This recap contains spoilers for Couple to Throuple 107-109.

The three episodes leading up to the finale of Peacock’s Couple to Throuple are all about loyalty and ownership. In a show about polyamory, it’s coming down to the question of who these thirds belong to.

One couple wants to be open while their partner wants to be throuple-monogamous. One third wants the freedom to date others, while their couple would feel betrayed. And one couple’s third wants to be with multiple couples. Is everybody cool with that?

It depends on where they are. After all, the rules of the resort are not the rules of the real world.

Couple to Throuple to Different Throuple

We pick back up after Rehman and Ashmal have chosen Frank in the wake of their drama with Jonathan. Maximo and Ashley don’t end up telling Becca that they hit on Darrien and Jonathan, but Darrien comes clean to Brittne and Sean. Sean is sad but he understands. She doesn’t want to risk the relationship they currently have, yet she can’t deny she is interested in Ashley. It’s funny how Brittne and Sean are probably monogamous at the end of the day, but somehow they have the most maturity around non-monogamous situations.

Ashmal is pissed at Jonathan. Rehman wants him to extend empathy to their shared ex, who Rehman is clearly still in love with. Ashmal laments, “You wanna be there for your boyfriend but your boyfriend won’t be happy until he has another boyfriend but that boyfriend doesn’t wanna be the boyfriend and he’s making it clear but somehow Rehman is still stuck in the middle going maybe he still wants to be our boyfriend.”

Yeah, bro. Welcome to polyamory.

For the first time, no one hooks up during the night.

In the morning, everyone goes to the beach to do whatever toddler’s birthday party activities this show wants us to believe count as therapy.

This time it’s answering questions about each other? With obstacles? And they’re tied at the ankles? One part of this relay race involves a “bobbing for apples” type challenge. Rehman jokes that he’s failing because his jaw is very tired from this whole experience.

Oh! It is occurring to me now that the handjobs I believe I’ve witnessed happening under the covers (and that I’ve documented here) were actually Rehman giving head. Wow. I’m so sorry. I would like to offer him a sincere apology for overlooking his hard, hard work.

After the game, Darrien worries Brittne is avoiding her and Brittne flatly says she is definitely avoiding her. She’s pissed about D entertaining Maximo and Ashley’s flirtations. Once alone, Brittne tells Sean she’s just happy she has him. He agrees that they’re perfect for each other.

Meanwhile, because she loves direct communication, Becca has spoken to literally everyone in the house about how she wishes Maximo and Ashley would just talk to her. She spills the beans to Ashmal, who is aghast that M and A would bring his ex Jonathan back into active game play.

Despite having just been sworn to secrecy, good boyfriend Ashmal runs immediately to Rehman. Rehman is PISSED because he has confided in Ashimo that he still likes Jonathan.

Look, Max and Ash met these people two days ago. They owe the other couples nothing in their pursuit of their perfect throuple. There is no such thing as “the” “queer” “community.”

Nothing brings a couple together like a shared enemy. Rehman is ready to fight and that makes Ashmal giddy. Everyone else in the house gathers and Sean encourages Becca to confront Ashley and Maximo right now so they all can watch from afar and “support.”

She approaches. Maximo apologizes. Becca deserves transparency, but they didn’t want to put it out there that they were interested in Jonathan, if it wasn’t something they were going to act on. Becca plays it cool.

“They’re very good at saying what they need to say,” Becca sighs. She’s over it, but they still all three kiss and make up.

Back at the chuckle corner, Sean drops the bomb that M and A hit on Darrien too. Everyone is GOOPED at their audacity. Upstairs, having noticed the whispers, Max and Ash ask Becca what the tea is. “Are we the center of this?” they giggle. Becca, our keeper of secrets, tells them yes. They are tickled to be “the drama.”

At breakfast, everyone on this polyamorous show is ready to confront Ash and Max for being polyamorous. Rehman is hype. He is not someone who can “sleep on it.” He just gets madder in the AM.

