心向快乐第一季

标题来自于Mae在她现实中的stand up comedy opening中最喜欢说的一句话，很可爱也很讽刺。

剧情本身就是女同爱上直女之后的爱恨纠缠，剧情以外有趣的东西可就太多了。

Childhood matters (Google Scholar)

Mae在表演中“吐槽”过很多次她的家庭，让我印象比较深的一个是她模仿她妈妈（为什么不能添加视频烦）

她和她妈妈聊天说觉得自己成年人生活“flat”，妈妈：“大概因为你很久没吸毒也没对任何人上瘾了。”然后她开始模仿父母一边开第五瓶酒一边谈论着自己的孩子说不知道孩子怎么长成这样是遗传了谁。（来源：Netflix Mae Martin专辑）我不知道Mae对自己的童年定义到底是快乐还是不快乐，但我觉得她既然选择用这句话做开场，一定是有所思考的。

We all need a little addiction to get through this fucking miserable life. Her addiction is love relationships and straight women.

她本人也是性取向流动性的行走代言人。油管有很多采访，当然还有她自己的演出里都有提到，她觉得自己不符合LGBT任何一个角色，并且认为这样的标签很无趣。20岁之前的她，有过小男友，20-30是和女孩子们度过的美好时光，现在30出头又重新开始与男性约会, she really is something else!

（我很喜欢的一本相关话题的书： //www.douban.com/note/718891946/ ）

能够把自己的生活搬上银幕，让无数观众产生共鸣，不是才华是什么？

Lisa Kudrow

看过《老友记》的人都不会对Phoebe这个角色无印象。剧中大部分时间Lisa都是在电话视频里出现，就零星几句台词，我仿佛看到了我爱的那个神经质却有原则的Phoebe，也是六个人里我最爱的角色。

In case you never watched Friends, let me tell you what I love about Phoebe Buffay. She had two moms and a dad. One mom killed herself when she was 13, another showed up in her life until she was 26 and dad went to prison. Yet she turned out fine. The society failed her, but she chose not to revenge. She had seen the worst in humanity but still loves the world as it is. This is the true heroism.

George.

16岁对同性一无所知的我真的就是用互联网自学成才。12岁可以用网络来自学英文，对于爱情又何尝不可？22岁的我在感情中遇到问题时，仍然会向Google求助。

在她身上我看到了我第一任女友&初恋的影子，在所有人面前我永远都是她的“朋友”。

用我最喜欢的两句台词结尾

Love really does make people Feel Good.

Now, What's your addiction?

This is fucking good😭😭😭第四集之前：I fucking love Mae Martin yet this drama is a little bit normal第四集之后：Fucking awesome plot😭😭😭Mae Martin is super genius😭😭😭

I feel like I'm full of birds.

典型的英式喜剧，好多那种冷笑话哈哈哈哈哈，而且除去主角之外人物有为剧情发展和气氛需要脸谱化的嫌疑。George真的很美美得像戴安娜王妃。Mae Martin…我发现我只是喜欢小奶狗而已性别什么的无所谓，所以我原来是无性恋吗（误）看到做爱部分会感觉都是女孩子的话会让我容易习惯很多很多…可能也是对lesbian群体本身不了解不过我不想管那么多

剧本真的很好很好。感觉能体会到日常人与人之间交往的那种真诚与温暖感觉。情感很细腻，但感觉铺陈有时候不到位，也可能我本人不够敏感。剧里的话还是美化过的现实…首先addict被编进去本身就是对taking drugs的一种美化…cant help doing something while knowing that it will bring some negative consequences hhhh但是很多琐碎的碎片化现实又fucking real and fucking touching，Mae和George最后对话还有以前其他的对话里面那些词不达意欲言又止还有反复的sorry, I just... 都好London好生活…我们都一样啊。

