Made for Love Season 1, Episode 7 recap: I Want to Feel Normal

Well, it’s here. We’ve reached the end of Made for Love Season 1 already! It’s hard to believe because it feels like we were really just getting started, but fingers crossed that HBO Max brings it back for another season. In Made for Love Episode 7, the penultimate installment, Hazel organizes a nice evening for her dad and Diane. Byron holds a press conference, and Herb reveals his biggest secret to Judiff.

Yes, Judiff is still in the game as of Made for Love Episode 7. Herb visits her to check on how her scheming is going. Her now is to lure Byron out of the hub and find a way to record his admission of guilt regarding putting a chip in Hazel’s brain and surveilling her (which is illegal).

Little do they know that Byron is already outside of the hub as he searches for a way to get back to Hazel on her own turf.

Herb also divulges his biggest secret to Judiff after confronting him about the opioid pills she found in his bathroom cabinet. It turns out that Herb was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. Judiff asks if that’s why he left her for Diane. Judiff is upset that he thought she wouldn’t be able to handle it and insists she could have taken care of him.

“I still can, Herbie.” But just as Judiff makes a move to kiss him, Herb bolts for the door.

Made for Love Episode 7 recap: Hazel organizes a special night for Herb & Diane

Hazel is starting to forge a new path ahead. She has a new job and appears to get along with her new co-worker, Jay (Sarunas J. Jackson). Returning home after her shift, she finds a note from her dad saying that it’s his and Diane’s anniversary. The note gets Hazel thinking about her own anniversaries. She admits to Diane that she hated her anniversary and recounts one of the worst ones to the doll.

In a flashback, we see Byron asking Hazel how she wants to celebrate the special day. She’s interested in seeing her favorite band War Paint perform in Los Angeles, and, shockingly, Byron says, sure! But just as Hazel thinks they’re going to leave the hub for the first time, Byron steers her toward a technologically enhanced part of the hub made to look like the venue. War Paint comes to them instead because god forbid they go outside.

“I can’t believe I thought he was capable of something normal. I was you. I was Byron’s doll,” Hazel tells Diane while applying her makeup. Her ruminations have made her decide that Herb and Diane deserve a nice, normal night out.

Herb isn’t really down for it since everyone judges him for being with Diane. But Hazel promises that she’ll sit at a nearby bar and watch. If anyone interferes, she’ll step in to handle it. Herb relents, and they go to a local Mexican restaurant. Hazel ends up running into Jay again at the bar, and they get to talking. Jay seems like a nice guy and a potential new love interest for Hazel.

But their chat is interrupted by two things: Shane Voss and Byron. Shane returns so he can question Herb about where he got Diane. He’s considering getting a “synthetic partner” himself. Herb admits to using the money from selling his wife’s plot ($6,000!) to pay for Diane.

The second thing to interrupt Hazel is a live press conference hosted by Byron. She’s shocked to see him outside of the hub. Byron tells his viewers that he’s “putting the screen down” for the first time, and Hazel realizes she might finally be free –– at least for a moment.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, she begs Shane to let her borrow the plane. Shane is suspicious; what if she takes the plane and then decides she doesn’t want to take it down when she gets up in the air?

“Then I’ll give you Diane,” Herb offers.

In the final moments of Made for Love Episode 7, Hazel gets a genuine moment of freedom as she soars through the skies in the plane.

Made for Love Episode 7 recap: Byron sends Hazel divorce papers.

Out in the real world, Herringbone manages to track Byron down to his hotel room and take Bennett hostage at gunpoint. In reality, he wants a chance to make amends with Byron. He begs for forgiveness. Apparently, it was Herringbone that double-crossed Fiffany and got her sent to the pasture cube. Byron agrees to let Herringbone return to work for him. Bennett and Herringbone set up the live press conference for Byron to broadcast himself to the world, specifically Hazel.

Yet, in a surprising twist, Byron sends Hazel divorce papers via drone in the episode’s final seconds. She receives them right after touching down from the plane. We don’t see Byron come to this decision, so I have a hard time believing there aren’t strings attached.

And as for Herringbone, it turns out Byron isn’t so forgiving to people who betray his loyalty. He tricks Herringbone into the pasture cube, where he joins Fiffany. That might be a bad omen for how things are going to go with Hazel.

What did you think about Made for Love Episode 7? Do you think the divorce will be as easy as Hazel signing those papers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The entire first season of Made for Love is now streaming on HBO Max.