Choosing Love, Again and Again: Have you seen “Love Life” on Netflix?

Oh, Marcus Watkins, Oh, Marcus Watkins, wherefore art thou Marcus Watkins?

Wait! You don’t know who Marcus Watkins is? That means you either haven’t watched the Netflix series “Love Life” or you’re just not great with remembering names. (Don’t worry I’m not either.)

In a nutshell, the series “Love Life” follows

two characters through different relationships, self-discovery, heartbreak, toxic phases, and healing.

So back to Marcus Watkins. A charming, attractive black man and a New York book editor. He goes from the married good guy ➡️ to fuck boy divorcé ➡️ spiraling fuck boy ➡️ back to good guy, this time raising a child and building a life with the love of his life, Mia Hines. Their story is a back-and-forth saga, constantly breaking apart and finding each other again, until finally destiny wins.

From the start, Marcus and Mia connect as strangers looking to escape the cycle of relationships and situationships. Even when separated, faith keeps pulling them back together with the same spark. How beautiful? The story of two destined soul connections.

While watching their love story in season 2, I couldn’t stop thinking about how scary the stages of love can be. That moment when your flaws, your past, your traumas all of it are suddenly exposed to someone you’re falling for. Being emotionally naked is terrifying.

At first, Marcus convinced himself he was not good enough for Mia. Her character came across flawless. A beautiful woman who was calm, cool, smart, witty, funny, detached, and well spoken. But as her story unfolded, her flaws and vulnerability came out, and showed she was just as flawed as Marcus.

The growth of her character allows the viewer to go through the honeymoon phase and into the intimacy phase over time with her. That shift in her character was so well done. It mirrors what happens in real relationships. At first, we present the polished version of ourselves until the honeymoon stage fades and we reveal the messy, real version. Then you just hope this person that you're falling in love with will stick around and have the patience to grow with you. I’m glad I had the patience to grow with these characters and see the show through but it did help that th the story was engaging.

But that’s what was beautiful about Marcus and Mia. They showed what it means to fight for love. They chose each other every single time, even when it got hard. At one point, Marcus was ready to give up, but he didn’t and it turned out to be the best choice of his life. He was willing to see past Mia's imperfections but also because she was willing to do the work and his love for her was too strong to give up.

This story feels especially powerful for our generation, where marriages and long-term relationships are at an all-time low. Too many people seek perfection out of fear, many don’t know how to fight for love and some of us are just afraid of being hurt again. But realistically, there’s no such thing as a perfect love or a perfect person. It’s about two people who are willing to fight for something they truly want and that’s each other.

If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend watching it. I wanted to give my take without spoiling too much. After you're done watching it come back and share your thoughts.

Okay, bye-bye!