You are being loved. 那里真的眼眶湿润了。not an island... 人与人之间的联系真的是拯救一个人的根本吗。

md这部里面的感情真的都好他妈流畅啊。

就是在考试周看然后看第一集的时候：这能拍六集？看完第六集的时候：怎么只有六集该不会我还要等第二季吧。看到还有第二季的时候：希望我能先紧着复习😭

差点忘了夸导演！色调真的超级超级棒啊，好多镜头都很漂亮，镜头下的人也无比好看。调色和色彩搭配都太好了…视角也很棒。

看看这个镜头多绝美！

First of all, it brings some feelings back to me when I am feeling nothing. I appreciate that. Always think a relationship is like “I got issues and you got’em too.” And we live with them together as a partners. Mae and George have their issues. They tried to cover or deal with them in the series. Maybe there’ll be no ultimate solution. It’s just a process in daily life.

As for Mae, who is always go with the feelings and chase the feelings, which is to find the approach to FEEL GOOD. George is more tend to be traditional and hard to open up utterly. They are vivid characters and I can relate from some plots.

It’s a huge world. There are various people and perspectives. Sometimes I just watch it and think: it’s ok to say that??? Just embrace the diversity and try to be more open minded.

Talk to people who care about you or just try to be these people.

It’s ok to be passionate or just want to save everything for oneself. Accept everyone’s tendency.

George said: “I just can be an island. That’s how I operate.” 🖐🏾 It could happen. I’m more relaxed now. Thank you guys:)

Yes, I titled my review by using Jeanette Winterson’s biography for reference. It is true if you look it up in Douban, a Chinese version IMDB/Facebook, Feel Good will in the recommendation list as the searching result. In this website, people retitle this show as ‘Drunk in London’. It is accurate to use Drunk to describe the main character Mae Martin’s life predicament. She wants to get on the right path but couldn't help making a mess, she tries to be normal but cannot get rid of the psychological hint that ‘You need to accept you have a problem’, she wants to build up a stable intimate relationship but loses control due to emotional insecurity. But I still prefer the original title ‘Feel good’. It is hard to be normal in this high-demand world, feeling good is enough.

The encounter

After watching the series in one sitting, I can safely say Mae Martin is the second gay girl character I feel myself fall in love with after Anne Lister in Gentleman Jack. (Sorry, Suranne!) She is a special friend being with me in this strange self-isolation period. Can I call it love in the time of cholera? I couldn’t help replaying the scene Mae and George encountering and kissing in the pub. How romantic it is when you find someone in the crowd only laughing at your stuff, getting your point while you’re being ignored by others. England’s rose and the Canadian corn are like a blazing fire and dry wood. It is not all about how a tomboy chase a straight girl and how a straight girl seduce an unconfident lesbian. This is a vibrant start that I bet each girl is longing for. You might have a relatable journey that you are falling for a person who is not of the same clan but you think the fate drops from the clouds and the refreshing relationship will be working between you two. After oversharing with a stranger, you believe you have a bond and that’s hard to find in life.

Things usually happen like that, but most beautiful encounters will not end in well. Five minutes past, Mae and George are standing inside and outside the curtain, which implies George is stepping into her life and will be a part of her story. In fact, it does. This is the most subtle camera structure in EP1. It reminds me of how I met my exes, how we consume each other and how I lost them in the end. I suddenly realise I see my own reflection in Mae’s pupils when she says ‘I am not intense’.

Between normal and abnormal

It is rather to say Feel Good is a dark story than rom-com. At least, let’s say it is a heart-breaking life story dress like a love story. Mae Martin's tribulations she experienced in her career, family, and relationships are the main topics of the show. Before that, I’ve had enough of messy ‘permutation and combination’ style relationships in The L Word. Hetero audience hunt for novelty in LGBT TV drama but ignore character’s daily concerns as ordinary persons. They also have issues of how to repair the parent-child relationship, how to express who they really are in front of their friend who is always in the dominant position. Feel good has a unique texture with life-like characters. Each character in this show is so real. Their witty dialogues tickle my fancy all the time.

