Whether or not you enjoyed Valentine’s Day this year, you should check out “Love” on Netflix.
“Love” is the perfect Netflix show. That doesn’t mean it’s the best show on Netflix, because it certainly is not, but it perfectly embodies the beauty of the streaming service. It is simple, relatable and hard not to watch all at once.
The Netflix original, spearheaded by Judd Apatow, premiered the entirety of its first season Friday. After binging all 10 episodes in one sitting, it’s safe to say with certainty that this is an easy show to watch. The story is simple enough to not require your unyielding attention, there is a good amount of humor and the episodes flow one into the next.
The show begins with Gus (Paul Rust) and Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) in separate, flawed relationships. As the story progresses, it becomes a display of a somewhat defective relationship between the two.
In typical Apatow-fashion, the show features a very real and relatable writing style, and it fits perfectly into his professional portfolio. If you couldn’t guess, the main focus of “Love” is the composition and dealings of a modern relationship.
While the main characters, Gus and Mickey, certainly have their Apatow moments, they often come out feeling very clichéd.
Gus comes across as a bit of a modern Woody Allen with his almost unbearable awkwardness and random rants. This is balanced with his nerdy charm that feels hard to place at times, but ultimately wins other characters, and viewers, over.
Mickey is an alcohol, drug, sex and love addict. She is heavily reminiscent of other leading female characters found in Apatow’s work, namely Lindsay Weir from “Freaks and Geeks” and Amy from “Trainwreck.”
Though the characters seem predictable at times, the story offered refreshing originality. It presents itself as a typical story, inferring that we are to follow Gus as he ruins his life over a girl who is not good for him anyway. While “Love” teases this, as the story proceeds, it shows the journey that these two characters go through together and ends up becoming one of the most authentic portrayals of modern relationships on television.
One strong point of the show is the ability to see almost all of the relationship between the two main characters. After meeting for the first time, they spend a considerable amount of time together, mostly doing mundane things. While other shows may gloss over this part of a relationship, often with a montage, “Love” doesn’t leave it up to our imagination. We are able to listen to each conversation between the two characters at first and get to know them better as they establish a connection with one another.
As a Netflix original, “Love” has flexibility when it comes to episode length. The first episode is 40 minutes long, and the rest fall in the range of 27 to 37 minutes.
This medium allows the writers and directors to venture away from the rigidly structured storytelling typically found on television. With fewer restrictions, Apatow is able to craft the exact show he wanted. And it shows. The episodes each play out very well individually yet form a consistent, flowing storyline.
“Love” is a simple yet enjoyable show. It is full of funny moments that will most likely be quoted until season two is released. It features relatable characters and situations with which we can all identify, all while adding a respectable level of humor.
Although the show stands out in some aspects, many will probably overlook it. Netflix is and has been expanding its portfolio of original programming, and with season premieres of “House of Cards” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” coming soon, “Love,” unfortunately, may be soon forgotten.
