Iqra Ahmad
Based on Dolly Alderton’s bestselling memoir, Everything I Know About Love is an ode to friendships and debauchery in your 20s, as the TV series follows Maddie, Birdy, Nell and Amara navigating their post-university lives together in London.
Wildly Chaotic
The opening episode features Maggie (Emma Appleton), a fun, yet self-destructive blog-writer who has moved to Camden with her childhood best friend, Birdy (Bel Powley), and their university friends, Nell (Marli Siu) and Amara (Aliyah Odoffin). Set in 2012, the music and outfits are achingly nostalgic, as the girls indulge in messy house parties, dance routines and drinking games in their living room, while familiar songs from Rizzle Kicks and Kylie Minogue blare in the background.
As Maggie and Birdy share a hungover embrace in bed following their first night out in the glittering metropolis, their friendship feels comfortingly relatable as they remain blissfully naïve to the love, albeit in very different forms, that is waiting for them both.
Soon, Maggie finds herself no longer being Birdy’s ride-or-die, and after a successful first date with Nathan (Ryan Brown), Birdy’s priorities shift and she condescendingly remarks “you’ll understand what I mean when you have a proper relationship”, in response to the concerns of Maggie at a Queen-themed house party.
Beneath The Surface
Maggie is plunged into disrepair and struggling to spend a single night in the Camden house without her friends, she launches herself into a toxic situationship with the unsympathetic aspiring musician Street (played by Connor Finch), a welcome escape from drinking her loneliness away.
“scrambling over embarrassing moments in the corporate world and finding comfort in haphazard one-night-stands and heaving pubs.”
Although Maggie and Birdy’s turbulent friendship remains at the forefront of the series, Amara and Nell explore their own dilemmas in a similar way to Maggie, through scrambling over embarrassing moments in the corporate world and finding comfort in haphazard one-night-stands and heaving pubs.
Although Maggie is undeniably self-obsessed and her string of bad decisions is sometimes frustrating and cringeworthy, Maggie’s outrage at Birdy and Nathan is beautifully human. From furiously analysing Nathan’s hot water usage when he stays over, to gritting her teeth when Birdy repeatedly abandons the girls club nights and evenings spent watching the fictional reality show, Heirs and Graces, Maggie’s frustration invokes a sense of déjà vu for viewers, as she experiences the realistic ups and downs of female friendship.
The episodes often revisit Maggie and Birdy’s school days through flashbacks of makeovers and teenage crushes, as Maggie reminisces on the closeness of their bond before they were forced into the bleak reality of adulthood. While Maggie desperately clutches onto the memories of their long-held friendship, Birdy seems content to utterly embrace new love in her relationship, and Maggie fears that she is being left behind.
This culminates in the raw vulnerability of Episode 3, as Maggie sits in awkward silence with Birdy at a train station when they both return to their hometown for the weekend, unable to make conversation beyond the weather.
Platonic Love
Despite highlighting the immense heartache that arises when dynamics between friends inevitably change, the series is a must-watch for anyone feeling lost and panicked in their 20s, through its heartwarming portrayal of first loves, first jobs and the joyful experience of moving out for the first time with friends.
“soulmates are not strictly reserved for romantic relationships”
The show not only celebrates the intimate connections forged between friends but also suggests that soulmates are not strictly reserved for romantic relationships. As the women link arms reassuringly and repeatedly confide in one another, the series exhibits how love can be found in many different places.
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