BONDING

1st season – 80% – Where there would be an inevitable escape into the diverse client practices if the running time were longer or there were more episodes, Bonding has the time to adequately carve characters into their personalities, scatter them across the field of relationships, careers, goals, and anxieties, and sometimes cleverly, sometimes disgustingly, and sometimes even pleasantly entertain the viewer. Netflix's one-offs are a gamble amidst an unpredictable lottery of topics and quality, but this one is almost a perfect bullseye. 2nd season – 40% – Perhaps it's due to the almost two-year hiatus, but this is not the series that I recommended as an unexpected gem. The main training storyline is forced and doesn't even make sense, the previously likable Doug turns into an idiot, and Pete, instead of being the driving force behind the plot, is a strange combination of narcissism and degraded character with a few attempts at humor. Considering how much I was expecting from the second season, I ended up sticking with it almost by force. (23.06.2019)

Season 1 basically just feeds on a topic that will likely attract enough millennials to turn it into a Netflix hype. The beginning seemed quite promising. The main actress seems a bit awkward to me, but her friend somehow holds it together and is probably the reason why I enjoy the show. The individual episodes are too short to develop a more elaborate plot, so we mostly just watch episodic adventures and sometimes have a casual laugh. In my opinion, this series doesn't have much of a future, so we'll see where it goes from here. So far, a very average TV snack. Season 2, as I expected, faces a very sharp decline and actually offers absolutely nothing entertaining, so we should be glad that the episodes are so short and it can be blown off quickly. This season is primarily about watching the relationships of the two main protagonists, their love struggles, and the search for the meaning of life. Not a single episode seemed exceptional to me, the humor is at freezing point, and I don't care about the characters. It's a pity it ended with a sad conclusion, but I would leave it finished like this and I think a third season wouldn't make sense. (03.02.2021)

It starts out as a terribly funny comedy with a ridiculous idea and lots of things thrown in, but after the second episode it's purely a relationship drama that doesn't really lean on comedy or the original idea. Paradoxically though, I didn't mind it that much, I liked the characters and actually enjoyed it, but if it had stuck to its original theme I would have been happier. Zoe Levin is excellent and naturally beautiful, so the series is fun to watch, and the 15-minute episodes are another positive reason to go for it. I'm sure it won't wow most, but it won't downright disappoint either. (14.01.2021)

It felt like I was watching one slightly above average TV movie or series pilot after about fifteen minutes, but certainly not that I was watching an entire series. That said, the main characters were good, the subject matter was original, and it often had a nice comedic swing. I just missed some proper story. (29.04.2019)