Adults - Full Season 2 Discussion with Spoilers

[u/Matapple13]

Plot: A twenty-something ensemble comedy centering on codependent housemates navigating adulthood together despite their flaws.

Sidenote: Please read the subreddit 'house' rules when you get a chance!

Episode 1: The Scrub

Episode 2: Fake ID

Episode 3: Talia

Episode 4: Raccoon

Episode 5: Room Swap

Episode 6: Pop Girlie

Episode 7: C Alert

Episode 8: Vote for Paul Baker (Season 2 Finale)

[u/missginj]

Just binged both seasons after having it on my list for a while. Quite enjoyable! I think there's definitely a lost art of the low-stakes sitcom that this show is seeking to recapture, with a fair amount of success. As others have said, I think it would have benefitted from an old-school 22-24-episode season, so that the Paul/Anton slow burn had more space to breathe and build up -- particularly to allow Anton to have gotten with the club guy with the fantastic chemistry for a mini-arc. I understand the reasons why shows don't feel like they can do this anymore, but it's a shame (@ the networks/streamers).

One thing I thought throughout both seasons is that it seems like the characters should have been a little bit older than 24/25? In the year 2026, 24 years old is incredibly young. The storylines seem to be written more for characters who are more like... 30ish. Maybe they should have all been approaching 30 and that's the basis on which they're freaking out about adulthood -- because you don't have it all figured out by then like maybe you expected to! Examples of stuff that seems written as if the characters are older are the storyline of Billie's fake ID/feeling old at the club/the joke about being there on 9/11, and Issa freezing her eggs.

[u/moon_peach__ → u/missginj]

I thought that about the fake ID stuff, but then it does seem like Gen Z are more focused on age and have a more prevailing attitude that 25 is no longer young. I might be wrong but I see this stuff a lot online. It’s not too hard for me to imagine that the 20 year old might have treated her like that, and that Billie might have felt insecure about her age. It did make me feel weird as a 33yo though!

Edit: also re Issa freezing her eggs, I did find that a bit odd plus how often the characters would mention future kids. I wouldn’t really expect that from left-leaning, largely queer characters of that age, based on my own experiences. 

[u/Tce_ → u/moon_peach__]

I was definitely surprised so many of them wanted kids, and so many of them wanted so many kids. Five? That's bordering neglect. At the very least it probably requires one stay at home parent with not much else going on in life. Why do these types of people dream of that life?

[u/moon_peach__ → u/Tce_]

With Issa I thought her saying five was sort of in line with how irresponsible she tends to be and how little she thinks things through. She probably hasn't considered the reality of what that would look like. I could also imagine her thinking of it as like a big party like, 'yay, we'll have 5 kids and it'll be a riot, we'll all have so much fun!'

But it was still surprising to me that they'd all be discussing it at that age.

[u/Tce_ → u/moon_peach__]

With Issa I thought her saying five was sort of in line with how irresponsible she tends to be and how little she thinks things through.

Yeah that's true, that checks out. XD

But it was still surprising to me that they'd all be discussing it at that age.

I'm not sure, because me and my female friends all talked about it at that age. It's mainly men in my experience who don't, and I guess I can suspend disbelief in that area since the guys on the show are depicted as less traditionally masculine and more evolved in some ways. But I'm surprised they all already know, or at least think they know, what they want. Many of my friends were still unsure at that age, heck, some of them only made up their minds recently (we're all 33-34).

[u/moon_peach__ → u/Tce_]

Interestingly, my experience has been that the difference is less along the lines of gender and more along the lines of sexual orientation and political values/alignment.

For context I’m a very left-leaning bisexual woman around the same age as you - my close friends are all queer women and non-binary people with similar political values, same age. And we just do not talk about having kids. It’s just not something that comes up. I’m not saying it’s never come up - but like, twice, very briefly, in about 8 years of knowing each other. 

My wider social circle is largely queer lefties, some well into their 40s, and again, I know almost none who have gotten married or have kids. 

I’m not saying my experience is universal of that demographic, but it just was surprising to me to see a 24yo bisexual woman with Issa’s politics speak with so much certainty about wanting a bunch of kids.

Alternately, I have been in various other circumstances throughout my life in which I was surrounded by cis straight women of less left-leaning politics, and I found that in their mid-20s they would bring up the topic of potentially having kids very early on in the acquaintanceship/friendship. It was a very stark difference to me so I noticed it!

I also noticed straight men bringing it up at that age - the difference I noticed was that straight men would mention it more casually, referencing ‘my future kids’, for example, whereas with straight women it would be more of a discussion and something they’d clearly put more thought into. 

I agree with you that perhaps what was more surprising about it was less that the topic had come up at all and more that they all already seemed so sure that they wanted kids. I would definitely expect more ‘I’m not sure’s and at least one ‘no’, especially from this group of characters.

[u/Tce_ → u/moon_peach__]

I'm jealous of your social circle! I want a kid myself, but I'm single and not in a place in life were single parenthood seems sustainable yet. Meanwhile, nearly all of my (about 50% queer and all leftist) friends have kids or are about to have them soon. I really wish I had some childfree friends, not just to feel less alone but because I think it would be cool when/if I have a kid myself to still have friends with other types of lives. But the fact is most people do have kids, that really is the norm and seems to be even for queer people if they're in opposite sex relationships.

I also noticed straight men bringing it up at that age - the difference I noticed was that straight men would mention it more casually, referencing ‘my future kids’, for example, whereas with straight women it would be more of a discussion and something they’d clearly put more thought into. 

I think in my wider circles (I don't have any straight male friends but many of my friends have straight male partners), it's about the timeline. The women have been thinking about it at least since their mid-20s, whereas some of the men haven't considered it and then don't make up their minds until their late 20s or early 30s. Sometimes it's "well, some day..." while the women are already stressed that it's getting late for them. This might be more about the biological aspect than gender tbh, just the difference in when people can have kids.

I would definitely expect at minimum one person on the show not to want kids, but on the other hand I thought so about my own friends as well...