One night a friend told me of a show about “guy who realizes he is gay”. I was so ready to be disappointed with a cliché plot, but I decided to watch a couple of episodes. One week later I was finishing the last episode of the last season, crying and everything.
The comedy-drama show is about a boy in his 20s, Josh, who is dumped by his long-time girlfriend because she believes he is gay. Later that day, he makes out with his best friend’s male co-worker and gets a call about his mother trying to commit suicide. After that day his life changes, and throughout the four seasons (1-4 with six episodes each, 2-3 with ten episodes) we see his journey of self-acceptance while dealing with his family and friends. Also, Josh loves to cook so every episode is named after a food that has protagonism in said episode.
“Please Like Me” was created by Josh Thomas, a 29 years old Australian comedian, alongside his real-life best friend Thomas Ward -who plays Josh’s best friend, Tom, in the show-. The original script was about him falling in love with girls, but after falling in love with a guy the just changed Josh’s love interests to guys.
The way they did that like it was no big deal (which is not) it’s reflected on the show. The characters never overreact to things, everything is handled in such a natural way. When Josh comes out to his family everyone is good with it -even his ultra-religious aunt-, he never blames his mom for trying to kill herself nor when he needs to move with her, there’s even an (amazing) abortion storyline (season 3) when no one asides the girl talks much about it.
This show touches so many important issues with humor without stop being realistic. One can connect with the characters because they are real, they are human and they have flaws, they do good and bad things. It’s a show about the struggles of being young, first job, mental head, sexuality and parents. Interracial relationships, assembled families and religion are also touched throughout the seasons. With this show, you will laugh a lot and cry a lot. But that’s life and that’s what “Please Like Me” is about.
You can watch it on Hulu or Netflix!
