Togetherness: Depression, Divorce, and Duplass


Yikes - not a good look, Mark.
"Why don't you just go sit in the corner, short pants? And then there's you. Fuckin Breadstick in a bowtie! You pasty-faced cocksucker..." - Gyp Rosetti, Boardwalk Empire, S03E01




Welp, the second most depressing HBO show has just finished its first season! As much as it showed the harsh realities of marriage, lost love, and perfectly regular people becoming hippies, Togetherness couldn't quite edge out The Leftovers for the title of, "Most Depressing Program on HBO." Despite this, after eight harrowing episodes, it's time to review HBO's Togetherness!

Ever since the premiere, I've been skeptical of Togetherness... or should I say togetherness, as it seems to prefer to be spelled. The way that the show makes itself understated, everyone is gloomy all the time, comedy is anything but present, and generally depressing isn't the biggest attention grabber on the planet. However, being the loyal HBO fan that I am, I stuck with it for all eight of the hard-to-get-through episodes. All in all, despite aspects of the show being compelling-ish, I must admit that it was rather underwhelming.

Apparently the band that defines male friendship
The plot is rather binary, separating the four leads into duos who, once split, barely interact with each other. Therein lies my first problem. Despite telling the audience that Brett and Alex (Mark Duplass and Steve Zissis) are best friends, they have about 5 scenes together throughout the entire season. Other than that they have a rip-off of I Love You Man's bromance involving a love of Rush, we don't totally understand the nature of their relationship. Obviously they have been friends for a while, but what else? Likewise, Michelle and Tina (Melanie Lynskey and Amanda Peet), other than being sisters, seem to have no real nuance. It's completely unclear whether they have a good relationship, a bad one, or one frayed by time. In the first episode they allude to Tina having recently moved to California, but beyond that, we have no real idea of familiar relations between the two.

I wonder how Larry David would feel
about all of this
Thus, we focus on our separate plotlines. On one hand, Michelle and Brett are having a fractured marriage. Michelle is bored by Brett and likewise, Brett feels under appreciated. Enter John Ortiz and Mary Steennburgen to whisk away the anything-but-star-crossed-lovers. By the end of the season, Michelle is having an affair with Mr. Ortiz and Brett has quit his job and decided to become a hippy who does shrooms, just like Mrs. Steenburgen.
On the Steenburgen end of things, it's already confusing. Brett, at least what we saw of him, has been a very down-to-Earth, moderate man. He's portrayed in the beginning as sympathetic, a man who is under-appreciated and root for-able. However, when Mary Steenburgen randomly walks into his life in episode five, it seems out of left field. In a matter of twenty minutes, Brett is on board the crazy hippie train. All of a sudden, when in the next episode Brett is abandoning his family day to do mushrooms at Steenburgen's house, all sympathy for the character subsides. By the time his wife finally had the affair in the finale, I was almost rooting for it.

Hopefully Alex doesn't end up
like Chris Farley - too dark?
On the other hand, we have the plotline between Alex and Tina. Alex, an overweight actor trying hard to get out of the "funny chubby friend" role and into the "leading man" role, is in love with Tina who, unfortunately, is dating Peter Gallagher. Now, the obvious irony of this is that Steve Zissis is in fact playing the lovable chubby friend, but we'll let that slide. Anyways, throughout the entire season, Alex proves himself to be the only character actually worth rooting for. He's in love, he's trying to get a job, and he's an actually nice, ostensibly not crazy person. However, when we watch him try time and time again to get close to Tina and fail, it gets a little crazy. In one episode, he tries to kiss her, only to get a slap to the face. Still not learning his lesson though, in the season finale, he rides a bike all the way to a hotel just to awkwardly profess his love once again. Unsurprisingly, she does not reciprocate, telling him that them being apart is "better."

The fundamental problem with Togetherness is that there's just not much to keep us as viewers interested. The show is certainly not a comedy; I laugh more when watching The Wire (don't judge - Wee Bae is hilarious). And on the dramatic end, it's basically just a sloppily written depression-fest. Without anything to make me truly interested, it's hard to be all that attached to the new HBO dramedy. Perhaps season two will pick up the dropped ball, but at this rate, it's safe to say that Mark Duplass should stick to being a snide asshole like on The League.

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