My biggest question forAdults, the new FX show co-created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, is who the series' target audience is. As a new generation breaches their early twenties,Adultsattempts to make sense of a world that hasn’t changed much but is packed with young people raised to believe they would change it.Adultshas all the pop-cultural buzzwords and running jokes that should make the sitcom easy to swallow. Unfortunately,there’s something disingenuous about this storythat claims to have its finger on the pulse of the wild antics that Gen Z is supposedly having.
It’s hard to watch a show about Gen Z. Maybe this is because I belong to this generation. However, the desire to get this brand of “messiness” that others attribute to us is tiresome. Samir (Malik Elassal), Billie (Lucy Freyer), Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), Issa (Amita Rao), and Anton (Owen Thiele) star as the central friend group who have decent chemistry. However, actors and characters alike areplay-acting a version of Gen Z that has never and likely will never exist.Every aspect of the show is reaching for the approval of a generation that’s losing interest in stories like this.
I Liked The Characters In Adults, But I Wish I Felt Closer To Them
The Actors Have Fun Bringing These People To Life, But There’s Still A Lot To Learn About Them
Cohabitating commune-style, the way so many young people dream about, the characters live piled on top of each other in Samir’s parents' house in Queens, taking us to a new corner of the classic NYC sitcom. I appreciate thatAdultsinfuses some realism into the heightened world we enter after meeting the core group and suspending our disbelief. Unlike themany shows set in New York City about twentysomethings,Adultsdoesn’t give the characters unreasonably nice apartments they could never afford. Instead, it tackles certain financial realities a little more frankly than its predecessors.
Of course, we don’t typically tune into sitcoms for their realism, butAdultscould use a dose of this, as it doesn’t earn the emotional moments it asks us to care about. The characters remain estranged from us even after we’ve learned more about them. It’s tough to be told from the outset that a friend group is close and has a long-standing intimacy we aren’t privy to, andAdultswants to examine the walls young people put up these days, but even when we are let in,I felt like the actors were holding me at arm’s length.
The show’s thesis, that friends are the most important relationships of our lives, isn’t original, butAdultswears it well.
Adultsdoesn’t earn the story’s emotional beats, but there’s still time for the series to get there. The show’s thesis, that friends are the most important relationships of our lives, isn’t original, butAdultswears it well. As the show progresses, I believe in these relationships more and more, and I’m not afraid to get invested in them. However, the cross between actual Gen Z and what Millennials think Gen Z is permeates the dialogue and character development. It shows me thatAdultsfundamentally misunderstands what created a legion of apathetic, dissatisfied young people.
It’s impossible not to compareAdultsto the giants of television that came before it. Clearly intended to be a spiritual successor toGirls, but with a little more whimsy and a little less self-seriousness,Adultshas funny moments, but the series is trying too hard. Despite this, I can see a future forAdultswhere the show finds its footing and starts to synthesize where it sits among similar projects. However,Adultshas to push itself and say something real about the impossibility of reaching maturity,and it has to shed some of the Tik-Tok-oriented humor and get honest.
It’s Unlikely Gen Z Will Relate To Adults, But Maybe A Younger Generation Will Find Comfort In It
The Appeals To Gen Z Are Too Tired To Truly Connect With The Generation Adults Is Most Interested In
WhenGirlswas airing, there were probably plenty of Millennials who couldn’t stand the way they were being represented onscreen. For the generations who have “discovered"Girlsin the years since, the series has been a siren song for young people feeling misunderstood and nostalgic for a time they weren’t a part of. The same might be true ofAdults, asit’s a series that feels like it was already made in retrospect.Perhaps we can only like things once their heyday has come and gone and find fault with the things that are supposed to represent us.
While watchingAdults,I felt keenly misunderstood. As it grabbed at me, pleading for my attention, I wanted to give less and less of it, enjoying the throwaway jokes and organic humor a lot more than the over-the-top social commentary. Even the actors seemed tired of the show, with the supposed will-they-won’t-they of Samir and Billy feeling less than half-baked. Despite my gripes,Adultshas decent bones, and the writers behind it clearly have a sense of humor that can connect with Gen Z. IfAdultscomes back for another season, I’d like to see the show exercise these skills.
Adultsis available on Hulu and FX, with two new episodes airing weekly every Wednesday.
Adults
Cast
Adults: A 2025 film exploring the journey of a group of codependent housemates navigating the complexities of adulthood. As they attempt to be good individuals, they grapple with their shortcomings and growth, reflecting the challenging transition from youth to maturity.
