You know from that first moment that you’re into her. There’s something in her face that catches your eye, and it’s not like some teenage crush, that’s for sure. It’s a feeling that takes hold from the first moment. As days go, you find her voice more and more enchanting. You love her personality, taste in music, and that fact that she also likes something that you rarely share with anyone, because no one cares or understand it. Every detail turns her into your muse and transforms your life into a poem.
This is the new tipping point, the moment where your brain and your heart finally agree with each other: without realizing, love struck you like lightning. Everything would be perfect if it weren’t for that one thing: she’s really happy in her relationship. Falling in love with someone who doesn’t love you back is a sad and timeless story. It doesn’t matter how many times you’re told not to. When the right person comes into your life at the wrong time, you can’t help but fall for them. Nothing illustrates this better than the elixir of the twenty-first century youth, Netflix.
The second season of Master of None is an exemplary representation of a modern romance as well as of the talent of its creator and protagonist, Aziz Ansari. Each episode delves into different themes, but the emotional element is its foundation. It has been a huge gamble for Netflix, and not because of the budget, but rather because of the freedom granted to its creators (Aziz and his friend, Alan Yang). They did whatever they wanted with the series, which could have been made up in 10 short films instead of a series.
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for the second season, so if you haven’t watched the show, you should stop reading and start watching it!
It’s been a year since the end of season one. We saw Dev break up with Rachel (his most recent and lasting relationship) after she moves to Japan. He has decided to go to Italy to devote himself to the study of the country’s gastronomy. He arrives to the city of Modena to learn true pasta-making as a local. The first episode is a homage to the beautiful cinema of Italian directors, such as Fellini, Vittorio de Sica, Giuseppe Tornatore, and many more. A lovely black and white shot shows Dev with his new Italian friends. One of them is Francesca, who little by little will have a major role in Dev’s life.
That’s when we find out that, although he still has feelings for Rachel, he is determined to leave her behind. Every time you lose someone, you have the chance to find someone else in the future if you keep walking forward. Upon his return to New York, Dev goes on dates with several women. That reveals he is still trying to overcome a pain that he still feels like a burden.
The tedious task of getting to know someone new, making the usual questions about their professional and personal lives, and being exposed to unique but also weird conversations ends up wearing him out physically and mentally. The episode gets to a point where he accuses a girl of racism, yet she points out that, even though he knew who she was, he still had sex with her.
This show offers 10 ways of understanding an unrequited love in 10 episodes that can make you laugh, but also experience the loneliness of a good, successful, and charismatic man who seems to connect with everything, except the emotions of those women he falls in love with. TV shows usually show a long series of adventures, but in this case, we enter into Dev’s life. Thus, we learn how he finally falls in love with Francesca, who jumps from a serious relationship to her engagement, and makes Dev dive deep in loneliness again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGE-Mw-Yjsk
There is no doubt that this series is a masterpiece, and as such it deserves to be admired and understood from the first episode. Aziz Ansari releases his emotions through his way of falling in love. It also teaches that solitude can be an important element for happiness. Through its witty independent cinematography, Master of None shows us that not everything in life is about love.
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Translated by Andrea Valle Gracia.
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