After a charmingly spectacular run in 2019, Modern Love is back with its second season. An anthology series of eight stories based on a column of the same name, published in The New York Times, Modern Love explores the complexities, joys and heartbreaks of love, while trying to define this capricious emotion. And much like its predecessor, this season too, ends up doing exactly the opposite – not defining love but showing us the many colours and meanings of it.
On a Serpentine Road, With the Top Down 2/5
A slow start to the series, this episode is about Dr Stephanie Curran and her attachment to a car. A beautiful sky-blue Stag, this vintage sports car belonged to her ex-husband. Despite it perpetually breaking down, Stephanie is unable to let it go. Flashbacks show us the car lingering in every crucial moment of Stephanie’s life; the proposal, marriage, birth of her daughter Shannon, and her husband’s illness and eventual death. Although Minnie Driver does a decent job at bringing Stephanie to life, the character’s flatness percolates into her performance, underwhelming more than half of the episode. It is the last eight minutes that make it worth your time and for that, we have to thank Stephanie’s second husband. Niall is played by the talented Don Wycherley who wears the character like skin. “It’s love and grief, baby. There are no rules,” he says, comforting Stephanie after she has finally sold the Stag. This episode gets 1 star for its gorgeous cinematography of the rustic and bucolic Irish countryside and another, only for Niall.
The Night Girl Finds a Day Boy 3/5
Essentially about a vampire and mortal falling in love (although not literally), this episode celebrates the differences in perspectives. Zoe (Zoe Chao) is a textbook editor with Delayed Sleep Syndrome, a condition due to which she sleeps during the day, while Jordan (Gbenga Akinnagbe) is a school teacher who enjoys biking in the sun. The two quickly get along in the beginning, but as time passes, Zoe’s nocturnal routine starts creating problems. One night, Zoe is hell bent on ordering breakfast food on a dinner date, and on another day, she ends up missing a dim-sum meet-up with Jordan’s mom. That’s the last straw for him. He begins reciting a laundry list of all that he hates about this relationship and ends with a hurtful, “if you were actually sick, I’d take care of you.” The night girl and day boy break up. But because they are already so much in love with each other, loneliness and melancholy start creeping in. Finally, Jordan calls Zoe and their clashing realities find coexistence. Because love is about celebrating a person for all that they are, not changing them into what we’d like. Love is about finding the tenderness in the differences.
Strangers on a (Dublin) Train 5/5
While it borrows its name from Patricia Highsmith’s psychological thriller (also adapted by Alfred Hitchcock into a feature film), this episode does not borrow its subject matter from the same. . In this bloodless tale, a medieval studies student and a guy who “works in tech” are both on their way to Dublin from Galway, as the Irish government has just announced the first COVID lockdown. In a brilliantly scripted opening, Paula (Lucy Boynton) passes judgements on an array of passengers and why they better not sit with her. Michael (Kit Harrington), the only guy she does offer a seat to, chooses the other side, with the lookalike of Angelina Jolie. On both being ignored by the trolley-lady, Paula and Michael start talking and what happens next is aptly described as “a meet cute, disgustingly cute.” At the end of their journey, the two decide to not contaminate their special connection by exchanging numbers and instead promise to meet again, at this very railway station, after two weeks. Little do they know that the Corona Virus is here to stay for much longer, just like an overdue guest. Paula moves in with her bohemian mum and Michael, with his brother Declan (Jack Reynor). Carney skilfully draws a tableau of parallels between their lives, peppered with some very meta-dialogue including one mentioning ‘Game of Thrones’ and another taking a jibe at Netflix. On the day of the rendezvous, the meet-up, as expected, fails. In an innocent and hilarious encounter with the police, Michael tries his best to justify his reasons for breaking lockdown restrictions. He even goes as far as singing “Imagine all the people” but is silenced by the officer’s “Get the fuck home.” I leave it to you now to find out the end of the story of these two strangers. The entire cast does a stellar job with their characters and Kit Harrington really needs to do a cheesy rom-com now, for he knows how to play a suave dreamboat. Lastly, kudos to the writers for saturating this episode with charm.
A Life Plan for Two, Followed by One 1/5
A sin intrinsic to humanity is hope; the power of imagination to conquer reality to the extent of sometimes forgetting it entirely. As a result, we end up imposing the fantastic on the corporeal. So, we can’t really blame Liliane (Dominique Fishback) for believing herself to be sleeping beauty waiting eagerly for the kiss from her prince, Vincent D. Nevarez (Isaac Powell). The new girl, Liliane, meets Vince for the first time in school and decides that she loves him, will have children with him and ponders over what surname will suit her best after marriage. Unaware of this plan that she has cooked up in her head, Vince only considers Liliane a friend, his best friend. Time passes, both outgrow school and are thrown into university. Liliane is still waiting for her happily ever after. Saving herself for someone special, the night of her dreams finally arrives. Fast forward to the present when Lilian or ‘Lil Rapper’ is up on the stage delivering her stand-up set until her eyes meet Vince’s shadowy face in the audience and she becomes pensive for a moment. “Do not get caught up in this fairy-tale bullshit,” Lil Parker advises her spectators as she untangles herself from her own mess. This episode tries, but trying is all it does. Character sketches are blurry and the timeline rushed. And the conclusion is poorly executed. It does not meet the standards you hoped it would. And maybe hope is a sin but not the worst one. And sometimes, it is not a sin at all. Sometimes, it just needs a bit of tweaking. From a forever-lover to a lifelong-friend.
