The Morning Bun: Quick blurbs with a fresh take on our young professional lives that we would probably share over mimosas…if it were not a weekday.
So I rewatched Master of None over the weekend. As I said in Brunch Media’s first ever blog post , it continues to be the best televised description of modern relationships. Seriously, I cringed at the scene brushing your teeth next to each other, yelling over Rotten Tomatoes rankings, and most importantly, stressing about your future. Master of None’s depiction on 2017 romance might as well be a documentary on typical urban dating-app swiping Millennials. Truly amazing.
I could list endless relatable quotes, scenes, outfits from the movie, but that would take you into your 9am meeting to finish reading.
So here are a few of my favorite quotes just from the last two episodes alone:
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
No description needed, the scene is powerful, song incredible, and book noteworthy.
“Time in our life to do crazy shit is winding down.”
I think I heard this line five times on Saturday night alone. This is a constant subconscious thought for many of my urban Millennial peers. Six years left in my 20’s, five years left in my 20’s, and so on, so forth. It’s a scary realization that can either cause a newfound spirit of “YOLO” or overthinking the future.
“Shouldn’t you be at 100%?”
Are we ever 100% sure with anything? Absolutely not. When Dev, Aziz’s character, freaks out over Rachel’s “70%” sure remark — we clearly know the feeling. Whether it’s our job, relationship or the dilemma over bottomless mimosas, I don’t think we’re ever fully onboard. Nothing is perfect, and we all share this belief. Once we come to terms with not being alone in this situation, it’ll help lighten the stress when it all turns into a mess.
“As you get older, the road becomes clearer. Less excitement”
It’s true, it’s true, team! As much as we brush it off, it’s impossible not to think about the routine stages of life: go to college, work, get married, have kids, grow old, etc, etc. This is the predetermined path the world has allotted for happiness. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m on board — I think creating a family is the ultimate human legacy (I mean, we’re all just organisms after all). With that said, I don’t like this outlook. We should and MUST be able to find the excitement at every stage. We knew college would end in four years (well, some of us), yet we maximized every part of the experience (see I’m Schmacked video). I try to tell myself that everyday.
“Long term relationships are tough. You can’t just expect a big, roaring fire right away, right? You know, you can’t put the big logs in first. You start with the small stuff. Kindling, all right? Then you add that, *then* you put in the big logs and *then* you have a roaring fire. And that’s a good relationship. But be careful, sometimes kindling is hard to find, you know? Good wood. So, don’t take it for granted.”
Wooooo, this is the doozy. No relationships are straightforward. All are ambiguous campfires you try to support with the right balance of S’mores, logs, and fuzzy PJ’s. Some may start fast, lose steam, pick up again, only to flail out over the horizon. The key in modern relationships is to be able to deal with the expected ambiguity, plus the adversity that comes along with it. If you create the foundation, brace yourself for honest/open communication, then, you should be well-equipped to maintain the fire. If the open communication is frowned upon, or worse, shunned, well, you are looking at a red flag among red flags beginning with “self” and ending with “ish.” In a relationship, both of you need to be willing to put in the effort to make it work (aka not freak out when things go astray). If it’s not going that way, well, there is a fire extinguisher over there.
“I don’t know how long I’m going for.”
At the end of the show, we see Dev decide to take off for Italy. When asked how long he’s going for, you see his well-thought out response above. It’s a powerful statement, and speaks to all of our internal “fuck it, let’s travel the world for a year” mentalities popping up every so often. We only have one life, so why force it into societal pressured timeframes? Dev leaves us behind in America ailing with our “what if” personal thoughts.
As you can tell, I LOVE this show. Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed. If you haven’t seen it before, you need to make it happen. If you have, you also need to make it happen and brace up for Season 2’s release later this year.
On a final note, I believe no media brand (cough cough) has yet to hit the ball out of the park with regards to authentic depictions, self-validation, and relatable Emojis for modern urban Millennials. If it happens, I have a feeling our favorite meal will be in the title.
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Did you like this post? Was it just okay? Could have been funnier? Well, then hit that juicy ❤️shaped recommend below. Thank ya.
Harrison Forman 