Ah, to be a young adult on your own for perhaps the first time, finding your chosen family, and building the person you’ll become. FX’s Adults (originally called Snowflakes), executive produced by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw alongside a bevy of producers, including Nick Kroll, centers on a group of friends in that tumultuous period of life. Finding romance in the city, managing to lose a job (or find and then lose one), or failing to be the most interesting guest at a party make up the day-to-day lives of this crowd. It’s the sort of intuitive but common premise that fuels sitcoms like Friends, Crashing — even The Real World, in a way — though Adults clearly articulates that these people are people-in-progress. The new FX series is full of funny moments and great characters (each of whom is a bit out of touch), but it doesn’t quite set itself apart from the host of shows that already feature less-than-mature twenty-something friends under one roof.
What Is ‘Adults’ About?

Adults follows a set of five friends — Samir (Malik Elassal), Issa (Amita Rao), Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), Billie (Lucy Freyer), and Anton (Owen Thiele) — who are all living in Samir’s childhood home. As this set of young adult friends (all a little immature) room together while navigating love, work, and friendship in the modern world, each episode explores one particular problem, from throwing a dinner party to dealing with healthcare. The result is a breezy comedy with some riotous guest stars that provide some of the series’ unique moments.
Adults, first and foremost, boasts a talented young cast wth strong ensemble chemistry. Elassal brings a good-natured naivety to Samir, who’s a reliably well-intentioned soul but isn’t the best decision-maker. Smartly, this is used to fuel chaos for some of the other housemates. When he tries to advocate for Billie in a medical situation, for example, it goes awry, resulting in securing her far too many medical procedures. Freyer is solid in the role of Billie, who’s written as a newly fired overachiever, though that background doesn’t quite make sense alongside her continued troubles.
Rao is similarly excellent as Issa, with an intensity that flips on a dime and a superficially big but wildly fragile ego that mines well for comedy. Thiele’s Anton makes friends with literally everyone, including a community stabber. It’s extremely charming to watch him organically work the witnesses like a crowd at a party. However, six episodes in, it’s a little unclear what Paul’s core traits will be as a character. The first season also boasts some terrific guest stars, like Ray Nicholson as the aforementioned stabber and Charlie Cox as a love interest connected to Billie’s school days, who are hilarious in their own right.

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‘Snowflakes’ was created by Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw.

‘Adults’ Is Packed With Top-Shelf Guest Stars, but Needs Better Character Arcs

Image via FX

Adults has a lot of potential, but it feels like it’s still finding its footing with its ensemble. A set of 20-minute episodes isn’t a lot of time to dig into five characters, but there’s enough plot repetition that could be avoided if the characters were operating from a stronger, more unique core. Billie gets fired in the pilot for a foolish, momentary decision, spiraling into her later troubles, which is a solid foundation for her character. A few episodes later, Samir has to look for work, gets a job, then loses it a moment later after he makes a foolish, momentary decision. Adults does offer plenty of great setup for comedy, but it’s clearly in need of more precise character development.
Overall, there’s promise in the premise of Adults, thanks to a charismatic, highly watchable ensemble, brisk 20-minute episodes, and top-shelf guest stars peppered throughout the first half of the season that make for great TV. At the same time, different characters share the same, repetitive plot beats rather than being afforded distinct arcs of their own. The biggest issue Adults has is failing to develop more depth for its characters, as well as how confidently that depth can be mined for comedic potential. Sure, the whole premise is that these characters are finding who they are, but it’s hard not to feel as though Adults is still finding itself right alongside its characters.