The call of “Love Is Blind” is that viewers can be voyeurs, watching the dating rituals of various cities unfold as other people test the theory that true compatibility is of the mind. The seventh season, which airs it reunion episode On Wednesday, he promised to explore some burning questions about the culture of our political epicenter during an unusually heightened political environment. Unfortunately, the weird brew that is “Love Is Blind DC” didn’t deliver any of the political ambition that makes the city a Dating Swamp, but neither did the diversity of culture that redeems the place (this season, however, had the most ethnically diverse cast of engaged couples).

The Netflix series decided to launch its latest show just a month before the highly contested and challenging presidential election, at a political moment that raises questions about the foundation of our democracy, our social contract and what it means to be a citizen. I can see the pitch meeting now: Why not capitalize on this zeitgeist by shooting in Washington, DC—a city that foreigners equate with politics—and address burning concerns about American identity with… check notes – soundproof tapes where the contestants only hear the quality of someone’s voice, get engaged in 10 days and only then actually see each other. Will love conquer all, amirite?

Leave aside the fact that nearly 20 percent of Washington’s workforce works directly for the federal government, which still does not grant paid parental leavemuch less free time to participate in a reality show, which means a core segment of Washington culture is not represented this season. Then you have over millions of people who work in industries dependent on government work, also known as “professional services”—consultants, lobbyists, defense contractors, and cybersecurity experts. Maybe no one was willing to risk their security clearance and job access to be on a TV show. That leaves you with those who could use free advertising: the guy who works at his family’s art dealership, the real estate agent, the nonprofit guy with a cause.

Are there people in Washington, DC who are simply tired of conventional dating and want to roll the dice on TV? Of course, but the operative word is “area”. The DMV metropolitan area is home to nearly 7 million people, which includes two completely different states, Maryland and Virginia. It’s a total rip-off to have a contestant from Baltimore on a show that features a Washington, DC edition. While it’s safe to assume that “Love Is Blind Falls Church, Virginia” probably wouldn’t do as well for marketing, we should expect more than 20% of the cast to not even live in the city namesake. It’s an accidental signature of a political climate that values ​​perception and bending over the truth.

It would have been fun to see one or two contestants from Washington’s diplomatic corps and the international community only to find out after the unseen engagement that the diplomat has a spiritual spouse abroad and needs a legal marriage to an American for a green card. This would be a dramatic arc that actually reflects the harsh reality of the pursuit of the American dream. Instead, it is given to us a couple struggles with dating on the political aisleonly to have that relationship burn out over the now boring trope of a sexting scandal. And we have a made-up love triangle couple that could have been from Anywhere Sunny America that even the producers didn’t think would make it to the altar.

Give me some good Machiavellian power couple venom instead. I have spent more than a decade meeting in my industry of politics and government, and I was looking forward to seeing a reflection of my experience and that of my peers. Unfortunately, there was none of the drama or details typical of the Washington, DC dating scene this season.

In a city that attracts people with ambition and narcissism, Washington, DC, dates often reward those with an epic game of smoke and mirrors that is disconnected from their reality, with no bed frame and only the mattress. It would have been great TV if it stuck closer to reality. “Love Is Blind” would have done better to recruit from the dating pool that residents actually recognize — more swamp stuff, less starry-eyed non-Beltway folks. If you’re going to use our city to sell a series, you might as well let the rest of America revel in the pit with us.