I can feel the director and the writer manage to keep up a high level of real emotions throughout the show and they capture characters’ dazzling personalities with a brisk pace. In this story, Mae and George are both like premature babies in the incubates, waiting for growth to be big, confident flowers. The director did not portray them as aliens but show strong empathy to care their own inner development. We witness their journeys in pain and sober.

My inner journey of watching "Feel Good" is like a roller-coaster.

E1: Oh!!! Mae and George are just adorable!

E2: Well...I changed my mind. I'd better stand for Mae and Lava?

E3: It is a bloody embodiment of "Please never date a straight girl unless you want to date for floods of tears."

Mae is an authentic, awkward, blunt, needy, sensitive girl with forlorn hope on George’s love. In her whole life, she has felt she is not in the right place. There is ‘other place’ she supposes to be. She thinks people are just swapping one addiction for another, while George is her another addiction. My favourite scene is in the EP3. Mae feels humiliated and a bit angry when being told to enjoy the party. Her confession broke my heart for real.

‘You grew up rich and white and straight and hot, you won the lottery. Of course, you want to dance. You're surrounded by people that want to fuck you. Of course, I don't want to dance in front of people that would have bullied me in high school. And you are too ashamed to touch me. If you want me to feel confident then hold my hand.’

It is not a gay thing. Any underrepresented people could relate to it. There used to be a moment you thought someone in the crowd could see you, but now you found this person knew nothing about your feelings. You notice the intangible huge gap between you. That really hurts.

As the representative of straight girl, Binky holds the opinion that ‘birds of a feather flock together’ by bring Mae and her lesbian cousin together. It is like saying ‘Hey gay girl should stay in your small bubble. That is the norm.’ You all know the hilarious result. Two girls hi each other and ‘see you’ soon. I laughed at this stuff not because there is less possibility for two Tomboys to fall in love with each other (on the contrary, they may slag off each other), but shocked by people’ ignorance that they think a lesbian will definitely like another lesbian since your are of the same kind. Come on. We are all human beings having clear love and hate. The gentle satire to some self-righteous people is one of the highlighted moments in this show. Sorry, your norm is ridiculous.

People distorts the definitions of ‘normal’ and fasten it to the minority. I became to realise the reason why the writer did not let Mae choose Lava, another lesbian girl who’s crush on her, even though a lot of my friends stand for them. ‘If you were my girlfriend, I’d make you come in under a minute.’ is the coolest line in this show. Lava is cold but affectionate in her own way. The writer probably wants to break the stereotype that it is easier to love your own kind. I think Mae must bottle a hidden line up: Hey, I cannot love you just because you are lesbian too.

Reframe your self

After watching it a second time, I changed my impression of George. I shouldn’t have been so mean to her when I watched the first time last week. This time, I see her struggling in her new identity. She hurries so much to put lesbian label on herself by saying ‘I have a girlfriend’ to the wedding photographer and ‘I belong to here. I finger my girlfriend a lot’ to the bartender, in order to cover up her inner uncertainty. ‘Your sobriety. Your gender identity. Is there anything isn’t my responsibility?’ She is facing the greatest pressure in her life. Being with Mae is like pulling up seedlings in her mind to help herself grow, in friendship, and in the workplace. But actually, the key point is not about learning how to be a lesbian. Instead, she needs to learn how to express a real herself, uncover her real feelings to the people surrounded, just like Binky says ‘If you are bothered, just tell us.’

There is another storyline of Mae’s narcotics anonymous meeting. This kind of support group is quite common to see in British/American dramas, like Killing Eve and Flack. As a student with a coaching background, I feel negatively surprised to see team members sitting in a circle and saying ‘I am an addict’ followed by self-introduction. Is it really work to settle a matter by giving themselves psychological suggestion that they still have problems? Or they just gather to find I am not the worst one. In EP 4, Lisa Kudrow hits the nail on the head. Everyone feel better or you feel better when people address the elephant in the room? Every time when Mae suffers a setback in relationship with George, she turns to Maggie and Lava. However, the temporary sense of belonging is self-deception.