Brittne is also hype. She puts on a big fuzzy rainbow hat that she dubs “the drama hat.” As soon as Maximo and Ash sit down, Rehman straight up asks if they are planning to pick Jonathan that night. He says if so, he needs to reconsider who his friends are.

Using queer gentle parenting techniques, Maximo says, “I receive how you feel and it’s so valid.” However, they will be fucking their friends’ ex boyfriend. Sorry ‘bout it.

Even though Brittne and Sean and Rehman and Ashmal are both annoyed at M and A for ‘stealing’ their thirds, there’s a difference between these two situations. Darrien is in a couple! She is “taken.” I can see how B and S would feel like their toes are being stepped on, but Jonathan is a free agent. M and A can draft him.

Max and Ash apologize to Brittne and Sean and say they are their favorites in the house. No shade to Rehman and Ashmal.

We then get an adorable cutaway where Rehman and Ashmal say in unison: “When someone says no tea no shade, that basically means all tea, all shade!” Friendship ended with Maximo and Ashley.

Fine by Maximo. These cis gays aren’t his people anyway. Now, he wants J to step down for him and Ash just to fuck with them. Becca is hurt but she tells Maximo that she’s happy to finally go home and masturbate with her tits out. Is she… the star of this show?

Well, it’s the last official swap ceremony. Maximo and Ash get to go first and scoop Jonathan, who to be fair, does step down for them.

In private, Rehman calls them “Dracula 1 and 2.” Because they’re vampires? He has no more time or energy for “these three clowns.” It feels like watching the misunderstanding in a rom com. Just talk to each other! This is a show about polyamory!! Communicate!!

When it’s their turn to swap, not-vampire Rehman is out for blood. He says that Frank is mature, experienced and a breath of fresh air. Every word is meant to stake Jonathan in the heart and it’s working.

B and S thank Sanu for being so loving, but they keep Darrien. Sanu grins. “Fun fizzles out but friendship is forever,” she says. Aw, cute.

Afterwards, Maximo, Ashley and Jonathan approach Rehman, Ashmal and Frank. Rehman is like, “immediately no.” They start fighting and Ashmal tries to set up a boundary that they don’t want to talk right now. But whether it’s producer intervention or what, Ash and Maximo don’t respect it and keep pushing.

“Jonathan is now an extension of our partnership,” they say. “You come for him, you’re coming for all of us.”

The next morning, Rehman leaves breakfast upset and Jonathan follows him to the bedroom. Rehman clenches his jaw as Jonathan confesses he can’t stop thinking about his ex-boyfriends. He didn’t step forward for them in the last ceremony because he didn’t want to get hurt. Ashley and Maximo were a guarantee. If he’d stepped down for his exes and A and R chose Frank anyway, he’d have been crushed. He wants them back. R says no.

Jonathan presses, “Would you have picked me if I didn’t step down for Ash and Max?” Rehman gives him nothing. Jonathan leaves, distraught.

Sean hears Rehman is sequestered upstairs and goes to find him. He tells him he can’t hide out the rest of the trip just to avoid discomfort. He’s going to miss out on spending time with Ashmal and Frank. “Anything that makes you uncomfortable makes you stronger,” he advises. Don’t give this drama any power. I love Sean.

Rehman comes downstairs and tells Ashmal that Jonathan doesn’t like Ashimo and wants them back. I’m worried it’s going to be tense, but instead, the boyfriends slap hands. They’re delighted that they “still got it.”

Unaware of what’s going on, in his solo interview, Jonathan hangs his head, “It’s official. I fucked up.” He’s convinced it’s over with A and R.

Truth or Dare

Everyone gets ready for Game Night. Jess hopes she can be more physical with Lauren and Dylan. She and Lauren call each other cute. “Well, if I’m cute, you’re cute because we’re twins,” one of them says. Doesn’t matter which.

The game is sexy Jenga with dares. Lauren is dared to make out with someone and she and Jess share a first kiss.

