EASY Season 3: A Fitting Ending For This Underrated Gem

Joe Swanberg is best known for being a figurehead of the late 2000s micro-budget American indie. Alongside the Duplass Brothers and Andrew Bujalski he (accidentally) helped usher in the birth of Mumblecore in 2005, a short-lived independent ‘movement’, focusing on the lives of 20 and 30-somethings.

Having clearly taken cues from John Cassavettes alongside a host of DIY indie film directors (Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater in the 90s spring to mind), Swanberg aligning himself with the streaming service Netflix back in 2016 seemed an unusual decision. However, this partnership has actually been a huge success, with Swanberg seemingly given free rein, and as a result, he has produced some of the best work of his career so far, with the first two seasons of Easy.

A Perfect Collaboration

Easy is an anthology series and this has allowed Swanberg to explore his topics to a more detailed degree. Pleasingly, an increased budget has not impacted upon Swanberg’s unique vision, and his work is as deep-reaching and thoughtful as ever.

The series feels like a logical development from what he has produced before. Time has passed and the writer/director is a bit older and his focus has shifted somewhat. The tone feels the same, laidback and casual like relaxing with an old friend (the title is a perfect reflection really), but now he focuses on the intricacies and complications of marriage in your thirties and forties alongside the one night stands and broken hearts of the confusing twenties.

Swanberg has always been excellent at giving audiences a snippet of a person’s life. His work is familiar and exceptionally human because of this focus that treats character’s lives so realistically. Easy has been the perfect vehicle for this, with each episode giving thirty minutes to the trials and tribulations of a new character or two.

An Honest Look at Love

The last two seasons have been very strong overall with very few episodes being altogether forgettable. The quality throughout the series has been consistent, which is perhaps surprising considering most anthologies seem to fluctuate in quality massively (see Black Mirror).

Some episodes of Easy shine a little brighter than others though. For example, in the first season Dave Franco, Zazie Beetz, and Evan Jonigkeit had two great episodes which really stood out. With the new series, it is clear that Swanberg and his producers know where they struck gold in the past, and as such a lot of the episodes in season three bring back those characters from previous standout episodes.

For example, for the third season running Easy dips into the lives of Andi (Elizabeth Reaser) and Kyle (Michael Chernus), a married couple who decided to enter into an open relationship. This season they are given two episodes, with the latter being the longest in the show’s history. This couple opened the first season with a quietly devastating episode but their episode in season two ended in a much sweeter way.

In this final season, we see them struggling with the difficulties of their relationship. Their tale is one of connection. Relationships are not so simple, and Swanberg is not afraid to let it get murky and difficult without providing clear or obvious happy endings or answers.

For all of its laidback Chicago charm, Easy does delve deep into the struggles of love, and to offset this, Swanberg eases up for an episode or two with more comedy-infused tales to split up the season. “Private Eyes” is the most obvious example this season, as we follow surveillance worker Hugh, who thinks of himself as something of a PI, as he gets involved in a BDSM case. This is not even a poor episode but compared to the rest of the season it feels like a low-point, adding very little to the show overall and being pretty forgettable.

Immediately though, Swanberg is back with the next episode doing what he does best: crafting a simple yet compelling tale in the space of thirty minutes. The third episode, “Spontaneous Combustion”, is the first great episode of the season, giving a hugely satisfying conclusion to the relationship of Jo (Jacqueline Toboni) and Chase (Kiersey Clemons), whose previous episodes were also fantastic. There is very little let up from there with all of the rest of the season’s episodes ranging from good to superb.

New Highs for Swanberg’s Writing

Perhaps more than in previous seasons there are not only standout episodes but standout scenes. The writing of Swanberg has matured greatly from his early movies in the mid-noughties, and the confidence and quality of his writing really shines through. The writing in his early work was naturalistic but rough around the edges often given the improvised nature of the work and the use of non-professional actors. His writing has lost none of its realism and more than ever, Easy feels painfully honest and true.

In “Swipe Left”, Andi and Kyle are given an extended dialogue scene at a bar which runs five times longer than it would in any other show. It allows all of the complexities, insecurities, and questions to be drawn out one by one in excruciating detail, and yet somehow it is insanely compelling stuff.

These big scenes are accompanied by the little moments that make Easy not just great but an underrated and underseen gem. Kyle absentmindedly swiping on Tinder as he stares out of his Uber tells the audience everything they need to know about this character in a handful of seconds. Jo and Chase sitting on the sofa at the end of their journey, contemplating everything that has been and all that is still to come, is another tell-all moment.

A Great Ensemble Cast

The moments of great writing are elevated by the vast array of talented actors on the show. The aforementioned Andi and Kyle take a twenty-minute dialogue scene and make it captivating, which is by no means an easy feat, never mind how strong the writing is.

The series regulars such as Elizabeth Reaser, Jacqueline Toboni, Zazie Beetz, Dave Franco, and Marc Maron and many more are so in tune with Swanberg’s writing and provide fantastic work. The newcomers too, such as John Gallagher Jr, slip in seamlessly to this little Swanberg Chicago.

A lot of the season isn’t necessarily ground-breaking in terms of its content or themes but its irresistibly charming and enjoyable. The third and final chapter of Annie’s (Kate Micucci) story could be run-of-the-mill in other hands, but with Swanberg at the helm and the massively likable Micucci and Gallagher Jr working their magic, the episode is elevated to one of the season’s best.

The same mix of affecting writing and great performances make Jo and Chase’s final chapter, “Spontaneous Combustion”, and the Before Sunset-esque season finale, “She’s Back,” remarkable standouts. The latter episode, in particular, feels like a brilliant choice to cap off the series, as Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s actor Sophie returns home for one night, and meets up with former boyfriend, Drew (Jake Johnson).

Having worked with Swanberg on a trilogy of films recently, Johnson is on the same wavelength, in much the same way other regular collaborators Marc Maron, Dave Franco, and Jane Adams are. In the episode, Sophie and Drew drift through the Chicago night as they reunite, stopping at bars on the way. This final episode is arguably the most understated and certainly one of the simplest of the season, but it sticks around in the mind for days to come.

A Unique Chicago

Swanberg’s love of Chicago has really shone throughout the series, and the third season is no different. The characters from separate episodes continue to interact spontaneously in Swanberg’s Chicago and none of it feels forced. It’s not vital but the little details such as this really add up to create a living breathing version of Chicago. This season, in fact, he looks to explore even more walks of Chicago life introducing new characters such as the aforementioned Hugh in “Private Life”, and Scrap in “Number One Seller.”

These episodes end up being perhaps the two weakest, probably because they lack the depth already built into the other characters and relationships, but they add extra pieces to this Chicago puzzle. Through Easy, Swanberg has allowed us to see into different nooks and crannies of the city which other movies and television shows barely give us a glimpse of.

Easy: A Fitting Open Ending

The worry would be that this last season’s episodes would feel like a lot of third acts to a lot of different films. In a way they are, with Easy providing third chapters for many of the characters. However, that’s all they are: chapters. Each episode is a moment in their lives, and similar again to Linklater’s Before Trilogy, the greatness of the show is that these characters, bubbling with realism, feel like they live on and could be revisited time and time again if Swanberg wished.

The season also introduced new faces (as in previous seasons), beginning new stories. What’s amazing is that nothing feels unfinished. Easy Season 3 ties up the loose ends, but leaves things as complicated as they are in real life. Creating a great ending is immensely difficult, but Swanberg makes it look easy by allowing it to not be an ending at all.

Did you enjoy the final season? Did you think it capped off the series well? Let us know in the comments below.

Easy is available to stream now on Netflix.