Review: Jeff & Some Aliens “Jeff & Some Love”

Love, love, love, love, crazy love.

Spoilers Below

Jeff & Some Aliens continues its streak of hilarity. “Jeff & Some Love” concentrates on a running theme of Jeff’s (Brett Gelman) estranged relationship with on-again-off-again girlfriend Linda (Natalie Smyka). Jeff and Linda sit on the couch watching a black and white musical. “Can we turn this off? These old movies are like impossible for me to get,” Linda whines. Unfortunately, the aliens threaten to destroy Earth in 50 days unless Jeff can finally win Linda’s love.

While Linda and Jeff hang out frequently, Linda insists on only being friends. Jeff, in a classic move, refuses to take “let’s be friends” as honest. There are hilarious moments where Linda invites Jeff to the gym and he politely declines. “That’s the whole point of being in a relationship,” Jeff explains. “You can let yourself go and no matter what you still love each other.” In other moments of Jeff botching his romance, he offers to dinner and forgets, then decides he’d rather play video games than attend the ballet with Linda on her birthday. What’s so brilliant about these clips is that, sure, they’re exaggerated, but relationships aren’t perfect. Often they’re flawed, and about partners looking past each other’s flaws.

Unsurprisingly, there’s a fantastic twist: Jeff finally wins Linda’s love, but in order to ensure Earth isn’t blown up he must marry her. Enter alien tech. Jeff borrows love goggles to “woo” Linda. The premise is that he can steal couples’ love and put that into Linda. Unfortunately, Jeff steals the wrong type of love. He pilfers love from arguing couples, even waiting outside of a marriage counseling center. This turns Linda unstable and neurotic. One moment she’s sweet and trying to plan the perfect wedding, the next she’s hurling bottles of red wine at him.

The wedding preparation is fantastic. “What are you doing? She [Linda] hates tulips!” Jeff screams. Again, it’s exaggerated but weddings tend to be all about planning and trying to make the decorations, outfits, and setting perfect. Jeff in a moment of desperation explains that the way he knows Linda loves him is that she feels comfortable putting him down. I like this episode because it  eschews the cliche caricature of love as shown in far too many shows and movies. Is love as imperfect as in Jeff & Some Aliens? No. Neither are most humans as incompetent and bumbling as Jeff. But it’s still a pleasant reminder that love isn’t perfect, and relationships aren’t cookie cutters. It all comes full circle with the final scene, another nice touch. Jeff’s perspective on love, and comparing real life to that which he sees in film and on TV, is radically different. It’s this concept that Jeff & Some Aliens presents so masterfully as the series progresses: life is rugged and raw, not the airbrushed version on social media and on TV.