Do you ever crave a show to watch between watching shows? When you're struck by analysis paralysis, torn between your latest binge and the next item on your never-ending watchlist, there are few shows that fill the time adequately.
Enter Netflix's Bonding. At seven episodes (all of which are around 15 minutes), Bonding is the ideal transitional show. It follows best friends Tiff (Zoe Levin) and Pete (Brandon Scannell), the former of whom works as a dominatrix at night and enlists the latter as muscle and general assistance.
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Even with the premise and open door to BDSM culture, Bonding isn't often overtly sexual. It does detail some of Tiff's clients' kinks, which are generally sanitized for levity – a missed opportunity to de-stigmatize sex work and BDSM on the Netflix platform with an open-ended chance to explore both further.
The series has been criticized for glossing over dominatrixes' crucial negotiations of consent and boundaries, as well as for the stereotype of sex workers weighed down by emotional baggage. Tiff's clients demonstrate proclivities for "piss play," tickling, and the occasional punch to the face, all of which are standard intro-to-BDSM fare and played for humor more than seriousness (though the characters do tell us more than once not to kink-shame).
The series Big Idea is that domme work gives both Tiff and Pete the courage to be bolder in other parts of their lives. For Pete in particular, this means being more sexually and romantically adventurous, and finally pushing himself to perform stand-up comedy. In one scene, he makes a comedic breakthrough while essentially roasting a client who gets turned on by verbal abuse.
When he finally goes on stage (as his dom persona, "Carter"), the jokes aren't spectacular. There's no wunderkind Mrs. Maisel aura – this is the raw, uncooked comedy of a green, trepidatious newbie, and even when it's uncomfortable it's authentic.
Tiff's arc is a little more clichéd, with her hiding behind armor at work, in grad school, and often with Pete even though they're close. Writer-director Rightor Doyle may have felt obligated to include a #MeToo-adjacent storyline in a show about a dominatrix, but it surprisingly doesn't crop up in Tiff's professional life. Instead, she ends up standing up for another woman's experience, but Tiff's anger and institutions and patriarchy crackle throughout Levin's scenes.
Composer Adam Crystal's bouncy, classical score and the rosy cinematography of Nate Hurtsellers recall shows like Lovesick and even Sex Education – both of which are essentially viewing to add to that queue of yours after Bonding as a palate cleanser.
Bonding is light, pleasant, and little more – a rarity these days when comedies are hyperedited and dramas are weighed down by darkness and tragedy. It might get a second season, but in all honesty it shouldn't – not only because of valid critiques, but because it is so atypical to have a show this short and sweet and singular amidst a sea of content.
Bonding is now streaming on Netflix.
Topics Netflix
