Love: Season 2

I didn't love (ha!) the first season of Love, but it was a passable, low-stakes, well-made Apatow comedy that felt perfect for Netflix. (Two seasons in, I can't imagine watching this show any other way than a few episodes at a time over the course of a week or so.) I liked Season 2 a little more, even if it started out stronger than it ended. The show's about a blossoming relationship between two very different people in Los Angeles - one a nebbish and sort of neurotic guy working as an on-set tutor for the child star of a shitty CW-esque series, the other a messy and free-spirited self-described "sex and love addict."

The first season mostly existed to show us who these people were, and why they really shouldn't be in a relationship with one another (or possibly with anyone at all) but ended with the pair of them making out in a gas station parking lot as if to say, yes, sure, let's do this. The second season sort of continues down that road, repeating some of the same beats in a stronger way by making it clear that these two need to take some time apart before the season ends with them making out once again, committed to being a long-term exclusive couple.

If it sounds like it moves slow, well, holy shit, it does. But that's okay! This is also largely an LA hang-out comedy and it's very easy to watch these two and their misadventures like a fly on the wall. There's an episode in Season 2 where the two of them just trip on mushrooms with another couple. No zany camerawork or CGI; the trip is seen entirely from a third person perspective, and it's low-key hilarious stuff, just listening to their insane babblings.

I dunno, it's Apatow. Every single one of his movies has been about half an hour too long, so isn't longform TV storytelling a perfect venue for him? I think - and I'm not positive, but I think - that only like three months have passed so far in the show to date. But I'm content to ride this one for a while. It might be slow, but it feels deliberate and carefully planned, unlike something like Modern Family that just feels like its spinning its wheels year after year so its actors can collect their millions. There's a story here, and there are some characters, and I'm invested now, dammit.