With Season 1 of Starstruck, comedian and creator Rose Matafeo (along with co-writer Alice Snedden) effectively breathed new life into the rom-com, infusing it with the kind of modern-day sensibilities that allowed a fantastical trope (an ordinary person falling in love with a celebrity) to play out in the most realistic as well as utterly chaotic of circumstances. Since the very first episode, the evolving romance between New Zealander Jessie (played by Matafeo herself) and A-lister movie star Tom Kapoor (a devastatingly charming Nikesh Patel) has never been without its ups and downs, and both halves of the prospective couple always seemed to be operating exactly left-of-center of one another, never existing in a perfectly aligned place that would finally allow them to try and make things work. The first season of the series (a BBC production that airs on HBO Max across the pond) culminated with Jessie deciding not to go back to New Zealand, instead making the daring leap to stay in London and choose the possibility of an actual relationship with Tom — and as Season 2 soon reveals, what comes after the seemingly perfect rom-com ending, after the credits roll, can often be just as complicated to navigate.
In other words, Season 2 of Starstruck picks up right where the last left off, rejoining Jessie and Tom as they silently sit on the bus side-by-side — and the scenes that result afterward are as tumultuous, emotions-wise, as we've come to expect from this screwball comedy show. Jessie's experiencing a whole range of different feelings about making the impulsive choice not to go to New Zealand after all — and dreading the reaction she'll get from her mom, who has already gone to the trouble of changing the bedsheets in her room back home. But more immediately, the first episode starts off with Jessie and Tom — but maybe Jessie a little moreso — trying to preserve the good mood between them, at least before they have to go back to her apartment and answer to Jessie's very surprised bestie and roommate Kate (Emma Sidi), or Tom's agent Cath (Minnie Driver), or anyone who could serve to inject just enough of a dose of reality into their happy, romantic bubble. Dragging Tom around the city in pursuit of various activities, like caricature portraits at the park or a loud gaming arcade, seems like a fun idea on the surface, but what it's really doing is only prolonging the inevitable.
Therein lies the brilliance of what Starstruck is capable of pulling off — the continuing evolution of a love story between two imperfect people, even if neither of them is that capable of recognizing their own flaws quite yet. Jessie, whether she realizes it or not, still feels somewhat out-of-place in Tom's world, evidenced by the episode titled "Homecoming" when she arrives at a New Year's Eve party being thrown at his new flat dressed in a tux that has other guests frequently confusing her for a waiter. At least one interaction with an unexpected arrival to the party sends her in search of a more recreational means of enjoying herself, but it also concludes in her butting heads with Tom for a night that ends in a very different way than the NYE where their paths first crossed. The two quickly and very sweetly make up with one another the next morning — while finally, officially declaring their relationship status — but it's one moment that effectively illustrates the areas in which the occupational and lifestyle divides between them could be trickier to surmount than they initially thought.
What Starstruck does so well, though, is illustrating the tangle of unspoken truths in a new romance that haven't yet had the chance to rise to the surface — either because they're more subconscious or being purposefully buried in favor of focusing on the reassurance of physical affection or talks that never delve into those deeper subjects. Yet even while they're definitively trying to give this relationship thing a shot, Jessie and Tom both seem to be aware of the fact that it's not sustainable in its current form —not unless each of them is willing to meet the other where they are, acknowledging their own shortcomings rather than getting defensive and shutting down the conversation before it can become too real.
So much of this skill at emotionally threading the needle between comedy and drama rests on Matafeo's shoulders, given that Jessie is more likely to attempt a joke in order to keep Tom at arm's length rather than letting herself be truly vulnerable in front of him, but the comedian and actress knows exactly how to introduce her character's defining messiness in a way that makes her equal parts endearing and infuriatingly understandable. Even while you might want to reach through your screen and shake Jessie for finding yet another way to screw things up, you're also entirely cognizant of the reasons why she can't seem to help putting her foot in her mouth at the worst possible moment.
It doesn't help that Season 2 also introduces a ghost from her past in the form of her ex-boyfriend, Ben, who attempts to re-establish ties by inviting her to his grandmother's funeral — only it turns out to be the grandma that actively had it out for her, as Jessie discovers all too late. "He's catfished me with a dead grandmother!" she declares mid-funeral, to the annoyance of other attendees. Nan-related schemes aside, it's Ben's re-emergence that drives Jessie to reach for her tried-and-true methods of self-destruction, as she's tempted to reach for the comfort of an old relationship over the new and terrifying one. But as her convenient lies of omission to Tom start to stack up on one another, it becomes painfully obvious that there's only one possible outcome for them, and the only question that remains is when they'll all come crashing down on her.
Meanwhile, Tom Kapoor represents the steadier romantic presence this season, a patient constant when it comes to trying to understand Jessie and why she can't seem to help but sabotage everything good in her life; the conflicts he's facing are all a result of external forces, including the increasingly aggravating director of his latest project (Russell Tovey) but also the members of his immediate family, who definitely don't treat him as any more special or different solely because he's a movie star. Tom's fully prepared to commit himself to what he and Jessie have, but he's definitely feeling much more uncertain when it comes to his career prospects and what to do in terms of next moves. As his director points out, his last several films have all been undeniable flops, so maybe it's time to try on a different role for size. Tom's is a storyline that plays in the background of the overarching romance, but the reason it's so relatable is because of what it represents when it's distilled down to its basic elements: who among us hasn't been at a crossroads in our professional lives, and what will it take to make us take that first step into the unknown?
In only the span of six episodes (12 overall if you count Season 1 too), Starstruck has achieved what it takes other shows countless seasons to nail. Sometimes a romantic gesture can be big and splashy, and other times it looks more like deciding not to get off the bus, but what happens after that? Love is sweeping and orchestral in concept, but a lot trickier in everyday practice, and if Season 1 served as the journey to a happily-ever-after, Season 2 represents the effort that comes from making a relationship work — in all its wonderful, hilarious, exposed, messy, clashing, and ultimately rewarding forms. Once the last episode's end credits roll this time around, you'll be reminded of exactly why you fell in love with Starstruck in the first place, too.
Rating: A+
Starstruck Season 2 premieres Thursday, March 24, with all six episodes debuting on HBO Max.