I’ve never been able to pull off a platonic relationship – one of those super deep connections with somebody of the opposite sex where nothing sexual ever happens. Or where I don’t secretly want something sexual to happen. I feel like I’m alone in this, and I envy my friends who are able to make them work free of the added complication of sex. Why, though, is it such a taboo? Why don’t we just marry the people we love, cherish and spend most of our time with?
It’s something I’ve been mulling over since watching a new comedy series beginning on Apple TV+ this week. Platonic stars Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as best friends who reconnect after a five-year rift. In no time, their relationship is back on track, despite the fact that Sylvia (Byrne) is now a married mum of three. Their dynamic quickly becomes all-consuming. When the just-divorced Will (Rogen) invites Sylvia to the launch of his trendy brew pub, she turns up dressed like it’s a date. They begin to act like teenagers again – getting drunk, talking about their sex lives and giving each other intimate advice. They wander the streets late at night, as if they’re in When Harry Met Sally. Sound familiar? I’ve been there many times.
Sylvia and Will aren’t sexual with each other, but you can’t help but wonder when it might shift in that direction. Sylvia texts him while her husband Charlie (Luke Macfarlane) is asleep in bed next to her, while Will turns up at her front door asking if she wants to grab oysters with him, or see a film, or head to the beach. When Will gets a younger and totally inappropriate girlfriend, she finds it “weird” that he spends so much time with Sylvia, and I can’t help but see her point. Charlie also starts to feel excluded from the fun of his wife and Will’s relationship. “I know that Will and Sylvia are not f***ing,” he says. “But it almost feels like they’re getting off on the fact that they could be f***ing.”
