Platonic Review

The curious thing about friendships is that only the best, strongest, and most resilient of them last. As a person slides through the years, their friendships tend to fall away as one ages and grows, and only a select few manage to stay moored to a person as they traverse the seas of life. And those that fall away – through no fault of the people involved, simply as a casualty of time, space, and life in general – can sometimes be revived through something as simple as a phone call or text. But can a friendship that made sense during a particular time of your life continue to fit once you’ve moved beyond it? That’s the central question at play in Platonic, the new comedy from AppleTV+.

Sylvia (Rose Byrne, finally allowed to use her native Australian accent) and Will (Seth Rogen) were the best of friends in college and into their early twenties. Drinking buddies, wing-men, and close as close can be without ever crossing the line into a romantic relationship. Will was even the “man of honor” at Sylvia’s wedding to Charlie (Luke Macfarlane, doing great work in the put-upon-spouse role without ever making him seem like a jerk). But when Will married Audrey, who hated Sylvia and vice-versa, the platonic pair ended their friendship. But, as Sylvia discovers via Facebook, Will and Audrey are now divorced, so what better time to reach back out to her former bestie and see if she can help make him feel a bit better about his heartbreak?

Platonic is, for my money, one of the best comedies to come out of AppleTV+ thus far – and one of the best uses of Rogen’s particular brand of comedy, especially as I tend to find him grating in most of his projects. What makes the series work – outside of the killer platonic chemistry between Rogen and Byrne, who is the absolute MVP of the series – is that the show understands its premise and executes it nearly flawlessly. Sure, Audrey is the reason Sylvia and Will believe their friendship floundered, but it becomes very clear very quickly to us, the audience, that Audrey might have been right to be annoyed at this incredibly close, very co-dependent relationship. Yes, it’s a wholly platonic friendship (there’s the requisite discussion, among Will’s friends, about whether or not a straight man and woman can ever truly just be friends), but the pair clearly relied on each other more than they did their spouses at one point for emotional strength and fulfillment. They never wanted to sleep together, but there was a connection there that would give most folks pause from the outside.

Towing the line between a toxic friendship and one of more balance, the series doesn’t cast blame on any of its characters, which is a relief. Charlie isn’t a spouse asking his wife to stop spending time with her old friend – in fact, Charlie tries to strike up his own relationship with Will. And Will isn’t secretly trying to get into Sylvia’s pants. He’s just a friend, looking for someone to cling to now that he’s trying to navigate life as a single 40-year-old who doesn’t understand himself or those around him. And Sylvia? Well, the series is clear that she’s stuck in her own personal rut – having given up a career in law to be a stay-at-home-mother and thirsting for something to call her own. That leads to her throwing her lot in with Will much more fervently than she might have in other circumstances.

With strong, sure writing (the jokes are great, the chemistry between Byrne and Rogen makes each of their scenes sing with truth and humor), Platonic makes the complex balance that is necessary to make a series like this work seem easy. Byrne steals the series, making Sylvia a fully realized, complicated but still sympathetic character, desperately trying to juggle the various commitments in her life but relishing the chances to cut loose and drop her responsibilities to hang out with Will. And Rogen makes it clear that Will isn’t just a stunted man-child. Rather, this is a character who has a lot of love to give but who doesn’t understand how to navigate this new world he finds himself in – and thus needs to cling to his old friend for guidance and a stabilizing force. It’s more than just a silly buddy comedy – there’s a depth to the story that is being told that one might not expect. And it’s that depth that makes this a series worth your time.

Platonic premiers on Wednesday, May 24 on AppleTV+. All ten episodes of the first season were provided for review.