Love Island 2021 review: Liberty deserves better than a foot fetishist with a Napoleon complex

Love Island has many flaws. It is vaguely misogynistic, often racist, and at times, very, very dull. But there is beauty there, too, especially in its ability to alter the arc of a cast-member in a single episode. From villain to hero, all it can take is 24 hours to see a person you dislike shine in a way they never had before. For Brad, last night was his night.

On last night’s Love Island, which returned after a much-needed Saturday break, new addition Rachel helped spotlight Brad in an altogether more charismatic light. Last week we were shown what happens when someone is so hot, they have never had to try, but for Brad, it seems like Rachel is making him want to work for it.

Yes, our herculean hunk still can’t converse, and yes, this might just be one big ploy to remain in the villa, but Brad’s clear attraction to Rachel was apparent for everyone to see. He even went so far as to ask her a question! Can you believe it?

Now that Brad is hot again, thebook might very well be closed for our upper-class Prince Chuggs. Fighting for Rachel’s attention via the use of extended metaphor, Chuggs tried to use his Oxford Brookes education to find every other synonym for the words he actually needed to use. Instead of “sexy”, it was “feisty and independent”. Instead of “I fancy you’’, it was “we’re on the same page”. For whatever reason, this has not sent Rachel spinning. This could be in part due to Brad’s poor track record. Rachel is a wise woman to notice that there is something very #redflag about a man that attractive being so very single. However, we can only hope that Rachel sees through Chuggs’ charm and runs into Brad’s huge, bronze arms.

Meanwhile, the wettest lips in the villa continue to get it on. Now that Sharon and Aaron are officially coupled up, I worry that their moist snogs will forever haunt the villa, ricocheting around its stone walls long after they have left. This is problematic, especially as they could be in this for the long haul.

With Shaaron (see what I did there?) now in pole position, the tectonic plates are shifting between Kaz and Toby, and Jake and Liberty. Sometimes in life, people just don’t fancy one another, and for Toby, it looks like his days with Kaz are numbered. As much as we love Kaz, Toby’s evident emotional conflict is enough for us to forgive him for what will probably come next. Both of them need to be freed from one another’s grip, and Kaz needs to smell the eau de friendship in the air.

Though we can forgive Toby, Jake is an altogether different story. With the emotional sensitivity of a stampeding elephant, Jake seems to have told every man in the villa that he is ready to break Liberty’s heart. I don’t know what more Jake wants from a woman that Liberty does not already offer. Good chat? Tick. Great body? Tick. The radiating personality of a sun? Tick. What we do know is that Liberty deserves better than a foot fetishist with a Napoleon complex.

Will Liberty and Kaz get the open and honest conversation they desperately need to free themselves from emotionally unavailable men? Will Brad’s newfound personality beat Chuggs in the epic battle to Rachel’s heart? Fingers crossed the second week of Love Island brings us some much-needed answers.