Finding the perfect series to watch from your couch.
The hardest part of being stuck at home in quarantine is being stuck at home alone in quarantine. Thanks to modern technology, a random Tuesday in the Before Times held the promise of anything from a sweet first coffee date to a hot random hookup. But in our socially distant, safer-at-home present, the closest thing to contact with another human being may be waiting for the delivery guy to drop a food order on the other side of your door. So how do you fill that emotional (if not carnal) void of watching a beautifully awkward relationship unfold before your eyes?
Luckily, while we may be in a temporary social freeze, we’re also in the golden age of modern storytelling, i.e. streaming TV. The chaste tropes of vanilla love have given way to a plethora of diverse tales of dating and sex and friendships and whatever else it means to a human with a pulse. So while you may not be able to go out and create new dating stories of your own, it’s easy enough to get lost in the awkward, cringey, but ultimately heartwarming tales of love and loss from the safety and comfort of your couch. Here are a few suggestions to get your streaming affair started.
Sex Education
Bad hookups, confusion about venereal diseases, and general lack of sexual experience highlight this beautiful tale of high school dating. What Otis, a socially awkward student in the British countryside, lacks in sexual experience he makes up for in second-hand relationship advice he cribs from overhearing his sex therapist mother (Gillian Anderson) and her patients and doles out to his wide-eyed classmates. The result is a beautiful portrayal of sexual exploration at one of the most awkward phases of human existence.
Pen15
What happens when two comedic actresses in their early 30s play their awkward tween alter egos in the early 2000s? You get a hilariously uncomfortable yet surprisingly cathartic look back at what it was like to be a middle schooler at the dawn of the internet. Watch as young Maya and Anna navigate “life-altering” obstacles like first crushes, dealing with growth spurts, and creating your first AOL screen name.
Special
This semi-autobiographical series is based on the memoir of actor/writer Ryan O'Connell, a gay man with cerebral palsy. After years of dead-end internships, blogging in his pajamas, and living at home with his mother, Ryan decides to take the leap into adulthood, moving out on his own, finding a new career, and kickstarting his love life. What unfolds is a story of someone determined to realize their full self, no matter the awkward obstacles.
Bonding
A dark comedy that follows Tiff, a grad student in New York City who moonlights as a dominatrix; and Peter, her recently out former high school best friend new to the city. When Tiff recruits the cash-strapped Peter to be her leather-clad dominatrix-ing assistant, the unlikely pair’s new professional relationship redefines their old friendship. More importantly, though, it helps them find themselves.
