Netflix Review: 'Friends from College'

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

If you were to look at the picture I've included in this review without ever having seen an episode of Friends from College, you would assume the seven faces you see are the titular "friends," wouldn't you?

That's a fair assumption. They're all standing in close proximity to one another, and some are even sharing pleasant glances as they taste their sample glasses of wine. It's a still shot that appears to have caught the friends in the midst of a cheery outing to a vineyard. They're interested in each other, they're amused, and they're happy. It is, in all sense of the word, a friendly scene.

However, only six of those people are friends.

The one loner is that poor chap on the far right, Dr. Felix Forzenheim, played by the uproariously talented Billy Eichner. He is the partner of the gentleman to his left, Max, played by Fred Savage of the Wonder Years. While it may appear Felix perfectly fits into this picture of friendship, he is, in fact, a few scenes away from breaking up with Max as a result of his being part of this group, which, you'll come to learn, is more than reasonable.

We're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's back up a bit and meet each one of the six friends who make up this motley crew.

First, there's Joey. He's an immature-yet-loveable man-child who sleeps around frequently and doesn't contribute much to society. Basically, he acts as the show's most common source of goofy, comedic relief.

Oops, did I say Joey? I'm sorry, I must be mixing up F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Friends from College. I'll try again.

First, there's Nick. He's an immature-yet-loveable man-child who sleeps around frequently and doesn't contribute much to society. Basically, he acts as the show's most common source of goofy, comedic relief.

Next, we have Phoebe. She's quirky and noticeably offbeat from everyone else around her. Her mannerisms are strange and she doesn't quite fit in with her friends, but they adore her anyway. She is the show's charmingly peculiar character.

Oh wait, that's F.R.I.E.N.D.S. again.

I meant to say, Marianne is quirky and noticeably offbeat from everyone else around her. Her mannerisms are strange and she doesn't quite fit in with her friends, but they adore her anyway. She is the show's charmingly peculiar character.

Rachel is the glamorous, demure friend who —

I mean, Samantha is the glamorous, demure friend...

I'm sorry, but I need to stop my review here for a moment. Is it just me, or does anyone else see a very obvious pattern between the characters in these two shows? There are six friends featured in both; three boys, three girls. They're so similar that they can essentially be identified through their token personalities: the immature one, the odd one, the classy one, the responsible one, and the married couple who act as the group's moral center.

Did they do this on purpose? Is Friends from College supposed to be a 21st century revival of the original source material? It certainly appears that way if you step back and observe the two side-by-side. There are very obvious similarities that simply cannot be ignored. They're six adults who are unsteadily attempting to navigate the perils of life and love, whilst maintaining a remarkably tight friendship with one another.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Of course, if I'm pointing out the similarities then I must also point out the differences, however few there may be. (They also live in New York City. I mean, come on.)

FFC is not a sitcom filmed in front of a live studio audience every week. It is a comedy series which had its entire first season posted on the media streaming site, Netflix, all at once.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S featured six straight, white adults. FFC depicts a queer couple, Max and Felix, as well as several characters of color. None of the six friends are blood relatives, they don't frequent a single coffee shop, and they also don't all in live in the same apartment complex.

I also feel it important to note that none of the original F.R.I.E.N.D.S. catchphrases appear in this Netflix series. (i.e.: "How you doin'?").

Now that that's out of the way, I want to address what I feel is the greatest similarity between the two shows. And that is the pandering to the egotistical co-ed friend groups we witnessed but were not a part of in our youths.

Remember when you were in school and there was that one clique that just seemed a little off to you?

They mostly kept to themselves and never physically branched out beyond their group, acting as an entire entity rather than any one single member. They were always together, they never added new members, and the turnover rate for relationships within the group was so sickening that it almost felt incestuous.

You probably didn't like them. They were sort of obnoxious in their exclusivity, like you'd all somehow inadvertently missed the sign-up deadline to join and would never be given another chance. They had an air of superiority to them (part of that group mentality, I think), and they often acted as though they were the center of the universe; the rest of us merely existed around them.

To put it bluntly, they were the main characters, and we were the irrelevant background faces who rarely got so much as a mention in the credits.

Television executives have some sort of sick obsession with greenlighting shows which depict this exact group from our school years. Would you like an example? Well, here are some I found after a quick glance at Netflix which I feel perfectly fit the aforementioned criteria:

• F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
• Friends from College
• How I Met Your Mother
• Community
• Skins
• How to Get Away with Murder
• Riverdale
• That 70s Show.

The list truly goes on.

Now, what do I feel is the biggest difference between F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Friends from College which prevent it from being a near identical twin of the former? Simply, it is theinherent unlikability of the titular group of friends.

I feel this fact was best expressed by Tim Dowling of The Guardian when he said: "...the sheer charmlessness of the group is hard to overstate. If they were sitting at a table near you, you’d leave the restaurant."

Couldn't have said it better myself, Tim.

Every single member of that group is just so unpleasant. Statistically, it seems impossible. Shouldn't at least one be tolerable? Nope. Each one is worse than the last.

Ethan (Key) is cheating on his wife, Lisa (Smulders), with Samantha (Parisse), which he has been doing since they were in college. Before they even got married. That's a 20-year affair, people. And did I mention Samantha is also married? And therefore also cheating on a spouse?

Buckle up. It does not stop there.

Lisa eventually cheats on Ethan with Nick (Faxon), and then rebuffs his romantic advances by telling him he was simply a hookup and that she does not actually love him, like she led him to believe. Oh, and in doing this, Nick also cheated on his girlfriend whose name isn't important because she isn't part of the group.

Max (Savage) forces his partner Felix (Eichner) to become that awkward seventh-wheel whenever they are with the friend group. He is inconsiderate towards his partner's feelings, particularly Felix's very obvious and often discussed dislike for the inconsiderate, selfish clique Max is consistently making excuses for.

That picture up there looks a little different now, doesn't it? Especially when you find out that directly after that scene, the drunken group of friends forget Felix at the vineyard and don't actually realize their mistake until after dark — after they've stopped for McDonalds. And none of them really even feel bad about it, save for a drunken, guilty Max.

Can you honestly blame Felix for dumping him?

Marianne (Suh Park) might be the most pointless character I've ever witnessed on a television show. I feel like she was written in because they realized a five-person group was not well balanced enough, and they needed a sixth, however undeveloped and useless she would be. And thus, Marianne emerged.

If you can believe it, all six of these friends are Harvard alumni. These moronic, irresponsible, reckless, and arrogant children are actually supposed to be ivy-leaguers.

If I'm being honest, I just feel bad for the big names that got sucked into doing this garbage. Keegan-Michael Key, Cobie Smulders, Billy Eichner, Fred Savage — there are even some great comedic guest stars whose talents are so devastatingly put to waste, like Seth Rogan and SNL's Kate McKinnon.

The writing is messy, the characters are deeply unlikable, the plot is unfocused, and the execution is mediocre. Yet somehow it has been renewed for a second season. Riddle me that.

Is it worth a binge watch? I say no. But then again, that's just one girl's lengthy opinion.