'Catastrophe' Shows Staying Together Is Hard Too

The couple at the center of Amazon's Catastrophe, which returned for Season 2 on April 8 and is currently streaming, serves as an example of the increasingly common relationships that reverse the "traditional" order of milestones. The result is a realistic — and somehow still hilarious — portrayal of romance, which is tested in Season 2. "The core of [Catastrophe] is the relationship between two people," star and creator Sharon Horgan tells Bustle of Catastrophe. "It's about two people who are going to do absolutely everything that they can to stay together, because it's much harder for a lot of people to part." Thanks to the natural chemistry between Horgan and fellow creator/star Rob Delaney, parting is the last thing that you want to see their characters do on Catastrophe.

The series, which originally aired on UK's Channel 4 network and now streams on Amazon Prime in the United States, stars the co-creators as Sharon and Rob, a not-couple that decides to get married after learning that Sharon got pregnant during their night of casual sex. Season 1 followed the couple as they planned their rushed nuptials, but thanks to a time-jump, Season 2 does not pick up where it left off. Instead, Catastrophe now follows the couple in the throes of marriage, parenthood, and another pregnancy.

While many TV shows would choose to revel in Rob and Sharon's new parenthood, Catastrophe's decision to skip ahead paid off. We've already seen them get to know each other and navigate a new relationship while parenthood looms, and now we get to see what they're like as an established, married couple. However, that doesn't mean that the relationship between these two characters is now easy. If there's anything that Season 2 of Catastrophe proves, it's that all relationships take effort, as Horgan explains that Rob and Sharon actually "make a conscious decision to stay in the marriage and make it work."

And work it is. That decision is what gives Season 2 its new set of struggles, as they confront common (if amped up) tribulations that many married couples face: the criticism from Sharon's "sadistic" mother-in-law (aka Carrie Fisher, playing a woman far less diplomatic than General Leia Organa), a dramatic incident involving the family dog, the decline of Sharon's father's health, and more. Catastrophe may look very different in Season 2, but thanks to the realism and humor imbued by Horgan and Delaney, it's as entertaining and affecting as ever.