From a show that calls itself 'Love', I'd expected pastel dreams and vanilla dates. Only to be met with something unforeseen.
Mickey and Gus remind you of the patience that a fat, dog-eared book stands for; of the wait a cooling mug of piping hot coffee puts you through, and of the longing a favourite, worn-out pair of jeans drills into you.
Too tied up to read? Here’s an audio version:
Netflix just released the third season of its much-talked-about show by Judd Apatow and if you've been watching it all this while, you know what I am talking about.
The lead pair’s bond is quite an unlikely one. They don’t binge on each other. They strive hard, in the emotionally apocalyptic world of theirs, to do it right and stick it out.
I am not going to get into the story line and give away spoilers. Maybe they end up together, maybe they don't. There are three beefy seasons and a LOT happens. There are a lot of delightful characters pottering about on the periphery too.
But the little things are the ones that keep you hooked.
Mickey is a recovering addict who smokes a chimney a day, wears a dead-pan look the best and has absolutely no hoots (okay, maybe one or two) to give about social cues. Gus is an aspiring writer, wears an awkward laugh the best and has quite a few tiringly polite hoots to give about social cues. He is the kind who would hold his breath, smile at you and initiate a conversation in an elevator you've just f*rted in. Because his reflexes feel obligated to fill the silence and make up for the awkwardness.
Gillian Jacobs plays a nonchalant Mickey, who looks like an effortless oil painting while Gus, (played by Paul Rust)as pointed out to Mickey in a bar, looks like a “child has drawn him”. They get miffed at each other over little things, but the larger ones somehow seamlessly weave themselves into the bullet-proof pull that keeps them together. They shout their lungs out when one catches a contagious flu from the other, but end the day in the bathroom, crouched next to the commode, arms around each other, waiting for the next bout of vomiting to start.
They are always on the verge of messing up. And nine out of ten times, both fall off the wagon. If Mickey's social filters are teetering on the cusp of self-destruction, Gus' nice-guy image slips every now and then, leading to uneasy confrontations. Gus would rather defuse situations and avoid face-offs with white lies and sugar-coated counter-views, while Mickey would (probably) yank a pacifier off a baby's mouth to make a point about how life sucks, truth is bitter and love is tough.
Why are they together, then?
Nothing remarkable happens between them that would give you a cue. Both are damaged to an acceptable degree, both are cornered into making amends every now and then. They are a regular ‘unlikely couple’ with no tragic fault in their stars.
Then?
An imperciptible longing. And perhaps one that cancels out each other's flaws.
If Gus is a tiring pacifist and Mickey is a reincarnation of a certain finger on my hand, Judd Apatow’s made sure he weaves magic by getting a detonator to a ticking bomb and making them fall in ‘love’ with each other.
They have each other to get back home to. And that works like magic.
Watch 'Love' just to have a chance, like I did, to not be able to explain what keeps Mickey and Gus together...