Summary
Platonic Season 2 improves a little thanks to more focus on Katie and Charlie, and in Episode 6, even Will begins to realise that he’s an idiot. These are baby steps, but at least they’re in the right direction.
I can’t think of anything worse than spending ages locked in a car with Will from Platonic, which is a bit of an obstacle since Episode 6 of Season 2, “Road Trip”, is about precisely that premise. Luckily, it’s not as bad as it sounds. Thanks to a welcome inversion of the usual formula, Will is actually the voice of reason here, with Sylvia fulfilling the role of can’t-see-the-forest-for-the-trees idiocy. Will’s still dumb in it, don’t get me wrong, but he actually realises he’s an idiot and does something about it, whereas with Sylvia, I’m not so sure she’s there yet.
To be fair, Sylvia’s problem isn’t technically her problem — it’s Charlie’s. After breaking into Ed Little’s house, he’s experiencing recurring nightmares about his Jeopardy! appearance, and clearly isn’t quite himself. However, since he’s adamant that he’s fine, he’s determined to go into work and pretend everything is normal, and Sylvia is quite happy to let him do so instead of properly confronting the idea that he might not be.
Instead, she’s taking Frances to a debate tournament, a long-ish drive that quickly comes to include Will, who’s heading to a corporate retreat with a gigantic bag, despite the fact that Jenna will be there, and Katie, who is grieving about her ex-husband, Joe, having a baby with a younger woman. Once Frances is dropped off, these three are left to their own devices, listening to Katie’s ridiculous podcast in which she interviews a local realtor with a grating amount of put-on vocal fry, and bickering about their various issues.
These issues are easy enough to break down. Will’s belief that he can continue to work for Johnny 66 despite dumping its CEO at the altar is rightly called out as being naive nonsense, and it’s clear that Sylvia isn’t being properly attentive to her husband’s real needs after the Jeopardy! debacle. And despite her claims to the contrary, Will and Katie are right — Will has to leave work after hearing whistling in the background and throwing a minor tantrum in the bathroom.
What slightly works about Platonic Season 2, Episode 6 is Will and Katie becoming kindred spirits of a kind, both uniting in their agreement that Sylvia is in the wrong (you can tell they’ve both been waiting for the opportunity to tell her so for a long time). This changes the dynamic a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, Will’s still being an idiot, and this is exacerbated tenfold when it’s revealed his giant bag contains a huge stuffed penguin that he intends to give to Jenna as a goodwill gesture. It’s a terrible idea, and the other two rightly tell him so, which results in a ruckus in the car that leaves the penguin split wide open and a crack in Sylvia’s windscreen.
The only mechanic in the middle of nowhere is a conman who insists that the windscreen requires specialised glass that takes 48 hours to order and costs $4000 to fit, meaning that Sylvia, Will, and Katie should make use of the local facilities, all of which seem to be owned by a member of his family. None of them are keen on this idea, least of all Sylvia, but when she calls Charlie for advice, he answers while lying on the couch and staring at the ceiling, having realised that he perhaps does need therapy after all. That leaves Sylvia out of ideas, so she smashes the rest of the windscreen — the mechanic claimed he couldn’t legally allow her to drive the car with the crack — and drives the rest of the journey wearing safety goggles.
But at least Will realises that he’s an idiot and promptly quits his job to prove a point, which, to be fair, is probably the best thing for him, even though I can’t guarantee it won’t be the worst thing for the audience having to put up with his business ventures. He also seems to have developed a bit of a kinship with Katie, who offers to stay behind with him to sort out some brewing equipment that he bought from a local tavern owner, which I suspect might develop into a romance. We’ll have to wait and see.
Sylvia, meanwhile, returns home to Charlie, but judging by the look on her face, I’m not sure that’s quite where she wants to be. Perhaps she clings so tightly to the idea of having a perfect, stable life because she wouldn’t be able to cope if she didn’t. And maybe we’re about to find out.
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