It’s the narration that throws you off. We are looking at a man clearly in a state of upheaval and yet we hear a female voice tell us who he is. She speaks as if reading, her description of what we’re seeing analytical yet hinting at some familiarity. I was immediately reminded of director Marc Forester‘s undervalued Will Ferrell film Stranger than Fiction (which if you haven’t watched, you absolutely must), where again, a woman details the actions of a male protagonist. It hooked me immediately.
Hulu‘s 8-episode drama Fleishman is in Trouble pretends to have a male protagonist, the story a complex narrative that seems almost transparently obvious as it starts, funneling us into a situation that feels tried and true about the aftermath of a failed marriage. It is that, yes, but by its end, it is also something else entirely. And to get there, it takes us on roads that divide us and to places we don’t expect and to characters we think we know until suddenly, we don’t. It’s painful. It’s emotional. It’s funny. And it’s authentic.
The Fleishman in the title is for us to decide, but it is Toby (Jesse Eisenberg) we meet first, alone in his small New York City apartment still struggling with his divorce. He’s in an awkward stage where he’s spent fifteen years with his wife Rachel (Claire Danes) and now finds himself available in a world that has changed much for those looking for love (or lust). Toby is a doctor, a hepatologist, so he is by nature clinical and prone to find more rewards in the care of his patients than the offers of bigger money in jobs that don’t meet that need. This seems to upset Rachel, a theater talent agent with a highly successful firm, wanting her husband to get more from his skills.
We learn that Toby has discovered online dating, which offers him frequent casual sex, something that nearly consumes him, but he is also a loving father to his two children, a young teen daughter and a younger son. It is they who become the issue when one evening, Rachel drops them off in the middle of the night and then, does not return. Not the next day. Not the next night. Not the next week. Not at all. She doesn’t answer the phone. She isn’t at work. She seems to have vanished.
What can Toby do?
It’s important that I leave you only with this information, as to reveal the truth would be to strip you of what Fleishman is in Trouble is all about. However, I can say that the story is about more than just Toby. We meet two close friends, Seth (Adam Brody) and Libby (Lizzy Caplan). They’ve known each other since college though became estranged in the years during Toby’s marriage. Libby and Seth led very different lives, she married with kids of her own, Seth looking to date and sleep with as many women as he can, though his youth has waned and his evolving maturity leaves him in conflict. Both are handled well.
These three and their often highly complicated relationships as they all reconnect is at the center of the series, catalysts for flashback that teach us a reality that we discover is from a fixed lens. Until it isn’t. When that happens, well … things change.
I don’t want to oversell the reveal. Some may see it coming. Even I suspected that things would become cyclical in a sense. But I want to talk about the performances. Eisenberg is always his best at this kind of introverted softy who carries some darkness inside him. He’s well cast and has several strong moments that work wonders in slowly shifting our perception of him from the onset. Brody has the least to do here, but makes his part in this impactful for the symbolism of what growing up is with the broad brushstrokes his character embodies.
Then we come to the women. Danes is absent for much of the production, though as I type that, I feel that her presence is always felt. When she is on screen, it is in my opinion, some of the best work she’s done (and I am big fan of Homeland.) This is raw stuff, and it cuts with power. And as good as she is, it’s Caplan who carries this series. She doesn’t simply become Libby, she invites us into her struggle, her befuddlement at life, her place in the world, and her purpose in all of it. Watch her closely and see what she does in each of these episodes. You will see in her face the weight of her life. And if you haven’t been convinced yet to watch, that right there is the best reason why.
Fleishman is in Trouble is for a select audience, surely. Those of a certain age will undoubtedly identify more with this than others. Adapted by Taffy Brodesser-Akner from her book of the same name, the series is about approaching middle age, reflecting on the past, and finding footing in a life that often lacks solid ground. I guess anyone can understand that, but it’s presented from the perspective of a handful of friends having got there in different ways. Seeing it from all sides makes this what to watch.