Summary
“The Night Girl Finds a Day Boy” brings the romance back to New York in a modern, albeit flawed, fairy tale that’s enjoyable but ultimately short on time.
This recap of Amazon Original Modern Love season 2, episode 2, “The Night Girl Finds a Day Boy,” contains spoilers.
In the second episode of Modern Love’s second season, the idea of timeless love is taken to a whole new level when two literal star-crossed singles fall in love.
As the title suggests, in “The Night Girl Finds a Day Boy” the main characters, Jordan and Zoe, are two people who just can’t seem to get on the same page. Jordan is a teacher, whose students keep him occupied by day, while Zoe suffers from a rare medical condition that forces her to be a nightcrawler.
At first, the honeymoon phase distracts them from the natural complexities that each of their lifestyles present, but as time passes they soon come to realize that they may not be right for each other after all.
Now, this episode isn’t perfect. While I think the story is told well within its 34 minute length, it is unevenly paced at times. More specifically, when a conflict arises between the two characters it feels rushed.
One of the things I did like about this episode, however, was that it takes the idea of making time for the one you love to the extreme. Here you have two people who clearly want to be with each other, but for factors beyond their control they can’t. This is the first episode this season which rezones the action back to the Big Apple. Being a New Yorker myself, I thought its depiction of city life both at day and night was spot-on. Even though there’s so much more to do in broad daylight, it’s hard to defeat the crowds. And even though there are less people at night, there’s never anything fun to do.
Despite being based on a real story though, this episode is reminiscent of a classic fairy tale — which I appreciated. Not every romance story is one for the books though. However, I really admired the way that this one was handled. I won’t spoil how it ends, but I will say that, unlike most fairy tales, there is no external villain. I know I mentioned earlier that factors beyond their control prevent them from getting closer, but the biggest antagonist here is compromise. And if you’ve ever had to give anything up for someone you loved then this one will certainly resonate with you.
What did you think of Modern Love season 2, episode 2, “The Night Girl Finds a Day Boy,”? Comment below.
