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Fleishman is in Trouble - Season 1
A thoroughly American drama series that is very easy on the eyes. Fleishman is in Trouble is a 2019 book by New York journalist Taffy Brodesser-Akner, who also created and produced the television adaptation.
Let's take the title literally first: Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) is in trouble. The 41-year-old has a more than decent job as a gastroenterologist specializing in liver diseases at a renowned hospital in New York, but his marriage simply fell apart, slowly at first and then quickly. Since then, Toby has lived in a sparsely furnished apartment and shares custody of his two children Hannah and Solley with his ex Rachel (Claire Danes, Homeland).
The beginning of the series can be regarded as a suitably satirical treatise on middle-aged men who (have to) go back to flirting. A world opens up for Toby, who has never used apps like Tinder. The series would have us believe that the sexually starved and elderly doctor, in a tried and true smug way, picks up one beautiful woman after another, but be that as it may, it's enough for some wonderfully bizarre episodes.
The gradual drifting of the spouses, which resulted in their divorce, meanwhile is depicted in many flashbacks. The difficulties only increase when Rachel leaves the children with Toby one night and disappears without a trace herself. Strange behavior for the very professional theater agent who is otherwise available 24/7 for her customers. Toby is on his own and where is Rachel?
That's when friends Libby and Seth enter the story. Libby (Lizzy Caplan/, Masters of Sex) and Seth (Adam Brody/, The O.C.) are old friends of Toby's from their college days. Both have followed completely different paths in life. In addition, Libby is the narrator of the series. Toby and Rachel and all the other characters are told from her point of view, and Libby provides commentary that sounds so polished as if it were an article in one of the magazines she writes for.
And then, in a rather spectacular scene at the end of the sixth episode, the story revolves around Rachel, who gets to fill the seventh episode almost alone - a perfect opportunity for Claire Danes to show all the facets of what she can do. The title of the series can now also be questioned again: which Fleishman is actually in trouble here?
Fleishman is in Trouble is a very watchable series, but not a flawless masterpiece. The writer tries to salvage too many aspects of her novel in the series: the intrigue in the hospital, a sexist writer, class relations between below and above. Too much is mentioned and only touched on briefly. It is not just about the midlife crisis itself, but about a very specific milieu in which it takes place: the wealthy, predominantly Jewish upper class on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Fleishman is in Trouble has more in store than the banal realization that rich people also have their worries, for example when the series recognizes that the rich usually have better (financial) resources to deal with existential crises. However, what sometimes exaggerates the series is the running commentary from the very beginning. In many scenes, especially in the last few episodes, it would have been better to just let the protagonists' sensitive and versatile acting speak for itself, rather than doubling it down with explanatory text from Libby.
All in all, an entertaining super-American series with eight episodes that I give a 7.
Follow Fleishman is in TroubleLet's take the title literally first: Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) is in trouble. The 41-year-old has a more than decent job as a gastroenterologist specializing in liver diseases at a renowned hospital in New York, but his marriage simply fell apart, slowly at first and then quickly. Since then, Toby has lived in a sparsely furnished apartment and shares custody of his two children Hannah and Solley with his ex Rachel (Claire Danes, Homeland).
© FX
The beginning of the series can be regarded as a suitably satirical treatise on middle-aged men who (have to) go back to flirting. A world opens up for Toby, who has never used apps like Tinder. The series would have us believe that the sexually starved and elderly doctor, in a tried and true smug way, picks up one beautiful woman after another, but be that as it may, it's enough for some wonderfully bizarre episodes.
The gradual drifting of the spouses, which resulted in their divorce, meanwhile is depicted in many flashbacks. The difficulties only increase when Rachel leaves the children with Toby one night and disappears without a trace herself. Strange behavior for the very professional theater agent who is otherwise available 24/7 for her customers. Toby is on his own and where is Rachel?
That's when friends Libby and Seth enter the story. Libby (Lizzy Caplan/, Masters of Sex) and Seth (Adam Brody/, The O.C.) are old friends of Toby's from their college days. Both have followed completely different paths in life. In addition, Libby is the narrator of the series. Toby and Rachel and all the other characters are told from her point of view, and Libby provides commentary that sounds so polished as if it were an article in one of the magazines she writes for.
© FX
And then, in a rather spectacular scene at the end of the sixth episode, the story revolves around Rachel, who gets to fill the seventh episode almost alone - a perfect opportunity for Claire Danes to show all the facets of what she can do. The title of the series can now also be questioned again: which Fleishman is actually in trouble here?
Fleishman is in Trouble is a very watchable series, but not a flawless masterpiece. The writer tries to salvage too many aspects of her novel in the series: the intrigue in the hospital, a sexist writer, class relations between below and above. Too much is mentioned and only touched on briefly. It is not just about the midlife crisis itself, but about a very specific milieu in which it takes place: the wealthy, predominantly Jewish upper class on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Fleishman is in Trouble has more in store than the banal realization that rich people also have their worries, for example when the series recognizes that the rich usually have better (financial) resources to deal with existential crises. However, what sometimes exaggerates the series is the running commentary from the very beginning. In many scenes, especially in the last few episodes, it would have been better to just let the protagonists' sensitive and versatile acting speak for itself, rather than doubling it down with explanatory text from Libby.
All in all, an entertaining super-American series with eight episodes that I give a 7.
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