In your 20s, you break from the protective chrysalis of childhood and emerge as a not-quite fully-developed adult. The world can be a big and scary place, and as you venture forth you eagerly open yourself to new experiences while settling into the routine of who you want to be.
As you open your wings, you can sometimes catch the winds of certainty: you find people, hobbies or a job that lifts you up to your best self. Other times, you face gusts of surprise as you enter unexpected experiences: a break up, bills, unfamiliar social environments. Eventually however, you find the strenuous flapping gets easier and you gracefully glide on, evolving into someone with a sense of who they really want to be.
Across its first six episodes, FX’s new comedy series Adults follows a similar path to that of its young adult characters, which feels quite fitting. The show follows a popular and familiar premise: “Samir” (Malik Elassal), “Billie” (Lucy Freyer), “Paul Baker” (Jack Innanen), “Issa” (Amita Rao) and “Anton” (Owen Thiele) are all a group of 20-something friends living together and trying to make it in New York City. Each episode deals with the trials and tribulations of adulthood, and though the characters face ups and downs, they have each other’s backs along the way.
Show creators Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon) infuse the series with high-quality comedic scene work whilst covering a number day-to-day scenarios young adults might face. Like a rambunctious post graduate intern hungry to take on the world, the very first episode feels a little unfocused and tries to do too much at once. It introduces us to the main ensemble, touches on relevant gender and sexual topics, and puts together a number of funny bits, but all to the point where it feels scattered. The good news is that Adults excels in those comedic scenes throughout. Even in its pilot, the show is good at quickly escalating the humour in short scenes or a snappy quips that unexpectedly catch you off guard and crack you up (a raunchy encounter on a subway in the first few minutes of the show had me chuckling out loud).
As its characters hone in on who they want to be, Adults focusses in. Its episodic plotlines become more streamlined and interconnected. This shift really allows the cast to shine and their charisma and group chemistry only grows after the opening minutes of the show. Small physical gags that run throughout the episodes really make it feel like they’ve known each other for more than a minute and, as a viewer, that really does makes you want to spend time with them and see what wild situations they get into next.
One of the elements of a great TV show is its ability to continue to develop and even improve over the course of a season. Hit series like The Office, Parks & Rec, and even Seinfeld, took time to find their voices. And in that way, Adults feels much like its central characters. It’s living and learning from itself, ending up as a funny and cozy comedy series with a fun ensemble.
FX’s Adults premiered on Wednesday, May 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on FX, and streamed the next day on Disney+ in Canada (May 29).
