Love Life is about the ups and downs of the journey to find The One

Everyone knows relationships are hard work, and it’s even harder to know when to keep at it or when to give up and let it go. In the two seasons of Love Life, we meet the respective protagonists in each, and witness their failures and triumphs. From the luxury and comfort of our armchairs we can judge their decisions, although we all sometimes make terrible mistakes ourselves. 

In Season 1, Darby (Anna Kendrick) hooks up with several men – that sounds bad but for the most part, it’s consecutively, not concurrently. Each episode is dedicated to a different relationship, beginning with Augie (Jin Ha) who at first shows every sign of being The One. Obviously he’s not, because this is only the first episode and Darby still has a long and arduous road to travel, but we do see a glimpse of what her future holds.

Each stop along that journey embraces a different kind of connection for Darby – and her friends – and shows us that not all relationships are created equal; and none of them is perfect. There is a flashback episode to a teen romance that is suitably cringeworthy, and a marriage that is decorated with enough red flags to hold a parade.

The Guardian said there is “nothing very deep or challenging” in the series of 10 half-hour episodes and it’s not entirely wrong, but there’s little chance you’ll get through it all without thinking at least once “oh my word! That’s so true!”. Then you’ll either laugh or cry. Variety got it: “And yet, despite its typical rom-com trappings, this installment of Love Life quickly proved deeper than meets the eye.” 

The Guardian review praised the writing, “the kind of comic writing so good it makes even the hardest dialogue to pull off – fleet, authentic-sounding, genuinely funny banter between friends and lovers – seem effortless.” 

Admittedly, Love Life is heavy on the romcom tropes but if your heart is so cold and hard you can’t take a deep breath and lean into that, perhaps this is not the series for you. May I suggest Gangs of London instead?

Always intended as an anthology series, Season 2 of Love Life follows the same format but with a different lead character (and the optics switch from white female to African American male, which is a little heavy handed): Marcus Watkins (William Jackson Harper, The Good Place). You’re most likely already familiar with the concept of anthologies; American Horror Story and True Detective are good examples. To be an anthology it’s not essential to remain within the same genre, but it helps. Similar plots and characters can exist in different settings and eras, and casts can be entirely new – although oftentimes, especially in AHS, the same actors will reappear. 

In Love Life, Darby makes a couple of small appearances on the periphery of Marcus’s life but the new season is all about him. This time it begins with him already married but again, it’s only episode 1, so it’s not a huge spoiler to say it crumbles into divorce. Now Marcus must navigate a newly single life and the hazards of dating, with various measures of success. His two best male friends flesh things out wonderfully – one a wealthy player, the other married with children.

“This immediately more mature story establishes that the Marcus chapter will be entirely different from Darby’s in just about every way but one,” says Variety. “This season of Love Life also owes enough to the long established rom-com template to belong to the genre, even as while turning it inside-out.”

Comparisons between the two seasons are inevitable, and perhaps a little unfair. Which one is better? Only you can decide that for yourself. I watched them more or less back to back, and it was initially a bit of a challenge to get myself out of Darby’s headspace and often dreadful life choices, and into Marcus’s. Once I had, though, and had time to mull it over and percolate, I reached the conclusion I enjoyed both for different reasons. And ain’t that just like any romantic relationship?

More anthology series