Reviewed by Taylor Rose Raucher
The opening scene of FX’s new comedy Adults features our five main characters snuggled up on the subway. It is evident from their casual intimacy that there is a history of friendship and some tangled emotions. The scene devolves into a vulgar subway masturbation stand-off, but it is clear that there is heart and there is humor (that will be hit or miss).
Four of the five main characters—Billie, Anton, Samir, and Issa—are all living in Samir’s childhood home while his parents are off traveling the world. They are attempting to navigate jobs, bills, and romance in a world that is more complex and frustrating than the one their elders grew up in. Finding small victories, in sometimes dubious circumstances, makes being an adult a little more attainable.
The show’s dynamic is similar to ensemble comedies before it, like Friends that helped raise Gen X, and How I Met Your Mother or New Girl which were pivotal for millennials. The cast sells the chemistry between the characters naturally, though occasionally the drama skyrockets out of the audience’s suspension of disbelief.
At least two of the main characters are confirmed to be queer: Anton is a gay black man going through a “sex drought” and the charming Canadian Paul Baker reminds the others several times that he is sexually fluid. Their sexualities are not presented as barriers in the show—there are no “coming out” storylines—but rather are brought up as nudges for the audience that say sexualities are part of their identities, and therefore part of them as complete people.
The show gets credit for normalizing queer folk in friend groups, but it still focuses mainly on hetero storylines. Billie, a 20-something, briefly dates her old teacher who is twice her age; Samir is unlucky in love but trying to rekindle a romance with his ex-girlfriend; the sexually fluid Paul Baker is dating Issa. For most of the season, the gay man of color, Anton, is single with no promising love interests.
The season features many comedic highs, from accidentally inviting the neighborhood stabber in for a drink to someone being high on ketamine during a fancy sit-down dinner. When the comedy works, it works well. However, there are many uneven moments where the humor is either too crass or too flat to get a laugh. It is a mixed bag but the highs often cancel out the lows.
Most of the romantic moments, when not played for laughs, are tender moments between Anton and Paul Baker. They are discovering their feelings for each other, behind Issa’s back, throughout the first season, and it is treated with great care. The depiction of falling in love, butterflies and all, is sweet and kind, never treating the characters’ sexualities as a joke.
Perhaps a second season will explore Anton and Paul Baker’s relationship more deeply, and give opportunities for other characters (main or secondary) to explore themselves. It could also find a better balance of comedy, relying on the humor that worked so well in the first season and cutting the duller or more vulgar parts. As of the writing of this review, no second season has been announced.
It is comforting to have a modern comedy that treats the lives of 20-somethings with understanding: this world is different from the world of Friends and it’s a lot harder, too. Featuring two main male characters with queer identities, including one man of color, is not revolutionary anymore. It’s normal. The strongest part of Adults is the chemistry and affection between the characters; the radical acceptance that these new generations demonstrate could be a lesson for us all.
Taylor Rose Raucher is a writer from Western Massachusetts, USA. She has been published in Bi Women Quarterly, Historic Northampton, and works part-time for Mosaic Magazine. She credits much of her success to the support and guidance of her cats.
