You & Me

Yes, this has been billed as something it wasn't. I went into it thinking light-hearted dramedy but soon realised that is not what it is. Should the rating be punished for this error? No. A bittersweet tale of lives connecting in the aftermath of grief? Yes. It is a well-written drama highlighting love and loss at an age where many of their peers have yet to experience, to their fortune, what that means. The 1* does not reflect the show, only what the reviewer's little expectation was based on a marketing tagline. I accidentally stumbled upon this and found a cleverly written contemporary human drama.

This is described as a "romantic comedy drama" and that's the first problem: how can you make a "romantic comedy drama" in which there is the sort of tragedy that occurs in the first episode?

The second problem is that, given the tragedy, this feels very light. As if it's afraid to take the audience down too far because what it really wants to do -- eventually -- is to lift the audience up. So, although Harry appears to experience a tragedy, it doesn't seem like he is really feeling it. Perhaps part of this is that Harry Lawtey is miscast as Ben? But I think the shallow script is really the source of the problem. And the way this is antiseptically shot, feels like the intention is to push the audience out rather than draw the audience in.

By the end of the first episode, I still really didn't care about Ben and so decided not to watch the final two episodes. Not even the introduction of Jessica Barden's character, Emma, could entice me.

As others, I have lost a close family member at a young age and I think the writing captures the feeling of grief & loss accurately.

Overall the acting was ok with all parents and Jess giving the best performance.

I also like the characters of all parents.

I did want to shake the Ben character out of his hole of self pity & martyrdom so the kids had some happiness surrounding them. Loved the Jess character as vibrant & full of energy but found the Emma.character too childlike in both appearance & manner. Possibly a casting issue but may have worked with more suitable make up, wardrobe and direction .

The strongest thing about 'You & Me' was the cast, with three very strong lead performances and good supporting actors throughout. This is a romantic drama rather than a Romcom, more 'Love Story' than 'When Harry Met Sally'.

The production values were good and it was well made all round, the only niggle was the synth soundtrack which felt a bit tacked on and added nothing.

I liked the story which had great twists and turns and was told in two timeframes, the present and flashbacks working up to the present. I think if the story had been told as it happened it might have worked even better.

The script was good, occasionally a bit theatrical but it worked and it was well-paced. If you enjoy romantic dramas give it a go, its a good watch, its upbeat and the three episodes fly by.

It gets going straight away and brings so much emotion in the highs and lows of the story. There is nothing worse than drama that is slow to get going and only gets interesting in the last episode but this isn't one of them. In the first episode you get to experience so much of the characters happiness, struggles and turmoil. The actors were all very good and a pleasure to watch. I had to watch all 3 episodes one after another as I was so interested in the story and what would happen next. I'd say the only downside was I wish there was at least 1 more episode as I was so invested in the story but I'd probably of said the if there was 4 episodes as you never want something that good to end.

All in all it the best thing I've watched in a long time, the actors were good and well cast, and the drama itself is well produced, that's why it's a 10/10 review from me.