When we last left Jessie and Tom at the end of Season 2 of Starstruck, they were wading to each other in a waist-deep man-made lake, having decided to give their relationship another go. Now the question is: Will Season 3 show them in domestic bliss or show them breaking up (again) and then regretting it (again)?
Opening Shot: Over the song “Never My Love”, we see the last scene of Season 2, where Jessie (Rose Matafeo) and Tom (Nikesh Patel) kiss in the middle of a man-made lake in the park.
The Gist: While it seems like this star-crossed couple got a happy ending, a montage of scenes from shows otherwise. A year goes by, with at first a lot of domestic bliss, then scenes of Jessie welcoming Tom home from his weeks-long movie shoots, then disagreements, then the two of them being chilly with each other. Finally, we see the two of them tearfully break up again, while Jessie moves out of Tom’s flat.
Two years later, Jessie is a bridesmaid at the wedding of Ian (Al Roberts) and Kate (Emma Sidi) — who’s immensely pregnant and defensive about the fact that they started planning the wedding before Ian knocked her up — and she seems relatively content. But then Kate tells her that Tom is going to come to the reception, mainly because of his friendship with Ian. Jessie seems to be too concerned with making a funny, somewhat caustic maid of honor toast to care. But then Tom shows up and Jessie feels the need to be elsewhere.
When they do finally meet up, the conversation couldn’t be more awkward; he says he’s seeing a woman named Clem (Constance Labbé). We cut to Jessie’s toast, and her inappropriate jokes are bombing. A guy is standing, but he’s just come in from the loo. She runs into that guy, an electrician named Liam (Lorne MacFadyen) later on, right as Sarah (Lola-Rose Maxwell) and Steve (Nic Sampson) announce that their daughter is missing. As Jessie and Tom search for the kid, they talk a little more, and Jessie says, “It would be great to learn how to have a normal conversation with you again.”
The girl is found, and Jessie finds Liam again, this time to bum a smoke. On a lark, they kiss. But then when she and Tom are outside at the end of the reception, a kiss happens there, too, right before he tells her he’s engaged to Clem.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Starstruck has certainly evolved into more of a classic romcom over its first two seasons, more like a show like Love than what we previously compared it to, Master Of None.
Our Take: We were wondering how Matafeo and her co-writers, Sampson and Alice Snedden, were going to proceed in Season 3 after that watery kiss that closed Season 2. Were we going to show Jessie and Tom in domestic bliss or not? They chose not, which was a wise decision; the montage that started the episode was a brilliant way to get us to that point. But we have to wonder at what point having these two break up and get back together again becomes tiresome.
At this point, there still does seem to be residual feelings between the two, even with two years gone by since their last breakup. She seems to be happy that he’s moved on, but not so happy that she’s not a bit uncomfortable with the fact that he’s engaged. In episode 2, she goes on a date with Liam as a way of distraction while Tom and Clem throw an engagement party. The date works out well, especially after her new flatmate Joe (Joe Barnes) interrupts it with a furniture assembly emergency.
But it’s not a stretch to think that the entire six episodes of this season will be spent with Jessie and Tom trying to move on and failing miserably. Will they get together at the end? Who knows? We’re almost rooting for them to not get together, because they know that it won’t work out in the end. We’re not sure we’re looking forward to seeing them pitch two perfectly good relationships in the rubbish bin just because they can’t seem to quit each other. If anyone can pull that kind of romcom ending off and make it satisfying, it’s Matafeo.
The first episode definitely speaks to how much of an ensemble this show is now. It still centers on Jessie and Tom, but we like seeing Kate be stressed about everything, Ian be a general goofball, Joe be funnily flinty and Sarah and Steve struggle to be adults. It fills in a lot of gaps and allows the Tom-Jessie story to take breaks and breathe. We hope to see more of that in Season 3.
Sex and Skin: None in the first two episodes.
Parting Shot: Jessie wonders what the hell just happened after she and Tom “accidentally” peck on the lips as they say good night at the end of the wedding reception.
Sleeper Star: It seems like Emma Sidi’s character Kate has added some flintiness to her overzealous bestie character. We loved how she insisted the wedding wasn’t of the shotgun variety just because she’s pregnant.
Most Pilot-y Line: Ian tells Tom he has an aunt who would love to meet him. “It’ll only be like 25 minutes, tops,” Ian says. A funny line, but a silly one, too.
Our Call: STREAM IT. While we wonder if the Jessie-Tom relationship cycle is getting a bit old, we still find Starstruck a warm and funny show, with Matafeo leading a confidently funny ensemble.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.