Ever wish your life played out like a love story set in pastoral England? Well, Jessica Salmon (Megan Stalter) does, too, along with the rest of her family in Lena Dunham’s (Girls) new romantic comedy series, Too Much, premiering on Netflix July 10.
In a new clip from the first episode above, see lovelorn Jess having a girls’ night with her sister Nora (Dunham), mom Lois (Rita Wilson), and grandma Dottie (Rhea Perlman) as they bemoan the status of their romantic prospects in Great Neck, Long Island compared to the gallant fictional men of Jane Austen’s novels.
“It’s literally a perfectly written scene,” Stalter tells Tudum of filming with her co-stars. “It’s so funny, and sweet, and just really feels like a family, like a broken group of women that need each other.”
Stalter stars as a workaholic New Yorker who is reeling from a brutal break-up with her long-term partner of seven years. As a city girl is wont to do, she heads home to her grandma’s house to lick her wounds with her family. Or, as she calls her new living situation, “an intergenerational Grey Gardens hell of single women and one hairless dog.”
For a sense of escape, the Salmon ladies watch a classic English countryside romance: Emma Thompson and Ang Lee’s 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. As they throw comments at the screen and affectionately jibe each other, you get a real sense of the family’s shorthand and comfort with each other. “My God, those days were too much!” says Dunham. “To be in the room with those women and to be playing a family with them, I couldn’t believe it. It’s absolutely insane.”
As she shares in her narration, Jess’ only solace during her season of excruciating heartache is watching these time-honored romances that don’t break your heart in real life, and always have a happy ending. “I mean, nobody’s fucking an influencer in the works of Jane Austen!” as she says.
So what does this heartbroken girl do? She uproots her life to seek out her own happily ever after in London. It’s not pastoral, but, hey, it’s still England.
See where Jess’ journey takes her when Too Much premieres on July 10. In the meantime, watch the trailer for the series below.
