Recap: “Love Is__”: A Thin Line Between Being Loved & Used
Season 1, Episode 4: “(His) Answers” | Grade: 8.9/10
The last time we saw Yasir (Will Catlett) and Nuri (Michele Weaver), the two quickly hit a snag in their relationship as she discovered him at the apartment of his ex-girlfriend Ruby (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing) after finding out some unsettling truths. The biggest head turner is when Yasir closed the door on Nuri leaving her with unanswered questions and hurt.
The reactions I saw on Twitter varied from understanding him wanting to protect them both to “I know he didn’t just...”
Yasir (Will Catlett) and Nuri (Michele Weaver) each are laying in their beds, dreaming about one another only to awaken to empty spots next to them. “Wiser Nuri” (Wendy Davis) reflects on the morning after when she hadn’t heard back from Yasir and left to wonder about the status of their relationship.
“I started to wonder if I dreamed the whole thing. He didn’t call, he didn’t come back to me but when I heard that doorbell ring I forgot to be mad at Yasir. The thought of seeing him excited me more than trying to stay pissed.” — Wiser Nuri
She runs to the door only to see Keith standing there much to her disappointment, completely forgetting about the ski trip that he has planned. You know, the ski trip surrounded by mounds of snow and the expensive hotel that he invited her to that can only mean one thing: sex.
Morning on the other hand brings a difficult decision for Yasir who has been caught up between Nuri and Ruby (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing) and knowing his choice will hurt one of them. Ruby is on the phone with her mother trying to keep appearances and Yasir plays along even though the foundation of their relationship is cracking. Even worse is that her parents are coming in six weeks to go out with them.
He jokes about telling her mom about her surgery and she claps back, “If you tell my mama, I’mma tell my daddy that you left me in L.A. for another woman! Oh, now you want to be quiet?” I just love Ruby though this love story is clearly about Yasir and Nuri.
“I’ve been carrying you longer than Jordan’s been carrying the Bulls. Except I ain’t got no rings to show for it.” — Ruby
The two of them talk about their issues and what they meant to each other before she breaks the subject by asking if it was Nuri at the door the previous night. When he confirms her suspicious, she tells him that she no longer needs a babysitter since she knows Nuri is where he wants to be. Now he’s back to square one: homeless.
Keith on the other hand is persistent to get Nuri on this trip, even gifting her with a ski jacket before confirming the obvious: “Besides, it’s not like we were going to be skiing anyway.” Luckily, her boss couldn’t have called at a better time prompting her to come into work on a Saturday for a project.
Yasir happens to miss Nuri as she pulls out the driveway, chasing after her car but she turned the corner. He obviously chooses her but getting to her will be such a task. (Gotta love her nosy neighbor Pearly for saying how no one ever ran after her down the street. So romantic, indeed). He picks up the ripped pieces of the jazz concert flier off the street.
Yasir continues to be down on his luck as he cannot afford to get his car out of impounding as he forced to remove the items of his car. Unbeknownst to him he drops the paper with Nuri’s phone number on the ground as it blows away. Just his luck.
I saw a tweet from @najyatheauthor about men like Yasir who can be the right person though their circumstances doesn’t reflect it. “How many Black women have been faced with the choice of the ‘good’ guy without the spark or the right guy who sets their soul ablaze at the wrong time? This series. Whew. #LoveIs.” Actress Michele Weaver replied “Right guy, wrong time…what is time?”
I love how Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil is using this show to open up people’s perceptions on what love means in the eye of the beholder. Yasir reflects on that with his friend Sean, thinking he should leave her alone because he currently has nothing to offer her and his baggage is something Nuri proclaimed she didn’t want in the premiere.
“When Nuri looked into my eyes I saw the real me. A man who could become a king.” — Wiser Yasir
Seeing the contrast between Wiser Yasir and younger Yasir gives an understanding of the complexity of a man trying to move past his circumstances. Broke, homeless, down on his luck but loving Nuri lit a spark in him that he refused to let die as he tries to track her down throughout the episode.
When Yasir returns to Ruby to talk, he plans on taking his unemployment checks and returning home though she tells him there’s no future there. She’s willing to let him stay on the couch again if it means not letting him leave and having her parents worry about her living alone in Los Angeles. Most importantly she wants to hide her secret from her parents.
“I’m offering you a fresh start.” — Ruby
“Ruby, do you think I’m using you?” — Yasir
When Yasir finally brings himself to arrive to Nuri’s home to answer her questions, his flaws on display, and he looks at her with a yearning to start over but the tender moment is interrupted by Keith (damn it). He walks out and wipes “I love you” away from her car window as she watches him walk by her window, conflicted.
What do you think will happen next between next between Nuri and Yasir? If you were in Nuri’s shoes would you have gone with Keith or went after Yasir?
Other Episode Notes
- Sean is trifling for sneaking in Nuri’s house and tearing up her bathroom...with the door open!
- Everything about that writer’s meeting was problematic as the big boss Jared suggest that black women want more of Wendy using words like “sassy” and immediately touched Angela’s hair. It’s incredibly tone death but they sadly have to play along for the sake of the job. And Norman better have apologized to Angela on behalf of him and the ancestors.
- The writer’s room meeting also brings like to the attitudes towards women and their portrayal on television. I was happy to see Angela and Nuri challenge him to expand the character’s but the fact that they had to in the first place says a lot.
- Camille, dump him and keep it pushing. Yasir said a word to Sean: “Maybe they calling us ‘boys’ cause we won’t get off their couch and act like men.”
Love Is__ airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
