Friendship is a strange thing. It sneaks up on us, it saves us, and sometimes it complicates our lives more than we’d like. Now in it’s hysterical second season, the Apple TV+ series Platonic, starring Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen, leans hard into that messy, awkward, necessary part of life: having a friend you can’t quite figure out but can’t do without.
The show follows Sylvia (Byrne), a former lawyer turned stay-at-home mum, and Will (Rogen), a recently divorced brewmaster who’s trying to piece his life together. They were close in their twenties, fell out, and reconnect years later. That reconnection is the heartbeat of the series. Not romance. Not some “will they, won’t they” tease. Just friendship. And that’s the point – it’s about what happens when two people need each other without the usual strings attached.
That alone makes the series refreshing. Hollywood usually assumes men and women can’t just be friends. If they’re together on screen, it’s heading toward a kiss, a bed, or a breakup. Platonic says, “What if they just talked, argued, made each other laugh, and occasionally ruined each other’s lives a little?” That’s not just good television – it’s honest.
Analyising this from a faith angle, friendship has always been central. The Bible doesn’t just tell stories of prophets and kings; it tells stories of companions. David had Jonathan. Ruth had Naomi. Jesus had a circle of friends who stuck with him (well, most of the time). Real friendship, the kind that sticks through highs and lows, is not just an optional extra in life. It’s part of how God made us. We’re not designed to do this alone.
Sylvia and Will show this in all their chaos. She feels trapped by routine and responsibility. He feels washed up and bitter. Together, they spark each other back into life. It’s not always healthy. Sometimes they make each other’s messes worse. But even then, there’s something life-giving about having someone who sees you, really sees you, without needing you to be perfect.
That’s where the humour of the show cuts deep. Rogen is, well, Rogen. His Will is equal parts goofy, gruff, clumsy, and oddly tender. Byrne plays Sylvia with a mix of exasperation and longing, as if she’s still figuring out what being an adult even means. Their banter feels lived-in. They fight like siblings, they tease like teenagers, and sometimes they’re just plain irritating. But that’s friendship. It’s not tidy. It’s not Instagram-worthy. It’s showing up when the other person is a mess and not running away.
From a Christian perspective, that’s grace. Friendship is one of the clearest ways we practice forgiveness without even naming it. Sylvia forgives Will’s stubbornness. Will forgives Sylvia’s habit of lecturing. They hurt each other, and then they’re back at the bar, or texting again the next morning. Grace often looks less like a sermon and more like that – sticking around when it would be easier to ghost.
The show also pokes fun at the way adults lose friends as they age. Life gets busy. Children, work, marriage, and exhaustion crowd out the people who once mattered most. Faith communities often talk about “fellowship,” but we should admit it: most of us are lonely. Platonic reminds us that friendship doesn’t die with age. It just needs attention. It might even need resurrection. And sometimes, resurrection looks like a phone call that says, “Hey, want to get a drink?”
There’s a running joke in the show that Sylvia is risking her stable, suburban life by spending too much time with Will. Her husband and friends keep asking, “What exactly are you doing with this guy?” They can’t imagine why she’d bother. That suspicion says more about us than it does about her. We live in a culture that reduces every relationship to utility: romance, sex, networking, or transaction. Friendship doesn’t fit into that neat box. It doesn’t “pay off” in obvious ways. And yet it keeps us alive.
Theologically, that matters. God calls us into friendship not because it makes us productive, but because it makes us human. Jesus says in John’s gospel, “I have called you friends.” Not employees, not pawns, not sidekicks—friends. That’s no small thing. If the Son of God thought friendship was worth naming, maybe we should stop treating it like a side dish and start treating it like the main course.
And yes, the show is hilariously funny. Sometimes crude, sometimes over the top, but funny in the way life is funny when you look back at your worst moments and realise you didn’t go through them alone. Laughter is one of the holy gifts of friendship. Not because everything is fine, but because you’re not carrying it all by yourself.
Platonic isn’t a perfect show. Some episodes drag. Some jokes land awkwardly. And yes, sometimes you wish Sylvia and Will would grow up a little. But maybe that’s another reminder: friends don’t let us stay polished. They remind us of the parts of ourselves we’ve tried to bury under responsibility and worry. That’s annoying. It’s also sacred.
Watching Sylvia and Will stumble through their reconnection, I found myself thinking less about them and more about my own friendships. Who do I call when life feels dull or heavy? Who tells me the truth, even when I don’t want to hear it? Who makes me laugh until my sides hurt? The show works not because of its plot twists but because it makes you ask those questions.
Friendship won’t save the world, but it might save us. Platonic is a reminder that sometimes grace looks less like a sermon and more like two old friends, still showing up for each other, even when no one else understands why.
Season 1 and Season 2 of Plantonic is avialable now with a subscription to Apple TV
