Everything to Know About the Season 2 Plot of Anthology Rom-Com Series 'Love Life'

HBO Max's hit rom-com series Love Life is back for Season 2, and the shift in protagonist is what makes this season so fresh. Who knew it would be an anthology series? Season 1 followed Darby Carter (Anna Kendrick) as she experienced the ups and downs, the lusts and heartbreaks, and the butterflies and fireworks that come along with dating. Viewers watched as the flawed leading lady explored the realm of love throughout her influential 20s and 30s.

Darby learned and grew as an individual in between kissing a slew of frogs, or, as she called them, "losers on Match.com." She eventually found "The Person," who doesn't reveal himself until the season finale. Season 1 ended in Darby's favor, as most romantic comedies do, but Season 2 begins on a more somber note. Marcus Watkins — played by the always fabulous Emmy-nominated William Jackson Harper — is struggling to navigate his own love life. Let's further discuss Season 2's plot.

In Season 2 of Sam Boyd's Love Life, fresh divorcee Marcus Watkins is lost in many ways. Without a stable marriage to distract him, Marcus is coming to the realization that he doesn't fully know himself. While going through the motions of each humdrum day and attempting to understand his own identity, Marcus enters a new phase of his love life, of course.

"I'm on all the apps, swipin' up and down and left and right," Marcus tells a friend, undertones of hesitance and tiredness coming through in his voice. The excitement and newness of single life come at a cost.

"The banter, pretending to be someone you're not — I've got to be honest, I'm tired," he tells Anna Kendrick's Darby. You read that right, Darby Carter appears in Season 2.

Love Life's sophomore season premiere episode introduces viewers to a melancholy, married, stuck-in-limbo Marcus. It's no secret he winds up divorced, however, as the Season 2 trailer sets the scene that way. Marcus and his then-wife Emily (Maya Kazan) are seen at a party, which happens to be Darby’s 2016 wedding reception. Darby married Magnus (Nick Thune) in Season 1, Episode 6. Little does this unsatisfied version of Marcus know, his life is about to get more complicated.

Though this opening scene is mostly intended to marry Seasons 1 and 2, pun intended, Anna Kendrick as Darby will make a few appearances in Marcus' developing story. "I think making it this tenuous connection so Darby could come in and out of the season as needed was perfect. And so, in order to accomplish that, they found the easiest thing to do was to go back a little bit in time and meet Marcus at this tipping point in his life," Anna Kendrick told Deadline.

William Jackson Harper also spoke to Deadline, analyzing Marcus' obvious confusion and naivety. "The nature of some of the decisions he made, the stability that he found early on, is very adult and very committed. He’s a person who is still growing and changing and still learning stuff about himself," William explained.

"And it doesn’t stop because you’re thirty-something, that’s sort of where he is. Where he thinks he’s got it all on lock and everything figured out but he really, really doesn’t. That’s a recurring theme throughout the season," William continued. We're dying to know how Marcus' juicy story will play out.

Episodes 1 through 3 of Love Life Season 2 are currently streaming on HBO Max. The following three episodes will release on Nov. 4, 2021.