Spring Break Netflix Binge-Watch Guide

Kenneth Lee

Love

The second season of Netflix’s Love, a Judd Apatow sitcom on the messiness and discomfort of navigating uncertain relationships, returns to Netflix on March 10, just when Spring Break begins.

Starring Paul Rust (I Love You, Beth Cooper) and Gillian Jacobs (Community), the series follow Gus and Mickey, a pair of mismatched, broken strangers whose attempts to explore their unlikely attraction result in wild laughs and dark, uncomfortable cringing.

The chemistry between Rust and Jacobs’s characters is undeniably unique. They’re a couple you would point to when describing couples who are horrible for each other, yet you’ll find yourself sympathizing with them anyways.   

Love pads its 30-40 minute episodes with an equal mix of crude, raunchy jokes, heartfelt vulnerability and scene-stealing performances. Hopefully after binging on this fun, delightful series, you’ll be able to avoid dating disasters in the future.

Iron Fist

Mysticism, martial arts and superheroics collide in spectacular fashion with Marvel’s Iron Fist. Finn Jones (best known for his role as Loras Tyrell in Game of Thrones) stars as the eponymous superhero, a Buddhist billionaire and long-lost heir to Rand Enterprises, a company founded by his deceased parents.  

Like Daredevil, the first Marvel show to stream on Netflix, Iron Fist appears to showcase gripping action scenes and captivating choreography full of brutal hand-to-hand combat. With Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage before it, Iron Fist marks the end of Phase 1 for Marvel’s Netflix originals, paving the road to the long-awaited and much-anticipated Defender series.

For those who aren’t familiar with comic-book history, the Defenders are basically street-level Avengers who work together to end smaller-scale destruction. The last Defender makes his Netflix debut on March 17.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Rachel Bloom stars as Rebecca Bunch, the titular crazy ex-girlfriend. This musical comedy-drama is one of the best depictions of depression and loneliness a person can become afflicted with, but it’s also full of cheeky songs with laugh-out-loud lyrics.

Whether it’s a rhythm & blues pop ballad poking fun at the different ways men and women get ready for date, a classic Broadway number on the frustrations of being in a love triangle or an upbeat, comedic song on how urinary tract infections are transmitted between sexual partners, the original songs Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is largely known for will quickly win over viewers if given the chance.

Santino Fontana (best known for his role as Hans in Disney’s Frozen) also stars as the male romantic lead. Two seasons of the Emmy-winning musical are available for streaming on Netflix.

Lovesick

Remember how great How I Met Your Mother was? Wish it was more British? Then try out Lovesick, a British sitcom about a man who embarks on a quest to inform all his previous sexual partners that he’s diagnosed with chlamydia.  

Lovesick makes frequent use of flashbacks and flashforwards to tell an epic “will-they, won’t-they” tale for the ages. Its use of nonlinear storytelling invites the comparison with How I Met Your Mother. The writing for this tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy is sharp as a tack, and folk singer Johnny Flynn plays Dylan, the main protagonist, with vulnerable sincerity and soul-aching poignancy.