First some basic information: Eight episodes of eight different stories, based on a column in the New York Times of the same name.
It is obviously about love, I mean, it is in the title. But It is more than just that. These people are lost in love, some of them find love in a stranger, some learn how to love someone, some learn how to love themselves, some find the love that is long-gone, some find love again when marching into the later stage of their life, some look for the love they have never had, some witness the love between two people of the same sex…
The reality is, there are just so many types of love and so many ways to love.
Story one: When the doorman is main man
Story two: When Cupid is a prying journalist
Story three: Take me as I am, whoever I am
Story four: Rallying to keep the game alive
Story five: At the hospital an interlude of clarity
Story six: So he looked like dad, it was just dinner, right?
Story seven: Hers was a world of one
Story eight: The race grows sweeter near its final lap
Now I have only watched this show once and I don’t intend to do any more research other than the above just so I can know what impression did that first viewing leave me.
I remember clicking on the first episode with the expectation of seeing a classic love story developed in a modern city (which is kind of cliché, but also just my type), but as the story went on, I realised the main male character here isn’t a romantic partner of the main girl, who by the way, is the mom from How I Met Your Mother. It completely threw me off, I couldn’t figure out where the story was going. But by the end of that episode, it left me feeling so warm, it was, if not more, just as moving as a romantic story.
Just when I thought the next episode was also going to be a non-traditional love story, I entered the lives of two storytellers who were about to give us their love journey. Yes, this one is about romance. One of them is a journalist (what a big word to us) of the New York Times interviewing the other main character, who is apparently an up-and-coming entrepreneur. During their conversation, two long-covered stories are gradually unearthed. The story is captivating, intriguing and thought-provoking. And it got me thinking, are these real events that have happened to real people?
The following episodes are by no means any less of value, but because I am sure you would not have the time or interest to just read about me explaining the plot of each story, I will leave you to find out about that yourself. What I can say is if you do watch, you will see Anne Heathway, the priest from Fleabag whose real name I don’t know; and you will encounter bipolar (probably for the first time like me?) and a girl who deeply craves fatherly love.
Each episode is like a short movie, the colours of the pictures, the soundtracks, the ambience. If you are planning on snuggling down into your bed with your laptop on a cold winter day, it can be your perfect companion.
