Reviews have been admittedly mixed for Netflix’s newest original series Love.

The show’s casting and presence of 1x Judd Apatow on the creators list looked so promising that the series was always going to trip and stumble as soon as the entire first season became available for our binge watching pleasure just after Valentines Day this February. But binge watch, we did, and we have found many an admirable quality in the series. To name a few…

1) Gillian Jacobs – Better known to most of us as Community’s Britta Perry, Jacobs  inhabits an only moderately less neurotic character in Mickey Dobbs but she’s got that shtick on lock. Mickey is infinitely more self-loathing than the completely clueless Britta and her disdain for herself leaks out of her every perfectly refined pore. It’s masterfully executed and brutally painful to watch.

2) Jordan Rock – Chris’ younger brother shines as an ambitious slacker on set the fictional TV show Wichitah. He’s a rock for a new generation of comedy lovers, unfamiliar with Chris’ command of blockbusters of old.

3) Claudia O’Doherty– Another Aussie, another absolute show stealer! You may have noticed her sly Aussie accent in Inside Amy Schumer recently. She is a writer for the show and was discovered after Bill Hader sent Schumer her Channel 4 Webisodes (suss them here).  O’Doherty’s been on the stand up circuit in our fair country for years but her weirdness truly shines in the presence of some knobby Los Angelites.

4) Things are not as they appear- LOVE feels initially like it’s playing into a nerd wins the girl stereotype before slowly and deliberately picking it apart. Its two leads, despite all initial appearances, aren’t a ‘sensitive nice guy’ or a ‘callous hot girl’ , they are infinitely more complex archetypes. They have been lumped into the hip surrounds of LA’s Echo Park and provided with the cool cliche jobs as per usual but their interactions with one another while navigating desperate 30-something relationships play out in a new and engrossing manner.

LOVE is streaming in full now on Netflix Australia.