Sean dares Frank and Rehman to make out, and all maybe 5’3 of Rehman runs and jumps into probably 7’8 Frank’s arms. They make out with Rehman’s wrapped legs around his waist like a koala on a buff tree. Everyone stands and cheers! Jonathan sits, devastated.

Dylan dares Brittne and Darrien to finally kiss. B lifts Darrien to straddle her too. It’s very charming.

Bored of the blocks, Sean wants to make his own even crazier rule. He has Ashmal, Rehman and Frank threeway kiss but now, Frank has to catch them both. HE DOES IT. Jonathan, in private, says it’s uncomfortable and weird. He’s not as turned on by these double lifts (see Junior and Ashimo in a prior episode) as I am.

After the games, Ashmal tells Rehman he watched Jonathan during Frank and Rehman’s kiss and it’s clear Jonathan isn’t over them. Jonathan also tells Max and Ash he is in fact not over the boys.

JAR find each other in the living room. Tails between their legs, Ashmal and Rehman ask for Jonathan back. He says yes. They agree to keep it a secret for now. They hug and express how much they’ve missed each other. When Jonathan gets back to his room with his assigned couple, Maximo comments that Jonathan seems less stressed. Maximo is happy Jonathan is finally settling in with them. Oops.

Finally, Brittne and Darrien kiss in bed! Darrien and Sean kiss too and Brittne’s mouth opens in happiness. Hooray for these cuties!

The next morning, host Scott and therapist Shamyra separate the thirds from their couples. Shamyra tells them that some of the singles they have unfinished business with are going to be visiting them to get closure. Lauren and Dylan are approached by the jilted Mia. She felt objectified and like L and D were only looking for a threesome. Mia is calling them on their shit, and Lauren and Dylan are listening. Dylan says they have good intentions but they’re not the most well versed in how to treat a third. They apologize. Mia says if they’re down, she would love to explore more together. Perhaps aware of their forthcoming edit on this show, Lauren and Dylan are relieved to have made good with an ex.

Of course, Sanu comes to B and S. She apologizes to them, admitting that she tried too hard to control how their relationship was going (most likely due to her background as a polyamory coach). Sanu thinks in the real world she could still have a connection with this couple. They all clearly have love for each other. Brittne and Sean consider re-swapping Darrien for Sanu.

Ash and Max get the shock of their lives when Darrien shows up to talk to them. She says they were not off base when they expressed interest in her. GAG. She doesn’t want to swap, but she wants to know why she can’t share? She wants to date both couples. Max and Ash would also be down for that.

They should be because they’re about to lose Jonathan who shows up for Ashmal and Rehman. He feels like he’s cheating on Ashimo, which is fair. The secrecy counts as cheating even in an open relationship. Rehman admits his feelings for Jonathan never left. He was upset because he wanted more of J, not less. They commit to each other and are ready for the tough, real world conversations. Jonathan is anxious about any upcoming drama.

Speaking of drama, the show then makes everyone walk in together with who came to see them. B and S are not pleased to see D with Ashimo. Ashimo are peeved Jonathan is with his exes. Everyone is now forced to choose another coupling. Go. Lauren and Dylan keep Jess. JAR get back together, crushing Ashley and Maximo who believe J deserves better. Frank, a beautiful man who everyone has forgotten about, is sad but says he can’t stand in the way of love.

Brittne and Sean are pissed that Darrien went to see Max and Ash (even though we’re pretending it was Shamyra who paired them up). Darrien wants to date all four of them but doesn’t think Brittne and Sean are ready for that. Maximo admits to everyone that he wants to swoop Darrien but they won’t because they believe in SDB. If the universe deems it right for he and Ash to be with Darrien, then the universe will bring her back in good time. They choose Becca, who in private Ash meanly calls “Plan C.” Becca definitely knows that she is Plan C and later when she asks if she is Plan C, Maximo doesn’t lie to her. Brittne and Sean consider Sanu because she’s a “ride or die,” but ultimately stay with Darrien.

