Stream It or Skip It: ‘Love on the Spectrum’ on Netflix, a Dating Show About Autistic Singles

Love on the Spectrum is a totally different kind of dating show, especially compared to what you’re used to seeing on Netflix. The Australian series follows a rotating cast of singles as they juggle their love lives with life on the spectrum. 

LOVE ON THE SPECTRUM: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A question from offscreen: “What do you think love is?” Then we get answers from some of the show’s leads (Kelvin, Olivia, Mark, Maddi, Michael, and Andrew) that reveals just how elusive love can feel to some people on the autism spectrum.

The Gist: Love on the Spectrum is a docuseries that follows a group of singles on the autism spectrum as they navigate dating. The first episode focuses on the dating lives of Michael—who attends a singles mixer run by a local disabilities organization—and Chloe—who goes on a date with a guy and a girl, both on the spectrum as well. The first episode also tells the quirky love story of engaged couple Thomas and Ruth, who love public transit and collecting business cards. Love on the Spectrum originally aired in Australia last fall, where it won over audiences with its big heart and its awkward, un-produced moments.

Our Take: It is very easy to cringe when you read the pitch “Netflix dating show about people on the autism spectrum.” After all, Netflix’s biggest dating show hits, Love Is Blind and Too Hot to Handle, are textbook examples of hot nonsense. One immediately assumes that Love on the Spectrum is going to be as exploitative of people with autism as Too Hot to Handle was exploitative of vapid Instagram influencers. So just to relieve you of that notion—Love on the Spectrum is unlike any Netflix reality dating show you’ve seen before, in the best way.

There are no rules, no eliminations, no glow-up makeovers or elaborate matchmaking procedures. Love on the Spectrum is a true docuseries, one that feels almost entirely hands-off when it comes to depicting the lives of real people on the spectrum. Of course, it can be assumed that production maybe researched, or perhaps even orchestrated, some of the singles mixers or matches that we see on the show, but that possible orchestration is not part of the show. Instead, we are just meeting vastly different individuals who are all united by two traits: they’re somewhere along the very wide spectrum, and they are looking for love.

The resulting show is a lot like dating. It’s charming when it’s at its best, like when 25-year-old aspiring husband Michael is riffing with his family at the dinner table. The show’s also awkward as hell when it’s, well, also at its best (like when Chloe’s date confesses on date one he watched gay porn to find out if he may be gay). But that’s what dating is: it’s equal parts charming and awkward. It’s really the same for everybody, on and off the spectrum—and that’s what this show wants to prove.

Parting Shot: The first episode ends with breakout star Michael anxiously waiting for his first date to begin. He’s in a suit, he has a piece of paper in his pocket with conversation tips, and he cannot wait for his pop-culture-loving date to arrive. Will she show up? Will it go well? You have to watch the next episode to find out!

Sleeper Star: Michael. It’s Michael. How could it be anyone else? He’s a thinker, a romantic (he has love ducks!), and he’s infinitely quotable. “An A+ partner looks like me,” he says, right before his first date. And when his mom starts chuckling, he adds, “I’m saying it because it’s accurate, mom.” He’s a hopeless romantic that’s full of hope, and his straightforward personality is really refreshing after watching so many amateur “masterminds” try to lie their way to true love on other Netflix shows.

Although I have to say, Ruth’s pet snake Cleopatra does come in a close second.

Our Call: STREAM IT. This is a fun, romantic look at life on the spectrum that will hopefully shatter some stereotypes.

Stream Love on the Spectrum on Netflix