Bonding

By: Taylor Gates

Bonding, a new seven-episode series written and directed by Rightor Doyle from HBO show “Barry,” is fresh, hilarious, edgy and surprisingly heartfelt. Based loosely off of Doyle’s own experiences, the show follows shy and uptight aspiring comedian Pete (Brendan Scannell) as he starts working as a dominatrix assistant for his high school friend Tiff (Zoe Levin). The fact that Doyle only has a handful of writing credits and this is his directorial debut is shocking, as the script is a sophisticated blend of laugh-out-loud moments and emotion, combining to form a true dramedy and show that roleplaying and BDSM can not only be normal but also healthy and beneficial.

Scannell and Levin carry the show with grace and confidence, grounding the more exaggerated and far-fetched elements in a concrete reality. Their quick, easy banter and short-tempered fights never make the audience doubt they’ve been friends for years, the naturalness even bordering on that of siblings at times.

With their performances keeping the story firmly rooted in real life, the other actors are free to go big and they hold nothing back, fully committing to their wacky, subversive roles. Submissive Fred (Charles Gould) is not afraid to be honest about what he wants and likes, even if this brashness has the tendency to make others feel uncomfortable. Joe (Matthew Risch) is into a very specific thing involving penguin suits and wrestling and isn’t ashamed of it. Rolph (Matthew Wilkas) is perfectly content living in his submissive bubble, paying Tiff to clean her house while wearing a mask. Pete’s strange roommate Frank (Alex Hurt) loves talking about sex and his relationship with girlfriend Portia (Gabrielle Ryan) is odd but clearly loving.

Even Chelsea (Amy Bettina), who is only in two scenes and plot-wise serves to unveil a big revelation about Tiff and Pete’s past, manages to be incredibly memorable as well. Chelsea gets hammered at the local bar, lonely and upset that even “losers like Tiff and Pete” have friends and she doesn’t. Eventually, she ends up in Tiff’s apartment, throwing up and reminiscing about the glory days when their all-white school put on a production of West Side Story.

However, it is a seemingly straight-laced picture-perfect couple that gets the most laughs. Daphne, played by ever-phenomenal scene-stealer D’Arcy Carden (“The Good Place”), goes to Tiff for help satisfying her husband Andy (Eric Berryman), who has a tickling fetish. Carden sitting with a perfectly-ironed sundress and perfect posture in a dominatrix dungeon and kindly requesting that Tiff take off her thigh-high leather stiletto boots so she won’t track dirt into her home depicts the clash, but also the overlap of this taboo, underground world and vanilla suburbia.

As an audience, we are forced to look at things from a new perspective even beyond just BDSM. Not every character is as they originally seem. For example, while Professor Charles (Kevin Kane) appears to be a nice, brilliant, encouraging Psychology professor we quickly find out he is an abusive hypocrite. Josh (Theo Stockman), a dumb jock in Tiff’s class who constantly flirts with her, turns out to be sweet, sensitive and more layered than anyone anticipated.

The first six episodes are nearly perfect, but the finale feels a bit uneven and not in tone with the rest of the series. After reconciling with each other, Tiff and Pete find themselves in a dangerous situation with Tiff’s potential client Trevor (Stephen Reich). Someone ends up getting stabbed and the peril is intercut with flashbacks of Tiff and Pete finding themselves in a similarly sketchy dilemma on prom night—the night their friendship ended. Though this new event solidifies their relationship, it feels a bit forced and overly dark for the tone the series has set within its other installments.

Location managers Paul Hamill and Ali McDonough deserve massive credit for finding settings that feel immersive and real, as does cinematographer Nate Hurtsellers for taking advantage of them to make the film look sleek and spunky. From the real, functioning dominatrix dungeon to the arcade Josh takes Tiff, the run-down interior of the sleepy diner Pete works to his cramped apartment, the graffiti-laden walls of the school bathroom to the brightly-colored classroom, the backdrop feels honest and aesthetically pleasing.

Bonding will certainly appeal to a young adult audience with a penchant for dark humor and some more obscure facets of society. Every actor on the call sheet is a performer to watch and I anxiously await more projects created by triple-threat Rightor Doyle.