THE STORY – Codependent housemates navigate adulthood together despite their flaws.
THE CAST – Malik Elassal, Lucy Freyer, Jack Innanen, Amita Rao, Owen Thiele & Rachel Marsh
THE TEAM – Ben Kronengold & Rebecca Shaw (Co-Creators)
Joining an established clique is almost always awkward at first. They have to test boundaries to see what you’re comfortable with, you have to get used to their sense of humor, and worst of all, you all have to cross that terrifying threshold from strangers to friends. The first season of “Adults” is much like that initial phase in a friendship, as the show is still clearly figuring out who these people are, how they interact with one another, and where the biggest laughs come from. The pilot, in particular, is a bit rough, as it immediately throws you into these wild characters’ lives rather than easing you into their zaniness. But as that season progressed, it became far more confident in its style. The viewers who stuck around after the first episode were rewarded with rich writing and outrageous punchlines. By its season finale, audiences were endeared to and part of this dysfunctional friend group.
The second season of “Adults,” then, is that phase when you are finally familiar with the friend group. You are fully immersed in their hijinks, you understand their inside jokes, and every now and then, you can catch meaningful glimpses into their souls that make the bond you have developed with them that much more rewarding.
While the first season felt like the Gen-Z, NYC-centered, spiritual successor to “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” the second season taps far more into the ups and downs of being in your 20s. The ups include being older and wiser and having the freedom to be your own person. The downs include facing job instability and not knowing who the hell you are. The show often explores these themes by taking a mundane, entirely plausible occurrence specific to that era in your life and escalating it to the most absurd degree possible, and it works because you buy every decision these characters make. When Billie (Lucy Freyer) wants to make the new owner of her fake ID jealous by pretending to have sex with the new owner of Samir’s fake ID, the secondhand embarrassment might make you want to chuck your TV into the river. Yet it makes complete sense that this character would be so paranoid that she has made a mess of her life that the only way she thinks she can prove she hasn’t is by making her doppelganger think she had unprotected sex in the bathroom of a club.
Somehow, this show manages to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to its humor. So many of this season’s biggest laughs come directly before a tender heart-to-heart that makes ridiculous bits feel like essential moments in a character’s journey. It would be so easy for “Adults” to be as cynical and mean as the predominant Gen Z stereotypes, to mock these people and let them be nothing more than caricatures. Those jokes would likely land, but the writers insist on putting in the dramatic work, and it pays dividends. After all, a joke will always be funnier if it comes from your friend than if it comes from a stranger. And because this ensemble of actors shares chemistry, sincerity, and a willingness to deliver the most ridiculous lines, these deeply strange characters are lifted from the page and become near and dear to your hearts.
The show also clearly understands what the fans want without outright pandering. There are a number of gratifying moments this season, but not a single one comes at the expense of the three things that always come first: the characters, the humor, and the storytelling. The continuation of the Paul Baker, Issa, and Anton love triangle, for instance, is well thought out and paced deliberately. It is not the through line of every episode, because a romantic entanglement is never the only thing going on in one person’s life, let alone the lives of five friends. But the intense kiss from the season 1 finale is always at the back of the involved characters’ minds and clearly affects how they behave, even if it is often left unsaid. This good old-fashioned love triangle angst never gets in the way of a punchline — a scene involving this trio and a possum actually leads to the show’s biggest laugh — but it does crucially push the story forward even when it is not at the foreground.
“Adults” season 2 is immensely satisfying not because it gives the fans everything they ask for but because it is the comedic and dramatic payoff from spending all this time getting to know these people. Despite how unhinged the core friend group in “Adults” can be, every character feels fully realized by now. While these people may not understand who they are, the writers have a very strong grasp on them, and this season is a marked improvement over the first as a result.
THE GOOD – This season pays off our investment in these chaotic characters’ lives in dividends, offering innovative laughs and earnest heart-to-hearts galore.
THE BADÂ – The episode focused on Carly is worse than the rest of the season because she is a significantly less compelling character than the main five.
THE EMMY PROSPECTS – Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series & Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
THE FINAL SCORE – 9/10
