Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Lots of sex, frank talk in beautiful, mature drama.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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Wanderlust
What's the Story?
After a shakeup causes them to reevaluate their marriage, Joy (Collette) and Alan (Mackintosh) both decide they have a bit of WANDERLUST that can only be slaked by staying together while pursuing romantic connections with other people. Specifically, in Alan's case, his flirty but complicated colleague Claire (Zawe Ashton), and in Joy's, a series of men who aren't Alan. Meanwhile, their teenage son Tom (Joe Hurst) and older daughters Naomi (Emma D'Arcy) and Laura (Celeste Dring) pursue their own romantic interests in and around the fallout from their parents' big decision.
Is It Any Good?
For a show that's basically just people talking in different locations, this sensitive, brilliantly written series anchored by a fantastic performance from Collette sure is thrilling. We watch Joy and Alan talk (and argue), we watch their teenage son chat with his friends at school, Joy's clients and friends drop by to discuss things both ridiculous and intimate, and throughout, it's utterly, totally captivating, because they feel like real people with whole lives, not just TV personality quirks. They go to work, they eat sandwiches, they go out, they stay in, but the magic is largely just in the way they talk to each other.
A husband, disturbed by his wife saying what he's doing in bed is "good," grumbles that it should be "more than just good." "You're telling me, Buster," she says, leering and popping her eyes, whereupon he rolls away and starts a fight. Joy's neighbor drops by with cannoli and a confession: while watching a porn with her husband, she was unable to take her eyes off one of the female stars. She says with a face filled with both terror and dawning awe, "I have thought to myself -- what if?" The characters reveal themselves in facial expressions instead of words, they tell anecdotes, they don't finish sentences. Wanderlust is more than just good TV; it's the best kind of art that reflects people as they really are: trying but imperfect, beautiful and flawed.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how sex tends to be portrayed in the media. Do you think many real people are as sexually active as many movie and TV show characters? Do you consider these characters promiscuous? What are the consequences of sexual habits like Joy and Alan's?
How does Wanderlust communicate how Joy and Alan feel about their marriage? What information does the show give you besides what the characters literally say to each other? How is the inner life of characters revealed without it being literally said aloud?
TV Details
- Premiere date : October 19, 2018
- Cast : Toni Collette , Steven Mackintosh , Zawe Ashton
- Network : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Character Strengths : Communication , Curiosity
- TV rating :
- Last updated : March 13, 2020
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