HBO’s comedy I Love LA skewers the worst of Hollywood with its cringingly accurate portrayal of narcissistic influencers and the economy that keeps them going. But rather than being pure workplace parody like Veep or Succession, I Love LA hews closer to Girls or Entourage, grounding plot lines in the emotional lives of its core characters, who fight, break up and make up over the course of the first eight episodes.
The series has already been renewed for a second season, to premiere at a date TBD, but in the meantime, here’s how things stand with the main ensemble, in case you missed the season one finale, “I Love NY,” or, like a true zillennial, spent the runtime looking at your phone…
What’s going on with Maia and Dylan?
At the end of episode seven, nice-guy teacher Dylan (Josh Hutcherson) asked protagonist Maia (Rachel Sennott) for a break. When episode eight opens, Maia is stomping around NYC’s Chinatown, eager to find a pretext for breaking no-contact. When her text check-in gets nothing but a thumbs-up from Dylan, she sends Charlie (Jordan Firstman) to check on him. They have a heart-to-heart, and it seems like Dylan will be open to taking Maia back when she returns to Los Angeles or gives him a call.
However, when Dylan sees Maia call Charlie in a panic about work, he realises that he will never be her priority, and the next time we see him, he’s ignoring Maia’s call and waking up in his fellow teacher Claire’s bed, about to have the low-key Saturday he’s always dreamed of.
Dylan is sus for this. Maia is on a work trip. Why shouldn’t she call Charlie? She already broke their “seven days, no contact” agreement once; is she supposed to magically know Dylan wants her to break it again? He could’ve called her. And actually, she does call him, but not only does he ignore her, he’s in bed with someone else. Boooo Dylan. Tomato, tomato.
Does Maia sleep with Ben?
In episode six, Maia ran into her hot, older, definitely toxic (and married) ex-boss, Ben (Colin Woodell), and fantasised about having sex with him, which he implied could happen when she came to New York. In the finale, Maia sees Ben again at a restaurant, and he gives her use of his credit card and promises to come by her hotel the next day to pick it up (and for sex). This being her “break” from Dylan, Maia is eager to make it happen.
Dressed in one of Tallulah’s outfits, Maia eagerly greets Ben eagerly, but he only wants to watch her masturbate using his spit, a power play. Then he makes her a job offer for $380,000; the offer is real but comes with strings attached. Ben enjoys having control over Maia, and she tells Charlie she’s not comfortable working for that kind of man but feels weird turning down the money and the opportunities that a big company would bring her client, Tallulah (Odessa A’zion). (While quitting her job in the previous episode, Maia did say she would “always” do what’s best for her client.) Charlie advises her to lie to Tallulah about the job, which Maia does, claiming she turned it down because Ben wouldn’t let her keep Tallulah as a client.
What happens with the all-important Forme Dinner?
The reason they’re in New York in the first place is to attend the much-discussed Forme Dinner, hosted and styled by Antoine (Tim Baltz), who has chosen for Tallulah a black gown with zero personality. With Maia distracted by her relationship, Tallulah tries to talk Antoine into something with more pop, but he reserves those looks for models, telling her, “You post your fun videos, you get drunk, you steal things, that is who you are!” True to that description, she steals a better dress.
The next morning Maia and Tallulah wake up to discover that they have drunkenly gotten matching back tattoos that say “The Nightmare Before Business,” which are raw and bloody. They must swap the dresses, as the boring one will cover the tat and the stolen one will reveal it, but Maia agrees that it’s not right for the event and calls Charlie to bring a better outfit, which he does in the nick of time.
The final challenge is that their neighbourhood traffic is gridlocked due to police presence in the area. The episode ends with Tallulah and Maia riding the subway to dinner.
What about Alani and Charlie?
The final two members of the clique get fun, wholesome adventures. Dispatched to check in on Dylan, Charlie realises he misses his ex Andrew, whom he later sees in New York after delivering Tallulah’s outfit.
Alani (True Whitaker) gets one of her signature one-liners, explaining that little fish grow in big ponds, and, “That’s why I’m so tall. Because my house is so big.” She decides to surprise her parents at home, but gets surprised herself when she finds her father’s side chick in the shower. She’s devastated that her parents’ marriage, the one that made her believe in true love, is falling apart… then thrilled to discover that this woman is actually just her dad’s longtime stalker! Yes, the woman stabs him in the arm, but it’s nothing the paramedics can’t fix, and love is real after all. Even in New York.
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR US.
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