Back at their rooms, Darrien wants assurances, but Brittne is drained and confused. I’m still not getting romantic vibes from these three at all! Sean encourages the girls to talk things out, but B doesn’t want to because she’s still “processing.” He says to figure things out Brittne has to learn to express herself to the person she wants to figure things out with. B curtly replies, “Sorry that I didn’t want to talk when you all wanted to.” Which is fair, but also catty.

JAR immediately resume fucking.

It’s another game night! There’s a twister board and you have to answer who is most likely to do what. Dylan eats food off the floor. Ashmal and Rehman are most likely to fuck in public. Brittne is the most likely to get kicked out of a nightclub. As if to rub salt in the wound of his hatred for the cis gays, Maximo says the couple he admires most is actually Lauren and Dylan.

Brittne, Sean and Darrien have a chat. In the real world, Darrien wants to be free to date other people, but she understands being exclusive while on the show. That makes sense to B and S. The couple mentions they’ve become more touchy since entering the experiment and from now on, everyone wants physical touch to reassure each other that they’re a team. I’m finally getting “more than friends” energy. In their room, they play Spin The Bottle. Brittne tells Sean and Darrien to kiss and “take it up a notch.” They finally go under the covers and get sexy. Sean literally sings, “It’s getting hot in herrrreee.”

Becca asks her couple if she’s in third place. Ash and Max don’t gaslight her, but say they’re open to starting over. Maximo apologizes for being a bitch. Becca apologizes too. They agree to release the tension by having a fashion show upstairs.

The next morning, Scott and Shamyra show up at breakfast to tell the throuples they’re going out into old town Panama. Becca says, “Something weird is gonna happen. I can feel it in my titties and the titties don’t lie.” She’s right. The weirdness is… prejudice!

The throuples visit shops and eat ice cream and kiss while the poor people of this town stare at them. Sean kisses both his women in front of a very bored shopkeep. Ashmal says he hopes everyone was staring at JAR not because they were disgusted, but because they are hot together. Unfortunately he is probably right.

Friends and Family

And now… a thing I hate. That I sort of knew was coming. The throuples head to dinner on a rooftop and are surprised with their… families and friends.

Fuck.

This sucks. It turns polyamory into a shock. A gimmick. Surprising the throuples without giving them the agency to “come out” on their own time really bums me out.

We’re met with Maximo’s sister and Ash’s friend. Sean’s cousin and Brittne’s friend Ike (he gets a name because we’ll get to him). Ashmal and Rehman get their two most difficult to please friends. There’s Dylan’s dad and Lauren’s mom. I’m worried until Lauren immediately calls this, “the best surprise ever.”

Ike. Ike. Ike. Okay. Whooo. Okay.

Brittne’s friend Ike comes in hot and questions when she started liking girls. Sean steps in, like whoa, she’s always liked girls. Ike, who comes across as queer himself, says, “She did but not really. She was fake…drunk gay.” This is the first time he’s seen her take queerness seriously. After all, she’s never had a girlfriend before. Brittne responds that she’s bi curious.

He turns his attention to Darrien, who coolly answers that she has been poly for a while and that she lives in Los Angeles. Those are two right answers. The friends ask her, “Do you feel like you’re attracted to them both the same?” She says yes. But also, who cares??? That’s not a prerequisite for dating a couple and if it was, many throuples would not be together. The show doesn’t address this though and acts like Darrien obviously answered correctly.

In private, Brittne says she’s shocked at how Ike is being. She categorizes it as “super protective.” Ike only starts making any sense once he says, “I don’t want you to only date another girl because of Sean.” Oh! He’s worried Sean is just trying to have two girlfriends. If Brittne wants to date another guy, Ike says, she should be able to date a guy. No one said she couldn’t! Especially Sean!

