This is the season of Hallmark cards, box chocolates, a mountain of Kleenex tissues, and drowning your singlehood in wine: Valentine’s Day. Now depending on the type of person you are, Valentine’s Day and Cuffing Season either makes your heart feel warm or want to tear your eyes out and wreak havoc on seemingly happy couples. I’m not one to indulge in the hallmark tradition of V-Day however, because I’m a writer, naturally I think about love a lot.
One of my favorite portrayals of love comes from the show Modern Love. Modern Love is a series on Amazon Prime based on The New York Times Column that was a series of real-life love stories and personal essays. It was old love, new love, young love, real love. This series was phenomenal in its plethora of the different portrayals of love, and here I am ranking them from the worst to the best! To Modern Love! (I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum, though some may appear).
8. He looked like Dad.
This episode made me extremely uncomfortable. The premise is that a 20 year old woman finds herself craving fatherly attention from an older male colleague because he reminds her of the father she never had. The older guy goes along with this, then tries to kiss her (to her dismay). I don’t even know where to start on how inappropriate this dynamic is and how uncomfortable it was to watch. This was hardly a representation of love and it didn’t need a place in the series.
7. Her’s was a world of one.
This wasn’t a bad episode, it just didn’t catch me as much. A gay couple decides they want to adopt a child and proceed with an open adoption. The woman they meet is homeless by choice and knows she can’t care for her child. They take her in during her pregnancy when tensions arise in how they both view the world. This episode just didn’t get me in terms of the portrayals of love, but it wasn’t badly made.
6. Rallying to keep the game alive
First off, Tina Fey is in this episode, so you know it has to be good. She is married to an actor and they go to couples therapy in an effort to save their marriage. Perhaps I am too young to enjoy this episode fully because it is about a married couple much older and I wouldn’t get the full extent of the stakes involved in this episode. I did, however, enjoy the very last scene where Tina Fey mentions that she never knew why she was separated from her husband’s life, because they could have done things together, and she simply wanted to be part of his life. I don’t know much about love, but that sounds like the definition of love and marriage: Being part of each other’s lives.
5. When Cupid is a Prying Journalist
I absolutely love the title of this one! This episode covers an aspect of relationships that is more common to our modern-day world: Cheating. In a world where everyone is scared to commit, cheating reaches a high prominence. Dev Patel’s character creates an app where people can find their true love. A journalist finds out that he was cheated on and couldn’t find it in himself to forgive his girlfriend at the time. However, after a period he was able to forgive her and they got back together. I really appreciated the portrayal of broken trust and forgiveness in this episode. After all, how do you love someone after they break your trust? Watch to see how!
4. At The Hospital an Interlude of Clarity
This episode takes quite a heartwarming and unexpected turn. A 2nd Date turns quite comical and ends up in the hospital where both characters confront the deepest parts of each other to one another. This episode delves into real intimacy, in having to confront the bad parts of yourself, and explores how such a revelation can make or break a relationship. The ending of this episode was very simple as well, and I enjoyed many of the stylistic choices.
3. When the Door Man is Your Main Man
This episode brought out the little pieces of community and emphasizes the definition of chosen family. A young woman, Maggie lives alone and dates a lot while also seeking her doorman’s approval, Guzmin. Guzmin is absolute with his worth and tells her straight up who isn’t the one. You would think it’s because the guys suck (which they sometimes do), however at the end Guzmin reveals that it was never about the man, it was about the look in Maggie’s eyes. That’s how he knew she was happy with her fiance. This right here, is just beautiful writing.
2. The Race Grows Sweeter
This episode is great in terms of saying “What do you mean you can only find love once?” I absolutely loved the portrayal of second chances of this old couple who get together as a result of the runners club they’re in. To not give away the ending, I think it’s safe to write Old Love is just as phenomenal as young love, and we all deserve a chance at real love no matter our age.
1. Take me as I am, whoever I am
*Spoiler Alert* I am a huge fan of Anne Hathaway and she did incredible justice to this episode. This episode has everything: It was funny, sad, crazy, cute, etc. Anne Hathaway plays a young woman who has bipolar disorder and speaks about how it has affected her ability to date. What I liked about this episode is that it is both comical yet honest about mental illness and dating, as well as how hard it is to open up about your struggles. A pivotal moment of this episode is when Anne opens up to her coworker about what’s going on with her and why she suddenly stopped showing up to work. Her coworker at that exact moment receives a phone call, picks it up and cancels her plans and says to Anne “What were you saying”. Love at the end of the day is about being there, and this episode showed it simply but beautifully. Putting down the phone, to be there with your friend who needs it. That’s love.
That is my ranking of the episodes of Modern Love, and I highly recommend watching any time of the year (preferably sober). Disagree with my ranking? Let’s chat about it, love has no bounds and no correct opinions! You can also look up the articles through The New York Times. Happy Valentine’s, Galentine’s, Lonely Heart’s, Bad Candy Day everyone!