Heavy-hitter Josh Thomas dabbles in the best and worst of growing up
Please Like Me is an Australian show centered around 20-something Josh experiencing life, love, and death unfold before him.
The show is written and directed by comedian Josh Thomas, who also plays the lead character of the same name. It begins from a millennial departure point, but includes every generation, including baby-boomer and beyond.
Thomas has curated a sharp-witted and discursive television show that strikes every emotional cord—even the ones you didn’t think you had. Please Like Me inhabits some space between traditional sitcom and methodically-written drama. It is a hybrid that meditates on millennial existential issues coupled with the pain and tribulations of late middle-age.
The realist comedy shares traits and tropes with the HBO series Girls, but the characters are more loveable, and Melbourne replaces the New York backdrop.
Please Like Me revolves mainly around Josh and his two closest friends, Tom and Claire. Tom has been a lifelong friend while Claire is Josh’s ex-girlfriend prior to his coming-out.
The trio are a tight-circle that can include others but will reject them should they make any transgression.
Josh’s parents also play a crucial role in providing a cross-generational discourse. Rose, Josh’s mother, suffers from intense clinical depression, giving the show a serious tone that necessitates its darker comedic style.
Please Like Me does not shy away from the most serious of topics. The series explores coming out, death, divorce, fractured families, and mental health: Thomas spits out conventional television and replaces it with raw perceptions of life and death.
Episodes explore topics often avoided by traditional television such as abortion, suicide, gay sex scenes, and sex work. These “taboo” topics are spearheaded with visceral images and supplemented with emotional baggage.
The theme song is fitting for the show’s psychological discourse and pays homage to Melbourne’s music scene with the Clairy Browne & the Bangin’ Rackettes track, “I’ll Be Fine.”
The song voices the show’s mantra: “The good lord knows it/I’ll be fine.”
Life is difficult, it beats and bruises until the mind haywires, but the series uses jokes, laughter, and companionship to progress the narrative and high-step one tragedy after another. Tragedy is not a one-off event for Please Like Me; as in life, it is relentless.
But don’t be discouraged, it provides a rollercoaster emotional experience that is rare for comedic television.
Thomas entitles every episode after another true passion: food.
The bacchian pleasure-driven adventures of a foodie encapsulates the spirit of the show. It is about experimentation with the new and appreciation of the old. An oscillation between both gives the series a fresh taste in every episode.
Furthermore, Thomas’ passion for cooking, especially cooking for his friends and family, serves to present a snapshot of Thomas’ method: it is a methodical act of care in developing every episode, character, and scene.
Please Like Me is essential viewing for understanding the millennial experience and it offers much more with serious discourses and comedic resonance. The show is a quick-watch too. With four seasons stretching 36 episode at an average of 23 minutes per episode, there is no reason not to watch.
As for Thomas, it is clear that the world will gladly like him, and are awaiting for whatever else his brilliant potential has to offer.
Photo courtesy of Netflix.