Brittne assures him she’s happy with one man. She wanted more physical touch and Brittne likes that Darrien is affectionate. Ike is surprised to see the ladies are holding hands under the table. Darrien is even wearing Brittne’s clothes, which is clearly a big deal. Ike is sufficiently impressed. I get his concerns but I’m still not sufficiently impressed with Ike.

Ashmal tells their friends they’ve been with Jonathan the whole time, except for a bit where he left because A and R were beefing. He says he and Rehman just learned about compersion. (A word we heard them use in an earlier episode but was never explained.) Ashmal defines it as “getting pleasure from seeing your loved one experience pleasure.” They’re “comperverts.” All’s well until Jonathan asks the friends how the boys act back home in Chicago. Their friends call them “a little wild.” They like to party and make out with people. They like attention. Jonathan looks concerned.

Maximo’s sister says, “It’s easy to say you want something when it’s right in front of your face.” She doesn’t think MAB will make it in the real world. Relationships have good and bad days, she says, but it’s about who you want to do the bad days with. Damn, I’m taking notes. Is this bitch a therapist? Is Shamyra’s job at stake?

Jess echoes Maximo and tells Lauren and Dylan’s parents that their kids have the most solid relationship in the house. Lauren’s mom was worried this experiment would hurt their marriage. Their families really love Lauren and Dylan together. She doesn’t want Lauren to be second fiddle in her own relationship. She sweetly also wouldn’t want to see Jess get hurt. Lauren and Dylan are really great here. Say what you want about these meatheads, but goddamn it, they’re a team. And they’re unabashed about their relationship with Jess. Dylan’s happy to tell the world. Fuck who doesn’t understand. They’re living life the way they want: to the fullest.

The thirds leave and the couples are left with just their family and friends. Ashmal’s friend immediately asks about J’s dick. I wish the boys hadn’t answered. Instead these apparent hedonistic party animals say something like, “More than decent.”

Back at the house, Darrien asks Brittne if she really likes girls, gently guiding B to a logical conclusion. Brittne says that she does need a man, but she’s bi-curious. Darrien asks, do you like me? Brittne says she does. Darrien says, well then you’re not curious. Brittne blushes and says okay, I’m bi! They’re all excited. Darrien feels lucky to have been a part of B’s coming out.

Jonathan is nervous about the boys’ “fun” in the Chicago gay scene. Rehman misunderstands, thinking he’s worried A and R are full of messy, drunk drama. Since they moved to Chicago, he says they haven’t brought anyone home to fuck and they only make out with their friends. But don’t worry. Neither he nor Ashmal get jealous about that stuff so it won’t be a problem. Jonathan replies that it’s a problem for him. He’d get jealous. Jonathan doesn’t make out with his friends and frankly if A and R do, he doesn’t wanna know about it. Uh oh.

And that’s our cliffhanger going into the finale: One of the thirds wants to be monogamous.

New Relationship Energy:

+ Lauren and Dylan ask Jess if she’s ever had sex to dubstep music and she says yes. They agree that it’s the best. They do a “Bair” hug, which now makes sense because Lauren and Dylan’s last name is Bair. It’s a thing I only learned because Dylan has his company Bair Aesthetics’ logo tattooed on his arm. I guess the skin deep ad worked because here I am mentioning it.

+ Ashmal asks what everyone would do differently if they could go back to the beginning. Lauren and Dylan say they’d take it slower. Becca says she can see that they’ve grown a lot. They definitely seem more self-aware and kind than they did in Episode 1 so props.

+ Ashmal and Frank tell Rehman that getting angry only gives A and M what they want. “There’s no we in Rehman, there’s only a me,” Ashmal jokes.

+ Los Angeles based Brittne and Sean observe the fighting between Chicago’s Ashmal and Rehman and New York’s Maximo and Ash and conclude derisively that “that’s that East Coast shit.” I don’t know what that means but I believe them.

+ Frank was engaged. He and his ex fiance moved in together on their third date. They are still friends and share 4 dogs. All the lesbians on this show are cis men.

Couple to Throuple 107-109 are now streaming on Peacock. 

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