It seems unbelievable the large amount of television offer that there is and the little gap that stands for pure drama on streaming. A series that is far from police/medical/judicial subgenres, adolescents, thrillers, etc. It’s not that it goes too far. That is why it is appreciated that the wonderful ‘Fleishman is in trouble’ has finally arrived at Disney+ Spain.
Starring Jesse Eisenberg (‘Vivarium’), Claire Danes (‘The Essex Serpent’) and Lizzy Caplan (‘Castle Rock’) —whose character is the voice of the creator and author of the book on which the series is based—, we find an eight-episode miniseries that revolves around a divorce. Or, actually, about what comes after it.either.
Thus, the series begins by introducing us to Toby (Eisenberg), a doctor who discovers that being a doctor is a magnet for women and is determined to exploit his potential in dating apps during his first summer as a divorcee. However, something will force him to change his plans: his ex (Danes) he has left his children in the apartment and… what’s almost worse, it shows no signs of life.
divorced everywhere
Up to here I will read because it is better to be surprised by what Taffy Brodesser-Akner has prepared in the adaptation of her own book. The writer, formerly a columnist, affirms that her idea for ‘Fleishman is in trouble’ came to her when many people around her (even when she had not tried for a long time) he began to tell her that he had divorced.
He observed a couple of factors that fascinated him: on the one hand, it seemed that the divorce was the happiest day of his life; they were browsing endless dating apps and lastly, talking about marriage is dangerous ground. With these ideas in mind and a certain sense of humorthe author began to structure this story.
There are two things that are quite striking when you start watching the series. The first is that sheds the sometimes extremely solemn tone or intense that many dramas about marriages and divorces have. We could almost say that it is closer to ‘State of the Union’ than to ‘Secrets of a Marriage’. Without ceasing to give seriousness to the subject, a certain sense of humor permeates the story at all times.
The second aspect is that by using Libby’s narration as a vehicle to tell the story along with other elements (going back to review the past) quite an attractive literary touch in which the collision that has occurred in this life of Toby is reviewed in what we soon discover is not only the story of a divorcee… but about the midlife crisis of which these events are symptoms.
A cast that raises the bar
What Really Works in ‘Fleishman’s in Trouble’ It’s your team of main characters, supported by a fantastic cast. Brodesser-Akner doesn’t tell a tale of good guys and bad guys, and indeed, despite portraying Rachel’s laziness for what she is, he doesn’t glorify Toby as an innocent martyr at all. His personality is not only complex… but difficult.
Perhaps the most curious is the role of Claire Danes, nominated for best supporting actress in the past Golden Globes. Her Rachel does not appear much (in fact there are episodes in which we barely see her in a momentary flashback) but his presence is noted throughout the seriesis the ghost of the past and present of the life of the Fleishmans.
A ghost that Libby can’t stop looking at when he thinks about his own marriage and if that could happen to them (the husband is played by Josh Radnor). In Libby the reflections that Brodesser-Akner throws at the viewer throughout these eight hours are poured out.
‘Fleishman is in trouble’ He does not issue a sentence because it is not his job. Episode by episode he strives to try to understand (and for us to understand) what has happened and why it has happened. If we expect forceful theses on marriages, this will be quite unsatisfactory. If not, we’ll have a great adult drama worth watching.
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