Who Should ‘Love Life’s Darby End Up With?
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 1 of Love Life.]
HBO Max subscribers are falling for Love Life, the platform’s flagship original series starring Anna Kendrick.
Ordered as an anthology series, Season 1 follows the romantic relationships in Darby’s (Kendrick) life as she experiences the joys and heartbreak that are synonymous with love. Set in New York City, each episode tackles a new chapter in Darby’s relationship history.
Created by Sam Boyd, the show tackles the highs and lows that come with long-term commitment and short-term flings all of which Darby experiences as she tries to find herself in the Big Apple.
In the first episodes that arrived with the launch of HBO Max, viewers were given a glimpse of Darby’s future as she struts down the street, pregnant and toting groceries. “It will all happen for her,” the shows narrator teases about the fate of Darby’s love life, “just not the way she thinks it will.”
If this isn’t enough to pique your interest, viewers have been introduced to very different men in her life, exploring the lengthy and brief times spent together. Each episode, we’ve examined which romantic interest in Darby’s life has the most potential as “the one,” ranking them from least likely to most likely.
See how Darby’s suitors stack-up, learn who “the one” is, and let us know what you think in the comments below.
Love Life, Streaming now, HBO Max
5. Magnus Lund (Nick Thune)
Popping up in Episode 4, Darby’s time spent with Magnus starts out promising as he offers a relaxed approach to life, traveling upstate for the day with her and showing off his cooking skills with culinary gigs. Things turn sour when Darby discovers that he’s been lying about things when it comes to his financial stability as he’s in severe credit card debt.
When viewers think she may be through with him, they learn in Episode 6 that they ended up marrying. But it doesn’t take long for their life together to grow difficult as he pursues a wrongful termination lawsuit at his former job, and this eventually leads Darby to dump him, deciding to chase happiness rather than stay in a miserable situation. While we can’t picture her ever returning to that relationship, we’d defintiely be disappointed if Darby ends up with Magnus.
4. Danny Two Phones (Gus Halper)
After meeting Danny at a rooftop party, Darby explores the “one night stand” concept, but it means more for him as he opens up about his own love life. When he tells Darby that he hadn’t been with anyone since he broke up with his last long-term girlfriend three years prior. Needless to say, he’s immediately smitten and she can’t bolt fast enough, fabricating a story about having to move away for a new job as an excuse to not see each other again. Before coming up with the lie though, Darby did share that she had been working at the Whitney Museum. Curious, Danny visits the establishment and runs into her, learning quickly that he’d been played.
While he calls her out, he does leave her alone, but not before making the argument that he’s a person and more than just an object. Even though Danny was sweet, he seems more like a learning experience than an endgame type of guy for Darby. Who knows though, perhaps he could end up being her unlikely soulmate?
3. Luke Ducharme (John Gallagher Jr.)
In Episode 5, viewers are given a glimpse into Darby’s past when she attended a boarding school during her teen years. There, she met Luke Ducharme who toyed with her emotions after connecting during a Thanksgiving break where they both stayed on campus. Desperate for attention after he begins ignoring her, Darby throws herself at him but it backfires. When she returns to her room one night, she discovers he’s been with her roommate and it leads her to falsely claim she has cancer.
Needless to say, once Darby has left the school after her blunder, she holds that embarrassment and it impacts her relationships. After going through therapy, she’s finally able to accept things, and when Luke resurfaces to catch up and apologize for his behavior, we can’t help but admire his evolution and growth. His genuineness even leads Darby to stray from Magnus and realize she deserves better. While we don’t see her necessarily winding up with Luke, he’s a far better possibility than others considering his and Darby’s shared past.
2. Bradley Field (Scoot McNairy)
History played a role in Bradley and Darby’s relationship as she used to work giving tours in art museums and galleries which he supervised. Their rapport in the first episode implied that they shared an easy and simple connection, but it wasn’t romantic then as Darby attended his wedding to Kate (Maureen Sebastian) in the premiere episode with her boyfriend at the time, Augie (Jin Ha). In Episode 2 though, things sparked when she delivered a box of goods from his old office. Ultimately, a collection of issues resulted in their break-up. It was apparent that they were part of two very different social circles and it caused understandable tension as the romance progressed.
Things came to a head though when Darby attended the wake for Bradley’s father who he hadn’t spoken to in a while. Trying to comfort him and be helpful, she was ignored and felt unappreciated next to Kate who, despite being divorced from Bradley, showed up at the event. As a result, Darby proceeded to get drunk at the wake and the pair decided it was best to part ways. While their shared experiences make Bradley a more likely option than some, it’s more likely than not he and Darby won’t end up together.
2. Augie Jeong (Jin Ha)
Darby’s first relationship in the show begins when she meets Augie in a karaoke room and they sing a duet together. From there on out it’s bliss as they pair enjoy their time together and it’s obvious that Darby is in love. Things come to a halt though when Augie reveals he’s been given a career opportunity to follow Barack Obama on the campaign trail in 2012 and he plans to stay in Washington D.C. when the campaign concludes. Agreeing to see where things go without forcing long distance, the pair part ways as Augie boards a coach bus to begin his assignment.
While it’s heartbreaking, there’s some hope that the pair will revisit their romance in the future. This is supported when Augie pops back up in scenes following the premiere. Despite moving back to New York and planning a cross-country road trip with his new girlfriend, the narrator implies that the perfect relationship Augie’s new girl is portraying on social media is far from the case in reality. As Darby bumps into the couple at a local coffee shop, the tension between Augie and his girlfriend is apparent which makes us believe that it’s not the end for his and Darby’s story.
And we weren’t wrong because a friendsgiving gathering years later reignites their romance. While things are like old times for a while, the pair eventually decide that they’re better as friends. But when Darby discovers she’s pregnant, we can’t help but love that this duo will remain in each others lives once their son Theo arrives. Whether they’re a couple or not, they make a great team and it’s clear they’ll remain as such despite the lack of romance.
1. Grant (Kingsley Ben-Adir)
Darby’s person arrives in the final chapter of her Love Life tale, and while Grant doesn’t make the grandest impression, he makes enough of a dent for viewers to believe she’s met her match. Their automatic chemistry and the narrator’s promise that this is “the one” for Darby provides a comforting sense of relief that viewers don’t have to worry about her. Subverting rom-com expectations, Grant is the real-world answer to a usually cliche genre.
