Summary
“The Big Two Six” makes some questionable decisions with its character writing, but a surprising comedic secret weapon helps the latter half of the episode out.
This recap of Platonic Season 1 Episode 6, “The Big Two Six”, contains spoilers.
Here’s a hot tip, should you need it: If your wife ever asks for your opinion on smart business attire, don’t say she looks like a young Angela Merkel. Or, for that matter, Angela Merkel at any age.
The reason Sylvia is dressing like the former Chancellor of Germany in “The Big Two Six” is because she’s finally interviewing for a job with Kirk Friedkin after giving him an ill-advised late-night call in Episode 4.
Platonic Season 1 Episode 6 Recap
Sylvia gets the job — we don’t see the interview, sadly — but realizes pretty quickly how much of an impact it’s going to have on her everyday life. She needs a babysitter and a chaperone for the kids, for one thing, and her self-obsessed mother-in-law hardly seems like the best option.
Why is Peyton upset with Will?
Luckily, an alternative presents itself in the form of Peyton. Will’s new beau isn’t thrilled with him because Omar has ratted out that he downplayed their relationship in Episode 5, and she has realized all of a sudden that it’s a little weird that Will spends so much of his time with a very attractive woman whom he didn’t want to share his relationship status with.
So, Will summons Sylvia to the bar to meet Peyton with some degree of urgency, and when she gets there Peyton adopts a completely new airhead personality that we haven’t seen her exhibit before. But she also reveals that children are her passion and she works part-time as a babysitter, so Sylvia floats the idea of her helping out.
Will is obviously horrified by the idea, but Sylvia isn’t keen on the age gap between them either, so there’s enough weirdness to go around. However, Peyton’s bizarre personality switch here seems to be making Sylvia’s point for her, and in a really inorganic way. After a meal out during which Peyton bonds with her kids, Sylvia returns home to be asked strange questions about Will’s readiness to “merge worlds” and whether Sylvia knows what “YOLO” means.
Like, we get it, Platonic, she’s young. Does she really have to be a moron as well?
Naturally, Peyton completely misinterprets Sylvia’s warning that Will is still dealing with the fallout from his divorce, sending Will storming over to Sylvia’s place in the middle of the night. After selfishly refusing to listen to anything she’s saying, he walks right through a plate glass door, marches to Peyton’s apartment, accidentally says he loves her, promises her a big birthday bash, and then asks the reasonable question of why there’s a senior citizen named Alan sitting on her couch. (He’s a new roommate — she thinks he’s 29.)
Platonic Season 1 Episode 6 Ending Explained
Why does Will break up with Peyton?
Alan turns out to be a surprisingly potent comedic weapon throughout the rest of the episode, which includes a song-and-dance number at Peyton’s birthday party which brings the giant age and experience gap between the two of them into very stark relief. Will realizes he must break up with Peyton immediately — on her birthday, no less.
She takes it well. She takes it so well, in fact, that she inadvertently proves Will’s point, which only makes him more miserable, a state of mind not at all helped by Alan hitting him with an “Okay, boomer.”
“The Big Two Six” ends with Will walking, alone and confused and presumably a little emotionally lost, away from Peyton’s apartment. She has probably forgotten about him already.
You can stream Platonic Season 1 Episode 6, “The Big Two Six” exclusively on Apple TV+.
