Before moving to Netflix from 
Britain’s Channel 4, “Lovesick” 
was originally named “Scrotal 
Recall,” a title so laughable and 
eye-rolling it suggested the worst 
qualities of a television rom-
com. Even the premise seemed 
slight: A young Englishman 
named Dylan (Johnny Flynn, 
“Genius”) must seek out all 
the women he slept with after 
discovering he has chlamydia. 
But don’t let the original title and 
premise downplay its potential: 
“Lovesick” is a remarkable gem 
of a show. 
With a neat balance between 
snappy humor and poignant 
drama, “Lovesick” comes into its 
own in its third season. Creator 
Tom Edge (“The Crown”) has 
crafted yet another array of 
episodes that will make you 
cringe, laugh and contemplate 
your own perception of love in 
the 21st century.
After reconciling with his 
girlfriend 
Abigail 
(Hannah 
Britland, 
“Rush”), 
Dylan 
struggles to conceal his feelings 
for his best friend Evie (Antonia 
Thomas, “The Good Doctor”), a 
will-they-won’t-they 
romance 
that’s as intensely complicated as 
Ross and Rachel’s. Meanwhile, 
Dylan’s other friends — the 
extroverted, philandering Luke 
(Daniel Ings, “Instinct”) and 
the neurotic, sprightly Angus 
(Joshua McGuire, “Cinderella”) 
— find themselves in their own 

romantic entanglements. And 
unlike the previous two seasons, 
which depicted Dylan’s doomed 
affairs with women that led to his 
STD, season three of “Lovesick” 
focuses more on the roots of 
Dylan and Evie’s relationship, 
and how it has blossomed over 
time.

The most refreshing aspect 
of “Lovesick,” and especially 
with this season, is that the 
subject matter is so utterly real 
and 
unapologetically 
honest. 
Underneath all of its whip-
smart dialogue and zany cringe 
comedy, there is such heart 
within each character and their 
relationships to one another. 
The tricky conflict that stirs 
between Dylan and Evie — they 
love each other, but don’t want to 
ruin a good friendship — never 
feels flat. Thomas and Flynn’s 
performances 
and 
magnetic 
chemistry 
help 
capture 
the 
muddiness and awkwardness of 
their characters’ conundrum. 
Luke 
and 
Angus 
also 
get 
wonderful subplots this season: 
Luke learns that he wants more 
in a relationship than just a one-
night fling, while Angus worries 
about starting his future with his 
pregnant fiancée Holly (Klariza 
Clayton, “Fox Trap”).
The show isn’t afraid to get 

into the nitty-gritty of how our 
desire for connection informs 
our desperation for love, or how 
our past experiences shape our 
present 
anxieties. 
Everyone, 
even the supporting characters, 
gets a nuanced personal journey.
What’s even more alluring 
about “Lovesick” is that it adds 
a rare layer of depth that other 
similar romantic sitcoms have 
mostly failed to consistently 
uphold. “Lovesick” mirrors the 
extended flashback format of 
“How I Met Your Mother,” but 
devotes more time to fleshing out 
character arcs than maintaining 
running gags. It shares the 
dysfunction 
of 
“You’re 
the 
Worst” but without any of the 
misanthropy. The young cast 
of 
“Lovesick” 
channels 
the 
charismatic, 
hyper-specific 
appeal of “Friends,” and, while 
they haven’t reached icon status 
yet, Dylan, Luke, Angus and Evie 
are certainly on their way.
Had “Lovesick” been made 
by the wrong hands — or even 
maintained its original title 
— it could’ve easily ended up 
yet another formulaic, cheesy 
and grating show about young 
20-somethings figuring their shit 
out. It could’ve kept the cookie-
cutter qualities of its archetypal 
characters 
— 
the 
insecure 
protagonist, the womanizing best 
friend, the nebbish acquaintance 
and the manic pixie dream 
girl love interest. Lucky for us, 
“Lovesick” is not that kind of 
show, as its third (and hopefully 
not final) season is a testament to 
streaming sitcoms.

