Stream It Or Skip It: ‘A Perfect Story’ On Netflix, Where A Chance Meeting Leads To A Great Friendship With Romantic Possibilities

While most rom-coms, whether they’re movies or series, make a lot of effort to make their leads into a couple, most don’t explore how, in many cases, the best couples become friends before they fall in love. A new romantic comedy from Spain endeavors to show how two people from different backgrounds meet and bring the best out of each other, even as their romantic feelings grow.

A PERFECT STORY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see separate overhead shots of a man and woman in their respective beds, lying awake late at night.

The Gist: When Margot (Anna Castillo) can’t sleep, she bakes muffins; when David (Álvaro Mel) is sleepless, he arranges flowers. Both are restless for similar, but different reasons.

Margot is engaged to Filippo (Mario Ermito), but what keeps her awake isn’t as much her relationship as the expectations her family has for her. She works as a marketing exec for her family’s hotel and resort corporation, the biggest one in Spain. Despite her insistence on being called Margot, both her parents call her by her given name, Margarita. Her mother (Ana Belén) blithely suggests Margot ditch work to go shopping for her engagement party. The CEO, who also calls her Margarita, treats her more like a legacy hire, even though she’s done hard work to create a new image for the company.

David works three jobs to make ends meet and couch surfs with his friends Ivan (Jimmy Castro) and Domi (Tai Fati) — being their baby’s nanny is one of the jobs. His girlfriend Idoia (Lydia Pavón) keeps blowing off having dinner with Ivan and Domi; the next day, she dumps him, telling him how much of a mediocre person he is.

On her wedding day, Margot panics, straps on her post-ceremony Nikes and runs, chased by her mother and sisters Patricia (Lourdes Hernandez) and Candela (Ingrid García Jonsson). Even though she doesn’t want to break up with Filippo, he decides that they should spend some time apart. Also, the board of her family’s company insists that she also take some time off, in order to salvage the company’s image.

Patricia and Candela visit a despondent Margot at her apartment and convince her that they should go out; they end up at the club where David bartends (owned by his friend Ivan). He shows Margot some kindness, giving her “shots” of water as her sisters insist on getting her drunk. Patricia drunkenly spills her purse, and accidentally leaves her phone behind.

The next day, Margot comes by the club to retrieve the phone. David, thinking that the taller, blonder Patricia is coming, tells Idoia to come by and pick up some of her stuff. Even so, the gambit seems to have an effect, especially when Margot goes along with it and tells Idoia that she’s there to go on a dinner date with David.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The story in A Perfect Story definitely reminds us of Season 2 of the series Love Life.

Our Take: While it seems on first blush that A Perfect Story is going to be a romantic comedy, it’s going to be more of a friendship-to-romance-maybe comedy. Before Margot and David can figure out their feelings for each other, they’re likely going to lean on each other to help them figure out themselves first. And, given how appealing the two leads of the show are, that sounds like a journey we’ll want to take with them.

You most definitely want to root for Margot and David, even if their situations are a bit amplified for dramatic and comedic effect. For instance, is Margot that disrespected that people won’t even respect her desire to not be called Margarita? Is David so in love with Idoia that he will take her direct insults?

In real life, those situations might be a bit more subtle, but it’s a chance for writer Marina Pérez, who adapted the story from a novel by Elísabet Benavent, to illustrate the differences in their situations. It’s refreshing that Margot is feeling pressure not because her relationship is a mistake but because her family has high expectations for her, even though she wants to forge her own path. It’s also refreshing that David is content with the freelance hustle simply because he’s enjoying where he currently is in life.

As their friendship deepens, we think they’ll bring those realizations out of each other. And we know that there will be romantic feelings flying around, but what we hope is that the obstacles to the two of them getting together are more organic than what we usually see in romcoms.

Sex and Skin: David has a sexy dream about Idoia as he clutches onto a camisole she left at his place, but that’s about it.

Parting Shot: After David gives Margot his number, the two of them part; Margot contemplates her meeting as she rides away in a taxi, and David just has a smile on his face.

Sleeper Star: We do like the dynamic Hernandez and Jonsson bring as Margot’s blonde sisters Patricia and Candela. They are definitely on her side, and all three of them think their mom (stepmom?) is impossible to deal with. Also, Patricia might soon be on the prowl, as she tells her sisters that her husband is cheating on her.

Most Pilot-y Line: Most of the music on the show are hits from the ’80s, which is strange, given that Margot and David were likely born in the ’90s.

Our Call: STREAM IT. A Perfect Story is a light romantic story with two charming leads, which is what makes it very watchable.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.