Dating in the modern age is full of surprises. With this being a tech-heavy world, everyone is in tune to everyone, and at all times. The days of real-life “meet cutes” and sizing someone up in person have gone the way of the samurai. Today’s “swipe left or right” culture is too insincere and even more dangerous. In Emily Cohn’s This Really Happened (the pilot episode for a proposed series), two young women comedically find themselves victims and examples of such dangers.

Zoe and Kate (Kallen Prosterman and Olivia AbiAssi, respectively) are two New York women on the hunt in today’s insane dating scene. Zoe is a happy single girl who is sick of the dating game, and is ready for a real relationship. She has many ideas of what makes the perfect mate, the most important being her declaration, “Dance with me. Someone fucking dance with me!”

Kate is a standup comedian with social neuroses who is also ready for something steady in her personal life. A profession as a comedian allows her lots of time to be with her own thoughts, but she would rather share those thoughts with someone special.

Both women meet “Boy” (Abubakr Ali), a young Broadway actor. As the screen card says right from the first time he is introduced, “He’s a liar.” Unknowingly, they begin to date him at the same time, each one ignoring any signs that something isn’t right with their new beau.

Written by Prosterman and AbiAssi (and based on their insane real life experiences), This Is What Happened is a pilot episode full of wit and some truly relatable humor. The two actresses don’t portray themselves as hapless victims of a cad, but as modern women searching for love who learned big lessons from not listening to their inner alarms.

In the episode’s short run time, director Emily Cohn and her two talented leads create a uniquely funny atmosphere that still manages to make strong points about being careful “out there” in the world of the dating scene.

There are many moments where one should prepare to laugh out loud, as the writing is so well crafted. Each laugh is earned from the well-crafted characters, unlike most of today’s comedies where a person’s actions are dictated by plot points. In the picture’s funniest running gag, whenever Zoe or Kate feel like some of Boy’s behavior may just be a red flag, the actresses are either surrounded by or hit with an actual red flag.

It is quite impressive how clever the screenplay is put together by its two leads and director Cohn compliments their work by giving it all a lively atmosphere. Kallen Prosterman and Olivia AbiAssi prove themselves inventive writers with an original voice. The two are also engaging comedic actresses. For the director and her two stars, there are bright futures ahead.

I would welcome seeing any project that involves these big talents. With an ear for dialogue and a skill for knowing what makes an audience laugh, This Really Happened is a charming delight.