Not Suitable For Work: Season 1 Episode 1 (Premiere) – Recap and Review

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Episode 1 “Welcome to Murray Hill” Recap and Details

• Director(s): Greg Mottola
• Writer(s): Mindy Kaling
• Public Release Date (Hulu): June 2, 2026
• Check out more of our “Not Suitable For Work” coverage.
• Images © of Hulu

Fragile Dreams: Kel, Josh, Davis, Paula, Wes

Kel, Josh, and Davis are roommates. Kel wants to be an actor, but is on track to become a doctor. Josh, who is slightly ashamed of his wealth, wants to work in investigative journalism, and Davis? He is an investment banker by day and a hopeless romantic throughout his waking hours.

So, to say the least, these guys are a touch privileged. Josh, for example, when he gets dismissed for a production assistant position by a woman named Paula, runs into his idol, Wes Dryden, and name-drops in order to get the job.

The Girls Next Door: AJ, Abby, Vanessa, Bill, Austin

AJ is fresh from Boston, now in New York City, and while Abby, who works in fashion, loves her, AJ can be weird and sometimes intense. Bill, for example, she flips out on over cutting her in line for coffee. Which bites her in the ass for her new job, as a consumer and retail analyst? Yeah, it is under Bill.

Abby doesn’t really have it much better, though. Vanessa, a celebrity stylist, is her boss, and while AJ comes to admire Bill, despite their first interaction, Abby doesn’t hate her boss but feels like she is the epitome of not meeting your heroes. But with Abby impressing one of Vanessa’s clients, an actor named Austin, maybe she might be at the beginning of building up her own name?

About What I Said Earlier: Kel, Josh, Davis, AJ, Abby, Antoine, Vivian

The majority of the lead cast live in the same building, across the hall from each other, and most have history. Kel has a serious crush on Abby, and she might be faintly aware of it, but Kel lacks that rizz needed to keep Abby’s attention and not come off cringe. Josh? He hooked up with AJ when they were in Model UN, going to separate colleges but he also ghosted her.

Which leads to how things are now where, with Josh thinking he has found his forever girlfriend in Vivian, a social worker, they need an apartment. He wants Abby’s, and with Abby no longer with the man whose name was on the lease, Josh makes a point to tell the building management rep, Antoine, of this to be spiteful.

Thing is, when he remembers, vaguely, who AJ is, he seems to regret this decision and tries to call it off, but the ball is already rolling. Though to complicate things further, with Josh having hooked up with AJ in the past, now being single, and maybe intrigued, this could mess up the fact that Davis has a crush on AJ, and with her being hired to work in his group, he has proximity to her day and night.

Granted, Davis is the type who, to be the perfect boyfriend, has overwhelmed many a woman. But maybe AJ might appreciate him doing the most and hoping for the bare minimum? Though considering how Josh likes to play things, both men may just end up with their hands when all is said and done.

New Characters in Episode 1

Kel Washington (Nicholas Duvernay)

• Character Summary: Kel is studying to be a doctor, but his heart isn’t in it. More so, he feels pressured to do so by his mom and by how successful his sister is. So if he had his way, he’d be an actor.

Josh Teitelbaum (Jack Martin)

• Character Summary: With Josh being the son of a notable CEO of an entertainment company, he has this push-and-pull feeling regarding nepotism. He wants to make a name for himself, not exploit his privilege, but when life gets hard, having a padded safety net is not something he is against at all. Especially since, with him wanting to become an investigative journalist, having a good network isn’t the worst thing.

Davis Beau Bradley Barrett III (Will Angus)

• Character Summary: Davis is an investment banker who, for the most part, defies stereotypes. He does have that sort of frat, extroverted nature – but he rarely comes off like a jerk. This helps support his lover boy persona, but while he paints himself as the type who just wants to be married with kids, the white picket fence dream, maybe his lack of luck in love stems from more than initially revealed?

Paula Miller (Judy Gold)

• Character Summary: Paula is Wes Dryden’s right hand and former wife, before both of them came out.

Wes Dryden (Victor Garber)

• Character Summary: A renowned investigative journalist who formerly hid his sexuality before he came out.

AJ Pascarelli (Ella Hunt)

• Character Summary: AJ is from Boston, is a notable nerd, whom Abby paints as someone who wasn’t the best at fashion previously. However, in pursuit of becoming a consumer and retail analyst, it seems she has stepped up her game.

Abby (Avantika)

• Character Summary: Abby is the assistant to a celebrity stylist.

Vanessa (Constance Wu)

• Character Summary: Abby’s boss, who is a celebrity stylist that she formerly adored. However, getting to know her has lessened her admiration.

Bill Gibson (Jay Ellis)

• Character Summary: Bill Gibson is an MD at the company AJ and Davis works for, who is known for rarely coming into the office but being a rainmaker. He is also someone AJ found herself clashing with upon meeting.

Austin (Harry Richardson)

• Character Summary: Austin is Cate Blanchett’s nephew who is one of Vanessa’s clients, that takes to Abby.

Antoine (Michael Benjamin Washington)

• Character Summary: Antoine is the building manager of where most of the cast lives.

Vivian (Stella Everett)

• Character Summary: Vivian was Josh’s girlfriend, but she dumped him by the end of the first episode.

Review and Commentary

Highlights

FreeForm Nostalgia [/100]

Mindy Kaling taps into the gap of being a teenager, with hopes, dreams, living free, and being middle-aged and on a trajectory you aren’t sure you want to be. Formerly, Disney’s cable station, FreeForm, was the home for shows like this, especially with programs like The Bold Type. However, like many stations you’ve grown up with, it is a shell of its former self.

Which is why Not Suitable For Work is so pleasing. It feels like what used to be on FreeForm by focusing on 20-somethings at the crux of realizing their dreams may remain fantasies. Be it Davis’ desire for a wife and having four kids, Kel wanting to be an actor, or Davis being a good person. Now, is it overdramatic for them to think they are coerced into committing to a life of misery? Yes.

However, in their defense, once that pressure to make a steady income starts, you have to quickly pick a train, and it is hard to get off it. You need to find a place, and with the security deposit, moving, and then acquiring stuff, it is hard to move again. Once you get a job, getting a new one means having to take off, likely multiple rounds of interviews, and that’s assuming you actually get to talk to a person at all.

For each character, you get this sense of hope and anxiety, the realization that reality may not be kind to you, but this feeling that, maybe if you push through, it could work out. Look at AJ and Abby. AJ all but cursed out her boss, but despite their initial interaction, she finds herself enamored by his drive and wants to prove she belongs. That, the same passion that he saw in their confrontation can translate into her work ethic.

Then with Abby? With Josh messing with her living situation and her boss being out of her mind, you can see the need to really commit to the hustle. Be it snatching Austin as a client, doing freelance, or maybe she has thought about making her own line? With her, I think we may see that entrepreneurship isn’t something to brag about, but an end to a means because opportunities that exist are so few. Never mind, as Josh showed, unless you can name-drop, doors won’t open for you, so you will have to build your own shelter and business if you want to survive.

Truly, Not Suitable For Work taps into a nostalgia and niche that really doesn’t feel touched upon, despite how much the demographic is exploding.

Overall

Our Overall Rating [86/100]

A lot of the time, when it comes to new shows, we hem and haw, hope for the best, and try to gauge if, by episode 4, usually halfway, if we can drag ourselves to the season finale. This might be the rare exception. Which isn’t to say this is the best show ever, top 3 of the year, but for my taste, and those like me, this can feel like it stands out enough to feel new, but has certain familiar touches to make it easy to latch onto as it triggers nostalgia.

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