Any travel guide, book, any 
piece of media at all about 
Brazil will tell you that the 
country 
lives 
and 
breathes 
music and art. After all, it’s the 
country of samba, bossa nova, 
flamboyant soccer players who 
don’t just play the game, but 
elevate it into an art. Through 
this 
reputation, 
Brazilian 
musicians such as João Gilberto 
and Antônio Carlos Jobim have 
enticed people around the world 
with the rhythmic, easy-going 
nature of genres such as bossa 
nova and tropicália. Milton 
Nascimento’s Clube da Esquina 
is less appreciated outside of 
Brazil than many other similarly 
important Brazilian albums, but 
is one of the finest collections of 
pop songs I have ever heard.
Clube da Esquina (“corner 
club”) titled after Nascimento’s 
musical collective formed in 
the 1970s in the mountainous, 
mineral-rich Brazilian state of 
Minas Gerais (which is featured 
in 
an 
episode 
of 
Anthony 
Bourdain’s excellent TV show 
“Parts Unknown”). It featured 
Milton Nascimento, a musician 
originally from Rio and Lô 
Borges, another iconic Brazilian 
musician, as well as some of the 
country’s most talented session 
musicians. Despite not coming 
from some of the country’s 
more glamourous regions, the 
collective’s 
first, 
self-titled 
double album eventually found 
its way into the forefront of 
Brazilian music.
Clube da Esquina is referred to 
as an example of a genre known 

as “Música popular brasileira” 
(Brazilian popular music), but in 
reality, it’s nearly impossible to 
pin down the album to a specific 
genre. While all the songs feature 
distinctly Brazilian rhythms and 
instrumentation, the influences 
present on the record are all 
over the map. “Tudo o Que 
Você Podia Ser” kicks off the 
record with excellent guitar 
work and a meandering vocal 
line from Nascimento, before 
breaking into a groovy ending 
from the entire band with 
Nascimento crying out on top. 
Two of the songs written by 
Borges, “O Trem Azul” and my 
personal favorite, “Um Girassol 
da Cor do Seu Cabelo” are 
rather Beatles-esque, with the 
latter featuring a memorable 
orchestral breakdown similar 
to “A Day in the Life.” “Nuvem 
Cigana” features dreamy guitars 
accompanied by violins and 
brass. Throughout the record, 
one can hear influences ranging 
from as far as progressive rock 
to jazz.
Another 
album 
I 
was 
constantly reminded of while 
listening to this record for the 
first time was The Beach Boys’ 
Pet Sounds. Both are musically 
ornate and lush, eschewing 
the 
sole 
usage 
of 
guitars, 
pianos and drums for grand, 
orchestral 
flourishes, 
adding 
an entirely new dimension of 
richness. Borges’s fondness for 
Anglophone popular music is 
evident often, making Clube 
da Esquina a great example of 
popular fusion.
Although 
the 
lyrics 
are 
notably poetic and a large 
part of what makes the album 

legendary in Brazilian music, I 
found that not understanding 
Portuguese was not a major 
hindrance 
in 
enjoying 
the 
record (and speakers of any 
Romance language should be 
able to understand part of it). 
It helps that Portuguese itself, 
especially the Brazilian variety, 
is such an inherently musical 
language. As to be expected 
with a Romance language, it 
flows extremely well and lacks 
many of the guttural consonants 
that make some languages such 
as 
German 
“unattractive.” 
Even conversational Brazilian 
Portuguese 
seems 
to 
have 
a set of lovely shifts in tone 
and 
natural 
elongation 
of 
vowels. Even if you know zero 
Portuguese, simply listening to 
the vocals and the language is 
a rather pleasant experience, 
especially with Nascimento’s 
smooth-as-butter voice gliding 
over the instrumentation and 
rarely stagnating in one dynamic 
level or tone.
Clube 
da 
Esquina 
sounds 
like the perfect soundtrack to 
a pleasant dream or to a lazy 
Sunday afternoon at the beach 
or park. The songs are pleasant 
yet tinged with melancholy, for 
those relaxing yet reflective 
moments where you are content 
with life, but perhaps indulging 
in nostalgia or remembering 
people from a past life. While 
not particularly revolutionary 
or exotic, it is a near-perfect 
collection of songs with top-
class musical talent featured at 
every level. There are few better 
albums to embark on a journey 
with into the endless ocean of 
world music.

