''Bonding'' (stylized as ''BONDiNG'') is an American

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

television series that premiered on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on April 24, 2019. The series stars

Zoe Levin Zoe Levin is an American actress. She played Emily in the 2013 film ''Palo Alto'' and Tasha in '' Beneath the Harvest Sky''. She portrayed Kara Souders in the Fox TV show ''Red Band Society''. She played Tiffany "Tiff" Chester in the 2019 Netfl ...

Brendan Scannell Brendan Scannell (born June 20, 1990) is an American actor and comedian known for playing the lead roles of Heather Duke in the Paramount Network series ''Heathers'' (2018) and Pete Devin in the Netflix dark comedy series ''Bonding'' (2019–202 ...

Micah Stock Micah Stock (born December 31, 1988) is an American actor best known for his roles in the Sundance breakout ''Brittany Runs a Marathon'', as Doug in Netflix’s ''Bonding (TV series), Bonding'' and as Kevin in the FX original series ''Kindred (mi ...

, Theo Stockman, and

Nana Mensah Nana Mensah is an American actress, writer, and director known for her roles in ''13 Reasons Why'', '' An African City'', ''New Amsterdam'', ''Bonding'', and ''The Chair''. Mensah's directorial debut, ''Queen of Glory'', had its festival premier ...

. On January 16, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which was released on January 27, 2021. ''Bonding'' is reported to be loosely based on the personal experience of creator Rightor Doyle. In July 2021, the series was canceled after two seasons.

Synopsis

Tiffany "Tiff" Chester (

) is a

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

student moonlighting as a

dominatrix A dominatrix ( ; or dominatrices ), or domme, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. The BDSM practice is called female dominance, or femdom. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily l ...

. She enlists the help of Pete Devin (Brendan Scannell), her best friend from high school who is gay, to be her assistant. The semi-estranged characters reconnect in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, where Pete works as a waiter and as an aspiring stand-up comedian with

stage fright Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia that may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...

. Tiff struggles as she balances her personal life with school and her job, as well as Pete's exposure to

sadomasochism Sadism () and masochism (), known collectively as sadomasochism ( ) or S&M, is the derivation of pleasure from acts of respectively inflicting or receiving pain or humiliation. The term is named after the Marquis de Sade, a French author known ...

and

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often Eroticism, erotic practices or Sexual roleplay, roleplaying involving Bondage (BDSM), bondage, Discipline (BDSM), discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given ...

and how it gradually helps him become liberated in his life.

Cast and characters

Main

as Tiffany "Tiff" Chester, a psychology grad student living in New York City. She works as dominatrix by night under the alias "Mistress May". She enlists the help of Pete to become her assistant. *

as Peter "Pete" Devin, a young gay man who becomes an assistant to Tiff. He initially chooses the alias "Carter", but is later referred to as "Master Carter". *

as Doug (season 2, recurring season 1), Tiff's psychology classmate, with whom she later begins a relationship * Theo Stockman as Josh (season 2, recurring season 1), Pete's boyfriend *

as Mistress Mira (season 2), Tiff's former mentor

Recurring

Matthew Wilkas Matthew Wilkas (born April 20, 1978) is an American New York based theatre and film actor, playwright and reality television personality. He is best known for his lead role as Matt in the 2012 feature film ''Gayby''. Early life He grew up in Ca ...

as Rolph, Tiff's German man-servant and one of her clients * Alex Hurt as Frank, Pete's roommate * Gabrielle Ryan as Portia, Frank's girlfriend * Alysha Umphress as Murphy, a stand-up comedian and Pete's friend * Kevin Kane as Professor Charles (season 1), Tiff's psychology professor *

Stephanie Styles Stephanie Noel Styles is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She made her professional theatre debut in a 2003 U.S. tour of ''The Sound of Music'', and later made her Broadway debut in Roundabout Theatre's 2019 revival of ''Kiss Me, Kate''. ...

as Kate (season 1) * Charles Gould as Fred, one of Tiff's clients

Guest

* Jade Elysan as Cat Dom (season 1) * Stephen Reich as Trevor (season 1) *

D'Arcy Carden D'Arcy Beth Carden (born Darcy Beth Erokan; January 4, 1980) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for portraying Janet in the NBC sitcom ''The Good Place'' (2016–2020), for which she earned a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Aw ...

