Bonding: Seasons 1+2 – A Review

Hey guys!
Today I want to talk about a show that had been recommended to me quite a while ago. And then – as is customary for me – I forgot about it, so here we finally are! Damn, I really should have watched this sooner…

The Plot (according to Rotten Tomatoes):

Tiff is a grad student in New York City who is moonlighting as a dominatrix. For Tiff, her sexually explicit job is a business, not a pleasure. When she reconnects with former high school BFF Pete, a recently out gay man, she recruits the cash-strapped man to be her assistant — performing such tasks as cleaning up after her clients and serving as her bodyguard. This dark comedy follows the unlikely pair as Tiff and Peter’s new professional relationship redefines their friendship. More importantly, though, it helps them find themselves.

Bonding on RT

The Rating:

Wow. This show really blew me away. I had expected a lot of things from it, but certainly to be this profound. I mean, Bonding has a lot of funny moments, a lot of weird moments, and definitely some scenes that will make a bunch of people rather uncomfortable. But it also features so many scenes that are heartfelt, honest, extremely well written, and full of things applicable to real life. Honestly, out of all the things I had pictured about this show, this really hadn’t been on my bingo card.

Also, as I have mentioned – and as you can tell from the trailer – this show also depicts some professions and practices most people will probably not be too familiar with. And even though the show does make light of a lot of things and brings humor into the mistress scenes, I feel like it always treats the subject – and more importantly the people – with respect. A show or movie for that matter about this could have gone downhill really fast. This could have been cringy or awkward or just generally awful, so I’m also surprised how well they build the show around this while still making everything perfectly normal (which in all honesty it should be, you do you). The show doesn’t judge any of the things going on or the people it includes, is what I’m trying to say, I guess.

They manage to skirt around some tropes that I know would have gone very different in other productions, but here we avoid so many clichés. For example: new girlfriend meets ex-fiancée. I think we all can picture how that would play out in a great many shows and films. Yet here it is approached with some dignity, the people involved are grown-ups and act like it. There are no bitch fights, no petty jealousy. Instead, we get a deep conversation between the two. Honestly, that scene was amazing and definitely one of the most profound moments in the show!

On another note, somehow Bonding reminded me a bit of Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Like, it’s that show’s American cousin. Hear me out: it’s both about a young woman who ends up in a job she probably hadn’t ever pictured having, in order to pay for her education. Turns out she’s bloody brilliant at what she’s doing and both professions involve something taboo or usually frowned upon by society. Sure, there are a lot of differences among the shows as well, but overall, I got a similar vibe from them, even though Bonding does seem a bit deeper.

As you can tell, I have no complaints. I can’t stress enough how surprised I was and how just how good this was. Please go ahead and watch it!

Did you watch the season? Let me know in the comments what you think!

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