Starstruck’s Delicately Bittersweet Third Season Takes the Series In a New Direction

One of the most complex problems in romance is not whether a certain couple will get together, or find their way back to one another after a breakup. It’s what happens afterward. It’s not an accident that most popular fairytales and well-known Disney fantasies tend to end with a wedding or true love’s first kiss. Figuring out what your life looks like after you find the person you’re supposed to be with forever is hard. It actually takes a lot of work. And sometimes that alleged happily ever after actually has an expiration date attached. 

Such is the dilemma at the heart of Starstruck Season 3. The third installment of the glittery Max rom-com is something of a departure from its first two seasons, which were largely a mix of witty banter, swoony flirtation, wish fulfillment (who hasn’t dreamed of dating a movie star?), and delicious will they/won’t they tension. But Season 3 sees the series’ central couple seemingly go their separate ways for good, a narrative choice that turns much of what we thought we knew about the show and its premise on its head. And while this decision is certainly a bold move—one that ultimately broadens the series’ scope in intriguing ways—it’s a pretty big adjustment for everyone involved. 

But one of the best things about Starstruck has always been the way that it not only fiercely embraces the familiar tropes of the romantic comedy genre, but gleefully subverts many of those ideas at the same time. And Season 3 goes even further in that regard than those that have come before it, freely questioning how long certain romantic loops can or should be repeated, whether we’re all really only granted one big sweeping love in a lifetime, and if there’s really such a thing as soulmates.

Starstruck, in its most basic sense, follows the story of Jessie (Rose Matafeo), a New Zealand expat who discovers her New Year’s Eve hookup Tom (Nikesh Patel) is actually a famous movie star. A sort of Notting Hill-in-reverse unfolds, as the two attempt to figure out whether their impulsive fling can translate into a real relationship. Grand gestures, petty squabbles, misunderstandings, and miscommunications ensue, but the series’ second season ultimately concludes with the sort of dramatic public clinch that usually means a couple is destined to be together forever.

But as Season 3 begins, the seemingly unthinkable has happened: Jessie and Tom have broken up. We watch their relationship unfold via fast-forward over the course of the first episode’s opening moments, as the two move in together, struggle with the demands of Tom’s schedule, get into arguments on the way to events, and eventually, tearfully go their separate ways. Two years pass in a literal blink, and suddenly everyone’s a little older and moving on to different stages of their lives. Jessie’s the maid of honor at Kate (Emma Sidi) and Ian’s (Al Roberts) wedding, where she runs into Tom for the first time since their breakup, only to find he is now freshly engaged to a successful actress named Clem (Constance Labbé). 

Their reunion is awkward and unsettling and gives rise to a cascade of questions both philosophical and immediate: do Tom and Jessie still have feelings for one another? Would they be better off as friends? Can either of them ever truly let the other go? Are they endgame?  Do we even still want them to be? These are not new questions, as some version of them has essentially been at the heart of the show since its beginning. But for the first time, Starstruck finally begins to wonder if maybe the answer to the question of whether its central romance actually belongs together is actually… no. 

At Kate’s reception, Jessie meets a handsome electrician named Liam (Lorne Macfadyen) whose playful, kind demeanor and decidedly down-to-earth energy make him easy to root for, even as she finds herself relentlessly drawn back into Tom’s orbit and begins to question her past choices. As they fall back into old habits and seemingly yearn for what they once had, Starstruck is also careful to remind us of the ways their lives have changed in the time they’ve been apart. 

Matafeo and Patel share fewer scenes together this season than in previous outings but the chemistry between the two is still palpable, which helps Starstruck Season 3 pull off a rare love triangle in which all sides feel like both appealing and legitimate options. Even Tom’s new fiance Clem is incredibly well adjusted and likable, preferring to try and get to know Jessie rather than view her as a threat. (The show doesn’t do as much to compare Liam’s working-class lifestyle with Tom’s elite excess as it could, which is a shame, if only because it’s so obviously one of the reasons Jessie feels more comfortable around him.) 

Where the first two seasons of Starstruck were sparkly swoon-fests, its third outing is something decidedly different. This isn’t to say that the magic is gone, because the season is as funny and emotionally compelling as ever. Matafeo remains delightful, and in a season that’s more directly focused on Jessie’s emotional journey, she’s asked to carry the bulk of the show’s shift in focus and does so deftly, giving a charismatic and layered performance that runs the gamut from cringe to heartfelt. 

But it certainly feels like the show has come back down to earth a little bit, abandoning its unmistakable riffs on films like Notting Hill or The Notebook and embracing a story that feels less like a fairytale and a bit more like real life. Part of the reason for this is the show’s overt embrace of a more ensemble format, which not only gives the series’ excellent supporting cast more time to shine but also offers a realistic portrait of that very specific stage in your late 20s and early 30s where friend groups begin to shift and change as various members make increasingly adult choices involving everything from marriage and children to mortgages. It’s easy to feel lost and left behind, and it’s clear that Jessie is wrestling with that uniquely specific feeling of knowing you’re old enough to be settled but still fearing you’ll never have yourself or your life together enough to do so. 

Starstruck’s perennial question of whether Tom and Jessie will (or should) be together still resonates throughout Season 3. But if this season is truly about anything, it’s about the fact that there’s more to every story than romance, and falling in love isn’t a panacea for all the other problems in your life. And although the show stumbles occasionally in this third outing—Patel is sadly underutilized, and Macfadyen’s charm must occasionally cover for thin character beats—its heartfelt honesty continues to shine through. 

Starstruck Season 3 premieres September 28 on Max.

Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB.

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