Feel Good

This is the story of how stand-up comic Mae Martin – playing herself – meets George (Charlotte Ritchie), a woman who, despite shortening her name boyishly, has never dated a woman, nor, one would think, slept with one. Things progress startlingly fast from their first kiss in the comedy club where Mae works; a full-blown move-in-together relationship ensues, with George embracing her new lifestyle with gusto.

But what is love without its challenges? At the beginning of any new relationship, we all present the best side of ourselves to our lover. That’s just how it works. So when the cracks begin to appear, and secrets seep out through them, both Mae and George question the whats and whys.

“Though it deals in heavy themes including addiction and toxic families, the Canadian comic’s semi-autobiographical comedy is at its core a beautiful, truly funny love story,” writes The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan.

Feel Good faces many questions head on. Is George just exploring and would she go back to dating men if they broke up? There are some literal and figurative closets involved. Is it Mae’s MO to seduce a “straight” woman, obsess, then move on? While most of the series deals with real and serious situations, it remains sharp, witty, and comedic (dark and light).

Friends star Lisa Kudrow stars as Mae’s distant mother as their own history is revealed, and George’s flatmate Kevin (Tom Andrews) is depicted as a bit of a weirdo but later turns out to be quite the supportive sweetheart. Another side arc is Mae’s sponsor Maggie (Sophie Thompson) and her own obsessive search for her estranged daughter.

It’s such a well-crafted short series (roughly half-hour episodes) that covers a lot of rocky ground, and packs in characters with whom you’ll fall in love yourself. Some of it will make you feel good, but it will – and should – hit you in all the emotional feels as well. In that way, it’s a bit like Fleabag, poignant and relatable.

Want more LGBTQ+ series and movies? Check out our list here.