Near the end of FX's TV adaptation of "Fleishman Is in Trouble," after the upscale lives of its privileged main characters have emerged from their slow-motion implosion, one character tells another character about the book she might write about the whole mess.
"What will it be about?" her friend asks.
"It will be about everything," she says.
"That's heavy," he replies.
And so it is.
Based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner's bestselling novel of the same name, "Fleishman Is in Trouble" — which debuted on Hulu this week — is about the reckoning that comes with adulthood. It is about the challenges of marriage and the marathon that is parenthood. It is about coming to terms with the reality of what your life is, as opposed to what your younger self dreamed (or assumed) it would be.
Because it is set in the social terrarium of Manhattan, it is also about the very specific curse of having everything you ever wanted (or everything you thought you wanted) and still not being happy. By the time you get to the end of this fitfully rewarding series, you will have a pretty good idea about how that feels.
The "Fleishman" in the title is Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"), a recently divorced Upper East Side doctor who is enjoying the spoils of being a newly single man in the age of dating apps. The former med-school nerd is now being inundated with flirty emojis, racy selfies and more hot sexual adventures than he can keep up with.
It's good to be the Toby Fleishman, until the morning his ex-wife, Rachel (Claire Danes, "Homeland"), drops their two kids off on her way to a weekend yoga retreat and doesn't come back. Then things get complicated. And stressful. And heavy.
We find out just how complicated, stressful and heavy Toby's life really is through the big chunks of voice-over narration that run through the whole series. The text is taken from Brodesser-Akner's book, and as sharp and funny as it is on the page, there is a lot more of it in the show than there should be. In addition to creating and executive producing the series, Brodesser-Akner also wrote seven of its eight episodes. She could have used some help in the self-editing department.
Fortunately, that narration is being read by Lizzy Caplan ("Masters of Sex"), whose deft, empathetic performance as Toby's college friend Libby is one of the things that keep "Fleishman Is in Trouble" from being "Lives of the Rich and Cluelessly Discontented."
When we meet Libby, she is a former magazine writer marooned in the New Jersey suburbs and awash in stay-at-home-mom ennui. When Toby calls out of the blue to tell her about his divorce, she follows the the siren call of vicarious drama back into Toby's life. The two of them reconnect with their college pal Seth (Adam Brody, "The O.C."), and the sudden infusion of drinks, stolen cigarettes and deep conversation gives Libby the escape hatch she'd been looking for.
"In our laughter, I heard something dangerous," voice-over Libby says. "Which was the sound of our youth."
So when the voyeuristic thrill of hearing about Toby's app adventures is interrupted by Rachel's sudden disappearance, the newly energized Libby is more than ready to pivot to hating Rachel on his behalf. In Libby's defense, Rachel is very easy to hate. In one of the series' biggest miscalculations, "Fleishman Is in Trouble" goes to great, enervating lengths to make sure you hate her, too.
As she did in the book, Brodesser-Akner devotes a hefty amount of the series to Toby's heroic efforts to fill in for his missing wife while also doing life-saving work at the hospital. And as Toby helps his sweet 9-year-old son, Sully (Maxim Swinton) with his big science project and attempts to keep 11-year-old Hannah (Meara Mahoney Gross, master of the adolescent eye-roll) from turning into her status-conscious mother, we get a long, heavily narrated tour of Rachel's many shortcomings.
Rachel is cold and conniving. Rachel cares more about her high-powered job as a theatrical agent than she does about her family. Rachel is a social-climber. Rachel is probably having an affair with a rich dad from their kids' snooty private school. Rachel is awful.
The first six of the series' eight episodes are all about watching Toby wander around Manhattan in search of distractions and companionship, as he and voice-over Libby rail about Rachel. Eisenberg's beautifully calibrated performance keeps us on Toby's side, even as the journey becomes a slog.
And then, Brodesser-Akner follows her book's "Gone Girl"-ish swerve into completely new territory. It's fertile ground, but there's not much time for exploring it.
The final two episodes are told from a different perspective, and while it's a relief to get a break from Toby, the shift comes too late in the episode lineup, leaving us with a mess of loose plot threads and incomplete character arcs. Brodesser-Akner tries to tie it all up with a final monologue that aims for poetry, but it ends up sounding like a self-help podcast.
Eisenberg, Caplan and the phenomenal Danes bring so much clarity and commitment to their performances, you will care about Toby, Libby and Rachel, even when the show's insular look at their small, entitled world makes it tempting to write them off. Like its conflicted characters, "Fleishman Is in Trouble" is self-absorbed and aggravating. It is also funny, insightful and easy on the eyes.
In other words, love it at your own risk.
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The first two episodes of "Fleishman Is in Trouble" are streaming now on Hulu. The remaining six episodes debut weekly on Thursdays through Dec. 29.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Karla Peterson is a columnist for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
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