As we head into our 30s and 40s, no matter your romantic status, we’ve all experienced love and loss.
With each stage in life, love comes in different forms. It is powerful, scary, exciting, intense, immediate or slow-burning, but whatever it is, love (or something like it), happens to all of us.
There was that very first crush we had on one of the David’s in primary school, a high school sweetheart, the lusty need of that person who blossomed overnight, a person standing opposite you at a bar, or even a special someone you met on Bumble. Sometimes, this love lasts and sometimes they do not.
But, no matter the who, the when, the how or the what — these types of experiences lift us up, spin us around and teach us things we never would have known if it wasn’t for them.
Stan’s new series Love Life is an ode to the people of our past who send us on the right trajectory.
Starring Anna Kendrick, this fresh take on a romantic comedy follows the journey from first love to last love, and how the people we’re with along the way make us into who we are when we finally end up with someone forever.
In the first few episodes, we meet some of Darby’s past lovers, ones who she assumes she will end up with — of course, fate has other ideas and we are privy to the start of their relationships and subsequent downfall.
The series isn’t like your average rom-com. In fact, it’s awkward at times, very relatable and sometimes, incredibly uncomfortable.
We’ve all sat around waiting for someone to call, we’ve all fallen in love with someone we shouldn’t have and at times, we’ve also been the ones to break someone else’s heart.
The format follows Darby from her early 20s to 30s — however, we are promised a flashback teen episode, starring another actor, and sometimes, Kendrick plays someone ten years her actual junior.
Throughout the season, we also follow Darby’s career and friendships — ones that are just as important as any man, and who are often the ones left standing right next to you when your relationship crumbles.
Starring alongside Kendrick — who plays protagonist Darby in the first season (as there will be more) — is Zoë Chao (Downhill, Strangers) who plays Sara, Darby’s best friend and college roommate.
Peter Vack (Someone Great, The Bold Type) plays Jim, Sara’s long-term boyfriend and Sasha Compere (Miracle Workers, Uncorked) plays Darby’s outspoken roommate while Lesley Manville (Harlots, Another Year) also stars.
The most fitting part of the whole series is its ability to comment on the human condition and the growth that we face when engulfed with love, lust or warmth towards another human.
It is easily bingeable as the episodes are 30 minutes long, and there’s no doubt that you will be left wanting to know what happens next.
WATCH: The official trailer for Stan’s Love Life.
Stream episodes of Love Life on Stan weekly from May 27.