Am I …? Maybe This Quiz Will Tell me 4/5
BuzzFeed is fuelled by some miraculous supernatural power. How else can it tell me the name of my next lover based on my McDonald’s order? Or reveal what I’ll be doing in ten years from now through an ice-cream sundae I construct? Like it or not, we have all attempted the weirdest of these quizzes and actually looked forward to the results. When Katie (Lulu Wilson) feels attracted to Alexa, while her friends are shipping her with Tyler, she does what anyone else might – looks up the “Am I Gay?” quiz on BuzzFeed. After the results labels her 20% gay on the first try and 0% on the second, Katie is confused to say the least. A kiss stolen at the school lock-in puts her on an emotional rollercoaster compelling her to go and see Alexa and apologise. “I am not gay,” she says and anyway, she and Alexa won’t be a match as a Libra and Leo are not compatible. Alexa, the wiser of the two, helps her simplify things and an innocent and earnest relationship begins to blossom between the two. Lulu Wilson makes a fantastic Katie, embodying her crisis with much sentimental intensity and urgency. Modern Love’s strength lies in its endings and this one is perfect to say the least.
In the Waiting Room of Estranged Spouses 5/5
Hands down my favourite episode (sharing this pedestal with Strangers on a (Dublin) Train from this season and When the Doorman is Your Main Man and Hers Was a World of One from Season 1). This is the love story of Spence (Garrett Hedlund) and Isabelle (Anna Paquin), who meet thanks to the affair their spouses have with each other. They cross paths at the psychiatrist’s, both there to vent out their anxieties. After having a coffee together, Spence reaches out to Isabelle on a dating app but their dinner dates are never fruitful. Instead, it is the little things that bring them closer; fixing lights and haircuts. An unfortunate medical emergency gives Spence the wrong idea and he leaves. This episode has an interesting series of narrative devices – Spence’s army days come to life when he finds out of his wife’s cheating, he becomes a video game character over a textual conversation about divorce, and even imagines exploding bean-cans as grenades and ripping Nick’s (Isabelle’s ex) literal heart out. As he walks home from the hospital, having left Isabelle and her son Charlie there, he sheds off all his skins and discards the baggage of his past, of his “plan.” Hedlund and Paquin fit Spence and Isabelle like gloves and their performances are elevated by wonderful writing. A thoughtful, beautiful and delightful story.
How Do You Remember Me? 4/5
“How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts?,” writes Julian Barnes in The Sense of an Ending. Memory is a gift we give to ourselves, sometimes wrapped up in the silkiest of fabrics and sometimes, broken and tarnished. When Robbie (Zane Pais) and Ben (Marquis Rodriguez) unexpectedly run into each other, memories of that one fateful night come flooding back. But they both have their own versions of it. Ben, a struggling screenwriter, is set up with Robbie, a teacher, on a date. Ben knows exactly what he wants but lacks clarity on how to get it. He has a vision board for life, even listing out essentials for his dream partner: 1. Older than me by at least 8 years 2. Taller than me 3. Strong Jawline and 4. His celebrity lookalike is Alexander Skarsgård from Big Little Lies, but not abusive. With these lofty expectations, he meets the sweet-and-simple Robbie, who, on the other hand, is quickly besotted with Ben. Their accounts most differ in describing the aftermath of Ben’s sister’s phone call. It is obvious that this is the first time they are meeting after that night, and it’s not even a meeting-meeting. It’s half written emails and unsent text messages. It’s a soft pink smile. It’s crossing each other in silence but then turning around for a moment to acknowledge the other. Or perhaps it is wanting to say something but not sure what. Brilliantly conceptualised, this episode stunningly weaves memories into the narrative. Completing Barnes, “life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but—mainly—to ourselves.”
A Second Embrace, With Hearts and Eyes Open 3/5
The quintessential cancer-love-story is turned on its head in this episode. Ivan (Tobias Menzies) can’t contain his happiness and consequentially, he is jumping and hopping on the streets. When a cab driver inquires, Ivan tells him that he has just spent a night with the woman of his dreams. And this woman is none other than his ex-wife Elizabeth (Sophie Okonedo). Ivan has fallen for the second time, or perhaps he never fell out. Sure of his affections and commitment, he plans to propose to Elizabeth (for the second time) with some baklava and a scrupulously chosen ring. Elizabeth has her own announcement; she has “quite advanced” breast cancer and “why the fuck would (she) want to get married?” Already shaken by her diagnosis, she is further unsettled by the proposal and distances herself from Ivan. She doesn’t even let him see her in the hospital. Passionate young lovers, Ivan and Elizabeth had previously impulsively fallen into marriage. Who knew that out of marriage and after two daughters, they’ll fall right back in? Cautious initially of their blossoming relationship, Elizabeth lets her guard down once she sees Ivan taking responsibility and helping out. Love was never really gone, just dormant, and it took advanced breast cancer and a moonstone ring resized for it to wake up and bloom again. It is a pleasure watching Okonedo and Menzies on screen. They share a mature and uncontaminated chemistry. Moreover, the cancer-plot is de-cliched and imbued with an elegant simplicity.
As aforementioned, Modern Love, true to its subject matter, relies heavily on its endings. The first season collapsed each of the episodes into a single narrative, tying all the characters together. The strand running through the stories of this season was that of healing – healing from the past of a lost love, healing from the night’s (and the day’s) loneliness, healing from quarantine restrictions, healing from friend turned lover turned friend, healing from confusion and social pressures (and quiz addictions), healing from plans gone wrong, healing from memories and healing from youthful mistakes. Or maybe it isn’t about healing, but rejoicing. The last episode ends with a toast, “here’s to healing. In all its forms”.
Modern Love is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
