Modern Love Season 2 came out on Amazon Prime last month, and this time the tonality was a little different than the previous season. The show explored some newer nuances around the concept of love and perhaps even had more diversity than the last season.
After bingeing non-stop on the second season, I ended up rewatching the first one too. Nothing feels better than a weekend dose of warmth, niceness, and love. So I thought, let’s make a list of all Modern Love episodes of seasons 1 and 2 ranked from worst to best and sort your weekend binge plan out.
Although there is no worst in this anthology series, you’ll fall in love with each episode for a different reason. Let’s jump in, or should I say fall in. (#BadPunAlert)
16A Life Plan For Two, Followed By One
Season 2 Episode 4
Sometimes the people you like may not like you back. After all, love is just dumb luck. Probably one of my favorite references from Sex Education that holds so true for this episode. A tale of friendship where one wants more than that.
You and I probably have lived this, where someone’s your great friend, but you see them more than just that. This is a story about that which might make you a little nostalgic. It might not end the way you want it to, but don’t worry, there are no broken ends.
15How Do You Remember Me?
Season 2 Episode 7
Can a first date be remembered differently years later? Maybe things happened a certain way according to you, and to the other person, perhaps it all went down slightly differently. This little tale symbolizes how memories can be so tricky because they change with time, and we never know how it all really happened.
14Am I…? Maybe This Quiz Will Tell Me
Season 2 Episode 5
Coming to terms with one’s sexuality and finding your own sexual identity is daunting when you’re a teenager. There are doubts and fears, but some moments with some people give you all the clarity you need. Or at least bring you closer to it. Such is the story of two girls from middle school.
13So He Looked Like Dad. It Was Just Dinner, Right?
Season 1 Episode 6
This one is particularly complex to me, and I’ve watched this episode a couple of times, but there are still some parts that I’m in the process of understanding. It surrounds a complex of not having a dad blended with liking a man twice your age and wanting him to act like one.
Don’t worry. I won’t go full geeky on the psychology part of it. But this story about the girl having mixed feelings about a man twice her age is sort of fascinating, and whether you like it or hate it, it’ll definitely be something to think about.
12Hers Was A World Of One
Season 1 Episode 7
A gay couple is looking to adopt a baby. A single wanderer who is looking for parents for her baby. What happens when the trio stays under one roof? How do you invite someone new to the family? How is coexistence accomplished, and what does it mean to be a family truly? This one has all that and more.
What struck a chord with me in this episode is being a family is not always hunky-dory. It’s disagreements, arguments, and chaos. But in the end, it is acceptance despite all that.
11The Night Girl Finds A Day Boy
Season 2 Episode 2
Being in the same city can still have time differences between two people. A girl with delayed sleep cycle syndrome has an off-chance encounter with a man she likes, adores, and eventually loves.
But time gets in the way. He’s awake during the day while she’s awake at night. How their story unfolds in all this episode is about.
10Rallying To Keep The Game Alive
Season 1 Episode 4
When you’re in the middle of your marriage, like actually in the middle with kids all grown up and ready to go on about their lives, there’s an existential crisis as a couple. A what-if situation where you question everything to know if it’ll work out?
This one’s a light-hearted yet profound episode because it sort of made me realize in some ways that you’ll never know the answer to big IF because the answer isn’t in thought; it’s in tiny actions. It’s in the effort, or rather it is effort.
9Strangers On A (Dublin) Train
Season 2 Episode 3
If you’ve watched Before Sunrise, this is a modernized version of that epic love story, and honestly, it is good. The writing is self-aware. It calls out that it’s inspired by the Before trilogy and even cracks you up with a few meta jokes that subtly take a dig at the romanticized versions of two strangers on a train.
Two strangers who take the same train every day decide to meet without exchanging numbers. But, the pandemic comes in their way, and the lockdown happens. Don’t worry, no spoilers here, but it leaves you a teeny, tiny hope.
8At The Hospital An Interlude Of Clarity
Season 1 Episode 5
Great conversations are perhaps the best thing about first dates. But what if there’s a small mishap on your first date and the conversation continues despite that? Well, they just make the first date even better.
