There are awkward moments we all share as human beings, situations occurring every day, that make us cringe with discomfort at our lives. It’s those messy relationships, over-thought texting conversations, bad one night stands, and mismatched blind dates that define our generation’s love lives. But it’s rare we take a step back and see these scenarios with comic relief when they take place in our own lives. We generally forget that awkward human encounters are absolutely hilarious.
In his new Netflix original series, “Love,” Judd Apatow, along with directors Paul Rust and Lesley Arfin, do not fail to see and hone in on the everyday weirdness encountered by the generation of people in their late 20s and early 30s. They magnify the utterly realistic experiences of two people, Mickey Dobbs (Gillian Jacobs) and Gus Cruikshank (Paul Rust), and apply humor to their depressing and lonely personal lives.
Mickey, the badass, no-f---s-given, cool girl, originally appears to be out of most guys’ leagues. Although she works as a secretary at a satelite radio station and seems to have a lot going for her socially, she generally seems unsatisfied with her life and turns to sex, drugs, and alcohol to cure her defeats. We meet her as she finally breaks up with her loser boyfriend after years of being in unhealthy relationships.
Gus is the obsessive, says-I-love-you-too-often, totally nerdy type. He also happens to work as an on-set tutor for the biggest 12-year-old brat, who manages to manipulate him to do everything she wants. Although it is his dream job to be a screenwriter, the show creators make a point of showing he is pushed around by nearly everyone he works with, depicting a distinct stereotype in Hollywood of the try-hard screenwriter who spends their whole life trying but failing to achieve their dream. Gus’ too-nice-to-handle persona lands him broken up with and lacking confidence, until he meets Mickey, complicating both his and her lifepaths.
After running into each other at a gas station convenience store, Mickey and Gus weave in and out of each other’s lives as they develop a relationship while working on their own vices. For Mickey, it’s her struggle with addiction and lying; for Gus, he must overcome his lack of confidence and inability to go for what he wants.
The true accomplishment of “Love” is that it takes Mickey and Gus’ completely un-funny, real-life issues and makes light of them. The writers’ choice of overdramatizing certain situations, such as in episode four, “Party in the Hills,” when Gus shows up to a party fashionably early. Laugh-out-loud humor continues when “Love” takes a twist on the modern Internet relationship through portraying a bad blind date in episode five, which is sure to make you laugh for 20 minutes after the scene is over.
Although some may call these instances facetious — like when satire is born out of representations of cults, drug abuse, and alcoholism — “Love” still hits the mark when these moments turn from flippant to serious.
Tongue-in-cheek humor is contrasted with flagrant instances of disturbing authenticity. In episode five (probably the best, most jam-packed episode of the entire series), Mickey’s experience lying about her alcoholism at Alcoholics Anonymous, and then crying alone in her car, sober more than just Mickey. Viewers are also sobered and enlightened to real life difficulties a single 32-year-old woman in Los Angeles may be experiencing, in the midst of this comedy.
In just the first few episodes, “Love” achieves a relatability and hilariousness found in some of Apatow’s other productions, like “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” The undertones of seriousness and real-life frustrations come up in the later episodes, as the series begins to focus less on the individual lives of each character, and more on how Mickey and Gus intertwine within each other’s lives. Check back next week for more on what the second half of the series brings.
Reach Special Sections Editor Rebecca Gross at arts@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @becsgross
