{"id":37392,"date":"2025-07-31T17:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T17:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/37392\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T17:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T17:47:07","slug":"an-amusing-and-breezy-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/37392\/","title":{"rendered":"An amusing and breezy return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Platonic<\/a>\u2018s title suggests that the main theme it tackles is whether men and women can just be friends. Various characters on the show often broach the subject, too. However, at the heart of Apple TV+\u2019s comedy lies a far more interesting dilemma: Is nostalgia enough to keep a companionship\u2014this one happens to be between a man and a woman\u2014thriving for people in their early forties who yearn for youth and dread growing old? Series co-creators (and husband-wife duo) Nicholas Stoller and Francesca Delbanco have an affinity for this topic, as seen in their previous midlife crisis show, Netflix\u2019s Friends From College<\/a>. In comparison, Platonic is less prickly and more enjoyable and well-crafted, thanks to a tighter focus on two people (not a group) striving to evolve the unshakable bond they made during their younger days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The show centers on Will (Seth Rogen) and Sylvia (Rose Byrne), former besties who reconnected at the start of season one after being estranged for five years. (His ex-wife didn\u2019t gel with her, and as soon as she learned of his divorce via Instagram, she reached out.) This reunion unleashes upheaval in their personal lives and careers because Will and Sylvia indulge in their worst habits together, as if desperately clinging to younger, freer versions of themselves. But they\u2019re also endlessly understanding and honest in a way they can\u2019t be with anyone else. Free of romantic feelings, sexual tension, or family ties, they are goofy and real with each other by choice (one that they make over and over, arguments and ego clashes notwithstanding). Isn\u2019t that how all friendships stay intact, by choosing to spend time with someone simply because you want to and it brings you joy?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stoller and Delbanco rely almost exclusively on their Neighbors collaborators to anchor this tale. Without the commitment from Rogen and Byrne\u2014who excel at physical-comedy hijinks, electric banter, and sincere conversations\u2014Platonic wouldn\u2019t make as much of an impact. Their natural chemistry makes it easy to root for Will and Sylvia\u2019s messy dynamic even when they\u2019re being utterly insufferable. And the pair is quite toxic, to be clear. Sylvia, a stay-at-home mom of three who gave up being a lawyer to raise her children, seeks more than her mundane routine. In Will, she unexpectedly finds the opportunity to let loose again. Meanwhile, Will is a brewmaster who doesn\u2019t get along with any of his colleagues at the hip bar he co-owns. In Sylvia, he finds a camaraderie that\u2019s been missing from his life. But is their friendship rooted in \u201cfor old time\u2019s sake.\u201d Can it be mature to reflect their age and experiences?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ten new amusing but repetitive episodes make it clear the answer is still unknown. Will now lives in San Diego, works a corporate job, and is about to marry his chic boss, Jenna (Rachel Rosenbloom). But he still acts like a 20-year-old trapped in a 40-year-old\u2019s body. His laid-back outfits and attitude are solid proof, as is the way he reacts to getting cold feet during his engagement party in the season premiere. To help him through everything is his pal. Will and Sylvia\u2019s misadventures continue to throw a wrench in their respective romantic relationships. Jenna is as understandably unnerved by their closeness, just like Sylvia\u2019s sweet husband, Charlie (Luke Macfarlane), seemed to be in season one. They aren\u2019t afraid of potential infidelity but of the idea that their partner is more open with another person than with them. No amount of double dates can fix this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen bro out, stress out in new trailer for Platonic season 2<\/a>MobLand is the platonic ideal of dad TV<\/a><\/p>\n

This all forces Will and Sylvia to try to establish boundaries, at least to whatever extent two annoying people can. But their back-and-forth feels familiar already: The two of them do ridiculous things (like a bachelor party and golfing trip gone wrong), yell about it, eventually make up, and do the whole act all over again. They\u2019re like Broad City\u2018s Ilana and Abbi, except they\u2019re not traipsing around Brooklyn without a care in the world. Sylvia often talks about the struggles of managing her work calendar and organizing her kids\u2019 schedules, leaving her with five free minutes to herself. Yet she\u2019ll jet off with Will for silly diversions like kayaking down the L.A. River or driving him two hours away for an errand. Platonic doesn\u2019t care to fully delve into Sylvia\u2019s life as a mother, which requires a certain suspension of logic to believe her shenanigans with Will.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Putting a bit of space between the two leads to some intriguing developments (Will and Charlie bond more, and Sylvia\u2019s event planning gigs become successful) and some frustrating ones, like Will\u2019s half-baked new friendship with Katie (Carla Gallo). (New cast additions like Beck Bennett and Aidy Bryant don\u2019t add much to Platonic either.) As for Sylvia and Charlie, the script is flipped on them when she becomes the stable earner and he tries to figure out his place in the law firm. Their partnership is tested with lies and secrets, with Charlie well within his rights to question how much Sylvia prioritizes his needs. Byrne doesn\u2019t fit together as seamlessly with Macfarlane as she does with Rogen, but Platonic\u00a0is richer whenever it devotes time to this marriage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The series ultimately moves at a breezy pace and is rooted in laughs, crafting a chill, low-stakes story along the way. It can be tough to watch Will and Sylvia act selfishly, but they\u2019re also charming, sincere, and relatable, making the pair worth sticking with.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Platonic season two premieres August 6 on Apple TV+<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Platonic\u2018s title suggests that the main theme it tackles is whether men and women can just be friends.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-37392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}