Netflix TV series ‘Love’ review
The much-anticipated TV series ‘Love’, directed by Judd Apatow, began on February 16 as a ten-episode season on streaming service Netlflix. Set in sunny, party-filled LA, Love follows the lives of Gus (Paul Rust), a late twenty-something nerdy pushover and Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) a brash and unapologetic, destructive party girl.
In the pilot episode, Gus’s life takes a turn when his cute long-term girlfriend breaks up with him for being ‘too nice’. It is pretty clear from the very beginning that Gus wasn’t the popular guy at school who played football at lunch-time. Instead he was the quiet guy drawing trolls in the library. Meanwhile, Mickey’s fed up with her on-again off-again drug-addict boyfriend and finally kicks him out of her life for good. Her life has been a series of unhealthy relationships and hard partying and she’s is now dealing with the after affects of alcoholism. When Gus and Mickey meet, they find solace in each other’s depressing company and start to develop a close friendship. Gus immediately has more than having just a friendship on his mind, however, Mickey remains completely oblivious to Gus’s feelings. Once the veil is drawn back, Mickey is quick to give Gus a chance and the season follows these two main characters on a modern love story about dating in your late twenties.
The refreshing part of this series is the realistic dialogue and fast pace plot. Usually when one character unknowingly likes the other, it’s a slow and painful process of misconstrued meanings and cringe worthy scenarios until something happens that eventually moves the plot along. This doesn’t happen in ‘Love’. There were even times when it looked like Gus and Mickey were about to have a huge fight and end their relationship but instead of being outrageously unreasonable, they talked it over and moved on. As a viewer, this was refreshing and relaxing to watch, which made it easier to relate to the characters that weren’t just being wildly dramatic for the sake of portraying emotion.
The really disappointing part of this TV series is that, in a very classically Hollywood way, it was sexist. It is very clear that Gus is not in Mickey’s league and I’m not saying that ugly and nerdy guys can’t be with attractive women, but let’s have some perspective here. In this season, Gus, (the small, sickly, skinny, shy guy) had a long-term relationship with a beautiful brunette, got offered a threesome with two hot college students, dated a gorgeous blonde actress and then ends up with Mickey. Mickey (the attractive blonde babe) gets to be with three fat, balding middle-aged men and then dates Gus.
This wouldn’t usually be notable, seeing as this is the kind of norm that Hollywood projects. The surprising part of this is that Judd Apatow directed it and he has a name for himself in Hollywood as being a ‘feminist director’ and gets endorsement and praise from famous reformist female actresses like Amy Schumer and Lena Dunham. It seems that even the most progressive voices of Hollywood are under pressure to give the white, male audience what they want.
By Charlotte Anderson-Clift
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