6/24/2023 0 Comments Starstruck season 2Relationships can end just as easily for loving someone too much as too little. When Jessie asks Tom, “Why did we break up?” one of the tricks of “Starstruck” is that this show understands that there doesn’t always need to be a reason, or at least a mutually-agreed upon one. What matters is how you respond to those realizations. Everyone has their doubts and their self-perceived shortcomings. Watching Kate and Ian’s (Al Roberts) relationship evolve in parallel, with all the strange turns and insecurities and decision points, shows that there’s no ideal that “Starstruck” is holding up as an aspirational model. Yes, dating someone famous comes with certain unexpected hurdles, but all dating is weird. Having this public display also underlines another idea running through Season 2: that relationships don’t happen in a vacuum. Much like Tom is trying to meet Jessie on her preferred terms, you buy that he’s picked up some of her personality traits by being around her.Īnd how best to show that meeting point than having Tom join her in thigh-deep pond water? However on-the-nose that metaphor might be, it’s an apt one considering all the ways that things have to go right before you feel comfortable really sharing a life with someone. He’s adding in more of Jessie’s mix of insecurity and sweetness, smiling through the uneasiness in the same way that Jessie is navigating a new social circle. Watching the scenes at the film shoot when Tom is looking for a reprieve from the stress of the day, you can see what Patel has layered on season over season. That comes through in this season’s approach to Tom, which includes him as more of a co-equal partner rather than the object of the protagonist’s affection. It gives “Starstruck” space to see each of them as individuals rather than purely a cute pairing. Season 2 avoided being a retread of its equally delightful first season by avoiding the need to keep Jessie and Tom together, either in location or relationship status. Matafeo told IndieWire, “I remember we were writing that whole speech and felt like, ‘Oh my God, this is quite cheesy and heavy,’ and then in the moment actually it wasn’t…She was saying what she means finally, straight up.” For both the people crafting the story - Nic Sampson joined Alice Snedden and Matafeo as Season 2 writers - and Jessie, the potential for rough patches don’t go away, but this ensures that any future episodes have fresh challenges to consider. Which makes the fact that Jessie helps to manufacture this moment oddly natural. Jessie is someone who’s constantly figuring things out, to the point where a good portion of the time, you can sense that she doesn’t even know where her own sentences are going to finish. One of the graceful touches of “Starstruck” is not just saving that for the end. It’s a stream-of-consciousness that comedies usually save for big climactic meetings, where people are so flustered by the enormity of the situation that they can barely get words out in the right order. Some of Matafeo’s best moments come when Jessie is talking without a net. The fountain’s erupting behind them, but they know now that those water droplets could turn into the rain on their parade at any moment. If Season 1 was still in a kind of honeymoon phase, there have been enough puncture holes in their romantic bubble since. It may not have that lingering shot of the two of them grappling with reality setting in, but Season 2’s ending might be even more in line with “The Graduate” this time around. In ‘Love & Death’ and ‘Candy,’ the True Story Doesn’t Always Provide the Truth
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