Courtesy 'Love' facebook
Love
Apatow Productions
Netflix
While its characters are easy to hate, “Love” is an easy show to fall in love with. Between its indie-style comedy and dramatic elements as it explores the nuances of modern-day relationships, this Netflix original makes for an excellent binge-watch. In the span of one 10-episode season, “Love” makes viewers laugh, cry, get angry, sad and repeatedly feel uncomfortable. Now that’s good television.
Co-created by “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “This is 40” writer-director, Judd Apatow, the series focuses on a pair of single adults in their late 20s/early 30s who each just got out of failed relationships and come together. Gus (Paul Rust) initially comes across as the lovable nerd trying to do good by everyone while dreaming of becoming a writer, and Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) is the cigarette-smoking, relentlessly sarcastic rebel-without-a-cause figure whom he is weirdly attracted to.
As the story progresses, we realize that both characters have their own flaws, anxieties and self-esteem issues weighing them down. When Gus, who works as an on-set tutor for a cable-TV vampire show, manages to get inside the writers room after the showrunner buys his spec script, he immediately blows his chances at a meeting because he argues about his script being rewritten. Likewise, Mickey struggles with various addictions and can’t stand to be alone, yet is overtly afraid of commitment. With each episode, Apatow and co-creators Rust and Lesley Arfin explore these characters as they try to find both themselves and each other, and figure out all the problems in between.
Like “Master of None,” “Love” stands out as a result of its episodic storytelling. While there’s the overarching narrative, each episode tackles a different topic related to modern dating: waiting for that text, a house party in which several exes show up, meeting each other’s friends, etc. All the writers do a fantastic job of putting the characters first and allowing the story to play out naturally, and after reading Apatow’s partly autobiographical book “Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy,” it’s easy to see a lot of him in Gus.
Yet, while much of the show delves into rather depressing material and zeroes in on its unorthodox leads, the saving grace for viewers looking for a bit of feel-good flare is Mickey’s relentlessly charming roommate Bertie (Claudia O’Doherty). An instant scene-stealer, Bertie balances the show’s predominant cynicism with her carefree spirit and a string of great one-liners. One of the best episodes comes early on when Mickey sets up her and Gus on a date. As each of their idiosyncrasies culminate with one another, the result is a hilarious display of situational comedy.
In many ways, “Love” is also a return to form for Apatow. Owing much of his success to the 1999 cult sitcom “Freaks and Geeks,” in which he was a writer-producer, the veteran filmmaker is right at home working in TV. While his movies have been criticized in the past for being a little too long, here he has the opportunity to spend as much time developing these characters as he needs, much like his earlier work. On that note, “Freaks and Geeks” alumni Dave Allen and Steve Bannos make welcome appearances here as well.
Along with the writing, one of the show’s best aspects is the flawless chemistry between Jacobs and Rust. Despite their characters being so intentionally unlikable, both actors play off one another and are able to effectively balance the laugh-out-loud humor with the scenes of dramatic tension. Rarely does a rom-com feel so real.
It may not be for everyone, but for viewers looking for a different kind of sitcom-drama hybrid designed to upset mainstream audience expectations, “Love” will undoubtedly serve that purpose.