Love Island: Beyond the Villa Series-Premiere Recap: They Came There For Love
It is my firm opinion that the theme music for a reality television program, when done well, tells us everything we need to know about the tone of what’s to come. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives intro promises a toxic, choice feminism mess. The Real Housewives’ theme — no matter the franchise — gives us a wink of cuckoo calm before the storm. The OG Love Island sashays in, giving horny Stanford Prison Experiment. But Beyond The Villa? The theme is the same Pavlovian ring tone as its dating show predecessor, but off-kilter — the Wario to Love Island’s Mario. And while in theory that could be intriguing, I’m not yet convinced.
Because a lifestyle (non-competition) spinoff needs to fully stand on its own. At their most successful, spinoffs make the show from which they spawned look quaint. They go beyond fan service and dig into something fully their own. Vanderpump Rules worked because it spent 90 percent of its energy playing with brand new mess versus catering to RHOBH superfans who somehow couldn’t get enough of Lisa Vanderpump. A spinoff requires additional layers, whether it’s new players or more complex emotional depth. Imagine The Hills without Heidi Montag or VPR with only Lisa, Ken, and Scheana. Spinoffs like Beyond the Villa need their own special sauce, or they end up feeling like an 8-part reunion that could have just been a podcast.
My bar for this is high because I’m genuinely rooting for this show. It has all the ingredients for a whole holiday roast (charismatic cast members, women who actually like each other, at least three men who are not terrible, interesting material like the intensity of newfound fame and the nature of reality, etc.). But I fear we will ultimately be served a ham and cheese Lunchable. ANYWAY. I’ll do the recap now.
It’s a year after the season six cast left the Love Island villa, and they’re now in Los Angeles. Many of them seem to be there temporarily, in cookie-cutter apartments similar to the ones on Love is Blind, which does not bode well for the longevity of this program. JaNa, Kenny, and Serena hang out on a hotel rooftop. Serena and Kordell are good, but Kordell will be in friend-of capacity as he is filming a project for Keke Palmer’s TV network. Good for him! I already predict Kordell will be the victor of Beyond the Villa, if such a thing exists. JaNa and Kenny are in L.A. learning how to be together since they’ve been long-distance for eight months. Leah and Miguel join from Calabasas, and Kenny is already breaking the fourth wall, whispering things like “I told you that off-camera.”
On a different rooftop, Kendall, Connor, Liv, and Kaylor convene. Kendall makes everyone “do eyes” as they clink glasses as if this is a frat party in 2014. Kaylor says the phrase “hot girl summer” sans irony multiple times. Liv says they need to “do a Catch” and I’m fairly certain she’s referring to the scene-y restaurant, Catch — the same restaurant the RHONY wives deemed too humiliating to visit alive. If not, it’s the energy of this clique nonetheless. Immediately this show establishes a schism for its viewers’ nervous systems. Also, Liv is seeing someone new who Kendall has met but BFF Kaylor has not, so brace yourselves for a season long mental gymnastics routine on the nature of best-friendship.
The respective rooftops discuss the impending Love Island Summer Party™. JaNa has beef with Connor, to which she says, “There are seven billion people in this world, why do we have to be friends?” This is also an astute question about this television program. The answer is contractual obligations! Connor wants to clear the air with JaNa. Kaylor is nervous to see ex Aaron for the first time since the reunion (she’s still mad he lied to her about snogging Daniela).
Where has Aaron been, you ask? Off grid! He deleted his socials, got a puppy, and spent a bunch of time with his brother in the forest. Whatever one thinks of this man, these are all correct choices for someone fresh off national television, especially given how wretched Love Island can be for its contestants. Now Aaron is staying in Venice, and doing things like surfing, eating bowls of raw celery, and talking to Connor about depression without wanting to “say the D word.” Connor tells Aaron he’s seeing someone new but refuses to say her name (Liv does the same thing with her not-athlete athlete), and this behavior is not going to fly on a lifestyle reality show.
Back at the West Hollywood corporate housing, Kaylor FaceTimes her dad to tell him she’s going through it. She has to see Aaron for the first time and has a new feud with bestie Liv. Liv told Kaylor about her new boo’s birthday party, then informed Kaylor the party was cancelled, only for Kaylor to wake up the next day to see Kendall’s Snapchat of everyone at the party without her. I then spent several minutes stuck on these adults using Snapchat in the year 2025, and came to when Kaylor’s dad was instructing Kaylor to treat Liv “like an associate.” This is our reminder that Kaylor is twenty-three years old.
