Fleishman is in Trouble, TV review — divorce dramedy skewers Manhattan middle classes

The divorce dramedy Fleishman is in Trouble opens with a shot of the New York skyline flipped upside down. It’s an image that immediately transmits the destabilising effect of separation on the titular protagonist, sure. But it can also be viewed as a statement that the series is going to offer a subversive departure from familiar perspectives.

Adapted from a bestselling 2019 novel by its author Taffy Brodesser-Akner, this is a tale revolving around the cerebral, oversexed, emotionally undeveloped man prevalent in the work of Woody Allen, Philip Roth et al. But this time, the neurotic male has a female voice — both that of the writer and literally that of the show’s narrator. So when we see those phallic skyscrapers upturned, a building is clearly not just a building.

The eight-part Hulu original is driven by an incisive look at the much-discussed “crisis of masculinity” and the tension between progressive beliefs and enduring patriarchal values in the generation now entering middle age. In doing so, it naturally finds a lot to say about the place and perception of women in society and the bewildering, chafing nature of coupledom and dating in an era that’s nominally trying to move away from the old conventions.

Yet this story of a fraught marriage and resentment-filled divorce isn’t just a dense case study of modern gender or spousal dynamics. It’s suffused with big, timely ideas and intense emotion, but the show’s tone is also shaped by an abundance of ironic wit, often aimed at the characters.

Manhattanite fortysomethings stricken with existential malaise and social myopia such as Toby and Rachel Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg and Claire Danes) are, after all, ripe for skewering. The title could well refer to either of them, but it is the former whom we follow as he adjusts to being a newly single man and whose inner thoughts and feelings we’re given access to via the narration provided by his writer friend Libby (Lizzy Caplan).

Eisenberg is immaculately cast as the doctor who’s at once insecure and supercilious. Though relishing his newfound sexual freedom, he still finds himself fixated by how and why his marriage failed, especially after his ex suddenly disappears, dumping their two kids on him. Through (slightly disorienting) flashbacks we begin to gain better insight into Rachel — a high-powered Broadway agent whose apparent frostiness and status seeking belie a serious struggle with depression (deftly portrayed by Danes).

While it would have been easy to turn Toby and Rachel into stereotypes, Fleishman recognises human complexity and adeptly gets us invested in the lives of seemingly insufferable people. It may mock the specific absurdities of their privileged existence, but it also knows that the painful experiences of falling out of love, of feeling lost and unable to communicate, are universal.

★★★★☆

On Disney Plus from February 22 and on Hulu in the US now