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With Love is out in time for Christmas, which is a good idea because that’s what it’s based around. Plus, brother and sister Lily and Jorge Diaz (above) are out to find love in time for the festive period or… ‘the holidays’ as they call it in the US.
However, it’s ridiculous at every time, albeit often amusingly so, starting with a man going into his local Victoria Wine* to buy a particular 2011/2012 bottle, even though any £5 bottle will be perfectly fine. Aldi do a brilliant one – the Kooliburra Australian Shiraz 75cl.
Soon after, Lily (Emeraude Toubia) passes ‘the one’ on her way to the same wine shop, not realising he’s ‘the one’, yet she still tries to crack on to Henry (Vincent Rodriguez III), the owner of said shop.
She has a gay roommate who’s even more camp than RuPaul… and who’s his boyfriend just about to arrive? Henry! Oh, and when he introduces Henry to his cousin, Sol (Isis King), he just HAS to announce Henry’s personal pronouns, as if anyone would give two hoots. Well, it’s a topic which comes up in Democratic-voting areaas of the USA from around 2018 onwards, but does not become a part of the conversation in any other part of the world. We generally just call people by their name. That’s how it’s worked since time began.
Another time, Henry mentions in general conversation during a party, that he once had a girlfriend. This causes one woman to ask, “Did you just come out?” before tripping over her tongue to ensure she puts in, “Wait, I’m sorry, is that okay to ask?” as if the Left-leaning thought police are going to burst the door down and arrest her for insubordination. Good Lord… it’s as if the writers erected a huge banner in the middle of the room, in 6-foot letters of fire: “WE DON’T WANT TO CAUSE ANY OFFENCE TO ANYONE!”
Soon after, events lead to Henry basically giving everyone in the room – who’s now gathered, silently, as if he’s about to impart a detailed story with the complexity of The Usual Suspects – a lecture about his love life and sexual preferences over the years. This feels less like part of a drama script, and more like one of those ‘life lessons’ in Sesame Street.
The writers of this should be ashamed… that’s unless they were intending to write a script for Sesame Street.
Yes, With Love is so woke, you’ll never sleep again!
When I saw the first few minutes of this, I really didn’t think I’d take to it, but then I was kinda drawn in for the ‘nonsense soap opera’ vibe… before it went uber-woke.
Oh, and everyone lives in massive houses or studio flats, so they probably think they’re in Friends.
I think the only way to remove this dirge from my mind is to take one of those Aldi wine bottles and drink the entire contents forthwith!
(*it’s not Victoria Wine, but that ’80s reference is about the last time we had wine-specific shops in the UK)
Thanks to our friends at Amazon Prime Video for the screener prior to release.
With Love streams from Friday December 17th on Amazon Prime. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Episode 1 Score: 1/10
Series Directors: Meera Menon, Hiromi Kamata
Creator/Writer: Gloria Calderón Kellett
Producer: Pixie Wespiser
Cast:
Lily Diaz: Emeraude Toubia
Jorge Diaz Jr.: Mark Indelicato
Sol Perez: Isis King
Henry: Vincent Rodriguez III
Santiago Zayas: Rome Flynn
Nick Zhao: Desmond Chiam
Jorge Diaz Sr.: Benito Martinez
Beatriz Diaz: Constance Marie
Dr. Miles Murphy: Todd Grinnell
Laz Zayas: Andre Royo
Marta Delgado: Renee Victor
Luis Delgado: Pepe Serna
Gladys Delgado: Gloria Calderón Kellett
Michael: Peter Porte
Andres: W Tré Davis
Bennett: Andrew Rogers
Isabel: Danielle Vasinova
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.