'Catfish' Season 3 Premiere Review: Consistently Crazy

If you’ve ever watched Catfish, you know just how crazy an episode can get. The season three premiere was just as bizarre as past episodes and also surprised viewers with a couple of Catfish firsts.

As usual, Nev Schulman and Max Joseph, the creators of the show, start the episode by looking through thousands of emails sent to them by people in online relationships, potentially getting “catfished.” Nev was once in an online relationship himself, only to find that the girl he was in love with, was not the girl same girl in the photos; thus, he got catfished. As Nev’s online relationship unfolded, his friend, Max videoed it all. They ended up turning the footage into a successful documentary called Catfish. A few years later, enter: Catfish the TV Show.

This first episode stars a man named Craig, from Pittsburg Pa., who fell in love with Zoe about a year ago online. From the beginning, I had sympathy for this guy. He’s really falling in love with this mysterious Zoe. He has personal problems that made him vulnerable to a potentially fictitious online relationship. He met his father once in his life and his father has died from AIDS. Craig has tried to meet Zoe but she always has an excuse. We find out that not only has Zoe messed with Craig, but also she’s destroyed his other relationships in the process.

Next, Craig, Nev, and Max head to Florida to meet with Craig’s sister, Miriah, who has also been affected by Zoe. In a complicated web of relationships, we find out that Miriah was friends with Zoe before Craig ever began talking to her and Craig met Zoe through Miriah. Like Craig, Miriah never physically met Zoe, but she considered Zoe one of her best friends. After months of talking online, Craig noticed Zoe’s paranoia and possessiveness. But because he loved her, he gave her his Facebook password. That’s logical, give a girl you never met and who has blown you off multiple times your Facebook password.

Zoe also became friends with Miriah and Craig’s mutual friends, Kayla and Kayln. When Zoe found a sexy photo sent to Craig from Kayln, Zoe put her on blast and posted the photo on Craig’s Facebook calling Kayln names. Kayla took Zoe’s side telling Kayln that she should have never sent Craig the photos in the first place. Both Kayla and Kayln aren’t friends with Miriah or Craig anymore because of this whole mess. Confused yet? I told you it was complicated.

Surprisingly, Craig and Zoe are no longer actually talking but Craig is determined to figure out the truth. As usual, Nev and Max do some online digging to figure out who this girl is. They come up with a girl named Cassandra, living in North Carolina. Using her phone number and Facebook page they somehow find her address. For the first time in Catfish history, Nev decides they will show up at Zoe’s house in North Carolina unexpectedly. Surprise Zoe! Or is it Cassandra?

As we all expected, the girl at the house in North Carolina is Cassandra. Cassandra admits she is Zoe and tells Nev, Max, Craig and Miriah that she thought it was a game. She never had feelings for Craig and she never really cared about hurting Miriah or Kayla and Kayln’s feelings. The whole time she’s speaking, she has a smirk on her face and laughs as she tells them it’s a game. What is wrong with this girl?

The next day, when everyone’s had a chance to cool down, they all go back to Cassandra’s house. Craig and Cassandra really have nothing to say to each other except that the chance of a possible friendship they could have gotten out of this is gone. When Nev and Max talk to Cassandra, we finally get a little glimpse of her heart. She starts crying and reveals that she was severely bullied growing up and she has contemplated suicide several times. Just when I thought I had no sympathy for this girl, I start to feel bad for her. None of what she did was right but at the same time, we see just how much bullying can affect a person later in life.

Craig and Cassandra decide to end all communications to each other and work on their own issues and mending broken friendships.

Catfish airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on MTV.