Togetherness

The stories are told with such intimacy, such empathy, and such attention to detail, that it transcends labels and generalities. It's the story of these specific people, exceptionally small, but also exceptionally told.... This was a terrific show last year, it's even better this year.

As was true in season one, the first thing to notice about Togetherness--in addition to its spectacularly talented cast--is the amount of sophisticated wit the writers manage to dredge from standard sitcom craziness, the exuberance they wring out of emotional pain and everyday sodden travail.

It’s sadder and funnier, welling over with feeling. It’s insightful not just about marriage but friendship.... The cast is uniformly strong, but Ms. Lynskey is just staggering.

The focus is never far from the very talented quartet at the show’s core: The assured second season offers the cast plenty of opportunities to demonstrate that they’ve got some of the best reaction faces in the business. There’s just enough plot to force the characters to glance at each other and alternately avoid each other’s glares and curiosity.

In its second season, Mark and Jay Duplass's Togetherness blooms into a stirring study of modern parenting as an experiment in creation and imagination.

A small pleasure. [19/26 Feb 2016, p.110]

This season’s determination to be bleak and honest isn't as pleasurable. The series is very good at what it does, but I can’t help thinking that more Gonzaga, Peet and Gallagher--in upbeat story form--would go exceptionally well with less dire versions of the excellent Lynskey, Zissis and Duplass.