After last week's tremendous sophomore episode "Handicuffs,", the third installment of HBO's latest Togetherness, titled "Insanity," doesn't quite reach the same heights. Don't take that to mean that the new Duplass brothers' creation is any less sweet and breezy, however.
"Insanity" finds Brett (Mark Duplass), Tina (Amanda Peet) and Alex (Steve Zissis) going to the movie premiere of Brett's new movie, which he had a terrible experience working on after its director (Joshua Leonard) refused to use his authentic coyote sounds. Tina could care less about this, however, because she sees this premiere as a great way to get Alex's foot in the door and getting him to be the leading man she believes he so desperately wants to be — even if Brett only got two passes to the premiere. As all this happens, Michelle (Melanie Lynskey) finds herself having a night on the town by herself, where she bums smokes from teenagers and going to pubs with no company, mildly hitting on the bartenders.
This week's episode is at its best when it gets around to centering on its guest star Peter Gallangher, playing producer Larry Kazinsky — a man Alex describes as "having more hair on its eyebrows than (he) does on his head." One scene with them in the bathroom is the first in Togetherness to mirror the classic Duplass' style, both visually and in its use of dry humor. Meanwhile, when they and Tina get together, they conform some wonderfully laid-back and fun sequences. While they have a grand total of eight minutes on screen at most, they are all, at their core, what makes this show — and Duplass' best work — so relatable and enjoyable.
Brett's moments are thoughtful and meditative, just like last week, but seem to be the least interesting to the filmmakers. Instead, a great deal of time this week is focused on Michelle's unimaginative subplot, which feels like the Duplass' needing to give her something to do so they decide to give her the most overused storyline possible. Her possible affair build-up feels forced and unneeded. While it will likely lead to some drama in episodes to come, and finds John Ortiz giving a nice, understated turn as single-father and passionate city council member David Garcia, they seem unproductive to the story in Togetherness at large. Of course, it is too early to tell this for sure.
This short-sight aside, Togetherness is still a fun, engaging new series, which its target audience firmly in mind but still having enough for other adult members to keep them involved. After all, only Togetherness could find a way to get an inspired and heartwarming scene out of Rush's "Tom Sawyer," one of the most used songs in cinematic history.
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