thoughts on A to Z, two episodes in

Ben Feldman and Cristin Milioti star as Andrew and Zelda, the A to Z of the title. (Isn't Zelda a cool name? You don't hear a lot of Z names for girls).  They begin dating in the first episode; we are told, via voiceover from Katey Sagal (I thought it was Allison Janney until I looked it up) that they will date for eight months, three weeks, five days, and one hour. I GUESS that means they break up at this point, but I am already freaking out about this possibility and hoping they get married at the end of this time instead.

Yes, two episodes in, I am emotionally involved.  After the end of the first episode, I thought the show had potential and a cute premise, but I found the two main secondary characters, Stu and Stephie (played by Henry Zebrowski and Lenora Chrichlow, respectively) fairly annoying.  I liked them better in the second episode; they both function as sort of sounding boards for Andrew and Zelda as they navigate those tricky first days of a new relationship.  I thought the show really did a good job of capturing the role friends play when you're trying to start a relationship: their advice isn't always perfect, but it's always well-intentioned, and you need friends to give you a push, sometimes, and to do ridiculous things that you couldn't or wouldn't do yourself.  In this episode, Stu spies on Zelda as she has dinner with another man, while Stephie digs up info on Andrew's date online and reports to Zelda.

I thought the second episode as a whole just did a really good job of capturing the beginning of a relationship.  Andrew and Zelda both like each other a lot, but in this episode, they're both trying not to let on too much, and, in Zelda's case, actually trying not to care too much.  Andrew's trying not to scare her off.  Zelda's trying to protect her heart.  It just rang really true to life.  It's also fun that it all takes place against the backdrop of Andrew's workplace, an online dating service that has just begun experimenting with a Tinder-like app.

I think it has potential.  I dig it.