Has a conversation with Mom about your love life ever felt like an enhanced interrogation? Almost as if she has a car battery hooked up to your nipples?
No? Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but bizarre hyperbole is the foundation on which Man Seeking Woman is built. Throughout the show, Josh Greenberg, played by Jay Baruchel, finds himself on a date with a literal troll from the Scandinavian forest, in a war room trying to craft the perfect text and in a casket faking his own death just to avoid breaking up with his girlfriend.
With the support of Eric André and Britt Lower as Greenberg’s friend and sister respectively, Greenberg navigates the absurd modern dating culture of New York City ranging from dating apps and booty calls to wannabe match makers and a partner’s judgmental friends.
The show has been a hidden gem since it first premiered January 2015, and it’s powering through its third season with no signs of slowing down. The show breaks rules normally found in sitcoms, delving into the land of make-believe to highlight the realities of modern dating — and with Baruchel’s character switching from girlfriend to girlfriend, there is no shortage of situations for the writers to use as plot points.
The uniqueness of Man Seeking Woman comes undoubtedly from its surreal events, playing up the drama and emotion of moments like cleaning your ex’s stuff out of your apartment and having dinner with your parents and your partner. The show’s ability to capture awkward moments is also a hallmark, rivaling the cringe-worthy, strange moments of The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Perhaps the greatest embodiment of these two aspects is the scene when Greenberg strikes up an uncomfortable conversation with a girl on the subway. They talk about the weather and mutual acquaintances, and he gets her number when he asks her to go to dinner. As Greenberg gets off the subway, he receives a phone call from the MacArthur Foundation to ask how he started the conversation, and then President Obama calls him to offer his congratulations.
The show heightens the feeling of successfully getting someone’s number and illustrates it with preposterous events reflecting Greenberg’s inner mood and emotions. This blending of fiction and reality is a unique and effective way to demonstrate the highs and lows of modern dating through extraordinary circumstances, and it is where the show truly distinguishes itself.
Surrealism doesn’t have much of a foothold in modern television, but Man Seeking Woman shows us what we could be missing. The absurdities the show presents heighten moments we are all at least somewhat familiar with, so why don’t we see this concept elsewhere? Too many shows are grounded by the rules of reality as we know it — hopefully Man Seeking Woman will be looked at in antiquity as ahead of its time.
