Close Menu
  • Login
  • Support Us
  • Newsletter
  • News
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Video Games
      • Previews
      • PC
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Xbox One
      • PS4
      • Tabletop
    • Film
    • TV
    • Anime
    • Comics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse Comics
      • DC Comics
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Indie Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • Oni-Lion Forge
      • Valiant Comics
      • Vault Comics
  • Podcast
  • More
    • Event Coverage
    • BWT Recommends
    • RSS Feeds
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Support Us
But Why Tho?
RSS Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube
Trending:
  • Features
    EA Sports Madden NFL 26 Head Coach But Why Tho 5

    Dear EA Sports, Why Can’t I Make A Hot Coach?

    08/14/2025
    Blade in Marvel Rivals Season 3.5

    Blade Can Shut Down The Other Team In Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 If You Know How

    08/08/2025
    John Cena and Cody Rhodes during Summerslam 2025

    The SummerSlam 2025 Main Event Was A Fever Dream We All Needed

    08/08/2025
    Street Fighter 6 Sagat

    Sagat Brings Depth And Approachability To ‘Street Fighter 6’

    08/07/2025
    Battlefield 6 Classes - Support trailer image

    Battlefield 6 Really Wants You To Play Support (But Knows You Won’t)

    07/31/2025
  • Indie Games
  • K-Dramas
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV+
But Why Tho?
Home » TV » REVIEW: ‘Modern Love Amsterdam’ Shows A Beautiful Spectrum Of Love

REVIEW: ‘Modern Love Amsterdam’ Shows A Beautiful Spectrum Of Love

Jason FlattBy Jason Flatt12/15/20223 Mins Read
Modern Love Amsterdam - But Why Tho
Share
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email

Modern Love Amsterdam - But Why Tho

Modern Love Amsterdam is the latest iteration of Prime Video’s series based on the famous New York Times’ Modern Love column. Each of the six episodes in this anthology demonstrates distinct love stories with unconventional family structures, queerness, grief, and longing all on vibrant display. The vignettes may be short, but the emotional punch they pack is far beyond their weight class.

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here

I came to this series initially by way of another Dutch romance, Anne+, and its star and creator, Hanna Van Vliet, but at this point, I’m ready to watch a full feature starring nearly any contributor to this project. Foremost, I admire how outside the typical romance box the episode stride. Sure, there’s your widower who learns to love again thanks to his three sons and a workaholic athlete who gets caught up in somebody else’s extramarital affair. But there’s also a lesbian couple deciding whether and how to have kids with a co-parenting best friend, open relationships that include partners’ partners and their kids, a father starting an entirely new family after losing his first, and a love story involving a partner who becomes disabled.

This great breadth of the human experience feels special to witness. It makes each of its stories seem entirely every-day. Nobody’s casting aspersions on any of these love stories from the outside. Especially in the open relationship episode, the only person making judgments of anybody is the main character unto himself for his difficulty accepting the situation that his wife, his wife’s partner’s wife, and even his kids to an extent have accepted as not only normal but healthy and beautiful. When the husband and kids receive a call to rush to the hospital after an accident involving his wife and her partner, they’re met first by some comedic tension. Still, ultimately, no judgment is passed by the nurses or anybody else in the hospital.

What I admire most about this episode, though, and each episode in its own similar ways, is that this is a story of non-monogamy that looks nothing like any I’ve seen on screen before. It’s not about gay men looking to increase or improve their sex lives. And it’s not about some uber-liberal stereotypes who want to screw the patriarchy. It’s about a family, with kids and mutual respect and adoration across the relationship’s partners. It’s such a simple idea and so liberating to witness on-screen that I’m actually shocked I’ve never encountered it before as a genuine form of love and not merely the butt of a joke. And the same is true of Modern Love Amsterdam’s encounters with queer co-parenting and loving through grief and loss; there is no formula for love, and all of its forms are valid when all parties are in enthusiastic consent with one another.

