Conversations With Friends Review: Joe Alwyn & Alison Oliver’s show runs out of steam quicker than expected

Conversations with Friends 

Conversations with Friends Cast: Alison Oliver, Joe Alwyn, Sasha Lane

Conversations with Friends Creator: Lenny Abrahamson

Streaming Platform: Lionsgate Play

Conversations with Friends Stars: 2.5/5

After Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal’s surprise hit Normal People, Sally Rooney’s first novel, Conversations with Friends also got picked up for a TV adaptation. The material in both of Rooney’s books has been designed for millennials and while Normal People managed to capture several aspects of it, Conversations with Friends takes a similar route but doesn’t come out as successful as the first one. Amid the pandemic when isolation was the only company for most of us, Normal People’s intimacy felt strangely powerful and to top that it was Daisy and Paul’s sizzling chemistry that further soothed our souls. As for its spiritual sequel, Conversations with Friends which is spread across 12 episodes takes its own sweet time to make its presence felt. 

Much like its protagonists Frances ( Alison Oliver) and Nick Conaway (Joe Alwyn) who are far more comfortable in their silences, the show also brings a sense of inexpressiveness to it. For those who have been familiar with Sally Rooney’s works, there’s a peculiar way how she presents a perception of the Irish youth although, unlike Normal People, Conversations with Friends seems to be missing on that Rooney gaze as it steps back on the Irishness to possibly make the show more relatable to millennials globally. The show is a slow-burner that explores several themes including adultery, emotional dissonance and more. 

In Conversations with Friends, Frances (Alison Oliver), a 21-year-old university student who performs spoken word with her ex-lover and best friend, Bobbi (Sasha Lane) finds herself getting attracted to a married actor, Nick Conaway (Joe Alwyn) whom she meets after striking a friendship with his wife, Melissa (Jemima Kirke). Frances whom Bobbi describes as a communist finds herself strangely attracted to the idea of Nick and Melissa’s adult life which also consists of their plush home. While on one hand, Frances enjoys the idea of impermanence of her work as a poet, she’s also seeking something opposite in her relationships. Despite their introverted personas, Nick and Frances find themselves drawn to one another and much of the series revolves around the latter trying to make sense of this relationship.

For those who have read Rooney’s novel, one of the biggest differences you will find in the series is that Nick and Frances’ relationship gets a faster headstart here, minus all the e-mail exchanges that were crucial to the book’s storyline. The series captures Nick and Frances texting one another but the beginning of their relationship seems quite hurried without much reason being given as to why they become attracted to each other. The age gap between Frances and Nick and the evolution of their intimacy doesn’t get explored much in the show, thus making it difficult for us to truly connect with them. Despite romance being the prime element that the show wishes to explore, it’s other aspects of Frances’ life that work more including her fractured relationship with her divorced parents, her physical condition that may or may not be the result of her emotional turmoil. The show particularly handles Frances’ diagnosis of Endometriosis well. 

The exchanges between Frances and Bobbi’s characters are also the bits in the show that come closest to the novel. The email exchanges between the two friends and former lovers make it into the show in a good format as we hear them in voiceover formats. On many levels, though the show subtly scores as it captures little elements such as Nick and his wife Melissa’s marriage with its reversed power dynamic. While Rooney’s novel is much more than Frances and Nick’s doomed romance, there’s not much explored in the show. Among the many reasons why Normal People managed to rise above the other shows was exactly the way it dug deeper into its characters by dealing with issues of mental health, consent and more. Unfortunately on that front, Conversations with Friends falls flat. 

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The slow pace of the show will certainly turn out to be off-putting for many. The show runs out of steam way before it reaches the end of its 12 episodes. In terms of performances, newcomer Alison Oliver does a fine job of capturing Frances’ personality, she nails the quiet glances, the trying-to-avoid eye contact introverted persona. She also balances Frances’ other side which comes across as tad condescending extremely well. As for Joe Alwyn, the actor manages to bring layers to his character of Nick quite well. Although, the biggest disappointment of the show remains that Oliver and Alwyn lack the kind of chemistry needed to keep this show afloat. Jemima Kirke of Girls’ fame seems a tad underused in the show whereas Sasha Lane fits perfectly for her role of Bobbi. 

Conversations with Friends starts off decently well and even manages to keep us intrigued into the complicated lives of its lead protagonists at the beginning but its the lack of nuance and the script’s ability to truly make the most of Rooney’s writing that makes it a boring watch. The sluggish pace of the show makes it hard for us to stay committed to the characters’ journeys as well. All in all, Conversations with Friends is a missed opportunity after the genius adaption of Normal People.