Do you know what’s a good idea when you’re unsure if you want to marry your spouse who is deadset on it? You both become temporary exes and engage in trial marriages with two other people in the same predicament. That’s Netflix’s The Ultimatum. This season on The Ultimatum: Queer Love, five couples comprised of nonbinary people and women break off into three-week relationships with each other to find out if they want to leave the experience single, married to who they came with, or somehow in love with the person they met less than a month prior.
After a four-year relationship, Vanessa and Xander entered The Ultimatum: Queer Love. This led Xander to want a more profound commitment from Vanessa, who fears missing out on a hypothetical lover by being exclusive with her actual lover. Yoly and Mal are one of the more battle-tested couples, with their three-year relationship enduring a relocation to Seattle, a breakup, and sex that’s far too infrequent for Yoly, who feels she’s at an age where marriage is necessary.
Then, there’s Lexi and Raelyn (commonly referred to as Rae), a three-year relationship that began as hookup partners until Lexi, the ultimatum giver, wanted more and is now the center of most of the drama for this season. An Instagram search for #LesbianLatina led Tiff to their partner Mildred, who’s already been married and wants to take her off-and-on toxic relationship with Tiff to the altar. It only took 1 1/2 years of being together for Sam to hit the commitmentphobe Aussie with the marriage ultimatum. Everyone’s true colors emerged once they broke off into their desired trial marriages.
Vanessa couldn’t wait to break free from the shackles of Xander’s unconditional love and was proposing a “polyamorous orgy” with any and everyone who met her gaze before she ultimately started a trial marriage with Rae. Sam found out her three-week stay with Tiff would include their dog, which is a non-negotiable for them. Of course, every trial marriage has its honeymoon hangover moments of clarity where they realize they’re going to bed with virtually a stranger. But none are on a more solid foundation than the two most sensible people on The Ultimatum: Queer Love: Lexi and Mal.
Are Lexi and Mal from The Ultimatum: Queer Love still together?
Nothing is surprising about the romantic magnetism between Lexi and Mal. Lexi is a forward-thinking pragmatist who will speak about buying a house as an investment property on a date just as quickly as she’ll discuss her slight body dysmorphia. Mal is frugal and family-oriented, whose aversion to marriage is predicated on wanting to have enough financial stability for everything matrimony brings and growing up with parents who didn’t get married until after a decade of dating. Yet, in less than three weeks, the pair have basked in their seemingly perfect connection while having honest conversations about preparing for the imperfections when they rear their heads. And they haven’t as much as shared a kiss on camera yet.
When Mal casually reveals to Lexi that she talks in her sleep, Lexi accepts it as a cute observation instead of invasive judgment. That’s because Mal has established a level of maturity in their emotional intelligence that extends to them being open to finding alternative ways of intimacy that are compatible with Lexi’s comfort level with her body. The closest they have come to any semblance of a disagreement has been when Mal admitted that Vanessa hooking up with Lexi’s ex, Rae, upsets Lexi to the point that it affects Mal’s progress with bonding with Lexi.
As of now, though, Lexi and Mal are on the right path to finding love in a sea of confused semi-single people hoping to drift into their better halves. But how long will that last?
Keith Nelson is a writer by fate and journalist by passion, who has connected dots to form the bigger picture for Men’s Health, Vibe Magazine, LEVEL MAG, REVOLT TV, Complex, Grammys.com, Red Bull, Okayplayer, and Mic, to name a few.
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