Each episode offers a slightly different direction too. The first episode offers a slight element of magical realism that gives humor to an otherwise glib situation. A later episode uses dialogue-less flashbacks set in a slight sepia adds a huge dramatic effect. That each story has a slightly different timbre made me excited to click on each one as soon as the last was finished.

Modern Love Amsterdam is a beautiful anthology demonstrating a spectrum of queer, non-traditional, and emotional loves.

Modern Love Amsterdam is streaming on Prime Video on December 16.

Modern Love Amsterdam
  • 8.5/10
    Rating - 8.5/10
8.5/10

TL;DR

Modern Love Amsterdam is a beautiful anthology demonstrating a spectrum of queer, non-traditional, and emotional loves.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
Previous ArticleThe Cost of Loneliness in ‘Somebody’
Next Article Sins of a Solar Empire II Adds New TEC Ships and Improved Visuals
Jason Flatt
  • X (Twitter)

Jason is the Sr. Editor at But Why Tho? and producer of the But Why Tho? Podcast. He's usually writing about foreign films, Jewish media, and summer camp.

Related Posts

Alien Earth Episode 1 and Episode 2 still from FX and Hulu
9.5

REVIEW: ‘Alien: Earth’ Episode 1-2 — “Neverland” and “Mr. October”

08/18/2025
Vanessa Kirby in Night Always Comes on Netflix But Why Tho
5.0

REVIEW: ‘Night Always Comes’ Lacks Purpose

08/16/2025
Foundation Season 3 Episode 6 promotional still
8.0

RECAP: ‘Foundation’ Season 3 Episode 6 — “The Shape of Time”

08/15/2025
Butterfly first look images from Prime Video
9.0

REVIEW: ‘Butterfly’ Continues Prime Video’s Spy Thriller Streak

08/13/2025
Trigger promotional image from Netflix
8.0

REVIEW: ‘Trigger’ Is Netflix’s Most Disturbing Series

08/08/2025
Foundation Season 3 Episode 5 promo image from AppleTV+
7.0

RECAP: ‘Foundation’ Season 3 Episode 5 — “Where Tyrants Spend Eternity”

08/08/2025

Get BWT in your inbox!

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and get the latest and greated in entertainment coverage.
Click Here
TRENDING POSTS
Still from Shin Godzilla
8.5
Film

REVIEW: ‘Shin Godzilla’ Is More Relevant Than Ever

By Sarah Musnicky08/16/2025Updated:08/17/2025

It is understandable how Shin Godzilla succeeded at the box office nearly a decade ago. The strength of its story still stands today.

Botanical Bliss Update Palia But Why Tho 5 News

Palia’s New Botanical Bliss Update Brings New Flora, Decorations, And Quest Mechanic

By Matt Donahue08/18/2025Updated:08/18/2025

The Botanical Bliss update adds new event, more plushes, and a host of quality-of-life improvements and more to celebrate 2 years of Palia.

BOOTS Netflix First Look promotional images News

First Look at Coming-of-Age Story BOOTS, Coming to Netflix This October

By But Why Tho?08/17/2025

Netflix is reporting for duty this fall with the new eight-episode series BOOTS, a comedic drama starring Miles Heizer and Vera Farmiga

Nuestra Magia Secret Lair Art Interviews

EXCLUSIVE: How The ‘Nuestra Magia’ Secret Lair Found Its Identity And Raised Over $1M

By Kate Sánchez08/15/2025Updated:08/15/2025

We spoke with Ovidio Cartagena about Magic: The Gathering’s Nuestra Magia Secret Lair drop, its impact, and the real treasure within.

But Why Tho?
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest RSS YouTube Twitch
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT US
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
  • Review Score Guide
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small contribution.
Written Content is Copyright © 2025 But Why Tho? A Geek Community

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

But Why Tho Logo

Support Us!

We're able to keep making content thanks to readers like YOU!
Support independent media today with
Click Here