THE MARRIAGE NARRATIVE

An analytical businesswoman and a man who comes from reality-TV royalty agree to a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience.

Zinnia is a small-business owner who’s given up on the dating scene. Instead, she decides to get straight to the point with what she calls a “marriage-merger,” treating the dating process more like a job interview. Selected applicants will be subjected to screening calls and in-person meetings with the goal of marrying within a month. Her friends aren’t quite sold on the idea, but Zinnia feels this is the most efficient way of ticking the nuptials box. Jordan comes from a famous family of reality television stars, whose lives are recorded for salacious entertainment on a show called Zaffre Hours—think Keeping Up With the Kardashians—though he’s never been part of the cast. The producers have now cooked up a storyline that would entail Jordan officially joining the show, which would include reuniting with and marrying his ex. Jordan would prefer to have more of a say in his love life when he sees Zinnia’s marriage-merger dating profile, it strikes him as the perfect opportunity for a mutually beneficial arrangement. This a slow-burn romance, but it’s hard to tell if the romance is slow because the main characters start as strangers or because the romantic tension is frequently interrupted and overshadowed by Jordan’s toxic family members and drama-hungry TV producers. Meanwhile, Zinnia isn’t looking for love, but more of a business partner in life; to her, marriage seems like just an obstacle to overcome. Why she feels this way isn’t fully explored, aside from not wanting to be left behind while her friends are getting coupled up.

A half-baked setup that’s surprisingly low on romantic tension.