Exes are always a contentious issue; there are the good, the bad, the ugly and… revisited (guilty). Rediscovering romance, confronting the past, and finding healing in the most unexpected places are all part of the winding road through lessons in life and love.
The Road Trip is a new, addictive summer love story series, with all episodes only available on Paramount+ that explores just that. Adapted from the novel by bestselling chick-lit author Beth O’Leary (who also wrote The Flatshare), love is explored through a variety of prisms.
Addie and her sister Deb embark on a road trip to a wedding in southern Spain, but their journey takes a turn when Addie’s ex, Dylan, rear-ends their campervan. Forced to travel together, the two must confront their past as they face 1,000 miles of awkwardness, chaos, and unresolved feelings.
According to the show’s plot synopsis, “The Road Trip is a witty, contemporary, emotionally complex romantic comedy about giving love another shot. Can someone be the right person, just at the wrong time? And is there ever a future in returning to a past love?”
Whether it ended amicably or crashed and burned, every relationship has its lesson. Below, we dive into what we’ve learnt from the past and how it’s benefitted the future.
Lesson 1: If a friend wouldn’t deserve this, you don’t either
Have you ever listened to a friend complain about their relationship and question why they’re putting up with the constant red flags? We know we have – many, many times.
“I used to come home crying from arguments with my ex-boyfriend,” says Charlotte, 27. “I was so tired of begging someone to love me the way I needed to be loved.” Charlotte’s housemate questioned whether she would tolerate her friends being treated this way. When her answer was no, she realised her relationship wouldn’t work.
“You have to look at relationships from a friendship perspective also. If a friend was having such grief in her own relationship, I’d tell her to leave. Similarly, if a friend treated me like this, I wouldn’t stand for it.”
Lesson 2: Relationships need both emotional and physical intimacy
If the emotional connection with a love interest is unrequited, it’s easy to try and subsidise it with the physical. “I was way more into him than he was into me, [so] there was a bit of a power imbalance there that he actually loved,” says Amalia, 26, of a recent ex.
Stuck in a splintered relationship of “begging him to put a label on it” to dating “exclusively for three months,” they soon broke up but “continued to sleep together for about a year.” He broke their ‘agreement’ of not dating other people but would always come back to her. For women, it’s easy to be made to feel that our bodies are a form of currency: “I learnt very early on that to men, my only use was sex.”
“After a lot of therapy [I learnt] that my body is actually the least interesting thing about me. I’m very lucky to have a partner now that has never once pressured me, but at first I really struggled with this because I couldn’t grasp the idea that I was more than that.”
Lesson 3: Allow your emotions to settle
Whether you’ve been in a disagreement, had a fight, or even broken up, hot-headed emotions can take over. “Often if I fall out with my partner, I say or do things I know would be hurtful because I want them to feel my pain and hurt,” says Florence, 35.
“I know this isn’t nice or healthy behaviour, so it’s something I’ve been working on as I’ve gotten older. Give yourself space; sit and reflect on your feelings to figure out how you really feel.”
Understanding how you truly feel, by “talking to friends, journaling or meditating”, eradicates the chance of reactive behaviour and helps you avoid doing something you’re likely to regret.
Lesson 4: Recognise external stressors
Trying to maintain a healthy relationship whilst balancing work, friends, health (and the rest) can be hard work. Life can feel stressful and tiring, so it’s easy to let the pressure take its toll on the people closest to you.
“I learnt a lot about not letting external stressors affect my relationship at home,” says Sharon, 30, when reflecting on her last serious relationship.
Despite her relationship being fun, caring and stable, “I always took a lot of my stress home and put it into the relationship causing more strain, which is something that I do regret.”
“Now, I try to make sure I don’t let my own stressors affect relationships. I actively try to communicate it better to people I’m dating.”
Lesson 5: Trust your intuition
Relationships aren’t always loving in a healthy way – partners can be toxic, secretive or manipulative. This is true for Em, 31, who learnt that she was dating someone who was “secretly working on rebuilding his relationship with his wife” whilst they were together.
As a result, she found herself stuck in a vicious cycle of empty promises, her threatening to leave and him grovelling. If you find yourself stuck in a toxic pattern, you “need to decide if it’s something you’re willing to put up with,” she says. “When you’re in a constant state of anxiety and know they are capable of lying to you, they probably are.”
Moving forwards, she knows to “trust your gut and don’t settle. If something feels off, it probably is.”
Lesson 6: Take a (second) chance
“Does he deserve a second chance?” is a question as old as time, and one that is explored in The Road Trip. Usually, we’d argue that if you’re having to ask the question then no, he probably doesn’t. But, as Addie and Dylan are figuring out, sometimes taking a chance pays off.
“We broke up due to circumstances. He moved away because it was something he’d always wanted to do, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that,” says Rosie, 32. “Of course it was difficult and sad, but it was amicable, and we harboured no resentment towards one another. So, when he came back, we gave it another try.”
In Paramount+’s new hit comedy-drama series The Road Trip, the characters explore whether love deserves a second chance. Perfect for a flirtatious summer watchathon, all episodes are available to watch now here.