Made for Love may have not been a popular show, but it was arguably one of the best TV shows of 2021 and left a major impact on its audience. Fans of the HBO Max show walked away from Made For Love feeling just as affected as its characters but in a good way. It makes you think as much as it makes you feel — it makes you think about what the future has in store for us when it comes to technology; it makes you think about what it feels like to be in a toxic relationship and how hard it can be to escape; it makes you think about whether people are all going to own sex dolls in the future (who knows?).
More than anything, Made For Love leaves a lasting impact on its audience by addressing abuse in relationships. Its ability to address abuse, an objectively dark topic, while having perfectly timed comedy is amazing. There is no other show on television (or streaming) that does this like Made for Love. This means that no matter how you feel about the show as a viewer, you can't deny the show leaves a lasting impression.
What is the Plot of Made for Love?
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The show follows a woman, Hazel, as she leaves her 10-year marriage to a tech billionaire. Said marriage occurred in a bubble of sorts; her tech bro husband literally lived in an actual bubble. He had built a tech bubble in which they lived that had the appearance of the real world. When she left, she had to actually escape the bubble, a good metaphor for how technology affects our relationships.
Upon leaving, she realizes that her husband had implanted her with a chip, which he put it in her brain when she slept (yes, that is just as creepy as it sounds). Not only has he implanted her with this chip that tracks her location, but it also allows him to watch her live and track her emotions, so that basically he can see everything she does and how it makes her feel. She not only has to figure out how to live in the real world after spending her last 10 years in a bubble, but she also has to figure out how to avoid her husband when he can literally see every single thing she does.
How Does Made For Love Dissect and Explore Abuse?
If the synopsis of the show made you feel icky and uncomfortable, great, that's the point. You're meant to feel uncomfortable by the plausibility that this could actually occur, and the fact that Hazel is trapped, seemingly forever. Hazel is a great character (and Cristin Milioti, of Palm Springs, is a great actor), not just because of what she has to go through but how she deals with it. If it wasn't obvious, Hazel is a victim of abuse in a way that we do not currently understand (in similar ways to the great feminist horror movie, the recent Invisible Man, which also follows a woman haunted by a tech bro abuser using his advanced technology to hurt her).
Her abuse is something we cannot fathom; it's impossible to empathize with what it feels like to have your husband implant you with a chip and see absolutely everything you do in your life. But it is so much deeper than that. As women, we can understand what it feels like to have a man not take "no" for an answer, or what it feels like to have an ex be a little too clingy. Whether we've experienced it ourselves or seen someone we love go through this, we get it.
That's what Hazel is experiencing, just with a lot more technology. Hazel is one of us, she is a woman trying to be independent after getting out of a toxic relationship. Her level of abuse is so much deeper than any of us can understand (literally) but that doesn't mean we don't comprehend it at the most basic level: a woman leaving a toxic relationship and struggling to remember who she actually is apart from her abuser.
Is Made For Love Still Funny?
Yes, it is still quite funny. Audiences love how the show masterfully melds drama and comedy to create a smooth running series. However, if you are not a fan of ridiculously dark TV comedies, Made For Love may not be the best for you. The entire tone of the show is very dark, hence the large focus on drama. The HBO Max series does lighten that with great comedy, but if you cannot handle darker topics, this might be a triggering experience.
On the other hand, if that does sound like your speed, Made for Love is the perfect entry into the dark comedy space. Not only does this show run perfectly while juggling drama and comedy, but it has well-developed characters and perfectly timed jokes (thanks in large part to the great cast, from Milioti to Ray Romano and Billy Magnussen). The jokes always fall in perfect places in the story, as to not interrupt the harsher topics. If this sounds like your speed, you can watch the hilariously dark second season, now streaming on HBO Max.