Terrace House, a Deeper Dive: Mila

Mila set the record for the shortest stay on Terrace House at six weeks. She was, nevertheless, one of the more likable housemates, and so we wonder why we got to see so little of her while she was around and why she left so soon.

The biggest problem behind her lack of screen-time was, of course, Taishi's transformation of the show into a version of The Bachelor centered squarely on him, and he, surprisingly, did not manage to ask Mila out in the 257 seconds between her arrival and that of Chikako. Mila was almost instantly made irrelevant to Taishi's arc, and was, similarly, sidelined when Cheri went to meet Eric.

Mila is interested in fashion (you can check out her vlog here which is still active) and fashion design, in particular, but we never got to see it other than her breezy, beachy personal style. Those of us who watch Project Runway know that there was been some interest by young designers in exploring the possibilities in neoprene, and she says on screen a couple of times that that's what she wants to do. But, unlike Uchi, she did not drag a sewing machine to the house, and so we never got to see her constructing a garment. And, unsurprisingly, Guy never did seem to follow through by connecting her to the wet-suit makers that he knew. And so, Mila, was largely relegated to the role of witness in most of her on-screen interactions, and she was good at that role providing some humor and pleasant interactions. But, you know, the panel already provides an audience surrogate, and so it's tough to add to that role as a housemate.

As for why she left, we can only speculate. As others have noted, she was the youngest in the house and the only one in the house at the time who could not drink which excluded her from going to Wez' gig. Yuya faced a similar few weeks when he was the only non-drinker, but he and Avian were already on their path towards their relationship by that point. Hikaru on B&GITC also came into the house as the only one too young to drink at the time, and he lasted a bit longer.

There may have been some indirect pressure from the production as well in her decision. I doubt anyone took her aside and suggested she should leave. But I do imagine that the producers do update the cast about any NetFlix extensions and what the currently anticipated ending date is for the show. I can also imagine that at some point they say to the cast that this is the last chance for you to leave because the show will be ending in, say, eight weeks, and we'll expect you to stick it out from this point onward if you stay. And I can easily imagine such an announcement resulting in the call we see Mila make announcing her exit.

It also must be said that from everything I have seen, being on reality TV can be hard in unexpected ways. There is often a camera crew around, and placing mics and replacing their batteries becomes a routine invasion of your personal space. Most shows forbid turning off your mic during the day, and so you must somehow accept that all your bathroom noises are getting recorded. It could simply be the case that Mila never got comfortable with the routine production processes of the show.

As for the romantic possibilities within the cast for Mila, her options were also pretty limited. She lost her four-minute window with Taishi when Chikako arrived immediately after she did. Guy is certainly warm and attractive, but I can easy imagine that it was impossible to compete with the ghost of Niki so soon after she left. And Wez was circling Anna, or leading whatever life he was having outside the show. And in the end she may not have felt it was worth sticking around to meet whoever would replace Guy.

Terrace House almost certainly would have been better with more Mila. She was sunny, witty and charming. I suspect she would have stuck around longer were the show set in Japan where it would be comparatively easy to continue with her vocational aspirations and check in with friends and family. It is our loss that we did not get to see more of her on the show.