With Love: All episodes ranked!
Here at Q+ Magazine, we can’t get enough of Amazon’s With Love. It’s a five-episode mini-series that brings diversity and the LGBTQ community to the front and center of its storytelling. We reviewed the show back when we watched it over the holiday period, but we loved it so much that we just finished our second watch party!
Because it’s only five episodes, it’s super easy to binge in one sitting (if that’s your kind of thing). As we watched this time, we decided to rank the episodes from most fave backwards. Let’s be clear, this was a pretty tough task because they’re all just so good, but we pulled up our bootstraps and got it done anyway.
Here are our fave episodes of With Love ranked in order!
1. “Independence Day” (1×04)
Despite their fallout in episode 3, as episode 4 opens Santiago (Rome Flynn) and Lily (Emeraude Toubia) are definitely over their issues and are dating. And just like that, they seem stupidly happy. Lily certainly isn’t thinking about Nick (Desmond Chiam) anymore and then she is packing and moving in with Santiago!
We love that Lily is happy and Santiago is hot but we’re definitely Team Nick in this house so we had a hard time with the beginning of this episode. One of us may have thrown a cushion at the television as they smooched their happiness all over the place.
Disharmony erupts between them when they can’t decide whose couch to take to the new apartment, and we love that for us! Then Lily learns that Santiago doesn’t ever want to get married and well, that’s kind of a deal breaker, isn’t it? Aiyo, troubled waters indeed.
Beatrice (Constance Marie) and Jorge Sr. (Benito Martinez) are in therapy and their therapist gives them a sexcapades assignment to help them progress towards fixing their sexual relationship. We’re not ageist, we promise, but it really doesn’t feel like we should be watching them feel each other up so we were supremely happy when Lily interrupted with her phone call. Phew!
We do, however, love that they fight their way through some of the issues that brought their marriage to a standstill. Yes, they fight, but it’s necessary and gets them to where they need to be in order to fix things.
Jorge (Mark Indelicato) opens a food truck and Henry (Vincent Rodriguez III) has a job interview that lands him an opportunity that requires him to move to Los Angeles. Jorge – and us – can’t believe that Henry wants to take the job and leave. What is he thinking!?
Sol (Isis King) meets Dr. Murphy’s (Todd Grinnell) genderqueer kid and things don’t go well. Sol can’t understand why the kid doesn’t want a relationship with them, considering all they have in common. It takes a good talking-to from their friends before they realize they have made way too many assumptions about Charlie (Birdie Silverstein) and takes the fact that they’re both genderqueer for granted.
This is, by far, our favorite episode of this season. All the human issues that people go through on a daily basis are expertly brought to the forefront in this episode. Sometimes it’s hard to understand why perfectly good people with perfectly good relationships can’t make things work, and episode 4 of With Love confronts this issue head-on. We were so deep in our feels after this episode that we had to order a pizza and open a bottle of wine!
2. “Día De Los Muertos” (1×05)
This episode starts and Lily is sucking face with someone new. She and Santiago definitely broke up. Lily isn’t coping with being alone again but we can’t decide if she is sad about losing Santiago, or sad about not being in a couple anymore.
Henry and Jorge moved to L.A together. They decided that they didn’t want to sacrifice their relationship so Jorge gave in and moved his entire life across state lines and down to Southern California.
Beatrice’s parents lock Jorge Sr and Beatrice in a storage shed to work out their problems. Despite all the constructive talking in episode 4, Jorge Sr decided right at the end that he couldn’t get past Beatrice’s almost-infidelity and they’re more broken than ever. While in the storage unit, Jorge Sr. has a heart attack.
Jorge tells Henry that he doesn’t love LA and wants to move back to Portland, and Henry thinks it’s a no-brainer. They decide to move back to Portland together rather than try and live separate lives. And we love this for them.
Santiago shows up to support Lily through this troubled time and they get back together. So okay, we know that we are Team Nick for the majority of the show but by the time Santiago walks out onto that rooftop to win her back, we decided that we were a-okay with them being end-game. We still harbor a very soft spot for Nick, but we get why Lily chooses Santiago instead.
We love when shows are able to change our opinions and biases like this, so this is why this is our second favorite episode of this season.
3. “Nochebuena” (1×01)
Episode 1 introduces viewers to the entire Diaz clan. Out and gay Jorge brings his boyfriend home to meet the family for the first time during the holidays. Despite being out for a while now, and the fact that his family reacted positively when he came out, Jorge is nervous about introducing Henry to everyone. What if they don’t love him, yaknow?
As he is getting to know the fam, Henry drops the bombshell that he is bisexual. Jorge holds his breath as several generations of his very Latino family sit and try to process the revelation. After an incredibly awkward explanation of bisexuality that leaves Abuelito deciding that he is a “food bisexual” the family welcomes Henry with open arms, bisexuality and all.
