Suburban jungle
The Duplass bros play the relationship game…
TOGETHERNES season 1 15
2015 OUT NOW DVD, BD, DIGITAL HD
The Duplass brothers have it made, right? Pioneers of the mumblecore scene ( The Puffy Chair), creators of emotionally satisfying mainstream cringe-coms ( Cyrus, Jeff Who Lives At Home) and acclaimed purveyors of flavourful low-budget horrors ( Baghead, Creep). And yet, in their late-30s, they found themselves struggling with the same issues as many others of their age group – trying to juggle spouses, babies, friends and work. Unlike most other thirtysomethings, though, they can pour any and all dilemmas into their work…
And so it is that Togetherness, an eight-episode sitcom that premiered on HBO in January 2015, sees the Duplass’ first-world problems become our entertainment. Set, naturally, in LA, it focuses on married suburbanites Brett (Mark Duplass) and Michelle (Melanie Lynskey), he a sound designer working in schlock horror movies, she a sociology major who’s a stay-at-home mum to their two kids. Their sex life has no life at all, and their home lives are further complicated by two rooted house guests – Michelle’s attractive younger sister Tina (Amanda Peet) and Brett’s schlubby high-school buddy Alex (Steve Zissis, who co-created the show).
Sex life lessons
While Togetherness’ brand of self-aware, bittersweet fretting, both personal and professional, has become a genre unto itself since Annie Hall won the Best Picture Oscar in 1978, it’s rarely done with such honesty and acuity, the Duplass’ consistently wringing the greatest of joys and the most crushing of lows from the mundane minutiae of everyday life. Brett and Michelle want their marriage to work; realising that the hardest task in a 10-year marriage is having fun, they turn to drugs, booze and even an experimental bout of S&M to buck the routine.
And yet Michelle finds herself gravitating towards David (John Ortiz), who’s looking to bring a charter school to the area, while Brett escapes into the stress-free bubble occupied by free spirit Linda (Mary Steenburgen). Tina and Alex have their own issues – in work and in play and with each other, as the attention she pays to his failing acting career (encouraging him to lose weight and schmooze more) leads, inevitably, to Alex expressing gratitude of the moony-eyed variety.
This level of detail in supporting characters would be enough for most shows, but Togetherness lives in the nitty-gritty: Tina isn’t interested in Alex romantically yet jealously cock-blocks him when he attracts interest from elsewhere; both are supportive of each other but their constant bickering sometimes turns toxic. Few will-they-won’t-they relationships invite such emotional investment from the viewer. With season two of Togetherness premiering on HBO around the time you read this, now is the time to catch up with – or revisit – some of last year’s best telly.