Why Dean & Kristina Should Call It Quits On 'Paradise'

One of the most confusing love triangles on Bachelor in Paradise this season is between Dean, Kristina, and Danielle L., better known in Paradise by her snappy new moniker "D-Lo." Things were admittedly made more difficult by the fact that the show took a two-week hiatus from filming to investigate sexual assault allegations. To jump back into the reality dating show mindset after that understandably threw a lot of the early-forged connections off, but there are some good reasons why Dean and Kristina should break up on Bachelor in Paradise.

They enjoyed one of the aforementioned early connections on the show and spent the hiatus road-tripping together to Kristina's hometown. Both Dean and Kristina said they bonded deeply during that time, but back on camera, something seemed off. Dean reverted back to his defensive habit of making dumb jokes whenever someone tries to have a serious conversation with him (remember that painfully awkward date with Rachel Lindsay?). And Kristina seems trapped in a cycle of forgiving him for the same bad behavior over and over again whenever he feeds her a tiny bit of whatever she wants to hear. It's a tough dynamic to watch, although I'm not entirely sure Dean knows he's doing anything wrong.

Honestly, it feels a little like Dean thinks he's starring in his own season of The Bachelor. He's dating both Kristina and Danielle as if it's totally normal for him to juggle multiple intense girlfriends in Paradise, when that's not exactly the socially agreed upon vibe there. Paradise is more about having a handful of light dates but ultimately exploring one good connection deeply. Whenever Kristina confronts him about this, he reassures her that he's more invested in her feelings than Danielle's or even his own. Of course, that's exactly what she wants to hear and she always melts into his arms every time it happens. And then we inevitably see Dean follow up by affirming his relationship with D-Lo in some way or another.

It's not like he has bad intentions; I genuinely think he just wants all his girlfriends to like him. But in a super monogamously-minded space like Bachelor in Paradise, he's coming off like a manipulative jerk. Both of these women obviously believe there's a limit on the amount of time Dean gets to test the waters with each of them. Dean seems to think he has all the time in the world, and furthermore, that it's not a problem for him to cultivate equally deep relationships with both of them while he's figuring it out.

Of course, that isn't a problem if everyone is on board with it. But Kristina obviously has very different expectations, and she keeps getting sucked into a cycle of reassurance and forgiveness when Dean doesn't seem like he's planning on changing his behavior any time soon. Their attitudes toward their relationship seem fundamentally opposed and they aren't bothering to communicate about it. It might be best for them both if they just break up now.