ADVANCE REVIEW: With Love is the Warm Cup of Cocoa We Needed this Holiday Season
The Holiday Season is filled with Holiday movie/series after Holiday movie/series focusing on finding love during the season. Most of these Holiday movies/series are overly cheesy, over the top in all the best ways, and filled with 99% positivity. Now, Prime Video is getting into the Holiday game with its new original series, With Love, and creator Gloria Calderón Kellett is taking an unusual approach to her new series.
With Love follows the Diaz siblings, Lily (Emeraude Toubia) and Jorge Jr. (Mark Indelicato) as they try to find their “love” and their “purpose” in life. The five episode series doesn’t just focus on the Winter Holiday season, but each episode is dedicated to a different Holiday throughout the year. Though not entirely set in the typical Holiday season, I loved the format. Calderón Kellett showed that love doesn’t just stop on Christmas, but it transcends throughout the year. It is something that takes handwork to maintain, in Jorge Jr.’s case, and something that is not easily attained, in Lily’s case. Calderón Kellett showcases this beautifully while never losing the laughs.
The other thing I loved about this series, is that it is advertised as a romantic comedy, but it is so much more than that. It is about the Diaz family. It is about the relationships within the family and that there is more than just the “romantic” relationship that is affected during the Holiday season. Each member of this family goes through some sort of conflict within the five episodes that the audience will have no problem relating to. Calderón Kellett knew what she was doing when she created this series and she nailed it with every episode.
Toubia and Indelicato lead the series’ great cast of characters, and are a dream on screen together. Sure everyone loves a good romantic relationship, but it is their relationship that stole the show for me. These two performers have a bond that is extremely strong and really resonates on screen. The duo is joined by Rome Flynn as Santiago Zayas, Desmond Chiam as Nick Zhao, Vincent Rodriguez III as Henry Cruz, Isis King as Sol Perez, Todd Grinnell as Dr. Miles Murphy, Constance Marie as Beatriz Diaz, and Benito Martinez Jorge Diaz Sr and their is not a weak one in the bunch. No matter if these characters are interacting with each other or by themselves, you are in for a great time.
With Love is the perfect series to watch by yourself, with family, or with your friends this Holiday season. It is the warm cup of hot cocoa we all needed after this past rollercoaster of a year, so grab a mug, cozy up and watch this series on Prime Video.