Skip to content Over the past decade, many television shows have explored the complexities of family bonds. From the incestuous Targaryen family in ‘House of the Dragon’ to the fractured relationships of the Roy family in ‘Succession,’ modern television is increasingly showing us that on-screen families are a far cry from the sitcoms of the 1970s and ’80s.
Now comes the “Phony” series on Hulu. From the first episode, the series is filled with dread as it explores the boundaries of home. Created by Nick Paley, the series follows the relationship between Sonny Cooke (Sam Nivola) and his mother Ellen (Connie Britton), as their relationship shapes the way they move through the world.
The two are so close that they seem bonded and spend almost every waking moment together, both at home and at Sonny’s high school, where Ellen works as principal. As an adult, Sonny tries to carve out a place for himself in the world, thinking about what he wants to do when he gets older and how he wants to develop his relationship with his girlfriend, Chloe (Mahaela Park).
But on the night she was supposed to lose her virginity, Sonny’s car derails and crashes into the woods. When he woke up in the hospital, his mother was, of course, by his bedside. But there’s something off about Ellen, who Sonny notices looks a bit different and starts acting much more suffocating than usual.
Sonny begins to believe that the woman nursing him back to health is not his mother, but a doppelgänger replacing the woman he once knew and loved. As Ellen becomes more and more of a stranger, Sonny hires his old friend and private investigator Sharla (Meera Syal). They are each on the brink of not being able to believe their own claims and thinking they have lost their sanity in a car accident. As this conspiracy begins to occupy his mind at all times, Sonny’s life quickly falls apart and he becomes more tied to his mother and thoughts of her than ever before.
From now on, “Pony” blends comedy and mystery, making it one of the most exciting and unsettling new series to come out this year. The show uses Christopher Bear’s hypnotic original music to show how the codependent relationship Sonny once enjoyed begins to splinter, and how his newfound independence could become his undoing.
As the plucky synths grow moodier and more intense, the series turns into a strange and thrilling examination of how modern parenting has become a world where interdependence has been weaponized, and how helicopter parents have slowly shaped a new generation of children who are utterly dependent on adults.
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Unlike recent shows like “Carrie,” Sonny and his fellow high school students feel like kids today. They are not just stupid people addicted to social media. Instead, they are complex individuals who feel anxiety not only from the broken world they were born into, but also from their parents who desperately try to control their lives. From Sonny’s uptight best friend Vogel (Maliq Johnson), whose recent injury causes him to question whether sports is truly his calling, to Mallory (Grace Brennan), a former homeschooler trying to come to terms with her religious parents’ beliefs, each of these characters feels like real teenagers.
The series soars in uncomfortable moments when Sonny and Ellen’s relationship is revealed by secrets and physical contact that become increasingly chilling as the episodes progress.
It’s impossible not to cringe at times, and Paley never takes his foot off the gas pedal. Instead, he forces you to face not only whether everything you’re seeing is morally right, but also whether it’s actually happening. High school students discover a dead body, private investigators find themselves chatting up the wrong men at a bar, and the houses they’ve built intimate relationships with begin to take on a darkness that belies the picture of perfection their families painted.
Sonny represents all the children who lost their most precious years to the COVID-19 pandemic and are now on the verge of adulthood in a world that has been on fire ever since. Equally thrilling and darkly funny, the show examines how today’s young people are forced to live comfortably in a world where their parents and peers can, and often are encouraged, watch their every move. Even if “Phony” doesn’t break any new ground, this growing series promises to be one of the biggest and best surprises of the year.
Four episodes were screened for review.. It premieres on Hulu and Disney+ on October 20th.