Critic Reviews

Love communicates the honesty its creators strived for, if only for the believable way it draws Gus and Mickey together across time, space, and their own insecurities. Put in the time with Love, and that time will be rewarded.

The Judd Apatow-produced comedy-with-drama is even stronger this time around, featuring a great, complex performance by Gillian Jacobs.

Apatow, Arfin, and Rust do a nice job of balancing the relationship, and of exploiting the abundant chemistry between Rust and Jacobs.

Rust and Jacobs are the drive shafts, though, keeping Love on all fours with characterizations that likely will keep most viewers invested.

If you fall for the ambition of watching the gradual, fraught bonding of these two people, then Apatow’s tendencies work to the Love’s advantage and create form that mirrors its meaning, love as a meandering, messy process.... None of this works without great acting and chemistry, and Rust and Jacobs bring both in abundance.

While it does struggle through a few bloated scripts and is certainly more challenging than some viewers may be ready for (without the immediate benefits of more traditional comedies), the series isn't shy of rewards for those who stick it out.

Love is not the solution to these characters’ problems. But love is there, right on screen. Right as advertised. Maybe a fancier title would jazz things up a little bit, but there’s no denying that the show delivers on that promise.

More than the love story itself, Love’s greatest achievement might be that it managed to make Gus and Mickey feel like fully realized, complicated individuals independent of their love story.

With sharp, observational wit, the show takes us through the familiar process of getting to know someone.

It’s a show that’s structured like a sitcom but frequently works like a low-stakes drama that just gets more emotionally expensive. After you’ve watched all 10, Love stays with you like a memory you can’t--or don’t want to--shake.