TV Review - Love in the Time of Corona

On March 19, California ordered all residents to stay at home and enact social distancing in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. It was the first state in the United States to do so. Obviously, this seriously affected 40 million people in that state, including those in the Hollywood industry. The stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order was its most strict until May 12. That same week, this series was conceived by actress-turned-producer, Joanna Johnson (The Fosters and Hope & Faith). Johnson's series is about contemporary Californians dealing with this stay-at-home order, as it's happening. By the time Johnson got to work on the series, Saturday Night Live at Home had already aired in late April. Saturday Night Live at Home was the cast and crew of NBC's Saturday Night Live doing that show with everybody abiding by the stay-at-home order in the state of New York.

Johnson's series though would also not begin airing until after NBC's A Parks and Recreation Special in late April, which was also done with everyone abiding by the stay-at-home order, filming using the actor's iPhones. CBS' All Rise also aired an episode in May that was shot using videoconferencing software with all the actors remaining at home and in quarantine. The production quality of these things during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic wasn't that great. NBC's 30 Rock: A One-Time Special, a comedy special that was also made with people abiding by the stay-at-home order, aired in July and by then Hollywood had managed to make the quality of these stay-at-home productions a bit better. The actors never left their homes, but the production value and camerawork were way better.

Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton and Smash) stars as James, a black film producer who is quarantined with his wife and child. He's been working while his wife, Sade, played by Odom's real-life wife, Nicolette Robinson, has mainly been at home with the baby. Now, he has to deal with being at home with the baby, which is an adjustment for him. However, he considers the possibility that he and his wife could have another baby. However, learning about the real-life shooting of Ahmaud Arbery causes him to question bringing a child in this world. Yet, it makes one wonder how tuned into the news he actually is because the Arbery case isn't the first Black Lives Matter case. There have been numerous cases going back years. In 2019, one of the infamous cases was the killing of Atatiana Jefferson who was shot in her own home. It's unclear why that case or any of the previous cases wouldn't have shaken his resolve to have children. Why this one? The series fails to plum the depths of James' thought processes and experiences till now.

Rainey Qualley co-stars as Elle, an aspiring singer-songwriter who is quarantined with her male roommate. Not only are they roommates, they are also the best of friends who feel intimately close. Yet, they're not actually physically intimate, meaning they haven't had sex. The reason is because her male roommate is seemingly gay. One day though her roommate announces that he's also interested in having sex with women, so he might not be gay, but sexually fluid or queer as some might say. Her roommate, Oscar, played by Tommy Dorfman (13 Reasons Why and Jane the Virgin), also identifies as non-binary. Elle then decides to tell her roommate that she loves them.

Both Elle and Oscar have interests in other people. Elle spies on her next door neighbor who happens to be a hot Latino who takes showers outside, flips houses and is an aspiring writer. Oscar talks through video-chat via his computer with another equally hot guy who's equally smart and charming. It seems obvious that Elle and Oscar should be with those other people, but the series seems to want to play with the idea that when two people this close who live together have an opportunity to be together that they should perhaps explore it, despite the obvious incompatibility. It does make Elle seem a bit desperate. It did remind me of the relationship on ABC's Lost between Boone and Shannon where the vibe felt like siblings and not lovers.

Gil Bellows (Patriot and Ally McBeal) also co-stars as Paul, an insurance agent who is separated from his wife but still lives with her. He's doing so in order to make their teenage daughter believe they're still together. Once the stay-at-home order occurs, they're forced to stay together, especially since their daughter is quarantined with them. Paul and his wife, played by Bellows' actual wife, represent the other end of the spectrum of Elle and Oscar. Whereas Elle and Oscar realize that they might not belong together as a couple, the quarantine perhaps is having the opposite effect on Paul and his wife, Sarah.

L. Scott Caldwell (Insecure and Lost) plays Nanda, the mother to James and a retired woman about to celebrate her 50th anniversary of marriage to her husband. The only problem is that her husband is at a nursing home where he got stuck after the quarantine began. She still lives in their original, family home, so she's spending the quarantine alone. What is making matters worse is that she can talk to her husband using video-chat, but he seems to be suffering occasionally from dementia or early Alzheimer's. She's worried about maintaining her connection to her husband in more ways than one. The estrangement that her other son, Dedrick, feels toward his father is also a factor here.

By the end, it's revealed that these four story lines about four groups of separate people aren't so separate. It's revealed that the four groups of people know each other to some extent with the possible exclusion of Elle and Oscar. The series though is a very romanticized view at this situation. Yes, there's some drama, but, for the most part, it's all about groups of very privileged people who were more inconvenienced by the coronavirus pandemic and not harshly affected as so many were. It was sweet and passable, but it didn't touch my heart, as much as it could have.

Rated TV-14-DLS.
Running Time: 30 mins. / 4 eps.

Available on Freeform.