When Mindy Kaling has a new show, people pay attention. We pay attention.
Her projects tend to arrive with a lot of expectations: sharp dialogue, messy coming-of-age stories, and characters who are often more ambitious than self-aware. Not Suitable for Work, Hulu’s latest comedy centering on a group of young professionals trying to balance career ambition, friendship, and whatever passes for a personal life in Manhattan’s Murray Hill.
The ensemble cast—Ella Hunt, Avantika, Will Angus, Jack Martin, and Nicholas Duvernay—commits fully to the script and the idea. The pilot is a show that is still finding its footing, but each of the actors manages to carve out a distinct identity for their character.
Like most first episodes, Not Suitable for Work spends much of its runtime establishing the world and introducing each character. By the end of the episode, you’ll likely have strong opinions about all of them. We did.
Some of the characters are immediately lovable, and some are frustrating. Some are so painfully recognizable that it’s difficult to know which of the fore mentioned categories that they belong in.
What the pilot does well is create a cast that feels intentionally imperfect, making them feel authentic. They’re ambitious, messy, occasionally self-absorbed people trying to figure out who they are while convincing the world around them that they already know.
And yet, I’m not completely sold on the series yet.
Not Suitable for Work feels somewhat inconsistent. Some jokes land exactly as intended and while others feel like they’re trying a little too hard. That’s not unusual for a pilot, but it does make the show feel somewhat forced and misguided.
And yet, the characters are compelling enough to keep watching.
AJ Pascarelli, played by Ella Hunt, is a first-year analyst at one of New York’s most prestigious investment banks. She is driven, ambitious, and forever stressed. She is someone who has spent so much time pursuing success that she’s forgotten to ask whether she actually enjoys or wants any of it.
Avantika’s Abby Chilukuri is perhaps the easiest character to enjoy early on. As an assistant to a demanding celebrity stylist, she’s quick-witted, fashion-obsessed, and brings much of the episode’s energy. She carries the episode along with Will Angus.
Speaking of Angus, he plays Davis Beau Bradley Barrett III, who is the finance-bro stereotype New York tends to produce. Well, minus the Patagonia. The show hints at something more interesting beneath the surface with him. Maybe that is his desire to be loved, and wondering why he hasn’t found love yet. His confidence often feels performative, and that is the only thing that keeps me from fully committing to his character.
But Angus’ character of Davis is the biggest reason that I didn’t turn this show off.
Jack Martin’s Josh Teitelbaum may prove to be the most divisive character of the group. Smart, idealistic, and more than a little pretentious, he’s the type of person who always has an opinion, wants everyone to hear it, and therefore makes him annoying. He’s too much.
Nicholas Duvernay rounds out the cast as Kel Washington, a medical student attempting to balance the pressure of an elite academic career with dreams of becoming an actor. Of all the characters introduced so far, Kel feels like he may have the most internal conflict for the show to focus on. And maybe that’s wrong, but it is what I think so far.
Inevitably, there will be comparison will be Friends, largely because the series follows a group of young New Yorkers navigating work, relationships, and adulthood. But that comparison feels somewhat unfair.
The show stands on its own, with the only glaring similarity is that it is twenty-somethings living in New York.
Not Suitable for Work isn’t trying to recreate Friends. If anything, it’s more interested in exploring modern ambition. These characters are wondering whether they’ll find jobs and if love and success will actually make them happy once they get it.
But that is what makes the show interesting.
The pilot doesn’t provide all the answers, and it doesn’t need to. It establishes a group of young people standing at the beginning of their adult lives. The characters are convinced they know what they want, and it is kind of interesting that we will most likely watch each one discover that they don’t.
Whether New York makes them or breaks them remains to be seen.
And being someone who lives in New York, that is enough to keep us watching.
DAVIS
Davis might be my favorite character on the show.
He should be annoying and exhausting. He’s intense, overly enthusiastic, and approaches relationships with red flag energy. Both sweet and completely unhinged, depending on your tolerance for the “pick me” type of person.
Davis genuinely doesn’t see any of it as too much.
He has no fear of commitment; he definitely wants that sooner rather than later. He wants love and is surprisingly unapologetic. Something is refreshing about his character.
The episode doesn’t exactly make life easy for him. He gets dumped via Post-it note, his coworkers seem annoyed by his existence, and he’s a Braves fan living in New York, which feels like the worst part.
He is genuinely likable. Davis isn’t trying to impress people; he wants to connect with them.
I suspect he’s going to get his heart broken more than once this season.
He is the one who keeps showing up, keeps believing in people, and keeps getting hurt because of it. But they’re also the characters you root for because they haven’t let disappointment turn them cynical.
Davis doesn’t see what he does as too much.
He sees it as just enough and respectfully, which is part of what makes him lovable.
BOTSWANA JOSH
When we first meet Josh, he’s the kind of character who immediately tests your patience. Intelligent? Absolutely. Self-aware? Not even a little. He carries himself with the confidence of someone who has never once considered that he might be the problem.
He is the problem.
Which makes his history with AJ all the more interesting.
When AJ arrives, she knocks on the boy’s door, unable to find her place. Kel greets her warmly. Josh eventually appears, cardigan and all, looking completely unaware that he’s about to walk straight into his own past.
The problem? AJ knows exactly who he is.
At the height of COVID, they slept together. The next morning, he disappeared without a word. He ghosted her. A lot of us have had the experience of running into someone from our past and immediately wondering what version of ourselves thought they were a good idea. He
Josh doesn’t recognize her at all.
