home in desperate need of repair, some of which is visible from the street.
7.
Inside, it’s worse
A lot of homes take damage from weather, animals, and the passage of time, while remaining pristine within. A ceiling that is visibly falling apart (and the creepy lock on the outside of the bedroom doors) is very different, because that is inside of the house.
8.
This is not what she signed up for
While Shaeeda of course was taking a risk by traveling to be with Bilal without seeing her home ahead of time, she has met him — she saw his nice luggage, and she knows that to do what he does for a living requires a decent amount of money.
9.
Who is he?
Shaeeda doesn’t know the depths of Bilal’s dishonesty — not yet — but she knows that he obviously hid this dilapidated home from her from a reason. She’s trying to understand him, and things aren’t adding up.
10.
Bilal makes it clear that he doesn’t like her reaction
Bilal has, to be clear, set up a test that almost any person would fail, and is now judging Shaeeda for having a reaction to a deliberately unpleasant surprise — in a situation that he set up. Honestly, this is textbook toxic behavior, the kind of anecdote that someone would share after filing for divorce (if not in a true crime documentary) in an “I should have known something was wrong” kind of way. Shaeeda goes to her bedroom (again, there is a literal padlock on the outside of the doors to it) unhappy and confused.
11.
Emily Bieberly and Kobe Blaise
Emily is excited to see Kobe again for the first time in two years. She is packing lingerie while talking to her sister, Madeline, who despite being the “sensible” one, is of course rooting for her sister to be happy. Emily is very self-conscious of how different her body is than it was when she and Kobe were together. She’s not a single party girl anymore, she’s a mom now.
12.
This will be Emily and Kobe’s one chance to be alone
Emily’s family will watch little Koban while she picks up Kobe, and she’s hoping that their one night in the hotel will last them a while, because they are not going to have alone time at Emily’s parents’ house, especially with Koban sharing the bed.
13.
First, Emily meets with her friend
She and Sean spent some of their wild years partying together, comparing notes on who came home with the most numbers. Now, Sean has some very direct concerns about Emily and Kobe. First, she only knew Kobe in person for a couple of months, and he’s well aware of how “anyone” can be fun over a short amount of time. Second, Sean knows that Emily has changed — not just her post-baby body, but her whole lifestyle.
14.
Emily knows it, too
She used to go out and party. Now she is basically never leaving the house, and not just because of the pandemic — she has a toddler to take care of.
15.
“It’s gonna be fine”
Emily is so nervous. From sex to compatibility to being parents together and more, she wants things to go well with Kobe, in part because if things don’t go well, she and Kobe still have Koban. Emily also admits to the camera that she’s being a little selfish by wanting to spend the night in a hotel room with Kobe, since he is eager to meet his son in person for the first time.
16.
Reunited!
Emily and Kobe are overjoyed to see each other at the airport!
17.
YIKES
In a moment giving some viewers flashbacks to Nicole and Azan, Kobe makes a very awkward comment about Emily’s body. Maybe editing is being especially unkind to him, and we’re sure that cultural differences and production questions are involved, but a lot of fans are having a strong reaction to this moment, which is exactly what the show intended.
18.
Quit while you’re ahead, buddy
Emily and Kobe will have many episodes to show us what they’re like together, but right now, Kobe is not putting his best foot forward.
19.
Jibri Bell and Miona Bell
Jibri’s scene this episode opens with him on the phone, heading into the car wash with his window rolled down. The carwash attendant clearly tried to convince him to roll up his window using hand signs, which Jibri misinterpreted and ignored. The result was, of course, that he and his over-the-top rodeo outfit were sprayed with soapy water. Whoops!
20.
Jibri calls his friend David
David is Serbian originally, and they have been good friends for years. Jibri cites their “fist fights” while describing their friendship, which is … bonkers. Without David, Jibri never would have met Miona, but David doesn’t really like her. He is politely pessimistic about her coming to the US and tells Jibri so, admitting that he didn’t like her vibe from the start.
21.
Jibri thinks that it’s about the band
Jibri hasn’t had time to do much with the band lately, in part because of how things are progressing with Miona, so he thinks that this is really about that.
22.
David says that it’s more than that
Honestly, he thinks that Miona is using Jibri. He’s a friendly American guy, he’s a Black man, and he was just what Miona wanted. This allusion to the idea that Miona might want to be accessorizing by dating a Black man may be the closest reference on the show (so far) to the blackfishing accusations against Miona.
23.
Jibri is ready for her to arrive, though
Instead of listening to his friends and family, Jibri has gone all out to prepare the way for Miona, including buying a “red carpet” to put down for her, along with some other presents.
24.
Jibri has a pile of gifts
He hopes to make Rapid City more bearable until they can go to LA or somewhere similar. That’s very sweet, but living with his parents in South Dakota may be tough for Miona to accept.
25.
Their reunion is so sweet
Honestly, despite some very valid concerns from viewers and from those close to Jibri, when you see these two together, you understand them a little better. Miona is blunt and funny, and calls out Jibri when he’s being goofy, which he is. You can see them playing off of each other, and it’s cute.
26.
Kara Bass and Guillermo Rojer
Kara and Guillermo reunited on the premiere, but did so in the Dominican Republic. Now, they have to make their way to the United States, which will include some extra hurdles (which is why Kara is coming along for the ride).
27.
First, Kara gets to see some old friends
Kara lived in the DR for a while, so she made friends, including Chris. She hugs him, and he will miss her (again) and Guillermo when they move to Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s worth noting that Kara is extremely conversant in Spanish, something that some have notably lacked on this show.
28.
Guillermo’s brother comes to see him off
Christopher is one of Guillermo’s older brothers (the other was sick and could not come), and he’s worried about his brother going off. 23 is young to get married, and he wonders how Guillermo will fit in with Kara’s friends. This is a reasonable concern, because we’ve seen the feeling of isolation get to some people on this show.
29.
Yes, some of Kara’s friends have teased her
Guillermo is only six years younger than she is — they are both in their twenties, and met when they were both in their twenties — but Kara lists goofy things that her friends have said. While Christopher says the same things to Guillermo, Guillermo does feel a little picked on during this.
30.
The REAL problem, however, is less funny
Guillermo has an expired passport. He didn’t just wake up one day and decide to move to the Dominican Republic — he witnessed horrific police violence in Venezuela while attending protests and fled to the DR, where his brothers already worked and lived. He cannot renew his passport, and while he’s allowed to use his expired one with a visa, something being allowed on paper is not the same as smooth sailing.
31.
Guillermo is anxious
He’s moving to a new country, he’s getting married, and he could face a seriously hard time getting into the United States despite having all of the visa paperwork.
32.
Whoops!
The two ended up being seated separately on their flight, because there is just no horror that airlines will not gleefully visit upon their passengers (oligopolies, amirite?), but they made it through.
33.
Whelp
Guillermo had to spend two hours seated in a back room before authorities went “oh right you’re from Venezuela.” Two hours isn’t so bad in the grand scheme of things, but that should really never happen.
34.
They’re home!
Kara and Guillermo are together and, though Guillermo was extremely uncomfortable while being detained, happy to be starting their life together.
35.
Yvette Arellano and Mohamed Abdelhamed
New couple!! Yvette, who goes by Yve (pronounced “Eve”), is a 48-year-old woman from Albuquerque. She’s a divorced, single mom.
36.
She’s a lot
She says that she likes to think that her Apache heritage led her down a spiritual, holistic path, as she is an acupuncturist. We see her do cupping therapy and something called “acutonics.”
