Anexis Matos

Two weeks ago, I critiqued the audio description of Perfect Match. I decided to stick with the Lacheys again for this and torture myself by watching The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On. Yes, I enjoy trash TV, but, honestly, I would have preferred to watch this without audio description. It would have been more bearable.

Full disclosure: I only watched until episode nine. This means I didn’t watch the reunion, but, honestly, I would have been able to make my point three episodes in. I wanted to see if anything would change. Things did, but not in a good way.

Technically, I watched the entire show, except for the last episode. It’s not necessary for critiquing the audio description. In the reunion episodes I’ve watched, I’ve seen limited to no audio description, so there’s really nothing to glean.

This is the second time I attempted to watch this show. The first time, I quit halfway through because of the audio description. When I was watching it this time, it was somewhere around episode two when I wanted to quit again. I don’t know how I made it through.

For those unaware, audio description is a separate audio track added to visual media that describes visual aspects. It’s mainly intended for blind and visually impaired audiences, but can be enjoyed by and benefit anyone.

Series Premise

Contestants enter as couples. One person in the relationship gives the other an ultimatum, either marry them or the relationship ends. To help them make their decision, couples date the other contestants and choose one person to enter a trial marriage with for three weeks. They live with each other and see what it would be like to be with this person.

After these three weeks, everyone returns to the relationships they entered in. They experience another trial marriage for three weeks. In the end, the people given the ultimatum have to decide if they’ll get married. If they choose not to, the couple breaks up.

Series Information

Genre: Reality TV
Category: Adult
Explicit violence: No
Explicit sex: No
Content warnings I noticed: Possessive behavior and privacy violation

Review

The writing is good. The language fits the audience it targets. It’s very similar to the writing of The Circle, Too Hot to Handle, and other reality shows on Netflix.

The descriptions are okay. They’re very minimal, lacking a lot of detail. The biggest pro to this style is that it doesn’t overwhelm the viewer with details. The con is that it doesn’t really paint a picture. It’s bland. The visuals don’t capture my interest.

There are no descriptions of people’s physical features or clothes for the majority of the show. I found out one of the contestants has shoulder-length brown hair in episode nine. All contestants are introduced in episode one. I don’t know why they did this, but this should have been described much earlier.

I only remember clothes being described in episode nine. However, I was very distracted with this audio description, so it’s possible they were described in other important moments in the show. It would make sense if they were, considering that these descriptions are similar to reality shows like Love Is Blind. In Love Is Blind, clothes are usually described when couples meet, during wedding clothes shopping, and before the wedding from what I remember.

This audio description is a perfect example of why vocal performance matters. Descriptions may be good, but if the describer doesn’t put effort into narrating it, it means nothing. Personally, I consider an audio description bad if I can’t pay attention to it. If I can’t effortlessly pay attention, there’s something wrong here.

The describer’s performance can affect my experience with a movie or show. It doesn’t matter how interesting it is. If I have to put extra effort into paying attention, I’m already distracted from what I’m supposed to be enjoying. I’ll give it a chance, but, at some point, I’ll quit.

This is where the audio description for The Ultimatum fails. The describer puts no effort into narrating it. There’s no life in the narration. Remember I said I was distracted? This is why.

In a previous critiques, I’ve mentioned that describers should be engaging while not being distracting. In my critique of The Circle’s audio description, I wrote about how the describer is somewhat unnoticeable, but the viewer knew they were there. Their performance was not as active as the host, adding a perfect balance. In Too Hot to Handle, the describer is too active. There’s a lot of commentary, so the balance isn’t there.

While the audio describer in The Circle is good and remains mostly unnoticeable, I mentioned that, if pushed to the extreme, the audio description will be affected. When the describer narrates, it’s jarring. This is what happens in The Ultimatum. The describer is unnoticeable to the point that, when they speak, I’m pulled out of the show. They becomes too noticeable and I’m no longer engaged. Do you see why I said it would be easier to watch this show without audio description?

No viewer should have a difficult time paying attention to an audio description. The experience of whatever visual media they’re watching is ruined when the viewer is pulled out of the story. The media no longer becomes watchable. Instead, it becomes boring and there’s a strong dissatisfaction by the end. This, at least, is the case for me.

Besides this, the describer doesn’t interrupt dialogue or commentary. The viewer is also allowed to appreciate silence and music.

Here we go with a familiar critique. Netflix offers the series in several languages, but only offers audio description in English. By doing this, Netflix is excluding viewers who don’t speak English. Netflix needs to offer audio description in all the languages it offers content. Customers are charged too much money for them not to offer accessible content in all languages it’s available in.

Conclusion

Overall, the audio description is not great. It needs some serious improvement, especially in the describer’s performance. I was so bored. I rate it two stars.