Life gets pretty strange in a lot of bland-yet-hilarious ways when you get older. Sex, love, relationships, dreams and ambitions sure do seem progressively bleak when you're past your prime. Even some stability in family isn't what you thought it would be, but why not just laugh about it? That's what we're seeing in HBO's new comedy series Togetherness, starring Jay Duplass, Amanda Peet, Steve Zissis and Melanie Lynskey. This new show's first season premiere episode, entitled "Family Day," introduced us to some relatable characters and the special situation that finds a married couple housing their out of work actor friend and their unlucky sister in to their unconventional home. Check out our episode 1 recap right here! (SPOILERS to follow)
Check out our preview of "Family Day" right here!
Our introduction to these characters is quick and to the point, with plenty of room to learn more. Duplass and Lynskey portray Brett and Michelle Pierson, a loving married couple that have a lot to deal with at home with their two young children. Zissis is Alex, the out of work actor that has just been evicted from his apartment. Peet is Michelle's sister, Tina, who is coming to L.A. via Houston, TX, to be closer to her family, but also perhaps her boyfriend (Ken Marino).
A day out at the beach shows us that Alex is pretty depressed and Tina is kidding herself about her relationship. In fact, Tina gets dumped in a text message.
Meanwhile, the Pierson's have a ... slow sex life. Both husband and wife have masturbation scenes in the episode, which were pretty embarrassing. In order to calm this awkwardness, Michelle invites Tina and Alex on her date night with Brett. Unfortunately, Tina runs into her ex, leading to quite a scene. Fortunately, Alex comes to the rescue and embarrasses himself to save Tina.
From there, he instructs Tina on how to feel better about the breakup. Purchasing pretty much all of the toilet paper and plenty of alcohol, they exact revenge with some juvenile antics. This childish behavior is defintely the highlight of the series' comedy side, but we soon find out that there's much more to it.
At the end of the night, Tina says she isn't going back to Houston and the Pierson's try to hide their dismay at this news while accepting she'll be staying with them. She and Alex are now housemates, even though they both would rather be the only one staying with Brett and Michelle. It's a funny situation, but not so much "ha ha," you know?
While we'd love to tell you that this show is a straight up comedy, there is plenty of low points. Case in point, Brett straight up asks Michelle why she doesn't want to have sex with him anymore. She simply replies, "I don't know," which is easily the saddest moment of the episode, which involved a man being thrown out onto the curb and a close-to-midlife crisis woman getting dumped.
This show is very real- "real" in that adults will either relate to the characters or desperately not want to relate to them. But there's also plenty of hope for these characters. Tina is starting a new life in L.A., a city that she seems pretty perfect for, and Alex has his best friend to help him get his life together. We can see those things happening. So will the Pierson's marriage get better? The love is definitely there, but is that enough? There are now two more adults, not to mention the children, depending on this couple, so we'll have to see just how Togetherness progresses before we can breathe a sigh of relief from these stressful situations.
So what did you think of the premiere episode of HBO's newest series? Let us know in the comments section below!
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