First of all, in an era when showrunners practically salivate at the chance to make episodes of television the approximate length of a small indie comedy, you need to know that Netflix’s Bonding tops off at around 20 minutes an episode.
Bonding is also really, really fun.
Season 2 just premiered, but Season 1 is an easy binge if you need to catch up. The gist of the series is: estranged friends Tiff (Zoe Levin) and Pete (Brendan Scannell) tentatively reunite as she invites him into her world, where she is an in-demand dominatrix. Things do not go well for these two as they embark on a career of BDSM together, and Season 1 ended with them fleeing from a deranged, bleeding man as police sirens wail in the distance.
And while Bonding is a comedy, Rightor Doyle (who based much of the series on his own life) is also having a lot of fun being matter-of-fact about sexual kinks and the world of BDSM. None of the doms here are ever treated as one-dimensional characters, nor as punchlines. (Doyle and the series were criticized for a glibness of tone by many in the community when Season 1 premiered, and he and writers Olivia Troy and Nana Mensah folded a lot of those concerns into Season 2.) There’s a natter-of-factness to the series’ depiction that is refreshing, but everything takes a back seat to the runaway chemistry between Levin and Scannell. She’s all puffed up bravado and quirked eyebrow; he’s tense and chatty and a rolled eye. Together they’re dynamite, and individually they get to explore storylines not often seen in series about gay men and single, 20something women.
A smart series that takes sex seriously but isn’t serious about sex? If you’re reading The Gay Goods, Bonding should be right up your alley.
