The Bingeworthy™ Breakdown is an occasional look at new TV shows. Over 500 scripted seasons of TV are expected to air in 2018, and to help you sort the wheat from the chaff, we’re going to give you the lowdown to help you work out whether it’s worth tuning in every week for them or waiting to binge later. Today we look at Netflix’s just-debuted third season of “Lovesick.”
If you heard the name “Scrotal Recall” and shrugged your shoulders with a “not for you” type of attitude, you wouldn’t have been alone. But luckily, the series instantly became an easier sell when it changed its name to “Lovesick,” a title that better represents the show’s main throughline.
Every character on “Lovesick,” from the first episode to the season three finale, has been looking for something — the missing factor that would make their lives seem more whole, more fulfilling, less lonely. The love triangle/unrequited romance is a well-trodden one, certainly, and “Lovesick” never attempts to pretend that it’s doing something revolutionary with the rom-com. Instead, it’s taken that familiarity and doubled down on the heart, humor and the camaraderie that comes from when you enter adulthood and start to form makeshift families out of the friends you acquire along the way.
A warm embrace of a series, and one that will leave viewers smitten with every single one of the three main leads, creator Tom Edge has broken new ground by dabbling in old favorites. There’s the lead with the heart of gold and the girl of his dreams whose paths walk in tandem except for their realizations of their feelings for one another coming at differing points in that timeline. There’s the womanizer with the heart of gold who, to the credit of the series, soon becomes more than either of those descriptors. There’s even a manic sidekick used for the majority of the big and broad laughs.
It’s a recipe that’s winningly charming and genuinely moving, and I don’t understand anyone who isn’t rendered a big ol’ pile of mush by the season’s end.
So, first things first, what is the show about and is it better than the original title might suggest?
It’s so much better and then some. When I first sat down to watch “Lovesick” with a visiting pal, I had no idea what it was about, who was in it or if I’d give it more than an episode. Nine episodes later, with the day and notion of socializing behind us, the friend and I were utterly hooked and swept up by the emotions that “Lovesick” so eagerly devoured.
The show follows Dylan (Johnny Flynn) who learns he’s contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Forced to tell all of his past sexual partners so that they too can get checked out, the show dives into his past relationships exploring love, sex and friendship and everything in between. We fall head over heels for him as well as Evie (the magnetic Antonia Thomas) and his closest friend Luke (the scene-stealing Daniel Ings). Along the way, we grow more acquainted with the frantic Angus (Joshua McGuire), who rounds out the foursome. We watch as Dylan and Evie get closer to telling one another about their mutual affection, before growing too frightened of disrupting the status quo, while also stumbling through relationships with other people. Through the three seasons, there’s never a moment where a single storyline runs dry, as they naturally evolve, and guide us through their tangled predicaments with love.
How long does it take into the series to realize it’s one worth telling all of your friends/family to watch?
I’ve spent a good portion of the last few months telling anyone who will listen to me to watch the show and, for the most part, it has worked with those friends and/or family becoming as instantly taken with the show as I am. The first episode will signal whether or not it’s for you; it’s an instant taste at the light-but-heartfelt atmosphere of the series and the characters who anchor it. However, it’s episode three in season one that establishes itself as one of the more underrated series currently airing. “Cressida” follows the gang as Luke drags Evie and Dylan to the countryside to an old classmate’s birthday party. The episode includes a hilarious spoken reenactment of “Point Break,” Irish step dancing, one of the first times Luke shows his vulnerability, and Evie and Dylan’s flirtatious hook up. It has everything that makes the series so charming and difficult to pause.
What about the viewers who aren’t gigantic saps, will they enjoy it? Or is just for the hopeless romantics?
I’m not sure I could trust anyone who wasn’t instantly charmed within the first half hour, but it’s fair to mention that the show does strike a certain chord that may resonate with some more than others. Like any television series, it’s going to have people who check out after an episode or two, but there really isn’t a “right” audience for it. “Lovesick” is less for romantics or viewers who love romantic comedies and more with those who can recognize themselves in any of these characters. Be it Dylan’s want for companionship and stability, Evie’s cleverness, sweetness and loneliness or Luke searching for direction in his life once his womanizing ways grow tired, these are complex and relatable characters journeying through adulthood. They may be bruised and off balance, but they feel whole and if you wish you could live in their shared flat for a weekend, you’re not alone.
But yes, I’m also a giant sap who (embarrassingly) shrieked in the season one finale when Luke came to break the news of Dylan’s unrequited feelings for Evie and who had to pause episode four of the current season due to growing anxiety that Dylan was going to make a very, very idiotic mistake.
How does season three compare to its predecessors?
It’s just as good if not better than seasons one and two. This mainly comes from the fact that the characters have matured and have come to realize certain, sobering truths about one another. Luke is now the lovelorn one who finds the possibility of a longterm partner in unlikely arms, while Angus is realizing that he may have jumped the gun when it comes to his newest fiance. Dylan and Evie are both dealing with the decisions they’ve made in terms of their separate relationships and their truths come to a head much quicker than expected.
As the characters continue to grow, the show allows itself to become far more than just a “will they, won’t they” push and pull. Instead it’s about learning to find happiness in everyday life and to live in the moment. In the episode where we meet Dylan’s parents, there’s a line regarding a past tryst about how as a couple, they are happy, there was just a moment in their lives when they weren’t. It’s a demonstration of a committed and loving relationship but one that’s also 30 years long. There are going to be bumps in the road but that doesn’t mean a relationship detonates because of it. We live and we learn. Season three of “Lovesick” is tremendously moving because now that it’s fully detailed the heartache that comes when trying to find “the one,” it can move on to the trials that come with being in a long term relationship, and how to be in a happy and healthy one you can’t just push the bad stuff to the next day or hold onto grudges. It’s not revelatory, but feels fresh and insightful on a show that started off as a comedy about a man having chlamydia.
So you like it I take it.
So stinkin’ much.
Since we’ve established you enjoy romantic comedies, what is it about this one that sets it apart from its contemporaries?
Two things. Firstly, there is not an ounce of cynicism in its makeup, feeling no need to cut down the genre they’re building on. The sincerity and belief in Dylan’s romanticism rings true, especially contrasted against so many biting comedies these days that would rather land a punchline or visual gag. Getting a laugh out of an audience often overrides burrowing into their hearts. “Lovesick,” for the most part, manages to do both but it’s the intent with the latter that allows it to feel special. It’s purposefully earnest, as appreciative of the genre as we are and confident enough in the worthwhile nature of the story they’re telling to do so without a wink, nudge or cutting remark. Instead they embrace every inch of the world they’ve built.
The second and, without a doubt, the most integral aspect of the show, is the chemistry between the three leads and the way they’ve built their relationship so that they all move in sync. Dylan, Evie and Luke are interesting enough characters in their own right and might’ve been charming in any other hands but Flynn, Thomas and Ings perform together effortlessly. They all nurse their own heartache while being decidedly wonderful friends (Luke being written as such was a delightful surprise given what I’d come to expect given the character type). They’re the heart of the series, every moment of comfort or joy or sadness never coming across as forced. We’re never told that they’re close or ask to believe in their relationship beyond what’s been depicted. Instead we’re shown the little moments. From a campside clasp on the shoulder or sharing space on a bench, to breathlessly singing karaoke in the middle of the day or comforting a friend on the front steps during a dreary, fog filled morning, no action comes sans a natural reaction. They’re tangibly messy, delightfully imperfect and so beautifully confounded by what on earth they’re supposed to be doing with their lives. Aren’t we all? And it’s that relatability which makes “Lovesick” so utterly winning. [A]