Lena Dunham’s Netflix TV show, Too Much, has debuted its 10 episodes of comedy and chaos. The show is largely based on her own life and relationship with her now husband, with each episode focusing on both the present and the past, showing us what pushes a character to make certain bad decisions and why those are okay. But the crux of the story is that it’s a romance about two very chaotic people coming together, and why they’re meant to be. It’s honestly going to be quite hard recapping the show, because a lot of it isn’t chronological and is mostly conversational. But, having said that, I’m going to try and set things in order and go through character histories so you can understand everything that went down in the show. With that said, let’s jump into the recap.
Spoiler Alert
What Happened With Zev?
We get Jessica and Zev’s history dumped on us right in the middle of the show when Jess interacts with some of Felix’s friends and starts to feel insecure. It brings back old demons, and the biggest of them all is Zev himself. When Zev and Jess first meet, they’re both kind of drunk and eager for some pizza, but a sweet meet-cute can always turn into something vile given a few years of gaslighting. In an episode where Zev’s talking to a therapist, he talks about his obsession with his Jewish mother, who essentially controlled everything he did. He speaks about being coddled, “looked after,” and essentially treated like a prince. But this reflects on his relationships in all the wrong ways. After a few months or years, what was once cool about Jess becomes what makes her a “bad girlfriend.” I.e., she’s now selfish for wearing a dress that she finds comfortable and cute. When she gets yelled at by a random stranger on the street because her dog barked at the other’s dog, it’s her fault alone. By the end of it all, it almost feels like Zev honestly never cared about Jess and didn’t really want her in the first place. He thinks he’s too intellectual for her; he puts her down every time she says something smart herself, and he’s essentially jealous because she knows exactly what she wants, whereas he’s basically worthless and feeding off of her worth.
The nail gets hammered in, though, when Jess learns she’s pregnant (possibly from the wild night she had with a colleague who was genuinely nice to her). Instead of feeling any kind of delight, because it does seem like she wants kids, Jess is immediately terrified by the idea of bringing it up with Zev. At this point, Zev’s already intellectually cheating on her with Wendy, if not physically as well, so when Jess brings it up, he tells her that she’ll be making the right decision by getting an abortion, without so much as an actual discussion. Next thing you know, Jess is getting an abortion all by herself, while Zev’s already moved on to knitting influencer Wendy. I guess the fact that we see him in therapy is progress, but I do hope he knows how much of a loser he is for botching his chances not just with one but two fantastic women.
What Happens At Work?
Honestly, we don’t get quite enough about Jess’ work life for a show where she’s a line producer. Sure, we see her with a director or two and on a couple of sets, but we never see her do any actual work. Having said that, though, we know that she’s very passionate, and she does get told off by her boss when she seems to be uninterested at work, after which she puts in more effort. Also, it turns out Felix dated Jess’ boss’ daughter, which is a bit crazy. But the real big deal is when Jess has to deal with her Instagram going public; Jim, the director, leaving the set; and Rita Ora saying she’s not going to wear a tiny bra for a commercial where she’s meant to be empowering young girls. She shows everybody who’s boss by taking center stage and directing the commercial herself. Sure, it isn’t as impactful as the show makes it seem, but hey, it is a show at the end of the day. Guess Jess will continue to work in London.
Who Is Felix?
At some point, Jess tells a footballer with 3 kids who wants to sleep with her that it’s always women who get called a “mess,” while men such as himself can get away with doing whatever they want. But, interestingly enough, I think what makes her relationship with Felix so natural is the fact that they’re both a bit of a mess. While Jess’ bad decisions can be associated with her terrible relationship with Zev, Felix’s have something to do with childhood trauma. The reason Felix is detached and can’t say the words “I love you” is that he was abused as a child by his nanny, who constantly made him say those words. What’s worse is that he has attachment issues because his parents were never around, and you can’t really say he saw a healthy relationship between his parents either. On the other hand, Jess has been raised by 3 women and doesn’t know how to deal with a strong male figure in her life; hence, she allows Zev to walk all over her even when she knows he’s doing her wrong. They both have self-sabotaging tendencies because, at the end of the day, they think they’re at fault, not the other person. When this changes, they fight, and Felix ends up using a misogynistic slur, really ruining everything.
But despite all of this, one thing is certain: Felix still loves Jess. He doesn’t sleep with “Poly” when she asks him if he’s ever thought about them having a family together. Instead, he goes and finds a random “old” lady at a party and has sex with her, probably to spite Jess. Also, I think the reason he starts doing drugs and drinking again is because he’s got it too good with Jess, and he doesn’t know how to be happy with her. But hopefully, he’ll get sober again.
What Happens With Wendy?
Jess gets her big break when the director, Jim, ends up leaving the set because Rita Ora doesn’t want to be sexualized by him, and Jess has to handle everything by herself. She takes charge and directs a cool ad film so everyone is in awe of her, but what they don’t know is that she’s just gone viral on Instagram because she accidentally made her private account, where she addressed Wendy, Zev’s fiancée, about all her problems. From burning herself with a candle to admitting to calling her names, Jess had done it all in these 500-odd videos, which suddenly go viral. But instead of messing things up for her, Wendy shows everyone how powerful it is to be a girl’s girl and asks to talk to Jess in London. They sit down face-to-face and realize that they’re actually quite alike and have only been brought down by the man who is Zev. This is the closure that both the girls needed, and I can honestly see them actually being friends, because despite what it may look like, they’re both quite alike, which is why Zev picked them both.
Do Felix and Jess End Up Together?
Towards the end of Too Much season 1, Jess tells Felix to leave because he tells her he doesn’t want to lie to her and that he slept with another woman. But, when she heads off to work, resenting Felix, he finds Astrid, the dog, breathing differently. Worried, he rushes her to the vet, where she dies. This is when Jess and Felix have a big fight because she won’t let him grieve, and she’s too upset, so she’s talking about him cheating on her and really ruining it all, because she blames him for not being able to say goodbye to her dog. After her talk with Wendy, Jess realizes that she can’t stand the idea of losing Felix and decides to go find him where he’s glued to the road in protest. She tells him that she forgives him for sleeping with an old woman, and he asks her to marry him. The show ends with the duo getting married and all of their loved ones around and happy for them. Jess wears the t-shirt that Wendy accidentally inherited thanks to Zev, and it’s a happy, fun time. Felix does jokingly ask her how long she wants to stay married, and I think this shows what their relationship is going to be like. Happy, fun, and chaotic.
