In our laughter, I heard something dangerous - the sound of our youth

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2023 

#11 : Fleishman Is In Trouble

The big question with this TV adaptation of the hit novel was whether it would hold viewers’ attention until it repeated the book’s big trick – really hitting its stride in the final stretch. The answer was yes: the opening episodes were unquestionably hooky, as we plunged into the tale of recently separated New York doctor Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg), who wakes one day to find his wife Rachel (Claire Danes) has disappeared. Is she at a yoga retreat, or has she abandoned their family for keeps? But when the show hit its real crux, it was a giddy, disorienting delight: a harrowing look at the tedium of middle age and lives unfulfilled, thanks to a stunning performance by Lizzy Caplan. A rare treat that will very much hit home with those of a certain age.

I was aware of this and read some very mixed reviews on it - I didn't bother with it at the time but I'm now very intrigued by The Guardian's write-up.

There's not really a lot more I can say about the plot than what The Guardian has already told you, other than Toby has two kids and they are all supported in their many hours of need by Libby (Lizzy Caplan) and Seth (Adam Brody) who are two of Toby's friends from way back.

It's all very arch (particularly the voiceover delivered by Libby) and very New York (in a how-does-anyone-afford-to-live-there kinda way). It's also definitely a little too wordy at times - the first episode in particular certainly has more words than action in it, but it rescues itself in the last five minutes. I was a bit concerned because five/six episodes in, I was still wondering what was actually going to happen - but it all kicks off big time in episode seven. Finally! It didn't go at all where I was expecting and COMPLETELY upended my sensibilities and sympathies - and it also pleasingly manages to end things pretty well in a very meta, but acceptable, way.

It's all very well written - there are some poetic and heartbreaking lines in there (I could have picked any number of them as the blog title). I'd say you shouldn't watch this if you're middle-aged and feeling dissatisfied or unmoored in your life, but it's also possible that it's exactly what you need (the grass ain't always greener, people). The characters are well drawn - everyone's a bit too neurotic and/or just sad to be truly likeable, but they generally manage to hold your sympathy and it's interesting how your viewpoint changes as more of the story is uncovered for you. 

The central concept of the missing wife is intriguing and it's played with well across the season, but it's not nearly as central to the action as you might expect. The whole thing is definitely a slow starter (which is a bit of a TV writing crime this days, I suspect) but boy does it build. I'm not entirely sure I'd have stuck with it without The Guardian teasing "its real crux" (although I'm not entirely sure what they're referring to there) but I'm actually very glad I stayed to the end - the last episode in particular is lovely, whilst also being bittersweet with an intriguing ending.

Jesse Eisenberg is good in this, but it's a very Eisenbergesque kinda role - you struggle to imagine it was much of a stretch for him. I'd say Lizzy Caplin is better, particularly in episode six where she gets to have a bit of a meltdown and the final episode where we get to learn a bit more about how she got there. And Claire Danes doesn't have a huge role throughout the season, but when she's called upon in episode seven, she's there for us. It was also depressing how little effort they had to put into getting Jesse, Claire and Lizzy playing their younger selves - do these people never age. I feel I also need to mention Adam Brody as well, and he's perfectly fine but he really isn't given the opportunity to shine that the others are. And I'm also going to call out Meara Mahoney Gross and Maxim Swinton who play the kids - they've very natural performances and they play very nicely with Jesse.

It's all very well shot - often looking very cinematic with some interesting effects in places, which reflect well on the ongoing action. It also has a lot of close-up shots and the actors obviously enjoy the attention they're given and it brings out the best in them. I was also quite pleased that this taught me about Vantablack ("vertically aligned nano tube array black") - and I would love to go to the museum exhibit they visit!

All in all, I thought this was an impressive piece of work - but I can quite understand that maybe it didn't get the numbers that it wanted because it wasn't as immediate a grab as things need to be these days and the characters really are a bit of challenge (very much so at times). But if you stick with it, then the last three episodes are absolute corkers and really play with both your and the characters' emotions - delivering some uncomfortable truths in the process, which quite possibly made some that stuck with it not so happy that they did. Personally, I grew to love it over time though and was really pleased I stayed til the end (and think a lot of it will stay with me much longer than many other things) - so if you intrigued by this somewhat ambivalent write-up, then it's available to watch on Disney+. I'd also say it's not really very Disney+ at all, so I'm intrigued as to how it got there.

#10 - A very powerful documentary
#12 - A most peculiar thing indeed