It’s only normal for Charlie to feel sad or even jealous of the relationship that Sylvia and Will share. But then again, this is what a platonic relationship is, right? It may be that Charlie isn’t happy not because Sylvia and Charlie are having fun together but because he cannot spend enough time with his wife or both of them. Platonic Episode 5 shows Charlie trying to befriend Will. Or is it Will trying to prove that he too can be fun?
Spoilers Ahead
Bleach
Will and Peyton are having a wonderful time together, hacking lines at a bagel stand, grabbing clothes on sale like kids, and ogling Machine Gun Kelly while admiring the city of Los Angeles from a tourist point of view. But Will wants to double-check before getting into a relationship, as he’s recently divorced. He needs time; that’s the truth. Thankfully, Peyton isn’t in a hurry, and she is apparently just glad to be with Will. So when he arrives at Sylvia’s place to get his hair bleached, he is happy. He has yet to tell her about Peyton, but that can wait. Sylvia, on the other hand, has an interview next week at Kirk Friedkin’s, so she did manage to call him and speak to him after all. While they are having a great time, thanks to recent events that prove that things are working out for both of them, Charlie is upset. He cannot register their platonic relationship, especially after knowing that Will turned up after many years. But he cannot find a way to bring it up either.
At night, in bed, Charlie does try to talk about his discomfort, but Sylvia doesn’t get the signal. He then tries to give it a sexual angle; saying that what she was doing is even wrong. But she replies most logically, and Charlie can’t do anything but agree. The fact is, she and Will were having fun, something that Charlie wasn’t a part of. How is that supposed to make him feel? The next day at work, Charlie opens up to Stewart about his feelings. He feels that the friendship between his wife and Will excludes everyone, including him. In fact, he is forced to think that they are sleeping together! That’s the irony of a platonic relationship. Stewart makes it clear to him that such things are natural and that he is overthinking. Surprisingly, he also admits that he might be the reason for the way he feels. Maybe he has distanced himself, be it due to his job or the way he is, from his wife and now has to be subjected to seeing his wife spend quality time with her friend. This wouldn’t have been the case if only he had spent more time with Sylvia. Then her time with Will would seem completely normal. Charlie invites Will to a baseball game.
A Jealous Husband
To Will, the invitation has come as a desperate act of a jealous husband. Omar thinks that Will is going to get a beating. Andy has a more peaceful approach, telling Will that the invitation is Charlie’s way of dealing with his insecurity. After all, Will returned to Sylvia’s life out of nowhere, and now they get to have fun. In Will’s defense, Charlie is a dull man. But he cannot be blunt about it. Maybe he should accept the invitation and get to know each other better. But unbeknownst to Will, even Sylvia and her friend Katie find it completely weird after he tells Katie about it. No one among them is thinking the way Charlie is, so his actions are bound to seem weird. He hasn’t known Will long enough to invite him to a game with his colleagues. But maybe that’s why he has invited Will, i.e., to get acquainted. Katie believes that it is jealousy that is making Charlie do it, but if that had been the case, Charlie would have spoken to Sylvia because, according to her, their communication is just fine. But do they? On game day, all that Will gives Sylvia is a smile before leaving. She, too, doesn’t say anything other than to show that she is happy.
Game And Bar
The game could never have been as interesting as the interaction between Will and Charlie. From awkward pauses for a click, while sharing bites from a hotdog to being addressed as Charlie’s wife’s boyfriend, Will’s experience was unlike what he had expected. It wasn’t bad, but it was awkward. As for Charlie, it must have been a relief to find out that Will was seeing a woman. So when Will invites him and Stewart to his bar, Lucky Penny, he calls up Sylvia and asks her to join them. This is after Charlie addresses how he doesn’t get to enjoy Sylvia the way Will does. But Will, who has already been subjected to a life lesson from Sylvia, reminds Charlie that his stability is what matters to Sylvia more than him partying with her. Will, Charlie, and Stewart make the most of their drunkenness, and soon Sylvia joins in, too, exploring their own “secret skills,” like opera, dancing, counting prime numbers, and more. Everything is going well until Sylvia finds out about Peyton from Charlie. Sylvia believes that Will lied to her, but Will reveals that he was forced to admit Peyton’s existence to defend himself when he came to know that he was addressed as Sylvia’s boyfriend by her husband and his friends. Read that again. In Charlie’s defense, he didn’t mean it like that, but he had no other way to address whatever “thang” Sylvia and Will had going on. After all, there has to be a reason why she came back home at 4 in the morning after doing ketamine!
Does Charlie Help Will With His Wound?
Charlie is shocked to find out that his wife took ketamine. To not escalate things further, Sylvia decides to head back home with Charlie while Will and his friends decide to clean the broken glass on the floor (thanks to Will and Charlie’s performance). Charlie doesn’t snap at Will but remains stupefied all the same. But there’s no time to analyze as he has to help Will, who has just managed to get a piece of glass into his left arm after slipping and falling. After slowing down the blood flow by ripping his shirt and tying it around Will’s arm, he and Sylvia return home. Will, too, returns home and is glad to have Peyton to care for him. He likes her, and she likes him, and they are together. That’s more than enough for Will. Meanwhile, Charlie opens up to Sylvia about how he misses her party side and how he feels that he is responsible for forcing Sylvia to give up that side of her. He feels “cut out.” Sylvia apologizes for making him feel that way, and it seems that everything is back to normal. Only one thing remains to be done to make things better. And Stuart is the first one to be subjected to it the next day at work. Platonic Episode 5 ends with Stuart staring at Charlie, stunned. Charlie has bleached his hair. Period.
Sylvia has to clear things up with Will. She needs to know why he hid Peyton from her. This has nothing to do with him finding out about how he is called Sylvia’s boyfriend because he met Peyton before that. If only Sylvia knew about her, maybe she would have told Charlie, and that way, he would not have spoken about his wife’s boyfriend to his colleagues. But this is the circle of life, right? Confusing.
