But it avoids being too sickly sweet, throwing in a touch of realism so all those meet-cutes don’t overwhelm. That’s part of its appeal, and it does romance impeccably. Love Life is always going to be a deeply romantic series, despite the wobbly routes it takes to get there. It’s a great skill to take someone who behaves in an objectively terrible way at the outset and turn them into a character the audience roots for wholeheartedly. Harper’s performance as Marcus is a big part of it. Watching someone in their 30s work out how to become the person they want to be, and the right person to help them on their way to that, makes for a different series than the first, but one that is just as effective. He starts to feel the need for change in every aspect of his life. The racism of the publishing world, and the fact that he is stuck editing books by influencers and not the next great novelist, is making him unhappy, though he is experiencing low-level malaise, rather than great despair. In the non-love part of his life, he is equally dissatisfied. Their friendship ignites, crossing an already blurry line and confusing everyone involved. Instead, Marcus meets a woman named Mia, with whom he hits it off instantly. Instead, he has already settled down – though there wouldn’t be much drama if his marriage were in fine fettle and each episode dealt with his and Emily’s domestic bliss. The big difference is that this isn’t chasing the thrills of Marcus’s youth. Marcus is a guest at Darby’s wedding in 2016, at which point this forks off from the first season. In this case, it’s Marcus Watkins (The Good Place’s William Jackson Harper), a book editor in his 30s who is married to a woman named Emily. The format – most of the episodes focus on, or lead to, a partner of some description – works just as well when transplanted on to someone else’s love life. This second outing proves it wasn’t just Kendrick who carried the show. Kendrick, rarely unappealing in anything, sold it completely. It was a great idea, executed well, and it had an old-fashioned spark to it. Some were loving, some were sexual, some were friendly, some a combination of all three, but each of the strands came together to form a neat and charming series about modern life and romance in an arty social corner of New York City. T he first season of Love Life (BBC One) centred on Darby Carter, played by Anna Kendrick, and the relationships that defined her life.
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