Conversations with Friends, Hulu’s second miniseries based on a Sally Rooney novel after last year’s smash hit success Normal People, stalls out midway through its 12-episode run and never manages to get back on track to make the series a worthwhile watch. Having not read the book the series is based on, I don’t know if it’s a function of the story itself or simply this adaptation, but whatever the case, by episode six I found myself just wishing the story’s star-crossed (but definitely not good for each other) pair would simply call it quits and go back to their old lives. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Conversations with Friends is centered on a group of four people: Frances (Allison Oliver) and Bobbi (Sasha Lane), a pair of school friends in university who also dated previously, and Nick (Joe Alwyn) and Melissa Conway (an electric Jemima Kirke), a married couple who separately embark on affairs with Frances and Bobbi. Nick is a run-of-the-mill actor, disappointed that Melissa, a successful writer, seems to control their social circle and their social lives. Frances is a starry-eyes 20-something, desperate to be seen as an adult while also seeking validation for her burgeoning writing career. Bobbi, well, she’s blinded by Melissa’s fame but also doesn’t attach too much to their world of hobnobbing – although she doesn’t love that Frances seems taken with Nick (and he with her), despite her own fooling around with Melissa. Got all that?
Now, if the story were more focused on looking at how the various instances of infidelity impact a marriage from all sides – or even spent more time looking into the Melissa and Bobbi relationship, it’s possible Friends might be able to sustain a 12-episode run length (each episode is only a half hour, but boy do they start dragging as the series continues to put its characters in the same situations time and again). But the focus quickly hones in on Frances – she’s our central character and the one we are supposed to related to. The problem is, she’s incredibly dull. Like, incredibly. And Nick? Also incredibly dull. It’s hard to muscle up the desire to care what becomes of either of them separately, much less together.
On the other side of things, Melissa and Bobbi are electric whenever they grace the screen – Kirke is more nuanced than Lane in her performance, but both outshine their counterparts. It’s hard to watch the Nick and Frances story unfold while knowing you would be having more fun watching Melissa or Bobbi’s day-to-day life. And therein lies the main issue with the series: If we don’t feel a need to care about our main character and her relationship, why bother watching at all.
As I said, I’m not sure if this is a quirk of the series’ writing or the performances of Alwyn and Oliver (while Oliver is a relative newcomer, Alwyn has never been one for flashy performances and does a great job simply as the quiet, steady good-looking male presence in a film – and that’s about the extent of what you get out of him here). The duo look great together, but they have the personality of white bread. There’s no spark to their interactions – you want to see how they fell for each other, but you simply watch them watch each other and determine they want to be together. With Melissa and Bobbi (the little we get to see), you can feel the crackle between the pair.
If you’re looking for the next Normal People, this isn’t it by a long shot. Which is a disappointment, because there are clear hints that there’s an interesting story waiting to be told. It’s just not between Nick and Frances.
Conversations with Friends premieres on May 15 on Hulu. All 12 episodes were provided for review.
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