'Togetherness' season one finale review: 'Not So Together'

Even though it's touted these day as more mature and level-headed than your average cinematic feature, TV still is a fairly youngman's game. More than your average series caters towards 20-30-year-olds, and the target demographic rarely goes beyond 35. In that sense, HBO's Togetherness should be applauded for being so confidentially squared towards middle-aged audiences.

Even if its drama can be just as petty and repetitive as its younger demographic affairs, Mark & Jay Duplass and Steve Zissis' freshman series knows exactly what it wants to be, and goes to great lengths to accomplish its tone and feel, while making its efforts intentionally look minimal. Yet, just like its predecessor time slotted show Girls, Togetherness can come across as both refreshing and irritating in equal measures.

With this week's season one finale "Not So Together", audiences finally see our main characters Brett (Mark Duplass), Michelle (Melanie Lynskey), Alex (Zissis) and Tina (Amanda Peet) come, if somewhat, to terms with their emotions and inner struggles. All things considered, it's a nice finale, giving some plot points a sense of closure but leaves enough room for audiences to come back thirsty for a new, already confirmed second season. And yet, again, there's an unintentional sense of listlessness about this HBO show which the show strived upon initially but now feels unneeded or, worse, forced.

If Togetherness does, indeed, want to have its characters achieve as sense of growth and progression in their lives, that's fine. But to have characters struggling with the same, easily resolvable issues each week feels cumbersome and half-hearted, to say the least. Were it not for the cliffhangers in this episode, this new series would feel like an overextended Duplass brothers' film or production, and perhaps not in the way they wanted it to be.

All this negativity mentioned, the Zissis/Duplass brothers' series has blossomed into its technical production possibilities in stride. There's now a nice balance of cinematic and nuance in the direction from Mark and Jay here which proves they continue to become more accomplished and studious as filmmakers. In addition to some nice, sun-kissed cinematography from Tod Campbell in "Not So Together," there's a sense of grandiose in the look of this finale which makes their fairly minimal activities feel more appropriately climatic and visually astounding. This, of course, matches the tone and feelings of the characters. Hopefully this is a progression which Togetherness continues with its second season.

As the title suggests, all the characters in "Not So Together" are all over the place this week. Michelle is taking a strong step forward with her charter school project, while Brett keeps wallowing in his mid-life crisis. With this, is it possible there will be a shift of power in their household, as Brett stays now unemployed and Michelle brings home the bacon? A certainly appropriate change in this always-progressive series to be sure, and one that wouldn't feel forced or unbelievable from what we've seen so far. This is not even mentioning the relationship tassles between Michelle and single-dad and charter school project partner David (John Ortiz).

Meanwhile, Alex gets the part he auditioned for, which results in him playing a lead role in a big Hollywood production in a month in New Orleans. This doesn't mean he can't squeeze in a little bit of heartbreak, though, as he finally understands he can't be with Tina, in a emotionally downplayed moment which is easily the episode's best scene.

More than anything else, Togetherness needs to focus less on added drama and more on the characters at hand. It has a wonderful set of characters, and when it does focus on them and their emotions it produces great result. But these threats of affairs and mid-life crisis feel a tad trite, and often dissolve some of the show's well-earned goodwill. There's still a lot to like in this series, and while it may not have long legs, it definitely has heart and well-aged wit.

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