Review by James Lindorf
Two to five years ago, before the pandemic, one of the biggest streaming hits of 2019 was the Amazon Original “Modern Love”. Inspired by The New York Times column of the same name, the series’ second season features another star-studded cast in all-new stories of love in all its complexities and beauty. All eight episodes of season two are available on Amazon Prime Video starting August 13th.
Just like the first season, the sophomore installment of “Modern Love” consists of 8 unconnected short stories. Unlike last time this season is more diverse in almost every way. More people of color, more members of the LGBT+ community, and even a few new locations. Proving what we already knew, love is love, regardless of the people involved or their location. Even though everything didn’t go smoothly for the characters of season one, the general impression of that season is one of hope and joy. This second season, however, focuses more on grief and the unknown aspects of love and ourselves. Let’s take a quick look at each 30-35 minute tale and see if they live up to the hype or lack the juice to fill out their short running time.
Episode 1. On a Serpentine Road, With the Top Down
A woman’s only remaining connection to her late husband is her vintage car, but now, 30-years later, she’s confronted with the difficult choice of selling it and saying goodbye to her old love forever.
Driven by the performance of Minnie Driver, this story of letting go limps across the finish line. Stephanie (Driver) and her family suffer from some vague financial stress and have to count and pinch every last penny. A nearly impossible task when you have a car that breaks every time you drive it, and you insist on driving it as much as possible. Focusing on the grief process, Serpentine Road highlights the lengths we will go and the sometimes irrational decisions we will make in the name of love. It is the most like a story we would have seen in season one and is nearly as successful, but an overly long and sentimental one-sided conversation with the deceased almost runs the entire production off the road.
Episode 2. The Night Girl Finds a Day Boy
A woman with delayed sleep phase syndrome meets the love of her life, but he’s awake while the sun is shining and she is not.
Gbenga Akinnagbe and Zoe Chao bring their charm and charisma to their lovable but overly fussy characters. The central conflict in this relationship is the inability to plan and execute the perfect brunch when all it would take is a little sacrifice from one side of the relationship. I would love to see these two in a feature-length project, but they need a story worthy of that time. As it is, their conflict begins to feel repetitive even in 30 minutes. If they expanded this story to 90 minutes, it would be insufferable with viewers tuning out before the hour mark. The lack of a worthy conflict overshadows the message of getting out of your comfort zone, allowing people into your bubble, and joining them in theirs.
Episode 3. Strangers on a Train
Two strangers meet on a train from Galway to Dublin in March 2020 and decide to go old school: no numbers exchanged, only a promise that they will meet up on the train two weeks later; then a worldwide pandemic shuts down all of Ireland.
This is the second entry from writer and director John Carney and is easily my favorite story this season. Carney both uses and satirizes the rom-com “meet cute” as well as other tropes to tell us about the romantic meeting between bookish Paula (Lucy Boynton) and charming Michael (Kit Harington). Carney adds a ton of flair and comedy to an otherwise low-energy romance using original music and some new and well-loved cinematography techniques. This story will be the most significant source of controversy this season. The conclusion or lack thereof will leave some viewers wishing they caught the first train out of here.
Episode 4. A Life Plan for Two, Followed By One
The new girl in school falls in love with her best friend and is convinced that they’re meant for each other even though she can’t seem to ever get out of the “friend zone.”
Typically thought of as a guy problem or worse, an incel problem, it is interesting to see a story of being friend-zoned from the woman’s perspective. This would be the easiest of the eight episodes to turn into something feature-length. It is overly stuffed as they try to show the characters at multiple time points throughout their friendship. Each point is enjoyable to watch but doesn’t offer much below the surface with the limited run time. The easiest to lengthen also means it suffers the most from the reduced runtime. In the end, it feels like your friend stopped telling you a story halfway through and never continued.
Episode 5. Am I …? Maybe This Quiz Will Tell Me
A middle-school girl questions her sexuality when she finds herself having feelings for another girl; she turns to social media quizzes for answers.
Amid the clatter of boisterous overlapping dialogue, joyous laughter, and breathlessly running through school hallways, there is a charming story at the heart of the 5th installment. I would encourage people not to make life-altering decisions based on Buzzfeed quizzes. Still, sometimes a helping hand comes from unexpected places. Silent moments can be powerful, but they usually don’t center around a character and her cellphone like Am I often does. This decision costs us precious minutes that could have been put to better use. You can’t help but root for its main character and wish for her to find herself and her first love making it a success despite its flaws.
Episode 6. In the Waiting Room of Estranged Spouses
After a chance meeting in a therapist’s office, a former marine and a housewife develop an unlikely connection when they discover their respective spouses are having an affair with each other.
This is the weirdest entry of the group. If you can imagine Walter Mitty with PTSD, you would be well on your way to understanding this story. If actual events didn’t inspire it, you would never buy this story and the character interactions. I wouldn’t say it should be skipped, but Garrett Hedlund and especially Anna Paquin deserved a better entry.
Episode 7. How Do You Remember Me?
For two young men, running into each other reminds them of their first and only date together.
Wondering what could have been often elicits regret, frustration, and maybe some anger. Surprisingly Writer-director Andrew Rannells managed to convey a sweetness to the regret of Zane Pais and Marquis Rodriguez near miss. It is a nice reminder that not everything works out the way you planned or hoped, and that is ok.
Episode 8. A Second Embrace, with Hearts and Eyes Open
Two parents, after being divorced for several years, begin a casual fling and rekindle their old flame, only for one of them to receive a life-changing medical diagnosis.
While he lampooned the genre last time in Carney’s third appearance this season, Sophie Okonedo and Tobias Menzies star as divorced parents in a London that only exists in romcoms. The actors have great chemistry that makes you wonder why they ever split up in the first place. Returning to most relationships would be a terrible idea. However, people do change, and if love still exists, anything is possible.
There are some excellent moments and strong performances throughout this second season. Still, by and large, it is missing the magic that made the last season a hit. I hope if it returns for a third season, “Modern Love” will focus on selecting stories that can be told well in their abbreviated runtimes.