Lily is a mess. She recently broke up with her long-term boyfriend and her family is pressuring her to find the one. Lily definitely has some things to work out though and has a mid-episode freak out that she made the wrong choice when she broke up with her ex. She shows up at his house to serenade him into getting back with her, but things do not go according to plan. At the end of the episode Lily ends up boning Jorge’s best friend, because well, that’s the best way to deal with a messed up heart, right?
The Diaz parents are clearly having some form of silent marriage conflict. Everything looks just fine on the surface, but we know better. Lily and Jorge don’t pick up on anything though and continue to think their parents are madly in love after all these years.
It’s such a feel-good way to introduce all these really dynamic characters in all their conflicted glory. We loved everyone from the get-go, which is a pretty huge rarity for the Q+ Magazine staffers. We were invested in each and every storyline immediately and became very animated as we embarked on their journeys with them.
4. “New Year’s Eve” (1×02)
Lily and Nick are full-time bonking as episode 2 hurtles towards New Year’s Eve. They’re doing it in secret though and absolutely no one knows about it. Jorge nearly catches them in the act though and Lily decides that they should cool it. Lily clearly can’t see that she likes Nick in that way, but we think Nick already knows he is kinda in love with Lily. And let me tell you, we can definitely see that these two idiots like each other.
Sol and Dr. Murphy attempt to go out on a date but their ridiculously successful medical careers are definitely keeping them apart. They conveniently run into each other at the hospital though and do get their New Year’s Eve kiss after all. At the insistence of his dad, Santiago goes to a party on a quasi-date where he meets Lily. Santiago throws a punch in Jorge’s honor and well, dude.
Jorge wants to meet Henry’s mom much to Henry’s very clear hesitation. Jorge, Lily, and Nick accompany Henry to a work function that Henry’s company is throwing. Already freaking out about the state of their relationship, Jorge completely loses it when Henry introduces Jorge to his coworkers as his friend. Uh oh. Lily and Nick both think Jorge might be overreacting but we’re not so sure. That’s some pretty douchey behavior on Henry’s part!
Henry almost kills us though when he delivers his very finest 10 Things I Hate About You moment when he attempts to make things right with Jorge by singing to him in front of everyone at his work event. It’s cheesy, it’s corny, and we definitely watched with covered eyes, but it gets the job done. We forgive you, Henry, for all the douchebaggery that occurred throughout this episode.
Feeling down on herself, Beatrice joins a running club to boost her self-esteem and improve her physical health. She wants Jorge Sr. to join along with her, but they are clearly not on the same page with this idea. It’s a shame though because the darn running club quickly becomes a slippery slope to even more marital issues.
This was a little hard for us to watch in places because there is so much conflict spilling out everywhere. Everyone is unhappy, and that in turn makes us unhappy. This is quite literally the only reason the episode didn’t rank higher. Conflict has its necessary place in storytelling though, so we obviously understand that it was something that needed to happen. Still, pain. Lots of it.
5. “Valentine’s Day” (1×03)
By episode 3, Sol is waking up in Dr. Murphy’s bed. Sol uncovers that the Dr. has a child, which he had been keeping from them for the duration of their relationship. Sol storms out, annoyed at the revelation declaring that they need time to process the new information.
Later in the episode though, Sol learns that Dr. Murphy’s kiddo is genderqueer and this fact seems to erase any of the tension that’s between them. We love everything about this couple and we are so glad that they seem to get over their issues quickly.
Lily takes a single ladies’ solo trip to wine country on Valentine’s Day. It’s the trip she was supposed to take with her ex, where she thought he was going to propose. Jorge decides to abort his Valentine’s Day plans with his family and drags Henry to the same vineyard that Lily is at, unbeknownst to Henry that Lily is actually there.
Lily runs into Santiago while she is there and they learn pretty quickly that they are not compatible at all. Lily winds up back in her hotel room texting Nick and then Nick is at the winery and Nick confesses that his feelings for Lily are real. Lily shoots him down and we just want to smack her a bit.
Beatrice’s distraction from the running club shows up at the restaurant with a Valentine’s gift for her. The truth about her flirtations come out and Jorge Sr. loses his marbles – understandably.
A lot of things happen in this episode that leave us feeling very meh. Lily shooting Nick down, Sol and Dr. Murphy fighting, the Diaz parents coming very unstuck – it’s a lot. We absolutely adore Henry in this episode though. Who knew he was so funny? The progression of his relationship with Jorge is lovely during episode 3 though and is a nice offset to all the tension happening absolutely everywhere else.
We are absolutely in love with this show and we very much doubt this will be the last you hear from us about its glory!
With Love is available to stream right now on Amazon Video. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
