So new to Netflix this month are two originals called “Love.” The first is a soft-core porno. I have no desire to talk about that one.
The second is a Judd Apatow cringe-worthy series about two 30-somethings in L.A., Gus (Paul Rust) and Mickey (Gillian Jacobs). I’ve seen it described as “a down-to-earth look at dating.”
I’m about 7 eps in, and I think I’ve spent equal parts laughing and cringing. I find myself thinking back to my single days and relating quite a bit with Gus. I also dated a Mickey for a good three years back in the day. Very well done show. Hope it gets a second season.
I read an article about how naughty the first one was, and when what I now realize is the second one appeared in my “suggestions for you” list I assumed it was the first one and went right past it. But I shall now check it out.
I started watching it last night, I’m 3 episodes in. I am kind of ambivalent on it but it’s a nice mellow ride so far.
The little girl actor is Apatow’s daughter. I looked her up on IMDB real quick and she has quite a lot of movie credits! (all her dad’s movies, of course)
I started reading about this series a month or two ago and I was pretty excited for it to come out. Gillian Jacobs was a treat on Community and she did a great job with Mickey in this show. I was less familiar with Paul Rust (just realized he was in I Love You Beth Cooper) but I like that he plays “nice-guy” Gus with some clear asshole tendencies. Initially, I fully expected that we were supposed to feel super bad for Gus and his struggles but they did a nice job dealing with that issue in the second episode. The conversation between Gus and Natalie (his ex) was hilarious and emotional. It’s nice to see a breakup where both people shoulder some blame.
The 4th episode at the housewarming party is one of my favorites. I was cracking up when he showed up on time (early) and got put to work. My friends and I do that all the time when people show before everything is all setup.
Bertie was a superstar in this episode too! I wasn’t quite sure what to make of her at first because something about her delivery felt insincere. After a few episodes, I started to realize that she’s just this super nice polite person. Her scene with the Tequila Taste Test was an absolute delight.
My other favorite episode is number 8 (the movie closing song party one). I’ll wait until you get there to ask you about it though.
What did you think about the way that they used LA here? To me this felt like the most normal looking LA set show that has characters who are actually active in Hollywood. I have spent a total of maybe 4 days in LA in my entire life, so its always interesting to see how life there is portrayed.
There are plenty of cringe-worthy moments throughout each episode but I have come to expect that with Judd Apatow. Lately, I have been pretty lukewarm on Judd’s work but this was a mostly enjoyable series. Not sure if they did enough to get me back for Season 2 but that will depend on the focus of the next season.
I feel like the infamous 3-D ejaculation scene bumps the Love movie up from soft-core to full on hardcore
[I don’t know how to go about discussing a show like this, where some people are only 2 eps in, while others are 7 or done. I don’t necessarily want people to wait until they’re done with the series to start talking about it. Should we spoiler box things from specific episodes?]
I don’t have very strong opinions about spoilers and I have no problem boxing things that happened after episode 3 (I picked an arbitrary cutoff). So far there are only a few of us in here, so I am good with whatever seems fair to everyone.
I finished the series. It didn’t end up going the way I thought it would (well until the very last scene) so I was pleased (until the very last scene).
I liked the “closing credits party” too because it showed what a real psycho asshole Mickey is, if the Magic Castle stuff didn’t do so enough already.
About the final scene:
Just drives me nuts that this guy - even though he’s not really all that much of a “nice guy” - is still so in love with the super psycho asshole bitch lady. Ugh. And of course the actual nice person, Bertie, ends up with the super loser guy (altho he is nice).
This show reminds me of the Australian show “Please Like Me.” Just a lot of trying and failing and pot smoking and constant partying. I guess that show also addresses the issue of what the weird folks are doing when everyone else is having a grown-up life.
[spoiler]The scene at the studio between Mickey and Gus was nuts. I suspected I dated a Mickey in my 20s. This cemented it.
I didn’t see the sex/love addiction revelation coming. If I were Gus, I’d have been “See you in a year. Maybe.”[/spoiler]
The wardrobe people on this show should be commended. They made Jillian Jacobs look positively hideous in nearly every scene. Almost every shirt washed her out, was ill-fitting, insanely ugly or just plain-out disgusting. Combine that with Mickey’s seriously damaged personality, Mickey’s right up there on the list of my least favorite & most unpleasant TV characters of all time. Oddly, I still liked the show.
The guy who plays Gus reminds me of Buster Bluth. Once I figured out who he reminded me of, I couldn’t watch it without seeing Buster.
What a weird comparison - I thought he looked and sounded exactly like a young(er) Andy Dick (and he’s fugly too - what an unattractive choice for a leading man). When the actual Andy Dick showed up on the show, I thought for sure they were related somehow. As far as I can tell though, they aren’t.
