In the tradition of movies and shows that address the complicated subject of straight male-straight female friendships, Platonic adds to the canon in a more unique way than most. Even so, it still ultimately falls prey to proving the same point: men and women can’t be friends. At least, not when one or both of them has a significant other. And sure, despite all the “progressiveness” that’s arisen in a post-When Harry Met Sally world, wherein “the sex part” doesn’t have to get in the way anymore, at its core, “polite society” hasn’t really changed its attitudes about men and women “gallivanting” platonically. But, more to the point, the show seeks to emphasize how much more inappropriate it is for men and women to be friends after “a certain age” (save for those who grew up enjoying the swinging times of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice).
Created by husband and wife writing team Francesca Delbanco and Nicholas Stoller (who seem to have redeemed themselves after Friends From College), that notion is summed up when Sylvia’s (Rose Byrne) husband, Charlie (Luke Macfarlane), is actually the one who urges her to reach out to her ex-best friend, Will (Seth Rogen), after she sees that he and his wife, Audrey (Alisha Wainwright), are getting a divorce. Although they haven’t spoken in years (precisely because Sylvia didn’t approve of Audrey), Will was, at one time, such a good friend that he was the “maid of honor” at Sylvia’s wedding. And yes, something like this might lead one to believe Will is going to turn out to be gay in some “unexpected” plot twist, therefore making the friendship “acceptable,” but perhaps what’s more unexpected is that he’s not.
So it is that when Sylvia rebuffs Charlie’s suggestion to reach out, she’s not wrong in saying, “It’ll just be weird… Men and women don’t really hang out with each other at our age.” And if they do, it usually tends to be in “couple groups,” thus never breaching the line between propriety and impropriety (something Sylvia and Will are about to do repeatedly after reuniting). Though Charlie tries to counter, “That’s not true,” Sylvia doubles down, “Come on. All our friends are couple friends, and you talk to the men and I talk to the women.” Charlie concedes, “Yeah I guess that is true.”
Nonetheless, Sylvia takes Charlie’s advice to reconnect with Will. It’s a reunion that initially seems as though it’s doomed, with a rocky start that includes a late-night stop at Denny’s as the two slip into their old drunken, antics-filled pattern together. When Will realizes she only contacted him because she heard about Audrey, however, the two get into a fight that leads one to believe the rekindled friendship romance is over before it began. But no, turns out both of them kind of got off on the fight (as though it made them “feel something” instead of just numb), and end up texting one another later with a series of barbs befitting the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn dynamic.
By the next episode, “Gandalf the Lizard,” Sylvia and Will have so effortlessly fallen back into their state of comfort with one another that Sylvia asks him to come with her to look at a “house” (the family has been in desperate need of more space…specifically, more than just one bathroom for five people). “House” being a generous word for the realtor trying to sell a former assisted living facility for seniors as a regular home. Although Sylvia is both desperate and enough of a pushover to potentially concede to taking the “house,” Will, posing as her “contractor,” tells her she absolutely cannot live in this creepy place. In exchange for Will’s much-needed pep talk, Sylvia offers the emotional support to accompany him to Audrey’s so that he can collect all of his things, including his pet bearded dragon, Gandalf, and officially cut all ties with her. Will’s hesitancy, naturally, stems from still wanting to have hate sex with her whenever he goes over there to “visit Gandalf.”
Deeming the behavior unhealthy, Sylvia ingratiates herself easily into advising Will on his life, herself unsure what to do with her own now that all of her kids are in school, and even her youngest, in kindergarten, is embarrassed to be seen with her at this point. Suddenly, thirteen years of devoted service as a mother has rendered her into a deadbeat with no pursuits of her own. As rudderless and confused as Will (despite having a family that should give her “purpose”), Sylvia takes to their hangout sessions like a fish to water (even if that water is semi-toxic). To be sure, their hangout sessions start to feel like “college days” all over again—from getting drunk together at a Johnny Rockets-inspired chain called Johnny Rev’s to accidentally taking ketamine…that’s laced in the cocaine she conceded to snorting at Will’s “divorce party.” The one she volunteered to throw for him. In fact, one could say that’s the first hint at Sylvia’s predilection for “event planning,” which she eventually ends up pursuing as her new career after a botched attempt at returning to “lawyering.” But it’s a long and painful journey toward that revelation. Just as it is for Will to come to terms with the fact that even if he partially owns a bar and works as a brewmaster there, it isn’t giving him the autonomy or creative freedom he wants…and needs in order to be truly happy.
Sylvia is the one who pushes him toward that path. A path, incidentally, that will take him away from L.A., ergo her, and to San Diego through a series of circuitous but ultimately intertwined events. Leading us to the final episode of Platonic, titled, what else, “When Will Met Sylvia.” The blatant homage to When Harry Met Sally isn’t the first time the movie is philosophically referenced in the show. And for good reason. For Charlie’s eventual jealousy over not being treated like “the most important man” in Sylvia’s life anymore begs the oft-asked question of whether or not an emotional affair is actually worse than a physical one. Indeed, Charlie acts out against Sylvia by getting “physical” (i.e., dry humping someone to UB40’s “Red Red Wine”) instead of emotional with a co-worker after hours. His immediate guilt and confession, paired with the “minor infraction” nature of it, does little to appease a hurt and angered Sylvia. Regardless, that’s what it takes to make her see how much her friendship is actually harming her family life, even if it’s helping her individually.
The writers of the show never specifically say that Will and Sylvia are in love more than platonically. But the hints at something potentially deeper are left to one’s discretion in the finale, when Sylvia has to ask of Will’s hesitancy to move to San Diego, “What’s keeping you in L.A.?” She immediately appears to regret it as she sees that the answer in his face is saying, “You.” Depending on the viewer, that little “moment” can be interpreted as something beyond platonic affection or not. But, either way, the crux of the show seems to be saying that even if men and women “can” be friends, it’s still deemed inappropriate (and rightly so) by their significant others. Particularly if one friend in the permutation doesn’t have an s/o of their own. Which is probably why Will secures a new dame while in San Diego, leaving the door open for a more “acceptable” friendship between him and Sylvia in the future, should the writers decide to squeeze a season two out of this (though it’s better left as is).
In the end (and after a year apart), to “fade out”/slightly diminish the intensity of the friendship they reignited with such ferocity, Sylvia and Will seem to defer to the Fight Club-esque sentiment, “You (re-)met me at a very strange time in my life.” A time when, for different reasons, they both needed one another for the purposes of feeling better about their then-shitshow of a life situation. Beyond that, it’s unlikely that their friendship can genuinely endure at the same level. Unless the trope was solidified by the two finally getting together.
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