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Watch Master of None in quarantine
Master of None is a modern take on love and dating. It takes simple situations and makes them relatable to anyone. Love is something that takes time to figure out, and Master of None takes a raw approach at it. The series is beautifully shot, very real, and very funny.
The argument
Master of None is put forward as the best thing to watch on Netflix in quarantine on the grounds that it does what a comedy needs to do in these particular conditions. The award-winning show, created by Aziz Ansari, is a quirky comedy, and its register is warm and inviting rather than sharp. It walks the viewer into Dev Shah's life and follows his path toward love, which gives the series a shape to follow across episodes without ever demanding much of the viewer to keep up with it. What proponents emphasise is its handling of difficult material. The show talks a good deal about race — a topic as relevant now as it has ever been — and it does so without either avoiding the subject or turning heavy. The issues are presented in a welcoming manner, which is what allows a comedy to take them on without ceasing to be one. The same is true of its treatment of the many obstacles millennials face in this age: these appear as the substance of Dev's life rather than as a thesis the series is arguing, and the sweetness of the delivery carries them. That combination is what suits it to quarantine specifically. A period of confinement is not a good time for television that leaves a viewer worse off than it found them, and this show is not going to make the viewer cry. What it offers instead is hope in the process of growing up — the sense that the difficulties it depicts are ones people come through. For someone looking for something funny to watch while stuck indoors, proponents argue, a warm comedy that takes relevant subjects seriously while remaining hopeful is exactly the right company.
Premises
Counter-arguments
Skip the show if you hate the "millennial" approach to stories. The show is new and experiments in new storytelling techniques, which makes it feel choppy and uncomfortable. The show has love parts, and then gut-wrenching parts, which make no sense. The show is bland.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Awards and warmth are not the same as suitability for quarantine viewing, and the counter finds the show's experimental storytelling choppy and uncomfortable rather than inviting. [Rejecting P3] The show does not stay light: its gut-wrenching passages sit alongside its comic ones, so it cannot be recommended as the reassuring, tear-free company the premise describes.