All three of HBO's winter sitcoms have one thing in common. None of them are actually very funny. You're lucky if you get one good laugh out of an episode of Girls or Looking. The newest one to join that line-up is Togetherness, the latest effort from indie filmmakers Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass. Created with Steve Zissis, the series is another one that pushes the definition of sitcom. But then again, if you're expecting laughs a second from your sitcoms, you aren't watching HBO.
Thankfully, Togetherness has Los Angeles as a backdrop, as Brett Pierson (Mark Duplass) starts off as a sound engineer for the movies. His friend, Alex Pierson (Zissis) is a struggling actor, who was just evicted from his apartment. Despite being married with two young children, Brett lets Alex move in. The living situation gets more complicated when his wife's sister, Tina Morris (Amanda Peet) breaks up with the man she's been sleeping with and decides to move in too. To make matters worse, Brett's relationship with his wife, Michelle (Melanie Lynskey) isn't in the best terms because they aren't having sex.
What makes Togetherness a unique experience is the dual relationships going on. Brett and Michelle struggle to keep their marriage together, while Alex and Tina try to figure out what their relationship is. During the show's first four episodes, the Duplass brothers and Zissis flip between these two dynamics easily, while still keeping the same tone. You don't feel like the two pairings (I don't want to call Alex and Tina a “couple” yet) are parts of two different shows. That's because Alex and Tina, despite the fact that their interactions are infinitely funnier than what is going on with Brett and Michelle, still have their own drama.
The Duplass brothers have their own unique brand of humor, keeping things naturalistic during the show. There's no surreal humor here, just making fun of legitimate situations people find themselves in. They chose to start a show with a relationship fractured and somehow found a bit of humor in it.
If you are more familiar with Mark Duplass through his work on The League, his performance here will be a revelation. And it's nice to see Melanie Lynskey out of her “crazy neighbor” role on Two and a Half Men. Amanda Peet and Zissis also have great chemistry from the beginning and it only gets stronger as the show goes on. During Tina and Alex's trip to Houston in the fourth episode, they really connect, even through an argument.
Togetherness isn't a show built for a wide audience. There's only so many people who enjoy watching a marriage crumble or a couple of friends argue 28 minutes a week. But if you're into that sort of thing, Togetherness' brutally realistic take on middle age relationships is the show you've been waiting for.
Togetherness started on HBO on Jan. 11 and airs Sundays at 9:30 p.m. You can check back here for our weekly episode reviews. In a few weeks, we'll take a look at the second half of the season.
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