Do Olive and Adam end up together? Prime Video’s ‘The Love Hypothesis’ puts a fake relationship to test
Ali Hazlewood's much-loved novel 'The Love Hypothesis' finally has an adaptation, and it is every bit swoony. Starring Lili Reinhart as Olive Smith and Tom Bateman as Dr. Adam Carlsen, the romantic comedy forces its main characters into a fake relationship. Olive finds herself in this dynamic when she kisses Adam to fool her best friend, Anh Pham (Rachel Marsh), into believing that she is in a relationship. She does so to make Anh pursue her feelings for Olive's ex-flame. Adam proposes to continue the arrangement to convince his superiors he intends to stay at Stanford. He hoped this would convince them to process his grant. However, the moments that follow make it clear the relationship is not as fake as both pretended.
Things come to a head at a conference where Olive presents her paper about using biomarkers to eradicate pancreatic cancer. Everything goes smoothly until Olive overhears two girls discussing that she got the opportunity to present because of her relationship with her superior. This wrecks her, and she rushes into her room, which she is sharing with Adam to keep up their lie. Adam arrives and begins comforting her. The two end up getting intimate and finally act on their mutual attraction. Things fall apart when they return home, and Adam refuses to continue their early arrangement.
The couple finally get on the same page after Adam attacks Dr. Thomas (Tom) Benton (Arty Froushan) for harassing Olive. Tom, Adam's friend, invited Olive to work at his Harvard lab. Things turned sinister when Tom visited Olive's room in Adam's absence and forced himself. He stated that this was part of the "conditions" for Olive's employment. Adam loses his mind knowing this and threatens Tom. Then he confesses his love to Olive and assures her that this relationship has been real for a while to him. Olive also admits her love for him, and they share a kiss at the end to seal the deal. The movie then moves ahead two years.
Olive now has her doctorate and is leading her own lab. Both Olive and Ahn have continued their research at Stanford. Olive's style is intense, and one student has already passed out from dehydration in her lab. Adam takes no offense to this and instead asks her to terrorize more young minds. Their hands brush, implying that they have continued their relationship. Directed by Claire Sanclon, 'The Love Hypothesis' is streaming exclusively on Prime Video.