Loved all of it.
As an LA resident it definitely captured the feel correctly- so much that I kept thinking “does any of this resonate with anyone outside LA?”
The only disingenuous part was Mickie making it from her house in Echo Park/Silver Lake to near Gus’ apartment for the final scene in time to catch him at the store. His actual apartment complex felt like a West Valley complex but the store and street scenes around it seemed like La Brea…either way that’s like a 45 minute to an hour drive at that time of day… but I digress…
Gus’ meltdown in the writer’s room had me squirming and looking away. His self-sabotage was heartbreaking.
ZipperJJ…your read is …interesting.
[spoiler] Gus and Mickie are both flawed people. Gus doesn’t LOVE Mickie in a romcom kind of way. If he hadn’t just seen his writing dream crushed because of his own idiocy, if he hadn’t been emasculated by having a 12 year old save his job, if Heidi hadn’t just broke things off with him…he would have told Mickie to fuck off at the end. He likes her but is definitely using her in that final moment to feel good about himself. That’s the realism of the show. Gus isn’t a good guy…he’s a real guy. He’s selfish and insecure. Mickie’s flaws are more surface level and she’s aware of them but she’s an addict and he choices are damaging but she’s not defined by it. Mickie with the kid actress was an important scene. Mickie was there to get info on Gus but moved beyond that and I think showed a real connection to the girl that was without motive. Kind of like how Gus eventually was able to genuinely fit in at the party with Mickie’s friends.
Also, its strange that you consider Gus’ friend who is connecting with Bertie to be a “loser” why? He’s unemployed? That’s pretty common in LA for people to be without jobs from time to time. [/spoiler]
I finished it a couple weeks ago, and have been perpetually bothered by Gus ever since.
He isn’t a Nice Guy ™, but he is a nice guy who is also an asshole. There is no way he would as successful with beautiful women as he is in the show. No, not even chatting them up at parties, never mind getting in bed with them. He’s about a three, and every chick he gets involved with is at least a seven, often higher.
I think he is a Nice Guy ™’s Gary Stu, and that’s why I hate him. His life is what they think ought to happen. Because they’re nice. Which makes Gus an interesting artifact, but not a believable or sympathetic character.
Maybe I’m just bitter because for years I was pursued by a guy EXACTLY LIKE HIM (in every way except the success-with-ladies part), and in the end he jumped me in my apartment. I had to literally fight him out and slam the door.
I kind of felt the Gary Stu stuff at first but I think by mid-season they had peppered enough of his own issues that when his downfall happens it felt organic. He’d be a Gary Stu if he had nailed it in the writer’s room and came out a head in end but he didn’t.
Unless you’re saying he’s a perceived Gary Stu until his reversal happens.
Ultimately I enjoyed the series quite a bit. But it’s definitely a weird one-- neither Mickey nor Gus is especially likable, the show itself isn’t exactly “ha ha funny,” but somehow it captures something very real and very relatable about dating (and especially about the pitfalls of idealizing a prospective partner.)
I don’t think we’re supposed to see the ending as a “happy” one. She spills all this stuff about her addictions and troubles and wanting to take care of herself for a year and his response is to kiss her. Bad idea jeans, and shows how selfish Gus really is.
Gus certainly is selfish, and I’ve found that the more I think about the show, the worse he seems. But I wonder if viewers tend to give Mickey more leeway for the mistakes she makes than Gus for his.
The part that stood out to me most about this scene was the very reasonable way that all of the bystanders reacted. You had some folks just watching the fireworks and enjoying/cringing at the craziness, while other people just walked by and went about their business. No giant crowds formed, no one jumped in to participate, none of the usual Drama that accompanies this type of scene in movies or tv. The boss also only had someone intervene when it got too loud and distracting.
This is a great summary of my feelings about the series as well. It’s weird to have main characters in a rom-com (even non-traditional) that you don’t like. I was never quite to the “rooting against them” point but I definitely wasn’t pulling hard for their happy ending either.
I finished watching it and it kind of reminded me of HBO’s “Enlightened” starring Laura Dern and Mike White (manipulative former addict meets awkward “nice guy”). But I liked “Enlightened” much more because they mixed more of the sweet side of the characters in amongst the cringe-inducing parts.
I just finished watching this show (yes, it took a while… lot on the queue and all that) and I really liked the show. The fact that it was about two deeply flawed and screwed up people and there wasn’t really a ‘light’ that went off (though perhaps for Mickey there was for like an instant before she self-sabotaged it) that made everything happy was a fascinating watch. I kind of like the fact that both main characters were just self-centered and unhealthy people. Felt more real that way (I’m sure we have all ran into a Gus or a Mickey in our lives).
