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It's Complicated

Not the movie and Not The Bear.


From Scratch


Before I get into how I felt about this show let’s start with what this show was about. From Scratch starred Zoe Saldana as Amy and Eugenio Mastrandrea as Lino who meet while Amy is studying abroad in Italy. Lino is a cook in a fancy-shmancy restaurant. Like most rom-coms, Lino and Amy don’t really get along at first. Amy has a very close knit family and Lino doesn’t talk to his family because of some cultural drama. By the end of the first episode Lino and Amy fall in love, but it’s time for Amy to head back to America (Los Angeles) because her program has ended. Amy insists that Lino come home with her to live their lives together in America. Guess what happens.


Amy and Lino get married. She gets a job at an art gallery but switches to work for a non-profit kids art center (thing?). Lino however is MISERABLE. He hates America, not because he misses home but because he misses being able to do what he was born to do . . . cook. He works at a restaurant that is supposedly authentic Italian. But there is authentic Italian cuisine and then there is American-authentic Italian cuisine - and he can’t even cook there; he’s just a waiter. One day Lino, completely depressed, insists that he and Amy use all of their life savings to buy a restaurant. They do and it’s a big success, until one day Lino starts to feel pain in his knee and Amy takes him to the hospital to get it checked out.


Lino gets diagnosed with cancer and that is what most of the show is about. Amy and Lino eventually become parents. Lino reconciles with his family and they manage life as best they can.


This is where I’ll stop because I have a lot to say; I don’t want to give away too much; and I haven’t finished yet.


Review


Oh, boy - this show. First of all, for something that supposedly centers around cooking there isn’t a lot of cooking. Don’t get me wrong when there is food, it looks amazing. But the story is about Lino and Amy’s relationship. Something you should know about me is that usually I’m not the kind of person who roots for the main couple on a television series or movie. For example, I preferred Schmidt and Cece to Jess and Nick; I liked Barney and Robin to Robin and Ted or Marshall and Lily; and I liked Howard and Bernadette to Penny and Leonard or Sheldon and Amy. That’s not to say I didn’t like those couples, but they weren’t the primary reason I was watching the show. In this case, I DID NOT like Lino and Amy. I think they were the most self-absorbed couple in the history of television.


Usually, couples like these are supposed to be extremely family oriented and compassionate. I got the feeling that when they were putting together this show the writers made an effort to tell the audience that these were kind people through the character description as opposed to giving us examples. I think of this as lazy writing. I think the writers had the philosophy that audiences are smarter than they seem and while that can be true we’re also human. I get tired. I want you to explain things to me like I’m five, sometimes I need people to give me the answer because right now all I’m left with is wondering how I’m supposed to feel about these people. I’ll further explain when I get to my favorite part of the show.


An example of lazy writing that almost made me quit this show entirely was this: Amy’s sister, Zora, is literally seconds away from walking down the aisle (for her own wedding) and Lino walks up to Amy and says that the girl who’s baby they are adopting is going into labor and they need to leave now. Zora insists that they go, in fact the whole family says to go. But here’s my thing, WHO THOUGHT OF THIS. I get it they’re supposed to have a crazy love story to last for generations but come on. Zora is clearly devastated, she has done so much for her sister and Amy (the maid of honor) has to leave to get her baby. Another reason I don’t like Amy and Lino is this (not lazy writing, but just a terrible person). In the same episode a scene later, Amy and Lino are at the hospital about to meet their baby. But there is a policy with the adoption agency you must meet the mother before you meet the baby not so that the mom can go back on her word but so that she can really meet the couple that are going to be taking care of her baby. Amy and Lino meet this 20 year old college student. Amy and Lino are about to leave and the girl mentions that the baby looks like her grandmother and that her name was/is (can’t remember if the grandma was dead or alive) Rose. Instead of saying ‘Rose is a lovely name’ or ‘I think we should name her Rose.’ Amy says ‘we were gonna name her Idalia (Italia?), but Rose would be a good middle name.’ I’m sorry - she is giving up her baby for you. I’m not saying they should raise the baby as this girl feels that she should be raised, but have some compassion this is a hard day for her no matter how old she is.


Ok, I’m done ranting. Let’s get to the reason why I titled this article ‘It’s Complicated.’ As I have previously stated, I haven’t finished the show yet. I have one episode left and while I have a good idea of what is going to happen I just want to make one thing clear. I really did like this show. Even though Lino and Amy (more, specifically Amy) weren’t my cup of tea and the writing wasn’t superb, they did have their moments. In the second to last episode (the last episode I watched as of this blog posting and without giving away any spoilers) Amy and Lino have a very sweet moment where they are talking about how much their relationship means to each other and how grateful they are to have each other in their lives, I almost lost it emotionally. There are moments in movies and television where I can feel myself welling up. This was one of those moments. I think 5 more minutes of them being all lovey-dovey I would’ve started crying and my parents would’ve asked if I was ok.


Unsung Hero


For all the sh*t, I just gave Lino and Amy there is someone I have adored every time they were on camera or even mentioned, ZORA. Amy’s sister is by far the best character in the show. I consider her overlooked by her divorced parents, her mother-in-law, her sister, her friends, Lino, the writers, etc. She is the smartest character in the show.


For example: before Lino gets diagnosed with cancer Amy and Zora get into a fight because Zora wanted a little bit of the attention that their parents give Amy. Zora exclaims incredibly frustrated how much she gave up for her sister throughout the years. And even when Amy and Lino came back to the US after leaving Italy, Zora was the one who gave them a place to stay. She made me realize something the moment she explained it to Amy. Zora says that she let Amy bring an unknown man whom Amy had just met, live in her (Zora’s) apartment. At that moment, I was like ‘oh my gosh how did I not realize that Lino could’ve been a serial killer or something.’ But after this fight takes place Lino is diagnosed and that fight is subsided. There is a flashback scene where Amy sees Lino standing outside of her apartment building in Italy in the rain at night. The flashback is supposed to be romantic, but I just laughed because it made me think of Zora’s speech and I thought ‘that’s the moment you would realize this person is going to kill me.’


I know this sounds like I hated the show but I really didn't. That's why the title of this post fits so well. It’s the reason I’m writing this to begin with. We all have those shows that we watch even though the characters make terrible decisions episode after episode, season after season. It’s exhausting but we do it every single day.




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