All miniseries face an identity crisis when they get renewed for a second season. Apple TV’s magnificent low-stakes, good-vibe comedy “Platonic” is no different. That’s why it’s such a relief to say that season two is not only a significant improvement upon season one, but a genuinely pretty good season of TV in its own right. Having established great character dynamics in the first season, showrunners Francesca Delbanco (“Friends from College”) and Nicholas Stoller (“The Studio”) are free to experiment with more ambitious plotlines and a larger cast. Episodes are more high-concept. Guest stars abound. It’s more of the same, but on steroids.
Brewmaster and professional manchild Will Zysman (Seth Rogen, “The Studio”) is living large, engaged to the CEO of restaurant conglomerate Johnny 66. Meanwhile, Sylvia Greaves’ (Rose Byrne, “Tow”) event planning business is taking off. But Will’s fiancé Jenna (Rachel Rosenbloom, “Good Trouble”) isn’t right for Will, and Sylvia’s husband Charlie (Luke Macfarlane, “Bros”) is on the brink of falling into a serious midlife crisis. Let the degeneracy begin.
The highs of this season are unbelievable. If season one was a bit shaggier, with Sylvia and Will’s lack of direction being reflected in occasionally meandering episodes, season two’s crop of episodes is tighter, better structured and more packed with jokes. The stakes and plotlines are similar — the pilot centers on Will and Sylvia having to buy more champagne for a party — but almost all episodes feel leaner and more confidently made. In episode three, “The Bachelor Party,” Will and Sylvia’s friend Wild Card (Beck Bennett, “Saturday Night Live”) flies in for Will’s bachelor party, only for Sylvia to take edibles, get way too high and get into a fight with Will at a planetarium. Bennett is a fantastic addition to the cast, playing the boring, mellowed-out 40-something version of everyone’s crazy best friend from college. He’s a standout in a season full of fantastic guest spots, and the best part of one of the season’s funniest episodes.
Compared to the previous season, “Platonic” season two dips its toes into more serious themes. Episode six, “Road Trip,” follows Sylvia, Will and Katie (Carla Gallo, “Bones”) as they drive to Palm Springs to drop one of Sylvia’s kids off at a debate tournament. Meanwhile, Will meditates on the direction his life has recently taken and whether he will make a big decision once they return home. The episode is never actively unfunny, per se, but it made me realize the strength of the show’s character writing. What a miracle it is that a show whose first season was all about the joy of being idiots and riding Spin scooters around Los Angeles can earn mature character moments without causing whiplash.
Not every episode strikes this balance: “The Dinner Party” is an early cringeworthy dud, and later episodes push the Sylvia-Will tension a little too far, leading to an awkward stretch of fighting that slows the show down and takes it away from what it does best: having Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen be really funny together.
The show never grinds to a halt, though. Because “Platonic” has spent so much time building a solid roster of supporting characters that even when Will and Sylvia aren’t together, the show is still able to build great moments with other characters, giving the show an ensemble feel. “Jeopardy,” for example, is a great Will-Charlie episode, and Katie gets fantastic moments to shine this season with an insufferable podcast and depraved hijinks of her own.
Season two of “Platonic” isn’t perfect TV, but it’s more ambitious than its first season and hits its stride to amazing effect at certain points. At its best, it’s relentlessly funny television, and one of the most engaging laugh-out-loud half-hour comedies I’ve seen in a while. All one can hope is that these characters are given more room to grow and develop in upcoming seasons.
Daily Arts Writer Jack Connolly can be reached at jconno@umich.edu.
