LOVE waits for no Netflix subscriber

Couples counseling via binge watching

In this age of streaming dominance, it’s pretty hard for a made-for-streaming platform TV series or movie to make a cultural impact of any real significance. People spend years creating art only for it to be buried under algorithms, like E.T. Atari cartridges in the New Mexcian desert.

I watched LOVE, a three-season Netflix show from producers Judd Apatow, Paul Rust, and Lesley Arfin, when it was originally released from 2016 to 2018. I very much enjoyed it then and have frequently thought about the show and characters in the years since. That said, I have yet to meet another LOVE fan out in the wild. Perhaps it is because people are much less likely to rattle off relationship-centered dramedies they dig when listing their go-to binge-watching appointments rather than, say, IP-focused genre shows or meme-factory reality hits. Or maybe it’s just because Netflix is not in the business of spending the time or energy in directing people to its vast catalog when its current shell game strategy involves pumping an ungodly amount of money into creating new movies and TV shows to release every week. There are more movies and television shows to watch now than at any given point in history. Why, then, does it seem like most Americans only watch the same twelve shows?

I guess the same argument could be made for why would anybody go back and revisit an old television show when there are so many new shows to watch. That’s the beauty of art, though - it doesn’t change (George Lucas-inserted tweaks aside), but the viewer certainly does. When I first watched LOVE, I was at a period in my life full of profound loneliness. The show, about two damaged Los Angeles residents trying their best to make a relationship work, was something I could enjoy vicariously but not particularly relate to, as it had been years since I had been in a serious relationship. As far as I was concerned, watching a show like LOVE was like watching BATTLESTAR GALACTICA or GAME OF THRONES.

Flash forward almost a decade, and I’m newly married and, I’m not above typing this, in LOVE. I am still firmly at the point of my relationship where, like a cat presenting a dead bird he caught in the backyard, I want to show my wife the things that make me happy. Sometimes, that doesn’t pan out (THE FLY almost made my wife throw up). Other times, it leads to us binge-watching all three seasons of LOVE over as many weeks.

In the show, Paul Rust plays Gus, a neurotic, socially awkward man obsessed with making people happy. Gillian Jacobs is Mickey, a self-destructive addict trying her best to pull herself away from the sucking vortex of rock bottom. Throughout three seasons, audiences watch them meet, enter the courtship phase, date, and eventually embark on a serious relationship. Like most of Apatow’s work, there are ups and downs and a humanistic blending of laughs and tears. The characters of LOVE behave like real humans behave. The fights feel real, and the pain feels earned. Characters who appear at first on the periphery of the show develop resonance and purpose, fleshing out their own stories and helping to reflect the larger themes of the show and Gus and Mickey’s main journey. By the time the show is over (a mostly satisfying conclusion that does feel a little rushed, as if the producers tacked on a series finale once they heard they would not be renewed), every character in LOVE is somebody who, even if you don't love them, you can understand as people. That’s my definition of good television!

The best part of watching LOVE with my wife, though, was how it functioned as unexpected couple counseling. As the characters in the show made decisions—sometimes good, frequently bad—we would pause the episode and discuss how we would react in similar situations. I’m not sure if the creators of LOVE intended the show to be a prestige version of a couple conversation box, but it sure made a great one.

LOVE is a fantastic show, and I would love to see real-life partners Rust and Arfin create another television show again. But even if this is the only show of theirs we get, I’m happy. As it is, due to the impermanence of streaming platforms, I’m not sure if I’ll get another chance to revisit LOVE in ten years. Who knows where all these shows and television shows created for Netflix will live in the future? Heck, who knows if society will even have a future? That said, I’m glad I got to watch it at two very different points in my life, and I’m so happy I got to share it with my wife.

Now, to see what my wife thinks of COP ROCK…