Netflix’s ‘The Residence’ includes one of the best love stories I’ve ever seen
When you tune into a show like Netflix’s The Residence, you’re initially tuning in to figure out the mystery, right? An executive member of staff is murdered in The White House, and you want to know how, why, and where. That, of course, makes the leading investigator, in this case, detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba), the central figure in the show. Yet she’s not necessarily the one we relate to the most.
While the series does a great job of giving us insight into Cordelia’s character beyond the usual “world’s greatest detective” label—I especially love her relationship with her nephew and how she discovered her talent for investigating—the characters we instinctually find the most relatable are the ones who work in the White House; those downstairs, rather than upstairs.
Minor spoilers ahead for The Residence.
There are a lot of colorful and intriguing characters in The Residence—assistant usher Jasmine Haney (Susan Kelechi Watson), butler Sheila Cannon (Edwina Findley), pastry chef Didier Gotthard (Bronson Pichot), and executive chef Marvella (Mary Wiseman), to name a few. The louder these characters are, the easier it is to pay attention to them. However, it wasn’t the loudest, snarkiest, cheekiest, or haughtiest characters I was drawn to during the show. No, it was two of the quietest characters I looked forward to seeing the most, and, surprisingly enough, I saw a genuinely heartfelt love story unfold between them, one that eclipses many of the romances I’ve recently read or watched on my TV.
Who doesn’t want unconditional love?
I’m talking about housekeeper Elsyie Chayle (Julieth Restrepo) and engineer Bruce Geller (Mel Rodriguez). The relationship that develops between them is so achingly human, gentle, protective, and warm that I couldn’t help but root for them, even when it appeared one of them might have been the one to kill chief usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito).
Romance and rom-coms are making a comeback in a big way, and the world is all the better for it. Everything is so bleak nowadays, who doesn’t want to escape the real world for a while and witness two people falling in love? The problem with many of Hollywood’s recent (and not-so-recent) attempts to reinvigorate the rom-com genre, however, is that many of them still feel removed from the real world. The people falling in love are all ludicrously beautiful, and yeah, sure, there’s something to be said for watching gorgeous people with undeniable chemistry fall for each other. It’s fun, it’s hot, but it also feels a step removed from reality.
My favorite contemporary romance novels aren’t billionaire romances, celebrity romances, or even sports romances, though they all have their merits and can be fun in a fantasy, wish-fulfillment-type way. My favorites are the ones that feel real, genuine, and honest about what it means to fall in love quietly, slowly, and with trust, and how attraction grows over time. That’s what Elsyie’s and Bruce’s story in The Residence gives us.
Their love isn’t a lightning bolt from the sky. It’s built on friendship, hesitant affection, caring, and kindness. Elsyie sees Bruce for who he is, and he sees her in return. They were friends first before they became something more. Their first kiss, after Elsyie gives Bruce a gift, feels like a warm hug. You knew it was coming, even if they didn’t, and yet, in that dingy little cage in the basement of the White House, their lives begin anew.
When Elsyie and Bruce describe what it was like for them to be in The White House during a fictional terror attack in Washington D.C., there’s a flashback of them lying on the floor of the Executive Residence. They’re holding on to each other’s hands for dear life yet laughing in the face of their mortality simply because it’s easier for them to face it together. Isn’t that the kind of love everyone wants?
Elsyie and Bruce’s romance may have only been a minuscule piece of The Residence’s larger, complicated puzzle, but for me, it was one of the highlights of the show. Take note, Hollywood!
All episodes of The Residence are now available to stream, only on Netflix.
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