AJ has no interest in revisiting whatever happened between them, which is probably the most relatable response possible. Unfortunately, television has rules, and “let’s never discuss this again” is rarely one of them.
You can’t convince me that Botswana Josh isn’t about to be a bigger problem than AJ would like.
NEPO BABY
Of all the characters, Josh seems like the one whose future is already mapped out.
His father is a CEO. He has connections. He knows exactly where he wants to work and exactly how he imagines his career unfolding. Josh doesn’t appear to be searching for direction. He thinks he’s already found it.
Reality immediately gets in the way.
His interview for The Wes Dryden Show goes badly, and desperate for the job that he wants, he drops his last name to Wes in the elevator bay. Suddenly, the nepo baby trope comes into play, and we’re not against that.
It is where the character gets less annoying and becomes more interesting.
Josh has spent a lot of time distancing himself from the advantages he was born with. He seems genuinely uncomfortable being seen as a rich kid. But the second things stop going his way, he reaches for that privilege anyway.
It’s a contradiction the episode seems very aware of. It screams that Josh is a hypocrite, unaware of who he is and what his actions mean.
Josh wants the benefits of being connected without the judgment that comes with it. He wants to believe he earned the opportunity on merit; however, it feels like secretly he enjoys knowing that he can get anything based on his last name.
He is a hypocrite.
The moment he walks into that office, everyone knows exactly how he got there. He’s so focused on getting what he wants that he doesn’t realize he’s made himself persona non grata before his first day has even begun.
He is frustrating and compelling at the same time. Josh isn’t malicious. He’s just painfully unaware of how he comes across.
Self-awareness is his biggest issue.
WAIT…
While everyone else is busy creating problems for themselves, AJ’s biggest obstacle is that she has absolutely no idea how New York works.
On the eve of her first day in finance, she’s doing everything by the book. Her book is not a New Yorker’s book. She is mapping out her commute and testing the route. She wants to make sure she is prepared. She’s approaching New York like a carefully organized project instead of a city.
It doesn’t take long before she’s met with the reality of what New York can be.
After getting distracted while waiting at a food cart, AJ finds herself in an argument with a stranger who cuts in line. She assumes she’s dealing with a random rude guy and decides to act a fool.
Unfortunately for AJ, this is New York, and the stranger has enough money to spend $500 ensuring she doesn’t get served. It is a moment that makes us laugh.
It’s ridiculous, and yet, it’s plausible.
It works as a crash course in the city’s unwritten rules. New York immediately tells her that money, influence, and pettiness are often something we all need to deal with here.
What I like about AJ is that she comes across as idealistic, naive, and unprepared. It is what most of us are when moving to the city. She’s smart. Ambitious. Capable. She just hasn’t learned the social mechanics of the world and is as guarded as Fort Knox.
Letting her walls down will be the biggest goal for her this season.
That becomes even more apparent when she shows up for her first day of work looking completely transformed. That is what happens when your roommate is a stylist.
Davis spots her in the lobby and is immediately smitten. We already know something he doesn’t: this mysterious woman he’s trying very hard to impress is his new neighbor living directly across the hall.
The show gets a lot of mileage out of that misunderstanding, especially later when the two run into each other again and somehow fail to recognize one another. AJ ends up pepper-spraying him, which would be a dealbreaker and a glaring red flag.
Davis, however, appears completely unfazed and seems more interested afterward.
Most people would see pepper spray as a warning, but Davis sees it as the beginning of a love story.
THAI & BYE
I’m not exactly heartbroken to see Josh’s girlfriend Vivian, leave.
To be fair, I understand why Josh is upset over her breaking up with him.
Breakups are painful, and for all of his flaws, his heartbreak feels genuine.
The problem is that Josh never seemed to understand what role he played in the breakup.
Josh isn’t exactly helping his own case and making himself likable. He’s already reported the girls across the hall for rental fraud, managed to annoy AJ on multiple occasions, and generally moves through the world with the confidence of someone who does not consider how his actions affect other people.
What makes Josh interesting isn’t that he’s a bad person. It’s that he’s convinced he’s a good one.
Those aren’t always the same thing.
One of the better moments comes when AJ finds him at a Thai restaurant after he’s forgotten his wallet. Despite all of their previous interactions, she helps him out anyway.
It’s a small gesture, but it shifts something between them.
More importantly, it’s the moment Josh starts to realize AJ looks familiar.
Very familiar.
What we also see is Davis tell Kel that he’s met the love of his life – AJ.
At this point, it feels pretty clear the show is setting up a they-won’t-they-will pairing. The question is with whom. There is a definite Ross-and-Rachel vibe to the dynamic AJ and Josh have: shared history, mutual irritation, and just enough chemistry to make future complications inevitable.
For now, AJ and Josh? They are mostly getting on each other’s nerves.
But television has taught us that’s usually where these trope stories begin. It’s the beginning of a love story, and in New York, as with anywhere, that’s where the fun and chaos begin.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- The cardigan is cute, just not on Josh
- We don’t like Vivian. I am calling that now
- A non-essential property brother – hahaha
- Paula is gonna keep Josh on his toes.
- Abi is really trying hard to impress her boss, but also her boss getting hit by a pedi-cab is a lot of WTF
- Abi dressing the one guy – that was cute
- Cupcakes to work – maybe not the smartest idea, but also yum Magnolia
- The fire would have freaked me out
- Living in The Plaza? Someone is RICH
- The first day conference goes to show why you don’t yell at people on the streets.
- Love a Quest Love appearance
- Turkey sandwiches will never be the same
Not Suitable for Work is streaming now on Hulu.
