Mia Hines
Episode 1 of Love Life Season 2 begins with an introduction to a brand new character, Marcus Watkins. We’re first introduced to him at Darby’s wedding in 2016, although this isn’t Darby’s story anymore – it’s Marcus’s. This is actually quite a neat way to tie both seasons together, but Marcus is very different to Darby. He’s far less eccentric and works as a book editor. He piques the interest of Mia, another less-than-enthusiastic member of Darby’s wedding as she waits outside for an Uber. After exchanging emails, Marcus watches Mia leaves. The spark is something that’s often brought up in romcoms and it’s actually quite true in real life as well. There are some people you just instantly click with. Some people you can chat for hours with or laugh until your cheeks hurt. Then there are the more forced encounters. You find yourself working harder to find common ground and talking about topics you normally wouldn’t to strike a common ground. That much is especially true when it comes to Marcus and his current girlfriend, Emily. Hiding behind the façade of having partners, Mia and Marcus connect and begin texting together. They talk about ugly white babies and how they vote for Trump, but it soon escalates into a lot more than playful (and ever-so-slightly racist) banter. The more Marcus messages Mia, the more he pulls away from Emily. Eventually the pair head out to the art gallery together, where Mia admits that Marcus is her “safe bet” given her boyfriend is out of town and Marcus has been seeing Emily for four years. The pair move from harmless banter to flirty chats, which eventually sees them both back at Mia’s place. There’s obvious chemistry between them but Marcus decides not to cheat and heads home. Emily senses something is up though, given the distance growing between them, but decides not to say anything. Marcus though, finds himself conflicted, continuing to pedal the “we’re just friends” line despite very clearly not believing they’re just friends. So Marcus heads over with a bag full of food to woo Mia… and immediately comes crashing back down to earth when her boyfriend answers. Marcus remains determined to try and make good with Emily – but there’s a problem. She’s seen all of his messages to Mia, along with his regrets and feeling stuck in his marriage. Oof. Before we find out the outcome to this though, the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
Love Life shifts focus this season to a brand new character and a potential set of lovers and partners. It’s a nice way to tie things up with Darby, allowing her and the characters from season 1 to overlap with Marcus and his story. The danger here is that Marcus may not have the star power nor the circle of friends to make it as endearing as season 1. It’s still early days though but it’s already clear that this show is going in a brand new direction. The connection between Marcus and Mia is pretty palpable and the pair very clearly have a spark. I’d imagine we’ll probably circle back to Mia in the upcoming chapters! For now, Love Life gets off to an okay start, but we’ll have to wait and see where the rest of the episodes go from here.
