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Bonding Review

Bonding is a sex comedy television series that premiered on Netflix in 2019. So far, it had two seasons consisting of 15 episodes in total.

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“Masculinity is inherently constricting.

Expectations, dominance and power, emotionlessness.

Men come to me to escape this societal prison“

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This is a show that sheds a spotlight into the BDSM community, which is definitely fascinating as this type of community never quite got proper TV or movie treatment in the past. Although flawed, the series takes the time to actually develop its characters and to deal with the psychology behind this to many strange lifestyle.

Tiff is a dominatrix who is also a student. She works by night and she employs her gay friend from high school, Pete, to be her assistant. The two share a complicated, toxic relationship that was wonderfully explored throughout both seasons. Many shows have this romanticized viewing of a girl-gay guy friendship, but this one actually portrayed it in a more realistic fashion by hinting on just how toxic these relationships can be.

She is genuinely terrible toward him, so their eventual splitting up was emotional, but expected and needless. Their dynamic was never one of equality, and Tiff’s issues are explored in-depth throughout the show as she is overly dominant and aggressive not just in her profession, but also in her life, though her rape backstory was overly clichéd. As for Pete himself, he is almost as unlikable as she is, but a grounded in reality gay character nonetheless. Both performances from these actors are excellent, especially that of Zoe Levin.

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I adored Doug here. He is a love interest of Tiff’s and a genuinely charming, highly likable dude. Their relationship is wonderful. The closeted boyfriend of Pete was also well depicted and their drama with his coming out and his father was powerfully explored. Rightor Doyle, the director, also plays a roommate of Tiff and he is so much fun and his bisexuality was depicted in a welcome casual manner.

Bonding is vastly different in its two seasons. The first one is very much concerned with the BDSM community and its many aspects and areas of expertise and kinks while the second one is a bit of a turn toward a full-on psychological, moving drama and the transition wasn’t smooth at all, maybe because the director listened to the community and tried to change direction toward a more empathetic and less comedic approach for the next season, but the result was the show becoming too different. I liked both seasons, but I would have preferred a mix of the two in both seasons.

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What also bothered me was the exploration of this community in the regular life (slave in life) and the emphasis on silly, downright ridiculous kinks (penguin sex, really?!). I would have preferred an emphasis on the more famous kinks, but oh well, at least the show has a sex-positive attitude toward all of these kinks while also emphasizing the dangers of this lifestyle and work as evidenced in that disturbing episode about that sadistic man.