Married at First Sight Recap: Couples Deteriorate After Returning to Denver

Not all homecomings are happy.

The latest episode of Married at First Sight shows our newlyweds reacclimating to Denver life after returning home from their honeymoons. And boy, do things go south quickly. Two of the three remaining couples are left on shaky ground after their housewarming parties lead to blowout fights and shocking revelations. Judging by the preview of next week's episode, the only couple left unscathed by the parties — Becca and Austin — won't be so happy for long.

With two of the season's original five couples already down for the count, I'm beginning to wonder if any of the pairs will stay together long enough to reach decision day, which is around six weeks away in the show's timeline.

Episode nine also gave a sneak peek at Lauren and Orion's reunion after they called it quits in the last episode. The new divorcées discussed their failed marriage with friends, as Lauren is still devastated that Orion gave up after only thirteen days. But Lauren's friends assured her of what everyone in Westword's Facebook comments agrees on: "It’s not you. It’s for sure him." We'll have to wait until next week to see them hash things out face-to-face.

Here's what happened on the “Wigging Out” episode of Married at First Sight, which aired on December 13:

Emily and Brennan
In one word: Yikes. With some urging from the show's host and relationship counselor, Emily and Brennan finally moved in together despite Brennan's resistance. But his attitude toward the marriage remains incredibly bleak for how well the couple was doing during the honeymoon. “I set a goal for myself that I would never be divorced, and I don’t really know what else to do," Brennan said during a private interview. The situation only got worse once the two invited their friends over to their apartment for a housewarming party.

Emily's friends criticized Brennan for saddling Emily with the bulk of the party prep and leaving her to run her eighteen bags of luggage up and down the stairs while moving into their apartment — with her hand still injured from the shower slipping incident. Brennan said, "If this was real life, I should 100 percent help her move," seemingly revealing how legitimate he thinks this reality-show relationship is. Emily's friends, in turn, disclosed that she told them Brennan hates filming for the show and "makes it miserable" to do so. After questioning what Brennan's intentions are and whether he has the emotional capacity for marriage, the conversation devolved into shouted curses about what "shit" Emily told her friends and whether Brennan should "just quit now." Time may be running out on this union.

Becca and Austin
In stark contrast to Emily and Brennan, the episode was peaceful for Becca and Austin. Becca celebrated her 32nd birthday with Austin making her breakfast in bed and joining her girls' dinner, during which all of her friends proclaimed they "fucking love him." The most notable moment from the housewarming party was a pizza box cameo from the local Famous Original J’s. It's hard to imagine what goes wrong between here and the next episode, as the preview shows Becca crying and Austin saying he needs time to work through things “that could tear us apart.” The couple has already reckoned with their religious differences and, as Becca's friend so eloquently put it, "The whole Jesus thing, I think we can deal with it.” Perhaps Austin's refusal to consummate the marriage is finally catching up to the golden couple.

Clare and Cameron
The episode started off well for Clare and Cameron. The pair called living together "easy and natural," and Clare surprised Cameron with a visit to his bike shop, Broken Carbon in Boulder. But Cameron dropped a major bomb during the housewarming party. While joking about trapping Cameron with all of Clare's therapist buddies, one of her friends teasingly asked, "So how’s your relationship with your father?” Cameron replied in a serious tone, "Distant." He then revealed that his father doesn't know he got married to a stranger on a TV show. “What would you like to tell a man who’s on his deathbed?" he said. All of this was news to Clare, who is now questioning whether Cameron trusts her enough to open up about serious topics. Meanwhile, Cameron wonders whether Clare will ever warm up to him enough for them to be anything more than awkward friends.

For more failing relationships, tune in to the next episode of Married at First Sight, on Wednesday, December 20.