Warning! SPOILERS ahead for Love Is Blind season 2 episodes 1-9 below!
Abhishek Chatterjee a.k.a. Shake had a hard time connecting with Deepti Vempati on a physical level on easy for Shake to go through the pods of Love Is Blind without being able to see the women he would potentially get engaged to. Granted, that is the entire point of the show, but Shake still fought back against this concept for a little while.
As the pods came to an end, Shake did form an emotional connection with Deepti and traveled to Mexico with her for the couples' retreat of the season. Time after time, though, Shake struggled to form a physical connection with Deepti. In certain conversations, he claimed to only see Deepti as a "friend" or "family member," going as far as comparing her to one of his "aunties." Shake did get lots of advice from his Love Is Blind costars on how to work on his relationship, but his most powerful conversation happened with his own mother.
Toward the end of Love Is Blind season 2 episode 7, Shake had a very personal conversation with his mom, Sita, about all of the wonderful qualities that Deepti had. Alas, he also confessed to not feeling an "animalistic attraction" to her. Sita joked that this was perhaps TMI (too much information) for Shake to share with his mom, but she surprised viewers by offering him the best wake-up call he had gotten all season. "Being very frank, I'm very much identifying with her right now more than you," Sita started, "She could find someone who absolutely loves her the way she is. She's a wonderful person." Shake tried to press back, but Sita stood her ground, saying: "She doesn't deserve someone who gives her even half a percent less."
After Sita uttered that statement, all Shake could do was silently sit there in front of his mother and think about the decisions he had been making. Up until that point, no one on Love Is Blind had spelled things out in such a straightforward way to Shake. This was objectively the truth of the matter: Deepti is a wonderful woman who's ready for love and feels invested in this relationship, so the least that Shake could do is to reciprocate what she's been giving him. Sita's words to Shake carried even more weight given that, despite being his mother, she sided with Deepti in this situation.
Shake was clearly taken aback by his mom's words, and so were the viewers who might have assumed that she'd take her son's side in front of the cameras. In any case, these were the exact words that Shake needed to hear from someone. In episode 9, Shake had an emotional breakdown with Deepti where he appeared to be much more clearheaded, so this motherly advice may have served him well.
Love Is Blind season 2 airs Fridays at 3 a.m. ET / 12 a.m. PT on Netflix.