Made for Love

I knew nothing about this show when I started the first episode. I have to say it's quirky, weird, and fun. It has some funny scenes especially when the main character knows her creepy husband is watching. The episodes are not long. Worth the watch if you want to drown out the crazy world and just watch something fun.

Hazel's (Cristin Milioti) escape narrative has huge caper energy, but Made for Love has mysteries within mysteries, and they unfold in ways that are alternately exciting, astounding, and creepy. Milioti is the clear standout among an already impressive cast. Even when the deliberately scattered storytelling wears a little thin, she holds our attention with no trouble. Billy Magnussen's Byron Gogol is also delightfully, terrifyingly unhinged. The only thing wrong with this show is its pacing. Otherwise the outstanding cast gives us more than enough reason to keep coming back for those answers and makes Made for Love a solid installment in the techno-dystopic rom-com genre.

Cristin Milioti plays the charismatic, yet acerbic Hazel in this creative non-linear story about the ethics of technology, agency and relationships. It is an extended Black Mirror episode, a union of The Collector (movie) and Upload (TV series), presented with a cynical, sinister core wrapped in flippant humour.

MfL tackles serious issues without being preachy or pulpit polemic and the half-hour episodes allow for a brisk pace and regular changes of tack. Ray Romano is fabulous as Hazel's father and his issues reflect Hazel's from a different viewpoint.

This is well worth the watch.

I've seen the first four episodes. My guess is the other reviewer has seen just the first episode. I don't think the pacing is a bit of a problem, but deeply flawed and makes for an unenjoyable experience. Also the show dropping the viewer into the middle of the timeline and going forward and backwards comes as an artificial and compensatory gimmick that makes a mess of the narrative. (that is not a spoiler it is obvious in the first 30 seconds)

The set up is pretty much dystopian rom-com, and it has been done better elsewhere. Really instead of subtle dark humor, the vibe is just generally a drawn out creepiness. This all comes down to bad writing. The acting is quite adequate. Yoeman talent level for TV acting. The lead actress overdoes the quirkily schtick just a bit much, but it looks like that is more bad directing than an acting problem. The dialogue and screenplay are not clever by golden age of TV standards. Not even a sliver or bronze effort. There is an unevenness and a lot of tedious sections. Once gets the sense that the writers take the audience for granted. 4/10.

This fascinatingly obtuse series adapted by the novelist Alissa Nutting from her own book has a vibe hovering somewhere between Black Mirror and Veep - about a woman escaping a seriously problematic relationship with tech billionaire and thinly-veiled allegorical caricature Byron Gogol. Not all of it works, it gets increasingly cluttered over the second season and some plot threads straight up dissolve away but the unsettling vibe and an incredibly strong cast lend it some serious weight. As a narrative reflection of contemporary issues around technology, assent and control it's super intriguing - as a straight up story it feels a little cold and lacking, the two combined make it a weird bit of TV that may genuinely end up having more to say in ten or twenty years than it does now.