“Hey guys, this is going to end, right? We’ll do another month or so of quarantine – then we’ll go back to normal and hanging out, right?”
We are a little over six months quasi-lockdown whatever-you-want-to-call-it and life have changed. Zoom and FaceTime have taken more prevalence in our work meetings and friend gatherings. Hollywood is still trying to deal with the ramifications of Coronavirus and productions. Some have resumed, but not at the frequency that we accustom networks to approach. Inevitability, creativity would have to meet our current situation. With a good deal of Zoom-style table reads and events like Coastal Elites that are occurring, it fits that we would get a show in this format.
With Connecting, showrunners Martin Gero and Brendan Gall have the task of creating a comedy-drama in a format that some viewers may want to detach themselves from. This is a show that relies on applications that workers may want to unplug from at the end of their day. However, the show’s pilot can strike some genuine laughs and uncertainty that we all experienced at the start of lockdown. Connecting begins on March 29th, ahead of Los Angeles’ stay-at-home orders. Ben (Preacher Lawson) and Annie (Otmara Marrero) start the group chat and there’s a hint of a possible romance. Annie is trying to work up the nerve to ask Ben to move it with her, but hasn’t quite gotten there. Many people can level with their story – both characters reminisce about old times, but also worry about being alone. When your single, that’s probably one of the most pressing issues when you’re not able to leave your home.
From there, the show organically introduces the friend group one-by-one. The beauty is that they are diverse and present a different side of how people handled lockdown. We meet Pradeep (Parvesh Cheena), a married gay parent who just wants a second away from his children, Ellis (Shankina Nayfack), a transgender sport-enthusiast who is devastated that the NBA shut down. There is also Rufus (Ely Henry), the conspiracy theorist, who has anchored himself in his attic and weary of every possibility of the virus. Michelle and Garrett (Jill Knox and Keith Powell) are a married couple where the quarantine is doing wonders for their relationship. In the twenty-one minutes that you experience them, the friendships between these characters come off naturally. You feel as though they all have a genuine report and history.
They all unite around Annie’s cause, but there are also sobering moments. A nurse comes on the call and tells them the horror of fighting Coronavirus and the horrors she sees every day while working at a hospital in New York. The pilot moving through multiple tones and emotions seamlessly. These digital tools have become our own places to express our grief and anxiety about our current situation. This episode almost feels like looking back in time, and each person exhibits the many emotions we took on. The scarcity of information, the danger of the virus, losing things, wondering “what if,” and the ultimate togetherness of looking forward to something on the other side.
It remains to be seen if Connecting can keep up its freshness as we go longer into the teeth of the pandemic. The first episode excels through its clever writing and acting that conveys the cautiously optimistic trepidation we experienced in March. You may laugh, you may cry, and all feelings are welcomed.
