Easy

If like me and many other viewers you thought the first season fell just short of being a compelling show, here's some good news. Season 2 brings better stories and acting, while keeping the same style and great cast as the previous episodes. I'm impressed by Joe Swanberg's growth as a TV director and his capacity as a screenwriter to come up with conflicts that are consistently relatable and thought provoking. If you hated the first season though, you're probably better ignoring this one.

After binge-watching this amazing new Netflix Original in one day I was curious about peoples opinions on IMDb and was honestly pretty shocked to see the overall rating so far. First off I am not a professional writer and I don't write reviews very often, so this will just be my little, short take on the show, nothing more and nothing less.

Easy is a Romantic-Drama Anthology series (like Tales from the Crypt did with Horror, Black Mirror with Sci-Fi and so on...), which means that each episode of this show is a self-contained story. Sometimes characters from one episode will have small connections with characters from others, but except for two episodes (Which are also my favorites), the stories aren't connected to each other.

The show has comedic elements but overall I would definitely call it a drama. It is the brainchild of Indie-Filmmaker Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies, Digging for Fire). Fans of Mumblecore and artsy Rom-Coms will have a lot of fun with this little gem.

Easy aims at examining the small and big problems in modern-day love relationships and how the people involved deal with them. The writing and acting are absolutely superb, the stories engaging and realistic, the characters and their issues are very relatable and the cinematography is artistic without being pretentious. The overall style, pace and execution reminds me a lot of the even better (HBO) show "Togetherness" by the Duplass brothers. I also want to give a small shout-out to the musical score and soundtrack, great song choices!

Some of the actors in Easy are unknown and some are familiar faces, I was definitely surprised to see some A-Listers acting in here, but overall I thought that the lesser known actors fit in more with the indie-vibe the show is going for.

Not every episode blew my mind, but for the most part I absolutely loved Easy and can't wait for season 2! Highly recommended!

I don't believe I've ever reviewed an anthology-type of series, and find it challenging. Out of 25 episodes, several should have been completely left out, several more were "OK"......but not inspiring, and 4 were not only great, but exceptional. Unless you have 12-14 hours to kill and want to watch EVERYTHING.....I'm going to recommend something I never have before. Watch only the four GREAT episodes. They revolve around a couple with two children. Kyle (Michael Chernus) is a stay-at-home father, who is also a stage actor and (as yet) unsuccessful playwright. Andi (Elizabeth Reaser) is his wife, who has an apparently successful career, and is the family's breadwinner. They seem to be a happy couple, but there's trouble in paradise.

I don't want to elaborate with any spoilers, but the "problems" they experience are very typical of people in a long-term relationship, although they decide on an ATYPICAL solution, that ultimately brings even more unhappiness. (at least to one of them) The writer of this film examines many modern dilemmas of marriage, and how unexpected consequences can rear their ugly heads. The episodes I recommend are.....Season One, episode 1, Season Two, episode 2, and Season 3, episodes 1 and 5. They are about 2 1/2 hours in total, and if they were a single film, I would give them a 12 out of 10 rating. (yes, a TWELVE.....they're that good) That said, I gave the entire series a 7....meaning some episodes only earned a 4 or 5.

I can't praise Elizabeth Reaser and Michael Chernus enough!

An easy going anthology that's about the everyday lives of people in Chicago, and how they navigate relationships or the role sex (or lack thereof) plays in their lives.

I wouldn't call it particularly engaging, but I also don't know that it's meant to be. There's something comforting about the normalcy found in the diversity of situations. It's also just really nice background watching while I'm working.

The comparisons to High Maintenance are obvious so comparing them, I feel like this show could do a better job of showcasing Chicago. Chicago seems to be experiencing a bit of a renaissance lately in the arts and media, and I was hoping to see some of that here. When you watch High Maintenance you can almost smell the city, you can feel it breathe through you. I'm only a season in but I haven't really felt that yet.

I think this show is... if anything, real. The characters are genuine and dynamic - BUT! WAIT!!! They're TOO 'normal' or 'average' or dare I say "boring".... welllllll most people are a little boring. This doesn't make them any less interesting to watch, because boring doesn't mean they don't have something to say. You need to watch it for the interactions, authentic dialogue in a variety of settings and awkward situations. Such is life.

Some have said it's "boring" or "unwatchable" and there should be more "excitement" which I don't fully understand.... What do you expect from a show that focuses on relationships and the concept that "love isn't *easy*" to involve? Paternity tests? Violent murders? Dragons? There's tons of that already. This is something new: it's looking into complex relationships in a really simple and relatable way.

Also, by complex relationships I mean: feminists becoming hookers, open marriages, the-one-that-got-away appearing on the doorstep of the apartment you share with your partner, happy couples seeking a third on Tinder, affluent neighbours coming together to become Big Brother, and lots and lots and LOTS of sex) - I mean these don't sound like boring storylines to me but hey. I like it, so I'm biased.

I think it's easy to watch and it's not afraid to broach taboo subjects, like say - 'gang-bang fantasies', and maybe some don't like to see what's behind the curtain.

For someone like me who likes slow books and films that don't have you on the edge of your seat, desperate to reach the "big fight scene" - but have you there to watch, to enjoy, to think, to question.