Made for Love

TV review by Martin Brown, Common Sense Media
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Common Sense says

age 17+

Accessible sci-fi comedy has sex, profanity, violence.

HBO Max Comedy 2021
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age 14+

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.

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What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Made for Love is a sci-fi comedy about Hazel (Cristin Milioti), who unknowingly has a microchip implanted in her brain by her husband. This microchip allows her husband, who is the head of a giant tech company, to see her thoughts and follow the world through her eyes. The show is a puzzle box show, like The Good Place or Westworld, where the details of the story and the relationships are withheld and the story jumps around in time, from Hazel's childhood to the present to the recent past. Sex is a major plot point, and simulated sex and simulated masturbation are both shown multiple times. Some female nudity is shown, and sex is discussed in graphic terms throughout the series. One character is in a sexual relationship with a synthetic doll, another way that the series explores the relationship between sex and technology. The series also features stylized violence, heavy profanity including "f--k," "s--t," and "d--k," and alcohol and marijuana use.

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What's the Story?

Made for Love follows Hazel Green (Cristin Milioti, Palm Springs) as she tries to escape from her husband, Byron (Billy Magnussen). Byron is the CEO for giant technology company, Gogol, and Hazel hasn't left the Gogol compound since the day she and Byron met. But Byron has been using experimental technology to monitor her emotions, including putting a microchip in her skull without her knowledge. Despite Byron's ability to track and watch her, Hazel enlists help from her estranged father (Ray Romano) to begin a new life.

Is It Any Good?

The delightful Made for Love solves the pervasive "overwrought sci-fi puzzle box show" problem by, first of all, being a comedy. One of the things that drags so many of these shows down, from Lost to Westworld to Devs, is that they collapse under the weight of their mysteries, stretching stories out as much as possible before providing answers, or plot development, or character development. This series, however, moves with a pace and lightness that tends to be missing from the Westworlds of the world.

Secondly, it's more interested in its characters than in mysteries. It does have a labyrinthine plot that loops back and forth in time and involves complex technology and plot twists, but it doesn't rely on an audience's need to decipher it. The jumps in time are clear and instinctual, while the technology is easy to wrap your head around. That should give viewers plenty of bandwidth to sit back and enjoy the incredible cast, which includes the always delightful Ray Romano and just-creepy-enough Billy Magnussen, but is truly carried by Milioti, who is easily one of the most enjoyable actors working right now.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about science fiction and technology. Do you think any of our current technology could be used for evil in the future? What about for good?

  • What do we know about Byron's company, Gogol? What role does Gogol play in Byron and Hazel's relationship?

TV Details

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