What about your “Friends”? — Platonic the Series
When I first heard about Platonic, the first thing that I thought about the Small Doses Podcast episode “Side Effects of Platonic Relationships”. Amanda defined a platonic relationship as: “ when you are with somebody who is the sexual group that you would be attracted to, but you are not sexually attracted to them...well you’re homies.” Homies being the keyword. This line is blurred so often which is why most men and women do not want their significant others have friends of the opposite sex. There is even a line in the show’s description that says “The one you want to see as a brother, but sometimes when he's in the right light you always wonder…” So I was excited to watch the show because I “wondered” too.
Relationships and best friends go hand in hand. Everyone always want to marry their best friend. Friends fortunately, or unfortunately have a have a major impact on your relationship. Having a friend of the opposite sex has an even bigger impact. I mean I get it, we have women out there who call their best friends their “brother” which many times is code for “ we fucked, I wanna fuck or we fucked and he didn’t want a relationship with me so I’m going to stick around and be his ‘friend’ and hopefully he will change his mind”. There was also that one time that Twitter dared people to text their best guy/girl friend “ you want to give me head as a friend” and people were wildin because the responses were not “best friend” responses (Which hurts my point of platonic relationships, but social media does way too much sometimes). Let me stop rambling because this is about the show Platonic, but all of this is coming together I promise. Wood and Brea are best friends and have been through shit together, but there is obvious something else there. But Wood has a girl who isn't falling for this “best friend” shit. So what does she do.. Gives Wood an Ultimatum Brea or her?
*I personally don’t think this was a good move. I believe if you have to give someone an ultimatum, the choice has already been made.
This ultimatum is the kick off into the lives of Brea and Wood, their constant battles between their friendship and relationship, debates on if guy friends should pay for their girl friends meal when they hangout, and how annoying it is when your family makes it known who they want you to be with.
This series is more than Wood and Brea having some sexual tension, it’s really about their relationship dynamic and how comfortable they are with each other. It’s helps you understand why “I want to marry my best friend” is a thing. With your best friend there is no pressure. Living as your true self is enough. There are unspoken vows that you take as a best friend “From this day forward I promise to still hang out with you when you look horrible, but also tell you that you need to get it together. I promise to tell you when are you wrong, but defend you around company. I promise to support your dreams, but tell you that you need a plan.”
Brea and Wood have a familiarity with each other that allows them to be more vulnerable in their friendship than they can be in any other relationship. Best scene in the whole series is when Wood was helping Brea cut out some of her tracks. What! How many women trust their man enough to help cut out their tracks?! Shit, how many people trust anyone but their stylist to do anything to their hair? That is a level of trust that is unmatched. There is a scene when Brea and Wood are sitting in the car eating ihop, you find out later on why this place is so sentimental for them. Brea says that this is something that he should be sharing with his girlfriend and says “if you weren’t there then I wouldn’t have told you.” So for every woman that comes into his life, Brea will always know something that his girlfriend doesn’t know, there will always be a disconnect.
On the surface Platonic is a series about a guy and a girl who are best friends that have a strong chemistry that can look more like romantic than platonic. As I continue to watch the show it has more depth. It is about establishing boundaries, vulnerability, self awareness and cultivating relationships that are good for you.
Bottom line Wood and Brea are best friends, there may be feelings there that need to be explored, but either way they need to be in each other’s lives. While trying to navigate life it helps to have that one reason that understands you. Platonic reminds me of why I love Love & Basketball, Brown Sugar and more recently Advent Calendar. Besides being a low key hopeless romantic, I stan for entertainment about best friends falling in love because that loved is based on a person that loves you for your transparency. Now at some point Wood and Brea will have to make a decision on the relationship, but right now, I’m rooting for them.
Platonic was created by Moni Oyedepo and is currently streaming Season 1 on Youtube.
Youtube: Platonic The Series
Instagram: Platonictheseries