Made for Love Season 1 Episode 1 began dramatically/comedically enough.
Hazel, our heroine, orgasmically burst her way to freedom while wearing a sparkly, green mini-dress.
But then the series started to drag.
It is understandable, though. The high-concept premise of a woman trying to escape the husband who implanted a chip in her brain to keep her under his constant surveillance takes time to set up.
Plus, there are subplots. The world needs to be fleshed out, and a lot of explanation is needed to justify how the characters wound up the way they did.
Naturally, it’s exposition-heavy. There are flashbacks within flashbacks. Although there are a lot of comedic moments, for some reason, they were more theoretically funny as opposed to “this is making me laugh out loud” funny.
Also, while many things happen during the initial episodes, it is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
For example, the end of Made for Love Season 1 Episode 3 treats Hazel’s realization that she doesn’t want Byron (her husband) as a big revelation, but the audience has known that about Hazel since the very beginning.
If it wasn’t for Cristin Milioti’s performance, seeing Hazel repeat the same plot point would have been frustrating.
Fortunately, Made for Love Season 1 Episode 4 was a big step up in the attention-grabbing department.
Allowing Byron to drop the barely constrained businessman act and go full-blown mad scientist made the character a lot more entertaining. This also had the effect of making Bennett, Byron’s assistant, a funnier character as well.
The scene of them deciding what smells to incorporate into The Hub, Byron’s virtual palace, to entice Hazel to come back on Made for Love Episode 1 Season 4 was laugh-out-loud funny.
Made for Love also became a lot better at using Byron’s virtual technology, so it did more than serve as pretty background for the actors to stand in front of.
Showing Byron effortlessly using virtual reality tech to take Hazel anywhere she wanted (Paris, Antarctica, Eygpt, and so on) went a long way towards understanding why she was attracted to him in the first place.
As Made for Love became more comfortable with itself, it introduced more interesting characters, like Judiff.
Making her debut on Made for Love Season 1 Episode 6, Judiff quickly established herself as the most badass character on the show.
First, there is her backstory. She is a nun who became a nun to expose church corruption from the inside and is successful at it to boot.
Then she immediately lived up to the hype because she quickly grasped Hazel’s situation and already found ways of working around Byron’s constant surveillance (something that was already becoming too invincible for our heroes to handle).
Not only did she think of solutions, but a short time later, on Made for Love Season 1 Episode 8, she gathered the much-needed evidence of Byron’s crimes against Hazel.
Beyond being a badass, Judiff’s relationship with Hazel’s dad, Herb, quickly became one of the show’s best subplots.
The obvious affection the two share for each other, plus the fact their romantic relationship ended because Herb found out he had cancer brought out the feels and made you want them to find their way back to each other.
If Made for Love receives a second season, more Judiff is a must-have, especially since the ending of Made for Love Season 1 Episode 8 (the season) sets her up to play an important role in upcoming events.
Speaking of the ending (Hazel returns to Byron and The Hub), there’s a lot to unpack.
The knee-jerk reaction — seeing Hazel go back to the prison she spent the entire season desperately trying to escape was an awful way to end the season.
Why did we spend all these episodes watching Hazel get free of Byron only to return to square one? It reeked of “can’t have Gilligan leave the island because the show would be over” logic.
Upon reflection, the twist is much more of a game-changer than initially realized and does have you wanting to see the story continue.
It is a very different situation from before because Hazel did not return to The Hub alone.
She brought Herb with her so he could be given treatment for pancreatic cancer. Only Herb doesn’t know this and thinks he’s still in the real world.
Hazel and Herb’s relationship is the real heart of Made for Love.
From the beginning, Miloti and Ray Romano made great scene partners. Seeing Hazel and Herb work out their resentments and finally figuring out how to let the other they loved them were series highlights.
It also made the final moments of Made for Love Season 1 Episode 8, which showed Hazel drugging and unknowingly moving Herb to The Hub, devastating to watching.
That’s the real hook for Made for Love Season 2. How will Herb react when he finds out Hazel, with the noblest attentions and at a huge cost to herself, betrayed him in the worst way possible?
Knowing Made for Love, it will be both tragic and comedic. However, we will never know for sure unless Made for Love receives a second season.
Over to you, TV Fanatics!
What did you think about Made for Love Season 1?
Do you want a second season?
Hit the comments below.
Becca Newton is a staff writer for TV Fanatic.