Over in balm-to-the-nervous-system world, Kenny takes out JaNa’s trash. They aren’t living together, but are staying in apartments directly next door as a trial run to “see if they could do this life thing.” JaNa wants to check on Aaron at the party since he went through a lot and everyone deserves forgiveness. “Everyone” does not include Connor, though. She teaches Kenny how to avoid her nemesis because she cannot have her man dapping up the opp.
En route to the Love Island Summer Party™, Connor dons a crocheted version of the Foot Locker employee uniform while pontificating about Kenny blocking him. Miguel wears a wife respecter, talks about riding horses, and otherwise minds his business. No one knows what’s going on with Liv and Kendall since they call each other brother and sister, but clearly have some kind of vibe. Ominous — or that’s what production wants us to think, anyway. Kaylor also repeatedly calls Liv her “sister,” and it’s like when the most toxic boss you’ve ever had loves to call your workplace “a family.” Liv tells Kendall she has zero beef with anyone despite Kaylor detailing multiple beef-flavored incidents to the viewers. Cue “Girl, So Confusing” by Charli XCX. Like, actually cue it. Beyond the Villa carried the music budget over from Love Island, so we get the juice.
At the party, everyone takes photos in front of a step-and-repeat. There is seriously so much footage of the step-and-repeat. It is the Love Island Summer Party™ and many sexy singles and not-singles are in attendance. If Peacock is trying to soft-launch a greater Love Island universe where there is cross-season intermingling, they need to be doing things like putting a mic on Cely and giving audiences who did not endure the pre-Ariana years of this franchise a refresher.
Alas, the drama begins. JaNa eats a burger while making sure Kenny does not dap up Connor. There is no official dapping, but they have a brief conversation. Leah reminds us that this was all nine months ago, they dated for two days, JaNa is now in a happy relationship, and it’s time to move the fuck on. This is perfect logic, but it will not work for this show unless everyone starts moving real quick to stir up post-villa feuding.
And as much as you want to say about Kaylor, she is trying. Or the producers are trying with her as their proxy. Kaylor cobbles together the courage to approach Aaron and say, “I’m fucking done with you, bitch” before standing around awkwardly. Remember: she’s twenty-three! Aaron says he went sober and this is his first drink in six months. Whew. We gotta get that puppy back in here. This is not great. They talk about how their parents constantly foist the other’s social media content on them, and consider this your official permission slip to break up with your parents if they ever do something like this to you. Aaron apologizes for gaslighting, manipulating, etc. Kaylor is not happy but spews some platitudes about learning to stand up for herself and how they’ll be cordial moving forward.
She then applies this newfound ability to stand up for herself in a confrontation with bestie Liv. Kaylor’s beef with Liv has three prongs as of now, which I will attempt to simplify: (1) Kendall being invited to Liv’s new man’s birthday party where Kaylor was not, (2) a situation where Liv and Kaylor were supposed to split a freebie camera, but Liv took it herself and lied about it, and (3) squibbles about glam.
The last one is my favorite. It’s simple (involving neither some unnamed man, Snapchat, nor the finer points of a brand deal) while also encapsulating the larger problem. Kaylor was mad that Liv said she wasn’t getting glam, then showed up to the bar with glam. Liv reminds Kaylor that it’s common knowledge they’re going on national television, then brings up a situation where Kaylor didn’t tell Liv she was getting a spray tan. They go back and forth, sprawling into other issues, and it’s a mess. All problems between these gals would be solved if they had an honest conversation about whether they like each other in the first place, and if so, what the word “friend” means to them. It’s brutal in a very eighth-grade way to watch two girls see their friendship so differently. Kaylor says she wants her and Liv to be like PPG, and sweetie, that is not happening. I am willing to bet everything in my plebian checking account that Leah, Serena, and JaNa do not and will never fight about things like glam and Snapchat. The three of them are not using a friendship to fix a deep sense of insecurity, and it’s obvious to anyone watching. Anyway, Kaylor says she doesn’t “give a flying fuck” about the public’s opinion and encourages them to “hate on [her] please!”
As for the rest of the season? Kaylor will continue her hot girl summer attempts! The baby dolls will make a rare out-of-the-villa appearance! JaNa will still want to cohabitate! Ariana Madix will add another reality TV show to her IMDb profile! Will any of this add up to a compelling television program? With bated breath, we must wait and see.