90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way: OK, Now It's a Tell All

Scams, secrets, and self-awareness: These are the best parts of any 90 Day Fiancé Tell All, and The Other Way Season 5 reunion has them all in spades.

The first installment really does seem to have been an amuse bouche for tonight’s bounty of gossip and judgment. After two hours and a lot of grilling from veterans Tim Malcolm and Tania Maduro, we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of what’s going on with Daniele and Yohan. The separated couple recently had dinner with his family, because Daniele says she still feels connected to his family, and anyway, she always tries to maintain good relationships with her exes. Of course, boasting about the receipts she has on her soon-to-be ex-husband’s proclivities ahead of the Tell All is a pretty good sign that Daniele hasn’t forgiven or forgotten anything yet.

Daniele easily emerges as the winner of the first round against Yohan — everyone but Shekinah, who still seems miffed that her castmate didn’t greet her on Night 1, rallies behind her. Listening to Daniele recount what she uncovered with her online sleuthing, Andrei Castravet calls Yohan “a f*cking liar” just before Tim chimes in with “piece of sh*t." There are audible gasps as Daniele says Yohan may be engaging with anywhere from 50 to 60 women online, sending them nudes and asking for money. She claims she can see all of his Instagram DMs because she set up his account and he can’t figure out how to change the password and properly lock up his profile. The other cast members fairly applaud her ingenuity. And 90 Day adds another word to viewers’ lexicons: “sanky-panky.”

The rest of the cast, despite looking uncomfortable as Yohan and Daniele’s discussion turns more hostile, remains supportive throughout, but host Shaun Robinson rightly probes the disconnect between Daniele’s and Yohan’s expectations of their marriage. Shaun’s ongoing astuteness is also key to the success of this installment; she presses Julio and Kirsten for details of their breakup and the people they may have cheated on each other with (jury’s still out on what happened). She also knows when to move on to a different arc, which she wisely does once Julio and Kirsten claim to both know the truth without expanding on it.

It’s fair to say Daniele dominates Part 2 — not just because of the disclosures and the sympathy they elicit from (almost) everyone else on stage, but because she’s a pro at this now. That’s not necessarily meant in a cynical way; she’s just very much aware that she’s no longer the lovestruck woman of two years ago. Now that the first rush of emotions has faded, she’s realizing how little she knows about the man she married. She knocks herself for being “too stupid” to see Yohan was using her.

A little self-deprecation never hurts in these cases, but self-awareness is much more important. When a 90 Day cast member, like, say, Caesar Mack, goes charging back into the marriage fray without taking a beat for self-reflection, the consensus is that he deserves whatever’s coming to him. Staying in touch with his family may indeed be some ploy to keep Yohan in her life, but, after two years and some truly upsetting revelations — she believes Yohan brought women to her apartment in the U.S. — Daniele finally seems over it. Again, it’s important that she’s taking some time to sit with the news of his betrayal, rather than trying to get over him by getting under someone else. There are still two hours left in the reunion, though, so Daniele’s introspection might have its limits.

The flow of the Tell All is much improved in Part 2, too. Daniele and Yohan’s imbroglio takes up a lot of time, but Shaun keeps things moving, looping in the veterans and coordinating calls with in-laws (Yash seems ever so slightly less of a jerk now). Kenny and Armando provide a respite from all the other couple’s tensions — Shekinah and Sarper, though they appear to be on the same page, still raise some eyebrows with their tradwife thinking — with their jaunts to strip clubs and their overall stability. But there’s some trouble in paradise, as Armando and Kenny can’t agree on how many embryos to implant. Kenny fears they could end up with twins, which he might not be able to handle at his age (certainly not after having already raised triplets).

I was a bit harsh on Kenny and Armando before, but I now see that their continued presence is almost a road map of what lies ahead for the other couples, especially those like Shekinah and Sarper, who, though they’ve tabled the matter for now, don’t see eye to eye on family planning. They can’t provide much wisdom during filming, but they’ll be there on that stage in the aftermath, ready to show the others what this kind of marriage really entails.

The rest of the veterans, no longer content to sit on the sidelines, stepped up tonight as well. Kalani Fagata and Tania interrogated answers from the Other Way cast members on stage, then engaged in a game of Never Have I Ever in the green room. Tim pointed out the nuances in Holly and Wayne’s situation, and also revealed something that his ex and current bestie Veronica Rodriguez may or may not want out in the world. Andrei asked not one but two of the questions we were all thinking: What’s Yash’s problem with Kimberly, and "what's up with the dick pics?" It was good TV, plain and simple.

But fortunes are easily reversed during a Tell All, and this week’s insightful commentator can become next week’s villain. The promos for the final installment show Shekinah and Andrei in the hot seat, as Shekinah is questioned about the power dynamic in her relationship and he’s dubbed “the most toxic man” in 90 Day Fiancé history. Here’s where a rookie like Julio shows he has an edge over the veterans — he knows they’re all living in glass houses, so he’s careful about throwing stones. After years of being on camera, there are some cast members who still can’t see them.

Part 3 of the 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way Season 5 Tell All airs December 18 at 8:00 PM ET on TLC, and streams on Max and Discovery+. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Danette Chavez is the Editor-in-Chief of Primetimer and its biggest fan of puns.