A couple is back at the guy’s place, the mood is set, but as the guy is being funnily clumsy, he hurts himself a little, and the date pauses while they are at the hospital. What happens during this pause is what makes it so profound.
7When Cupid Is A Prying Journalist
Season 1 Episode 2
People make mistakes, and sometimes you need an outsider’s perspective to know that it’s okay to forgive them. In this case, the outsider is a journalist interviewing a startup entrepreneur as he talks about someone he used to love. But wait, there’s more. The journalist has a story about herself, too, and perhaps that’s more grounded in reality.
The episode takes us through the journey of these four people who could’ve been couples, and it just shows so many perspectives, choices they make, and what drives them towards or away from each other.
6In The Waiting Room Of Estranged Spouses
Season 2 Episode 6
This one might just be a little complex too. Two people find out that their partners are cheating on them, and they are a couple. As circumstances unfold, the two start dating, and well, it’s not as straightforward or simple.
It’s one of those episodes that establish that the episode’s ending is merely the beginning of their relationship. Everything that led them to that beginning is the plot. Call it a prologue to their relationship, if you may.
5When Your Doorman Is Your Main Man
Season 1 Episode 1
The most profound bonds can be formed with anyone, and in this case, it’s between a quintessential young, single working woman and the doorman at her apartment. We see this father-daughter relationship, and the way it is depicted will bring tears to your eyes. Not because it’s sad or tragic, but because it’s that beautiful and rare.
4The Race Grows Sweeter Near Its Final Lap
Season 1 Episode 8
This one’s a real tear-jerker. I know I just said it before, and in fact, I’ll say this about all the top 3 episodes. When two people who are in the final lap of this marathon called life find each other, it’s perhaps one of the most heartwarming things to look at.
Sometimes growing old together might not be possible, but finding love, living together, and growing together when you’re old can happen. This story was the perfect finale for season 1, but beware; you’ll need a tissue box with you.
3On A Serpentine Road, With The Top Down
Season 2 Episode 1
Another tale about how you sometimes never stop loving someone even when they’re gone. You tend to keep something of theirs to remember them by. You might marry again, find love again too, but that doesn’t mean you don’t miss or love that person any less.
I mainly fell in love with the narrative style in this episode. It didn’t seem too forced, neither did it over-romanticize the idea of death and love. What I also loved about it was that the way this set the tonality for season 2. Being the first episode, it established how this season was different from the first one.
2A Second Embrace With Hearts And Eyes Open
Season 2 Episode 8
I just spent the life with the love of my life.
How did you meet her?
Well, she’s my ex-wife.
You would’ve seen this in the trailer for season 2, and it just sums up the entire story right. We’ve all heard of amicable divorces and equal parenting, but this just surpasses that. No, it doesn’t happen in the most romantic way that you’re thinking of.
Both people should be on the same page, the timing needs to be right, and circumstances always get in the way of these things. So what happens with these two people is something I’d rather not spoil. I know you might have seen it, but why give the pay-off when you can go through the journey and claim it yourself.
1Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am
Season 1 Episode 3
Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am, starring Anne Hathway as the protagonist, is the best episode of Modern Love. It is a story about a young, single woman who has bipolar disorder but never really talks to anyone about it. Thus, she finds it difficult to form any kind of relationship with the people around her.
This story from season 1 just gets to me every single time. There is no over-the-top preachy message about mental health, self-love, or lessons about building genuine connections. It embodies all of this in just one simple gesture. Being there.
Well, well. It looks like we’ve come at the end of the line. How about you go binge on all those episodes right away. The weekend’s here. Nothing should keep you waiting.
About Modern Love
Modern Love is an American romantic comedy anthology series, based on the weekly column of the same name published by The New York Times, that premiered on Amazon Prime Video on October 18, 2019. The episodes vary from 29 to 35 minutes in length. In October 2019, the series was renewed for a second season which is set to premiere on August 13, 2021.
The show explores “love in its multitude of forms – including sexual, romantic, familial, platonic, and self-love,” which are presented in eight half-hour episodes.
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