Special mention goes to as Heidi, Gus’s initial love interest, whose rejection sets the entire plot in motion. Heelan plays Heidi as not mean, but simply done with Gus’s neediness, which is far more cutting.
Here is a feature on the remarkable cast who brought this messy, beautiful story to life. At the heart of the series is the volatile, magnetic push-pull between Gillian Jacobs (Mickey Dobbs) and Paul Rust (Gus Cruikshank). Jacobs, already beloved as Britta Perry on Community , delivers a career-defining performance here. Mickey is a radio station producer battling sex and love addiction, as well as alcoholism. Jacobs refuses to let Mickey be a victim or a manic pixie dream girl. Instead, she plays her with jagged edges—self-destructive, fiercely intelligent, and desperate for connection. You root for her even when she’s burning everything down.
as Bertie, Mickey’s Australian roommate, is the show’s secret weapon. In any other show, Bertie would be a one-note "quirky friend." But O’Doherty infuses her with genuine warmth, loneliness, and a surprising amount of emotional intelligence. Her relationship with Gus’s friend Randy (played with hysterical, bro-ish sincerity by Mike Mitchell ) offers a sweet, functional counterpoint to the leads’ dysfunction. Mitchell’s Randy—a beefcake who loves explosions, protein shakes, and eventually Bertie—is a comedic highlight, proving that simple doesn’t mean stupid.
Opposite her is Rust, who co-created the series and essentially weaponizes his own nice-guy persona. Gus is a nice guy—the kind who holds doors, remembers birthdays, and composes music for terrible movies. But Rust brilliantly exposes the entitlement and passive aggression lurking beneath that affability. Watching Rust navigate Gus’s petty resentments and social ineptitude is like watching a masterclass in “cringe comedy.” Together, Jacobs and Rust have a chemistry that feels less like a fairy tale and more like two tectonic plates grinding together—destructive, but impossible to look away from. While Mickey and Gus provide the chaos, the supporting cast provides the gravity.