‘Platonic’ Season 2 review: When friendship takes more than love

Created by Francesca Delbanco and Nicholas Stoller, Platonic lives and breathes on the strength of the chemistry at the center. And that strength begins to waver, ever so slightly, as Season 2 starts to contort itself to create new drama between the characters while desperately trying to retread on previous plot developments. However, witty writing and strong performances from Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne help keep the tedium at bay, even with one crucial performance and character threatening to tarnish the overall quality.

Season 2 picks up some time after the events of Season 1 as Will (Rogen) and Sylvia (Byrne) continue to navigate life’s ongoing hurdles. From new relationships and marital hurdles, to work crises and our ongoing fear of not doing enough with the time that we have, the series deals with a plethora of drama that threatens the newfound stability of their lives. Will and Sylvia, having reunited after years apart in Season 1, are stable and one another’s rocks – but it only takes a few moments of uncertainty to destabilize the comforting dynamic they’ve pieced back together.

Will undergoes the most immediate changes at the start of Season 2, where we find him engaged to Jenna (Rachel Rosenbloom) and now, instead of the platinum blonde buzzcut, rocking a possibly ill-informed mullet. But where the narrative takes the greatest pivot is in how Will and Sylvia are presented. While Will was once the instigator and the central cause of discontent, now it’s seemingly Sylvia. This opens up a lot of storytelling possibilities as the series allows Byrne to play with a much more unlikable version of the character as she struggles with a mid-life malaise and interferes with Will’s life.

Platonic Season 2 branches off into too many different threads.

Of course, it’s much more layered than that, but it makes for an interesting place to start the season. From questioning Will’s relationship with Jenna, to his work opportunities and, later, her frustration with her husband Charlie (Luke Macfarlane), Season 2 allows her even greater depth. While she was always prone to mistakes, it was often instigated by Will. Now, it’s her own discontent that pushes her to her biggest stumbles.

The weakest element, however, of Season 2 is its connection to her storyline with Charlie. While Charlie was positioned as the straight man character in Season 1, he’s now written in much broader terms in an effort to give Macfarlane more to do. However, it’s a major miss. His character makes so many foolish, impulsive mistakes that it becomes hard to root for him. While there’s a thread of honesty in how it’s written – who hasn’t worried about career paths or dreamed of greater, more creatively fulfilling endeavors – it’s executed sloppily. It leans too heavily on the joke from easy mid-life crisis jabs to forcing him into an actual fedora.

And on top of that, Macfarlane is at his best in the more subdued moments rather than the over-the-top comedic ones. A lot of time focuses on how Charlie has always been the rock of the family. While it’s fair to let the character loosen up, it does highlight that the series is at its best when it allows him to be the stability foil to Will and Sylvia’s misadventures. At the very least, he’s better off when the series allows him to act against others rather than his own solo moments, which highlight the comedic precision that Rogen and Byrne are delivering on.

Because while we’ve grown accustomed to a specific brand of character that Rogen so naturally inhabits, Platonic builds on that idea in a similar way that The Studio did. It’s less that he’s playing a man-child because his characters have a necessary level of competence in their DNA. Instead, they let him play the butt of the joke, allowing for greater physical comedy. Byrne, as always, understands how to execute a joke (be it verbal or physical) with a shocking amount of subtlety. It’s the lack of reaction – the stifled ones – that make her so endlessly hilarious onscreen. She embodies repression beautifully, highlighting a character who so often wants to let loose or scream but doesn’t allow herself.

The best element of the series remains Will and Sylvia’s dynamic.

And it’s through Byrne and Rogen that the greatest moments take place. Their chemistry is the baseline for the series. We believe their friendship despite the hurdles they scale and place there themselves to stumble over. The writing for the series excels when it allows the two to bounce off one another.

Because, better than anything else, Platonic understands friendship. It understands long friendships, too, that span different careers, romantic partners, and homes. The best friendships are low stakes – a missed call or text isn’t going to make or break the foundation of having seen one another at our very worst. But they’re also the ones where we know, without question, when push comes to shove, they’ll support you however they’re able. Platonic understands this inherent truth while also diving deep into the fissures created when the friendship in question turns codependent.

Adult friendships are given the spotlight they deserve in Platonic. 

Platonic offers a lighthearted yet deceptively probing look at adult friendships and the work that goes into maintaining them. And, when it allows Rogen and Byrne to indulge in that dynamic, it remains hilarious and, oddly, heartwarming to watch two oddballs stick to one another. While the series loses itself in subplots and unnecessary guest stars who range from serviceable (Aidy Bryant and Beck Bennett) to annoying (Kyle Mooney), the heart of it remains sturdy. Here is a show about messy friends doing their very best to stay afloat while life pelts them with new, frustrating, and mundane day-to-day issues.

Through smart, insightful writing and a pair of strong performers with Byrne and Rogen, Platonic continues to surpass our expectations. While it dips in quality a touch due to unnecessary narratives that deviate from the strengths of the series, it maintains an easy, bingeable atmosphere, crafting a story that works itself into the hang-out comedy purview while remaining its own singular entity.

Platonic Season 2 premieres August 6 on Apple TV+.

Allyson Johnson

Based in New England, Allyson is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of InBetweenDrafts. Former Editor-in-Chief at TheYoungFolks, she is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. Her writing has also appeared at CambridgeDay, ThePlaylist, Pajiba, VagueVisages, RogerEbert, TheBostonGlobe, Inverse, Bustle, her Substack, and every scrap of paper within her reach.