Platonic Season 1 Episode 5 Review: My Wife’s Boyfriend
Platonic Season 1 Episode 5, “My Wife’s Boyfriend,” hits a mid-season high note with a hysterical installment that also furthers the narrative as well as fine-tunes it.
So many elements are working harmoniously—the comedy, the writing, the focus of plot and relationships between characters, and the spot-on editing. It’s just a pleasure from start to finish.
Well, I’ll be honest, at the start, I was a little bit worried that my fear from the previous episode, “Divorce Party,” would derail the storytelling, but I was wrong. What I saw as a negative is actually a great set-up to this episode, which, in a way, serves as a giant punchline.
“My Wife’s Boyfriend” centers Sylvia’s husband, and that is what I anticipated being a problem. I didn’t want to focus on Charlie because he was boring, and him having a problem with Sylvia and Will reconnecting seemed like a boring direction to take the story.
This episode is anything but boring.
It features the entire cast (minus the kids), allowing us to get to know everyone a little bit better, and we are able to see more of how certain relationships operate. Having access to these two things makes viewing the episode’s ups and downs feel like the thrill one gets from a rollercoaster.
The downs include painfully awkward moments and slips of truth. The ups are there the whole time. Sometimes they diffuse the discomfort from the awkwardness, other times they elevate the humor to new heights.
The hot dog scene is pretty unbearable until you see Charlie’s commitment to documenting the moment. From then on the cringe factor between Charlie and Will begins to mellow and their dynamic becomes something funny—but with depth because of what we all went through together with that Dodger Dog.
Mixing the very different friends groups is a complex challenge for both the writers and the actors. The potential for failure is high. But, Platonic swung for the fences and hit it out of the park.
From the Secret Skills montage to “barbitration” to the culmination of the truth bomb roundtable, the epic scene at Will’s bar is a triumph. Some of the funniest highs are combined with tense uncomfortableness. And the ending is properly dramatic.
Charlie comes in and literally saves the day. This character goes from bland and boring to a hero in the span of an episode. If it feels a little like whiplash, it is, but the good kind, the kind one gets after riding a rollercoaster, to use an aforementioned analogy.
The episode ends on a positive note for all. Will and Peyton share a vulnerable and really sweet scene, and Sylvia and Charlie make up for their lack of communication. After the events of the day, it’s nice to end with feel-good vibes going forward, knowing relationships are still intact and, in fact, stronger.
What did you think of this episode of Platonic? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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New episodes of Platonic stream Wednesdays on Apple TV+.
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.