After over two years, a second season of Platonic finally aired, even though it took me almost another six months later to finally watch it. Which is dumb. I really liked the first season a lot!
With that being said, I’ve watched a lot of different things over the course of two years, so my memory on how the first season ended was very, very fuzzy. In fact, I really didn’t remember the ending much at all. Which I actually think is fair because they ended up doing a one year time jump after Will moved to San Diego for his new job at Johnny Rev. It turns out Sylvia has been doing event planning, though it doesn’t seem like too much of it. But it is enough for Will and Jenna to ask her to plan their own wedding. So in the first episode we end up meeting them at Will and Jenna’s engagement party.
Sylvia is keeping things held together pretty well and does her best to please Jenna, who for the most part seems like a nice, easygoing CEO. But when some of Will’s friends make things a little chaotic, he runs with Sylvia to go get more champagne, revealing he has a crush on some random barista. I’ll tell you what, Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne have some of the best chemistry out there. It’s so crazy and awesome to have seen them play a romantic couple, but they totally nail this friendship. Having never really had a best friend who is a guy, I’m always a little fascinated by the dynamic. For as unmoored as Will seems to be, Sylvia is almost as much so.
In Will wavering devotion, Sylvia makes it a point to be sure Will either gets his head on right for Jenna or leaves her before they make it to the altar. If you don’t fear spoilers, I can tell you that of course it’s the latter. Part of it is that they don’t really have a sex life, but the other part has to be that they really are drastically different. And you can tell Jenna is a little jealous of Will’ relationship with Sylvia, though she soon gets over that much to Sylvia’s anger. But Will gets his ass handed to him, deservedly so, but Jenna is a holder of a grudge and it really ruins whatever plans Will has for his future. For instance, he wants to open his own bar, but because he worked for Johnny Rev, Jenna slaps a non-compete clause on him.
So for a time Will flounders with his life, living in Sylvia and Charlie’s backyard guest house. To me, how Will behaved during this time was pretty expected, so I’m surprised it riled up Sylvia and Charlie so much. Despite the chaos in her life, Sylvia manages to thrive a bit as a self employed event planner, but when Charlie abruptly quits his job – as a lawyer – to write a novel without consulting her, she rightfully ices him out for a while. I understand that Charlie wants, a deserves, the same support from Sylvia that he has given her over the years, but he definitely failed hard at the execution. If that bit doesn’t sound too exciting for you, I promise the events that lead to Charlie’s quitting is hilarious.
Similar to the first season, Will and Sylvia have a pretty hard falling out. But what I admire is how they inevitably come back to each other even with such a huge break from each others’ lives. It’s honestly imrpessive and a true testement to their actual friendship. The second season of Platonic was just as much of a joy to watch as the first, so definitely check it out! And we are getting a third season! Hopefully sooner than another two years, but I’m not holding my breath.