'Love' fan recap: Let's go have an adventure
Season 1 | Episode 2 | “One Long Day” | Aired Feb 19, 2016
When your meet-cute involves one of the parties berating a convenience-store clerk over coffee and a pack of Parliaments, it’s not love. That’s Love.
Gus and Mickey’s “love” story seemingly began at the end of the pilot, where “One Long Day” picks up, as Gus steps in to save Mickey’s morning by spotting her some cash. And even though Mickey didn’t have to steal or purchase the bad habits with her own funds, she goes nuclear on the clerk, hurling f-bombs and insults in his direction like she’s just been served the harshest injustice of all time. But that’s a mere taste of how deeply Mickey’s troubles run.
She waits for Gus outside the convenience store and offers to walk with him to her house to repay him his money. “Don’t be a f—in’ hero,” she barks when he initially declines. And so they go, block by block, two strangers connected by a minor debt.
We learn more about Gus and Mickey as they stroll about Los Angeles making small talk. It’s this sort of meandering plotline that got some critics’ keyboards in a tizzy, but watching Gus and Mickey get to know each other in real time, under random circumstances, and work through the uncomfortable rhythms of letting in a new person is what Love is all about.
Through this jaunt to Mickey’s home, they establish a rapport. They banter about their hometowns, what brought them to L.A., their jobs, and that time Mickey’s friends Airbnb’d the house where A Nightmare on Elm Street was filmed. The conversation is light and full of jokes— easy. It gets tougher, though, when they dig into the meat of what makes a person: their goals. Mickey asks if being an on-set teacher is what Gus wants to do forever. Naturally, it’s an in. He wants to write erotic thrillers, or “horror porn,” as Mickey refers to it. Before the vulnerable questions can be tossed Mickey’s way, they arrive at her house.
Would Mickey have opened up to Gus? Would she have fessed up to anything that’s plaguing her, or would she have hidden behind her snark and quick wit? The latter is more likely. Especially since Bertie’s move-in causes a (probably welcome) distraction for Mickey. She can’t find her wallet, which prompts her to ask Bertie to loan her some cash. Bertie, a true millennial, strictly rocks plastic. To kill time, Mickey enlists Gus to help Bertie carry in her desk.
Until this moment, no two characters who know Mickey have shared screen time with or without her. What do people think about her? How do they feel about her hurricane-force impact? She’s cool but scary but so cool, they agree. But each having known Mickey for less than a day, they don’t know yet that saying she’s “cool” puts her in a box. Sure, she has a cool attitude, but from what problems does this “coolness” arise?
Mickey realizes she left her wallet at Bliss House the night before, and the adventure continues. Gus tags along on the promise of a ride home and his money back (and he had nothing better to do with his day). They hit the road and arrive at Bliss House, which looks more like an abandoned warehouse than a place of worship. Walking in on a dead, bloody body confirms that fact.
Turns out they crashed a movie set—Bliss House is a rental location. Los Angeles is full of surprises. The bigger surprise for Mickey? That nothing was stolen from her wallet, a feat of goodwill Gus considers normal. Mickey finds his faith in humanity charming … so charming, they hotbox her car and hit Rally’s for some greasy breakfast.
Gus trips while they eat on the hood of Mickey’s car and talk about relationships. Once again, Gus offers more of his feelings than Mickey does, though she does pitch in a bit. She doesn’t do emotional heavy lifting, something that could work or work against Gus in the future.
Still high beyond his wildest dreams, he unintentionally gives Mickey his ex Natalie’s address. “I’m just being a goofball,” he says to Natalie when their accidental arrival is met with vitriol. This time, Mickey steps in to save Gus’ day when Natalie insists he take his boxes of stuff out of her home. Mickey disregards Natalie’s order to remove her shoes, and goes right on in. While Mickey snoops (and swipes a rabbit figurine) and collects Gus’ things, Natalie reveals that she lied about cheating on him so he would break up with her. Before she can throw any more verbal daggers, Mickey shuts her down.
On the way home, Gus rants about “bullsh-t” relationships and losing faith in the films that made him believe in love. One by one, he tosses his Blu-rays out the window, until he dumps the entire box onto the street. Mickey helps Gus into bed and gives him her number at his request. On her way out, she notices that Gus has her same rug, but in orange. When she tells him, he mumbles, “I wanted the orange one.” Kindred spirits, these two.
LOVE-ABLE QUOTES
“The guy who invented boredom is from there.” —Mickey on Gus’ hometown
Gus on Mickey’s pot prowess: “It’s like watching my dad change a tire.”
“Is Jeff there? ‘Cause he knows the drill.” —Mickey ordering food at Rally’s
Gus to his ex, Natalie: “These Blu-rays have, like, exclusive special features, ya bitch!”
“ Cars 2 was a piece of crap!” —Mickey aiding Gus’ film purge
Mickey defending her “busy” day: “Gotta get cat food.”
All 10 season-one episodes of Love are available to stream on Netflix.
