Still Up came to an end this past Friday and, after a season that was a rollercoaster of emotions, we got our thing together in time for a season review. Ready?
Here we go!
Lisa and Danny connect in a strange situation. They are friends but their relationship begins to change when they begin to find each other amid insomnia and fear. Fear disguised as humor, but fear after all.
Danny is agoraphobic and Lisa is starting to rebuild her life. They are both afraid of the unknown, of taking a step outside their respective comfort zones. Through late-night calls and whispered conversations, the two find in each other a comfort and intimacy they have never felt before with anyone.
Sometimes the conversations are simple, almost silly, just to fill the silence. At other times, Danny and Lisa talk about heavy things, things they might not dare say if they were physical with each other. Still Up is a series that shows how easy and how important it is to trust someone to talk about those things you want to forget.
And so, Danny and Lisa, almost without realizing it, fall — even more — for each other. The telephone allows enough distance for them to lose the fear and shame of talking about things they would not dare otherwise.
At the same time, in Still Up, the phone becomes a silent witness to conversations that soon begin to become heavier, and more…meaningful. Suddenly, Danny and Lisa can’t wait for the night to come, to talk to each other, they crave that moment all day long, they need it, and they need each other.
Suddenly, the silences of conversations are loaded with too many unsaid words. With too many feelings they are terrified to acknowledge because that would mean taking a step that would change everything.
But you can’t cover the Sun with a finger, and Still Up doesn’t try to do that. Some truths are revealed and we realize that Danny and Lisa’s slow-burning love story has been brewing longer than we imagined. We realize that those silences had been loaded with feelings for too long. And they have had some unexpected consequences.
But it’s time to gamble. Danny leaves his house for the first time with the sole objective of seeing Lisa in her eyes and confessing what he feels. But Still Up breaks our hearts in one final twist when Lisa decides to take refuge again in something familiar, to return to her comfort zone, rather than take that step towards the abyss that Danny was ready to take.
Lisa doesn’t seem ready but will she ever be? Well, all we have to do is cross our fingers and wait to find out the answer.
In short, Still Up is a romantic comedy that, at some points, departs from the established canon for the genre, but not at others. At first, everything is a little chaotic, which is a reflection of what Danny and Lisa’s lives are like, and then everything falls into place. Like the pieces of a puzzle.
Lisa and Danny could be any of us and that makes them endearing while allowing us to identify with the characters. But, without a doubt, what keeps you watching and makes you go to the end is the great chemistry between the leading couple, played by Craig Roberts and Antonia Thomas.
It’s difficult not to be on the same set in a romantic comedy and have chemistry but they not only achieve it, but they make it across the screen and keep you glued, without being able, or wanting, to change the channel. So we’re ready for more.
Still Up season 1 is available to stream on Apple TV+.