as Daphne (season 1) * Amy Bettina as Chelsea * Eric Berryman as Andy (season 1), Daphne's husband *

Kevin Kilner Kevin Kilner (born May 3, 1958) is an American television and film actor. Life and career Kilner was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Dorothea, a kindergarten teacher, and Edward Kilner, who worked in advertising sales and insurance. He w ...

as MJP (season 2) *

Nico Evers-Swindell Nico Thomas Evers-Swindell is a New Zealand actor who portrayed Prince William in the 2011 Lifetime original film '' William & Kate''. Previous roles include minor appearances in the 2010 film ''Edge of Darkness'' and the television crime drama ' ...

as Martin (season 2)

Episodes

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2021)

Production

Development

On December 14, 2018,

announced it had picked up the series for a seven-episode first season. The series is created by Rightor Doyle, who is credited as an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

, alongside Dara Gordon, Jacob Perlin, Nina Soriano, Tom Schembri and David Sigurani. Production companies involved with the series include Blackpills and Anonymous Content. On January 16, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a second season consisting of eight-episodes. On July 2, 2021, Netflix canceled the series after two seasons.

Casting

After Netflix acquired the series, it was confirmed that Zoe Levin and Brendan Scannell would star in the series.

Release

On April 22, 2019, Netflix released the official trailer for the series.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the first season holds an approval rating of 71% with an average rating of 6.95/10 based on 14 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "Though ''Bonding''s juicy spin on friendship and sexuality boldly treads into uncharted territory, the show's writing too often teeters uncomfortably between bewitchingly funny and bewilderingly underwhelming to make it a truly satisfying experience." On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has three positive reviews and no negative reviews. Daniel Hart of ''Ready Steady Cut'' described the second season as "more fruitful and more emotional" and wrote: "while the previous instalment gave it a larger dose of comedy, there's more respect for the community's work in this season; there's an understanding that the world of dominatrix fulfils the pleasure of many that it is not just a space for whips and leather". Jess Joho of ''

Mashable Mashable is a Online newspaper, news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004. Early iterations o ...

'' said that the second season "stands out for focusing far less on the leather of it all, and far more on the underlying emotional connection, vulnerability, communication, and boundary-setting that can make ethical BDSM an incredible vehicle for deepening relationships".

Accolades

Controversy

After the release of the first season, the series suffered several criticisms by the BDSM community for containing a high level of inaccuracy. According to BDSM workers, the series' humor revolves around mistaken stereotypes and does not accurately portray the reality of BDSM. BDSM experts characterize Tiff as cold and aggressive, not knowing how to separate the dominatrix personality from the everyday personality. In addition, the series attempts to use a history of sexual trauma to justify Tiff's preference for domination fetishes, a view that is considered clichéd and misguided about sex workers. The lack of negotiation and consent in several scenes in the first season and the collar with "

Ring of O The Ring of O is a specially designed ring which has been worn as a distinctive mark among BDSM practitioners, mainly in continental Europe — and especially the German-speaking countries — since the 1990s. Its use is relatively widespread ...

", a symbol of BDSM submission, being used by the protagonist are also other problems pointed out by BDSM professionals. Shortly after the first season's release, one of the series' creators, Rightor Doyle, responded to negative criticism by stating that he would listen to the BDSM community to fix the inaccuracies shown in the series so far. With that, they hired as consultant Olivia Troy, a writer who has worked with BDSM for 15 years, to assist them in the script for the second season. This caused most of the negative points pointed out in the first season to be corrected, making the series closer to the reality of BDSM. According to Troy, the lack of consent, communication and connection between dominatrix and submissive is one of the main mistakes made by the media when BDSM is addressed. Despite the evolution of the second season, Troy also states that there are still some moments that are not necessarily realistic because the theme must fit into the style and script of the show. Actress Zoe Levin said she initially accepted the role not knowing how the work of a dominatrix really is. After seeing all the negative reviews the series received in the first season, she went with consultant Olivia Troy to BDSM studios to learn about the equipment, philosophy and ethical principles adopted by the BDSM community. When asked what message the second season brings to the audience, Levin said "the hope is that they see BDSM and sex work and bondage in a different light than they normally do. Because, what we have seen in TV and film is the very stereotypical version of what we only think BDSM is."

References

External links