We parted a little while ago with Ted Lasso, upset that part of what the show did was contradict Harry Burns’ (Billy Crystal) classic maxim in When Harry Met Sally: “Men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way”, as he ‘explained’ to Sally. Of course, in the 1991 romantic comedy, Harry was right: the two seemed to be just friends, but they fell in love and got married, and this tortuous path to eternal happiness for two neurotics – friends first, lovers later – fueled the romantic maxim of on duty that when a man and a woman understand each other, they should be married.

So for three great seasons, Ted Lasso‘s showrunners have ruthlessly trolled the #tedbeccas, reinforcing how Rebecca and Ted were perfect for each other and yet ended up just friends. There was not a single slip-up on one side, not a single suggestion from any of the friends about something more with them. On the contrary, Rebecca got involved with Sam, Ted just called her “Boss”, making it clear that there was a hierarchy of power between them yes, the two understood each other perfectly and knew intimate secrets, but even though they were ‘soul mates’ they were just friends. And the question remains: wouldn’t this solution be extremely romantic? She found ‘another’ soul mate in the mysterious Dutch pilot, Ted was left open to see if he would get back on his feet with Michele. What matters is that Ted Lasso showed – to leave no doubt – that both had a happy ending. And yet many were frustrated.

I confess I was rooting for the Hollywood ending translated as “#tedbecca”. I thought the construction of the relationship between the two was mature, it was different from romantic comedies, and nothing, but nothing will take the emotion out of the pub scene in the first season in which Ted “rescues” Rebecca in a heroic way in the darts duel against Rupert. Furthermore, I am against the suggested idea of a reconciliation with Michele, but that is something personal.

Another series that flirts with contradicting the fictional love formula is Platonic, which brings together Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen as college friends who meet again some 20 years later, in a moment of mutual identity crisis. Sylvia and Will together are two teenagers in their late 40s and if it weren’t for their chemistry, I’d say it’s an irritating story. Sylvia is (apparently) happily married and a mother of three, but she has given up her career for motherhood, a seed of frustration that connects her again to Will, whose own marriage failed and his professional life does not grow because he wants to stay in something smaller, more artisanal. with his beer and bar, casually dating 20-year-old girls. Their friendship is suspect to everyone around them, including Sylvia’s husband, but effectively, so far, there is no sexual connotation between them. Will it continue like this?

There’s something in the air that suggests this story isn’t going to work. Sylvia disapproves of all of Will’s girlfriends, is it jealousy? Also when she is unhappy, it is to Will that she turns, as well as when she has problems to solve. In her friend’s unambitious life, she would be neither behind nor smaller, as she feels when she bumps into her husband’s colleagues (whom she met while working at a law firm). Will himself does not find a mature woman who will support him in his creative dreams that do not include getting rich or growing up. Only Sylvia is always there without judging him for it. Would late sex attraction arise between them? Or will it be revealed that they had already tried years ago and that perhaps they will try to re-edit the connection?

Again, unlike Ted Lasso, where no one pointed out the obvious to the couple, in Platonic everyone is suspicious of this friendship, including us because unlikely Ted and Rebecca, Will and Sylvia’s friendship is odd. While the title suggests that the proposal is to once again support Sally Albright’s theory that there is a friendship between the opposite sexes, even if in her own film Harry was right after all, it seems that Will and Sylvia will take the romantic turn eventually.

This ends with a paradox: I was total #tedbecca, but I’m equally opposed to #sylvill. Why do I distort theories that cancel each other out? Guide to therapy!

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