Can I call you Rose? A Schitt love affair.
Every year I go back to my favourite comfort shows and this year I started off with my favourite love story, Schitt’s Creek. My favourite film trope is the established city person who’s lost touch with community who falls for an ordinary person who reignites their love and faith in people, this is why Pretty Woman is my favourite movie of all time. When it comes to this trope, Schitt’s Creek is one of a few sitcoms where the writers have done a perfect job at developing the plot in a way that showcases each character’s growth while simultaneously keeping the plot alive. After married couple, John and television’s Moira Rose, suddenly go bankrupt and the only remaining asset they have is an ugly small town named Schitt’s Creek that they had gifted their son David they are forced to move there to start over.
My favourite thing about this show is that it doesn’t only embrace romantic love but rather puts friendship and community at the center of building one’s life. I strongly believe that a healthy communal love is the best breeding ground for a healthy love story, this is seen through the progression of David and Alexis’s love lives throughout the show. In the first season of the show we see the Roses still in denial about their circumstances. They merely view the town and its people as placeholders so they don’t give it much attention and effort. After their failed attempt at selling the town they begrudgingly warm up to being members of the community thus opening them up to the warmest experiences. Throughout the seasons each family member is thrust back into their old realities through old friends coming through to the town and this is where their growth is seen the most.
The only member of the family who seems to open up to the community a lot more quicker and consequently has the best progress is David. David is the first out of everyone who willingly makes a friend in the town, Stevie. Though their relationship falls into the annoying trap that is a situationship, it soon grows into a wonderful connection. Through the aid of Stevie and everyone he’s able to lean onto in the town David blossoms into the most thriving member of the Rose family. Though David is the most socially awkward and most ‘in the shell’ person out of the family, he’s the most genuine and caring person in the Rose mix. That being so, David’s character is rewarded with one of the best love stories I’ve seen on television.
Patrick Brewer, David’s new lover is introduced to the viewers in season 3. He comes into the show as a business consultant who works for Ray who ends up getting into business with David. Their love story is a typical slow burn though this can be linked to Patrick being in the closet. The real affair starts on the night of David’s birthday after Stevie points out that she’s crashing a date to David who naively thought the birthday dinner Patrick invited him to was a casual thing. This relationship slowly grows stronger and eventually leads to the two lovebirds getting married. My favourite thing about Patrick and David is that they balanced each other out. Patrick is trustworthy and kind which is something that David isn’t really accustomed to. Patrick is also a lot more confident when it comes to expressing his feelings which rubs off on David as their relationship progresses. A thing they both share in common is that the relationship is new territory for them, with it being David’s first healthy relationship and it being Patrick’s first queer relationship.
My favourite thing about this couple is that their relationship is written with so much tenderness and warmth. It’s also embraced by the people in their lives which I feel adds more support structure for the love to grow. After Patrick’s former fiancé comes into town it throws the couple into a dark-ish place. The tenderness in which they speak to one another and the care that they both show one another despite their differences is one I truly envied. Watching this relationship bloom into the beautiful happy ending that it became awakened the yearner in me so much so that I came to bother you guys with it. I haven’t experienced any ‘perfect’ relationships both on screen and especially off screen. By perfect I don’t mean love stories without flaws. I mean the ones where the flaws are differences in character but the couple meets the odds with kindness and respect. Where the actual pain in the relationship are growing pains that end up bringing the couple together because it’s an opportunity for the partners to show their love for one another. Relationships where there’s no infidelity, no ‘toxic traits and no competition. Experiencing a couple grow more in love with the more challenges they were met with and seeing them open themselves up to one another in a healthy way was very refreshing. Especially since life is very challenging and you don’t need your partner to be one of the challenges that you’re facing.
There’s an evident regress in the way we do love as a generation and there aren’t any real ‘representations’ that don’t use the lustful approach. Watching a show where intimacy is shown through the couple’s attempt at merging their lives together, their occasional performances of Tina Turner’s ‘Simply The Best’ to each other and uncomfortable conversations that helped them become better lovers is a wonderful experience. More so because if you go online right now and see the conversations surrounding relationships it’s a very scary thing to watch. Love shouldn’t be an isolating thing or even a harmful one, if anything it’s a communal project. The relationships you have with the people in your life should water each other. This is something I think we lack in our time of love. Romantic love has taken over, it’s a trophy that we cannot even enjoy parading. Love has become such a cold and selfish experience. Now friends and relatives are seen as meddlers instead of your loves intersecting. As a yearner and a chronically online real lover, I hope we all get to experience a love as simple yet satisfying as the Schitt’s Affair. I hope eventually we get over ourselves and become a reflection of God’s greatest gift to mankind, love.
