NEW YORK – Honorable underlying values and believable characters are sabotaged by excessively explicit sexual content in the limited drama series “Fleishman is in Trouble.”
Two episodes of the eight-part show – an FX presentation adapted by showrunner Taffy Brodesser-Akner from her eponymous 2019 novel – are currently streaming on Hulu. Future installments will become available each Thursday through Dec. 29.
The program is a portrait of caring physician Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) as, in the wake of his recent bitter divorce from Rachel (Claire Danes), a successful talent agent, he adjusts to life as a single man. The script dwells on the opportunities for casual and aberrant encounters middle-aged Tony, who was often rejected by women in his youth, now discovers via the Internet.
Even as he plays the field, though, Toby strives to be a good father to his bratty preteen daughter Hannah (Meara Mahoney) and to Hannah’s sweet-natured younger brother, Solly (Maxim Swinton). So, when Rachel suddenly departs for a yoga retreat, leaving the kids in his care with no advance notice, Toby tries to make the best of it.
The real problem arises when Rachel fails to return on schedule and leaves Toby’s numerous phone and text messages to her unanswered. Initially annoyed by Rachel’s apparent disappearance and refusal to communicate – which are not entirely uncharacteristic of her, based on past behavior – Toby, as time goes by, gradually becomes concerned about the situation.
Toby’s story is narrated by suburban mom Libby (Lizzy Caplan), a close friend from his college days with whom he’s reconnected in the aftermath of his split with Rachel. He’s done the same with Seth (Adam Brody), the pal who rounded out their youthful trio of chums.
Never-married Seth is a cynic where nuptial vows are concerned, and Libby is questioning the state of her life. But Toby is shown to yearn for the emotional connection he once felt with Rachel – and which is so conspicuously absent from his current round of bed hopping.
An implicit contrast is also drawn between the activities portrayed on the porn sites to which Solly’s curiosity draws him, with disturbing consequences for the lad, and the lovemaking within a committed context for which Toby is growing nostalgic. These points could have been made just as effectively, however, without images of Toby’s promiscuity that themselves rank as obscene.
On the upside, the series sends a strong anti-materialism message. While Toby, a gifted liver specialist, pursues his career in order to help people and make the world a better place, Rachel is crassly greedy and status conscious – qualities that have rubbed off on entitled Hannah, though not, as yet, on Solly.
Toby is a credibly complex figure and plot developments concerning Rachel’s fate evoke genuine suspense. But the program’s confused outlook on human sexuality and its freewheeling depictions of Toby gleefully satiating his lust – on his own as well as in the company of a plethora of partners – will repel viewers committed to a scriptural worldview.
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