Love can be an exhilarating feeling, just like a good story. However, not all stories are created equal. I previously wrote an article detailing my top four favorite episodes of Amazon Prime’s Modern Love Season One, so it’s only fair to display my… not so positive feelings for the remainder. Join me as I rank the bottom four enjoyable episodes.
Disclaimer: I am by no means seeking to insult or invalidate the people who lived out these tales in real life; I am simply expressing my casual thoughts on how I perceived each episode.
#5. Ep.4- “Rallying to Keep the Game Alive”
This episode focuses on a couple working through their latter years of marriage, where the honeymoon phase is long gone and all that remains is dryness and bickering. While the plot was more on the basic, boring end, I appreciated the realistic nature. Marriage is bound to become monotone after a certain point, but it is important to understand that it is a partnership. I loved the metaphor with tennis, as the episode began with the couple trying to dominate one another and then ended with them sustaining a rally on the courts. Marriage should really be about keeping the “game” going. Kudos for the enlightening message.
#6. Ep.2-“When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist”
This episode was interesting in that there were 2 parallel storylines, one about Joshua struggling to find a spark after his ex cheated on him, and another about unresolved love in journalist Julie’s life.
Julie’s storyline was nice, no doubt. However…WHY JOSHUA?! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GET BACK WITH YOUR CHEATER EX?! UGGGGGH.
I get it, dating can be a chore when you don’t feel the chemistry, but it’s concerning how normalized affairs are becoming in relationships. If my boyfriend hooked up with their high-school fling, I’d hold that against them to my GRAVE. To me, this story gave an impression that cheating won’t have consequences, which tarnished the other beautiful aspects of the episode.
#7. Ep.5- “At the Hospital, an Interlude of Clarity
As the character Rob brings home Yasmine for a date, things turn 180° when he cuts his arm from a broken glass table. As he is rushed to the ER with Yasmine to accompany him overnight, they spend the time delving into their deepest hopes and insecurities.
I personally felt that only those who truly resonated with this story could enjoy it– otherwise, it was extremely bland and unmoving. Discussing your quirks and insecurities is nice, but it isn’t extraordinary. Compared to the other episodes, this one couldn’t reel me in.
#8. Ep.6- “So He Looked Like Dad. It Was Just Dinner, Right?”
Episode six follows a young woman, Maddy, as she yearns for the fatherly love she lost at age 11. Spending her teen years fantasizing about a father figure, she finally finds Peter, an older man at her workplace who seemed to fit her ideal archetype of a dad.
I admire how the complexity of “daddy issues” was acknowledged, but my god, that cannot make up for how absolutely discomforting this episode was. Something immediately felt off when Maddy fetishized Peter’s “fatherly” physique (greying hair, dad bod, etc). As Maddy grew closer to Peter, the boundary between parental and romantic relationship completely blurred: late-night dinners, cuddling on the bed, spending weekends together. Half the time I was grimacing at the scenes, crying out, “What the friiiicccckkk, is she really getting groomed out here?”
While I respect the author who was brave enough to share this story to The New York Times, I don’t see any reason why Amazon picked this out of hundreds of stories to turn into a motion picture.
Despite writing such a critical article, I truly believe Modern Love is a riveting show that can reveal the realities of pure, unfiltered human emotion. Witnessing real-life stories of people who tested the waters of love can craft a better idea of what to expect when we find our person. Until then, it doesn’t hurt to sit back, relax, and believe that whatever ups and downs in love arises in life, it is meant to build you into a better person.