Made For Love: Season 1 Premiere Episode 1 “User One” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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You think stalking is bad enough now with social media, imagine being linked by a chip to someone who was supposedly the love of your life – and trying to get away.

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Creator	Alissa Nutting, Dean Bakopoulos, Patrick Somerville, Christina Lee
Director(s)	Stephanie Laing
Writer(s)	Alissa Nutting, Dean Bakopoulos, Patrick Somerville, Christina Lee
Aired (HBO Max)	4/1/2021
Genre	Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Introduced This Episode
Hazel Green	Cristin Milioti
Bryon Gogol	Billy Magnussen
Herb	Ray Romano

This content contains pertinent spoilers. Also, images and text may contain affiliate links, which, if a purchase is made, we’ll earn money or products from the company.

Plot Overview

For over 10 years, Hazel hasn’t left the tech campus, known as “The Hub,” her husband Byron Gogol has made. Because of that, she has long been disconnected from her father Herb, and is pretty much treated as a kept woman. But as it becomes clear a rift is growing between Byron and Hazel, he does something drastic. He uses his “Made For Love” chip, the next big product from Google, I mean Gogol, and implants a chip into Hazel’s brain. Making it so, when she tries to escape her marriage, Byron always knows where she is, and this will make her likely desire for divorce all the more difficult.

Review

Highlights

Cristin Milioti

While you fully recognize she is in a very traumatic situation since her husband is trying to own her as a slave and property of his company, Milioti and the writers finding ways to insert comedic moments help lighten things up. Granted, you are still very freaked out over what Byron is willing and capable of doing. Yet, Milioti juggles well between insane circumstances and a character you want to latch onto.

On The Fence

Milioti Is Carrying The Show

Everything about this show is riding on you investing in Cristin Milioti. If you don’t like her style of acting, or her for some asinine reason, Made For Love will not work for you. Byron is not some complicated guy who you can feel bad for since his wife no longer loves him.

Also, there is no push to make you think he voided his wife’s autonomy because of the pressure of running this large software and technology company. He just comes off as this manipulative, privileged, and possessive creep who is mad his beautiful plaything is now self-aware and realizes she could do better, even if with financially less.

As for world-building and supporting cast? The Gogol world isn’t too far from our own, so no interest there. And whether we’re talking about Herb or members of Byron’s staff, they don’t chip in as much as they play expendable roles. Heck, even with Romano playing Milioti’s father, the little we see of their relationship doesn’t boost him at all. Herb could potentially be any actor and still be neither an asset nor a liability – yet.

Overall

Rating: Mixed (Stick Around)

Made For Love hopefully is a mini-series because, as talented as Milioti is, she can’t carry a show like this by herself just yet. Especially with everything riding on her since, as of the premiere, there isn’t one supporting character who presents themselves as one to watch or become curious about. If they don’t come off as minions who can disappear without notice, they are Herb who doesn’t make much of an impression since the character leans more towards being comedic than someone to take seriously.

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TV Shows We’re Covering This Season

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