Your Next Series Binge: A Review Of BBC’s Love Life
2020 was a year of two official lockdowns, although many of us were under unofficial ones thanks to the various tiers across the country. It now feels like 100 years since we were all watching Tiger King and baking banana bread. We've now gone months without seeing our friends' faces, and the first few months of 2021 won't be any different either; we need something warm and reassuring
With the news and weather bleak and gloomy, hunker down and watch something that reminds us that despite the downs (and boy have we had them this year) good news is coming. While sentimental, Love Life, on BBC iPlayer, is a show that celebrates both the good times, and reminds us that the bad don’t last forever.
As the credits open, Love Life’s soft-voiced narrator introduces the data of dating to us. Over the course of a lifetime, the average person will have seven relationships, either short or long term. They will fall in love twice and have their heart broken twice… but, of course, behind the numbers, “there’s always a much bigger story.”
This series of eight 30-minute (so bingeable!) episodes explores that bigger picture, from the ones who got away, the ones who should have left sooner and all the ones in between for one Darby Carter, played by Anna Kendrick.
Each episode in the series centres around a romantic or pivotal person in Darby’s life and the impact the relationship has on her. As a keen, over-analysing millennial, who’s spent most of this year trapped at home, navigating someone else’s lovelife vicariously was joyous and soothing.
We all remember the first person we fell in love with, the heady rush of ecstasy through mutual obsession combined with complete ease around someone else. In a dark, New York karaoke bar, Darby meets Augie Jeong (Jin Ha).
While watching a large group of people gather together in a small and very confined space might make you shudder these days, onscreen, the chemistry between the pair is instant. The two are awkward, funny and become quickly inseparable. Yet love in our early twenties rarely works out; the Obama re-election campaign takes journalist Augie onto the campaign trail and the two split.
While a show about dating, from serious relationships, flings, rebounds and one night stands, there’s a real look analysis of life too. While Darby dates chefs, a high school crush and even her boss in the quest for love, attention is also given to her relationship with her mother, as well as her friends.
Though the dialogue is sharp, funny and honest, like in real life, it’s what isn’t said that we focus on. The silences between Darby and her best friend Sara Yang, played brilliantly by Zoë Chao, whose spiralling addictions are heartbreakingly overlooked, create some of the most beautiful moments of the series, reminding us how vital friendship is, especially in your 20s when so much is volatile and changing.
The narrator serves to remind us that the first person we love might not be The One, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be. In a year like 2020, where highlights of dating and socialising have involved 2m social distancing and take-away drinks, it’s reassuring to hear.
With life right now seeming unmoored and dreary, we crave escapism. Love Life is sweet, tender and perfect for late night or midday watching, which is exactly what we need as all days continue to blur together. It reminds us that there are better days coming: the small, dirty karaoke bars will return, friendships won’t only be virtual and, there will be no more FaceTime dates, I promise!
Help us keep the City Girl Network running by supporting us via Patreon for the price of a cheap cup of coffee- just £2 a month. For £3 a month you can also get yourself a Patreon exclusive 10% off any of our ticketed events! You can also support us by following us on Instagram, and by joining our City Girl Network (city-wide!) Facebook group.
Written by Nat Shaw