Like her mother, Mae is a strong, impulsive, stubborn women. But she also has the vulnerable side.

‘But you told me you loved me first. That was the best moment of my life. I’m embarrassed. I let myself think that someone like you could be with someone like me. I’m not a boy. I’m not even a girl. I’m like a failed version of both. Why am I such a freak?’

She has so many feelings. What she wants is being accepted as what she is, being stick with a new healthy addiction. That is George.

In the last episode in season 1, Mae decides to return to George. The plot seems to quite rush. I wouldn’t say they are the perfect couple and I still doubt the relationship will last. But I would like to regard them as a pair of ‘learning buddy’ in this journey. George is the still and quiet habitat and Mae is the Pac-Man. Story is over. Life needs to go on. They both have too much to learn, not only for love but for lives.

Alien they seem to be. No mortal eye could see. The intimate welding of their history. by Thomas Hardy

Other things I want to address

Besides main characters, each supporting role is so lovely: Phil, Binky, Mae’s father, the bartender, and the bellboy in horror hotel. I love the script! I am especially impressed by Mae’s father. He has the wisdom of affairs handling and can read people’s mind accurately.

"You are still and strong, you wear your heart on your sleeves, you are fiercely passionate."

‘Your young lady must be needing you now. She’s off on her own, adrift in uncharted seas.’

He is absolutely one of the best father roles I’ve ever seen.

Now I can say I am ready to graduate from Feel Good after finishing this review. Thank you, Lisa, you remind me of the scotch egg I’ve had in Yorkshire. I am glad you enjoy it too. I will probably visit Blackpool to see the beautiful sunset one day. See you guys in season 2!

by Lssiedusky

2020.3.31

看完了，我一直疑问这竟然标签是喜剧诶，明明很多时候我看的都心碎的说

上图

当Mae复吸后

剧中梅在经历了女友的分手，一度失落丢失自己，甚至想要再次借助毒品摆脱失意，我深有感触，当生活糟糕的时候就会想忘记一切地放纵，但我们都知道，放纵过后只有无尽的后悔以及未解决的问题罢了，或许我可能应该想想一切的根源，与自己和解才是问题的答案

George诉说当年的伤心事

看到这里真的感同身受，自己所在意的所难受的常常是不为他人所感同身受的，我们失落在朋友无意的嘲笑中，把悲伤放在心里耿耿于怀，除了自己谁也不知道除了自己谁也伤不到，我认为剧中的朋友根本算不上朋友，不过是会耍耍嘴皮逗逗乐的一群派对伙伴，但真正的朋友，即使不懂你的痛也不会随意的戳你的伤疤，而是小心翼翼地保护着你。希望你可以在爱你的人面前褪去伪装。

年少时总是想出去看看，家好像是个束缚自己的地方，但后来遇到了大风大雨第一个想到的还是回家。

梅总是以为母亲不那么爱她，她好像永远在批评她，但其实她只是不把爱放在嘴上，伤心时一句话妈妈就会为你准备好一切等你回家。

多多少少有人迷失在自卑的世界里，我们感觉不到爱，接受不了爱，无法付出爱，什么都不说了跟着台词念一念吧，你是个可爱的人。

最后放几个图

第一次写长评，留个赞呗ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉﾞ❀~

她其实是需要被人保护的

外表帅气内心脆弱的像只小绵羊🐑

特别能够理解她的焦虑 不安 依赖

可能有时候像是一种投射

和父母的关系

和喜欢的直女怎么相处(这种相处模式有些消耗乔治)

和lesbian怎么相处(lava在某些时候还是挺迷人的，不过生气打翻碗的时候还挺吓人的)

和异性怎么相处 ，要知道在某些异性恋男性眼里

只要你是个女孩，就可能是他们的猎物

所以不存在纯粹的异性好友 (mae和那个男人只是，在逃避问题)