Sayan Ghosh: 
Portuguese pop fusion

WORLD MUSIC COLUMN

‘The Shape of Water’ is 
spellbinding in few words

For a movie centered around a 
woman who does not speak, “The 
Shape of Water” has a strong voice. 
Elisa (Sally Hawkins, “Maudie”) 
is a mute cleaning lady at a 
research facility in the 1960s. She 
lives a lonely life, mostly limiting 
her interactions to her closeted 
neighbor Giles (Richard Jenkins, 
“Step Brothers”) and coworker 
Zelda (Octavia Spencer, “Hidden 
Figures”). One day a mysterious 
specimen arrives at the facility 
along with an uber-masculine 
security 
officer, 
Richard 
Strickland 
(Michael 
Shannon, 
“Nocturnal Animals”). Elisa offers 
the Amphibian Man (Doug Jones, 
“Hellboy”) — nicknamed the 
Asset — kindness and friendship 
and, in return, he provides the 
companionship she misses. When 
Cold War pressures threaten the 
Amphibian Man’s life, Elisa takes 
the matter into her own hands 
with people who feel a moral 
calling to help.
“The Shape of Water” has 
breathtaking cinematography that 
sets the fantastical mood. Director 
Guillermo 
Del 
Toro 
(“Pan’s 
Labyrinth”) uses visual elements 
to give a voice to two characters 
who do not speak, Elisa and the 
Amphibian Man. The clever use of 
water to connect scenes creates a 

flow to the film as it weaves among 
the many sides that want control 

of the unknown specimen and its 
suspected powers. Del Toro also 
immerses the characters in old-
timey films, settings and music to 
add to the romantic atmosphere.
The soundtrack draws from 
classics like “You’ll Never Know” 
from the 1943 movie “Hello, 
Frisco, Hello” and other nostalgic 
songs. At times, “The Shape 
of Water” plays like a musical, 
complete with tapdance numbers 
and a re-creation of the famous 
dance between Ginger Rogers 
and Fred Astaire. Despite limited 
dialogue from its main character, 
the film is still able to capture 
the sentimental tone of a musical 
without 
the 
constrictions 
of 
needing to break into song and 
dance every other scene.
Since Elisa and the Amphibian 
Man speak through sign language, 
the supporting cast provides the 
humor, fills the empty spaces 
with words and gives helpful 
interpretations of Elisa’s gestures. 
Zelda and Giles give insight into 

Elisa’s quiet demeanor, shielding 
her innocent and good intentions 
from evil forces. Every heartfelt 
motion from Elisa is matched with 
a well-timed quip from her two 
friends. To balance out these kind-
hearted 
characters, 
Shannon’s 
Strickland brings all the bearings 
of toxic masculinity and abuse 
of power. Shannon exudes this 
toxicity with every calculating 
stare and bite of his ever-present 
green candies. 
The supporting cast does a 
tremendous job, but the majority 
of credit goes to Sally Hawkins and 
her spell-binding performance. 
Unlike 
previous 
actors 
who 
have played disabled characters, 
Hawkins turns Elisa’s muteness 
into a strength, not a pantomime 
— using her hand motions to 
emphasize the tenderness and 
courage of this woman. Purely 
through facial expressions and 
physical actions, Hawkins conveys 
the loneliness of an outcast and 
the joy of finding camaraderie in 
unexpected corners of the world. 
In fact, “The Shape of Water” 
should serve as a playbook for 
how to treat “others”: with love, 
kindness and an open mind. This 
message coupled with outstanding 
filmmaking is why the final scene 
will leave everyone breathless 
with its pureness and beauty — 
enough to believe for a second that 
nothing evil could ever touch this 
Earth again.

MEGHAN CHOU
Daily Arts Writer

‘Lovesick’ excels, grows

SAM ROSENBERG
Senior Arts Editor

“Lovesick”

Season 3 

Premiere

Netflix

NETFLIX

SAYAN GHOSH
Daily World Music Columnist

FILM REVIEW

FOX SEARCHLIGHT

“The Shape 
of Water”

Wide Release, 
Michigan Theater

Fox Searchlight

TV REVIEW

6 —Monday, January 8, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com