Free Agents: Series Premiere

Alex (Hank Azaria) and Helen (Kathryn Hahn) were free agents when they woke-up in bed together. Alex’s divorce had been finalized, and Helen’s fiancé passed almost a year before. However, they’re both finding it hard to embrace their freedom. As Alex points out, portraits of Helen’s dead fiancé cover her apartment from floor to ceiling. Alex starts a post-coital crying jag, because he “misses his kids.” The pair of them is anything but free; they’re a mess. Oh — one more thing — they work together.

Free Agents comes as a refreshing addition to NBC’s fall line-up. Adapted from the BBC 2009 series of the same title (the opening scene is identical nearly shot-for-shot), it explores exactly how free being single truly makes a person. Anthony Head nearly reprises his sex-crazed boss role, Stephen. However, the American adaptation has split his character into two parts. Head’s role in the American version has become simultaneously more aloof and hard-nosed. His hyper-sexualized side has been taken over by the young hot shot, Dan (Mo Mandel).

Among other improvements to the American Adaptation, the supporting cast has been substantially beefed up. Natasha Leggaro as executive assistant Emma steals the show with her spot on too-busy-to-care (or too-flippant-to-care) attitude. Her moments, which have no precursor in the British equivalent, end up being some of the most electric moments in the premiere. The always funny, Al Madrigal, lends the show a new point of view; that of the miserable married man desperately trying to escape his humdrum life. It’s the obverse-side of Alex’s story, or what he could have become. Improvements to the show aren’t limited merely to the supporting cast.

The real meat and potatoes of the American series are the scenes in which Alex and Helen are forced to “work” together. The American version has added a subplot in which Alex tries to jump back into the dating pool by playing wingman to Dan. Through this subplot, Helen and Alex are forced to role-play their own complicated relationship repeatedly for their coworkers. All the while, they can never let on that they have slept together. It is this conflict that creates all of the drama and comedy in the American version. While in the British version there’s no resistance to their burgeoning relationship, the American version is a veritable master’s class in creating situations where characters must talk about their situation in front of an audience of their peers without ever letting on what is happening between them.

In some ways, the show has taken the basic and tired formula of a rom-com and turned it on its ass. Instead of two characters that hate each other in the beginning yet end up together in the end, it begins with two characters that end up together and almost inevitably will hate each other in the end. Which is another major strength this show has going for it, the main conflict of the show is not resolved by the end of the pilot episode, as is all too often the case. In fact, rather than simplifying the conflict at the core of the show, it complicates the core-conflict.

The core-conflict will ultimately prove to be between Alex and Helen’s resistance to forming a relationship and the inescapable trap of love and chemistry. The key to a great rom-com is that despite all of the forces conspiring against them (especially their own incompatibility), the attraction they feel becomes insurmountable. It’s precisely why by the end of the episode, Alex and Helen have begun to dig themselves a hole, but it’s their almost militaristic determination not to end up in a bigger mess that will prove to be their eventual downfall.

Ultimately, only shows where the main characters have an irreconcilable conflict at the core of their relationship have the potential to truly carry on and entertain audiences for season upon season. Free Agents has done this up right. By giving Helen and Alex the situation they’re in, they have no choice but to follow the inevitable path of self-destruction. A path that should prove to be both unavoidable and surprising.