Why did Natalie choose Josh at the end of Netflix's Christmas romance movie in which Natalie Bauer (Nina Dobrev) must choose between two potential love interests: Josh Lin (Jimmy Yang), who she matched with on a dating app after he used someone else's pictures in his profile, and Tag (Darren Barnet), the man whose photos Josh had used instead of his own. Natalie's final decision to be with Josh has proved to be quite controversial since he had initially catfished her online.
To some extent, Love Hard tried to poke fun at problematic tropes in society. Natalie repeatedly voiced criticisms of Thoreau and the movie Love, Actually, and when she and Josh had to sing "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Josh changed his lyrics to make it sound more consensual. Netflix's Love Hard movie also critiqued a tendency in media and in real life to judge solely on appearances, as Josh compared himself to Tag's more conventionally attractive looks. These positive messages can come across somewhat at odds with Natalie's ultimate choice to be with a guy who catfished her, so why did she?
Love Hard emphasized that even though Natalie did not know what Josh really looked like, she did still know him, and he knew her. Josh went out of his way to make sure Natalie always felt safe and happy, hurriedly comforting her when she was too afraid to rappel back down the rock climbing wall, and rushing through town to collect every newspaper announcing their fake engagement before they could be delivered. Josh also understood and agreed with her opinions in a way that Tag, at least, did not. Although Josh did catfish Natalie in Love Hard about his appearance during the weeks they spent talking on the phone, he was presumably honest about his personality and beliefs. On the other hand, Natalie lied to Tag about everything about herself, pretending to eat meat and like Thoreau just to get him to notice her. While neither her lies nor Josh's lies were acceptable, Love Hard framed Natalie's as far worse simply because she did not allow Tag to actually perceive the real her.
Of course, none of these reasons erase the fact that Josh did lie to Natalie from the very beginning of the film. In this regard, the Love Hard movie crucially did not try to excuse Josh's behavior, nor did Josh ever act entitled to Natalie's feelings or beg her for another chance after she learned the truth. When Natalie made it clear that she didn't want to start a relationship with him, he did not protest or try to change her mind and immediately began helping her try to woo Tag instead. Natalie fell for the real Josh naturally after all of his lies had been exposed and he'd worked to regain her trust. Josh had to earn it, and he'd clearly learned from his mistake because he made sure to be completely honest with Natalie going forward. Although the way they met was not great, the actual start of their relationship began from a place of honesty.
Despite him catfishing her, Natalie chose Josh during the ending of Love Hard because of the hard work he did to earn back her trust. Catfishing is, of course, never okay, even if Josh's actions originated from a place of insecurity instead of malice. Natalie did not let him off the hook for his choices, and over the course of the movie, Josh did everything he could to make it up to her and promise that he would never do anything similar again. Natalie and Josh ultimately fell in love with each other's true selves in Love Hard, and despite their rocky start, they have the rest of their lives to ensure that their mistakes are never repeated.
