‘Conversations With Friends’ 1×02 Review: “Episode 2”

Attraction is a weird thing. There isn’t always a rhyme or reason to it. It just is there. You can’t turn it off, you can’t stop feeling it. It’s just something that over time either fades or doesn’t.

But you feel it. You feel it deep.

Bobbi and Frances are both feeling a sense of attraction to Nick and Melissa – who are married to each other. And as they set out to see them both for Melissa’s birthday, you can tell that both are excited but feel a little awkward over the possibilities of what could be.

Bobbi and Frances are complete and utter opposites and to a point, I think that the two of them use each other. Bobbi to have someone to boss around and Frances to have someone to draw words out of her. The truth is, their relationship is complicated.

Bobbi is thriving at the party. Frances though, she’s there for one reason. She wants to see Nick. She wants to be in his presence. She’s like a little girl experiencing her first crush, only until she isn’t.

When she makes her way to the bathroom and then out of it, she notices an open door. She peaks in and she sees Nick and there is no part of her that doesn’t come alive. You can see by the way she’s looking at him that she’s hoping to be alone with him, to be able to have the courage to say hello.

She says hello and he invites her in. Her body language is tense, and yet you can tells she’s never been more at ease. The dog comes running in and he kicks the dog out, closing the door behind him. He tells her that he closed it, as if it was some sort of invitation. She’s blushing and he points that out, but she just says it’s hot.

I don’t even like beer, but let me say this, that’s some sexy shit when he puts the bottle to her flushed cheeks and she says that feels so good. Who would have known that this quiet girl would be trying to seduce a married man. Let alone kissing him seconds later.

One can’t help but smile when she gathers the courage to kiss him. One can’t help but be happy when he kisses her back. And we’re not talking like a peck, these two are full on breathing heavy and you could tell that they were both into it. But he pulls away and she apologizes, before rushing off.

I have to hope that we’ve all had that kiss in our lives that is so passionate that we’re not shocked or surprised by ourselves when we are agonizing over it, running our fingers over our lips, remembering every touch, every moment. But for Frances, it’s an awkward moment. One that she’s going to do what she knows that she can with.

She’s going to leave. She makes excuses that she’s got an early train the next morning. Which, hey, she does. But we all know that no matter what she’s got going on, the only thing she is truly thinking about is what his lips felt like on hers. You can tell she’s half embarrassed and half shy.

Frances is going home to visit her parents. They are divorced, and one thing that you can tell about her parents, is they are the reason that she is so reserved and shy. Both don’t know how to relate to her and she doesn’t know how to relate to them.

Her Mom is cold and is feigning interest. Her Dad, he only knows how to relate to her by giving her money. Both aren’t parents that I would call overly loving. But Frances does want to relate to them. She tries to talk about Nick a little bit to her Mom, but her Mom is passive aggressive and putting her down.

I can’t stop thinking that maybe Frances is looking for someone to love her, because she doesn’t get that love from her parents. Her Dad barely says ten words to her, but when she’s leaving, he tells her he’ll deposit extra money in her account. He insists, but you can tell it’s to satisfy his own shortcomings as a parent.

And back at her Moms, well, she’s just equally as distant. She and her daughter don’t know how to communicate and yet her Mom is still annoyed that Frances is texting.

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Well, excuse her Mama. Cause look, if Nick was texting us, no one else would matter. Not a single person. We’d be so into our texts that would be all we could see.

Nick’s apologizing for the kiss and the reaction. Though the truth is Frances feels at fault, cause she did kiss him first. But he says that it’s his fault. He’s older. He should have known better. He’s not kissed another woman since he got married. And right when we think that this conversation is going to be going somewhere, her Mom fusses that she’s on her phone, and so Frances puts it away.

There is no part of me that doesn’t get the frustration when someone is on the phone, texting, when you’re around. But also, who cares. Everyone is just trying to live their lives. Let them be happy.

No wonder Frances doesn’t like to go home.

She returns to Dublin, and it’s a performance night. Bobbi is asking her why she left the other night, and Frances is making up an excuse that she was just tired. She’s not going to give away the secret of what she’s done. Which in this writers opinion, she shouldn’t.

Bobbi has a big mouth and will turn it against her. Sasha Lane is playing the character of Bobbi beautifully. We have a love and a hatred for her. But we’re also aware of the fact that we have to watch that line, because Frances has done the same thing that Bobbi has done.

After all, Bobbi did kiss Melissa. She tells Frances that Melissa thought it was funny that she dd it.

Bobbi asks Frances is she is pissed off. Frances says no, why would she be pissed off. Bobbi then asks if she disapproves, but Frances says no to that too. We do get Frances being hard to read, so we do understand Bobbi asking so many questions.

But Frances can’t disapprove, because she did the same thing. Only she’s not going to open up about it. Things like this stay with her. She knows that she doesn’t need to let the world – or even part of her world in on her life.

She does want to tell someone. After all this is a big secret to keep to herself. And we get it. Hell, people say all the time that you don’t need to kiss and tell, but when a kiss is that powerful, that moving to you, you want to shout it out. It’s just that telling the truth makes feelings complicated. It can change what something was and when you speak it, it makes it real.

Facing it also makes it real.

Even though things are all sorts of awkward, Bobbi and Frances head out to a book reading that Melissa and Nick are at. Bobbi is acting as though nothing is wrong and Frances is being herself.