Five friendships on Netflix that will instantly lift your mood
It is weird how, after a long, exhausting day, a good on-screen friendship can be just the fix. You sit down thinking you’ll just watch one episode, and next thing you know, you’re grinning at people who don’t even exist. It’s not the story, really; it’s the way they talk, the way they just… know each other. Makes you think about your own people, how half your conversations are nonsense, but somehow that’s what keeps you sane.
If you have a high emotional quotient, you might realise at times that the shows that stay with you these days, especially, aren’t the big romances. They’re the ones where two or three people just keep choosing each other, even when it’s messy. Netflix has a bunch of them in its catalogue. Unpolished friendships that aren’t performative.
Hence, these five friendships will hit you differently. You can watch them when you’re tired or lonely or just bored with pretending to have it together, and they’ll remind you that life is not all that bad.
Five friendships on Netflix that will instantly lift your mood
Dead to Me (2019–2022)
Jen and Judy are a disaster, honestly. They meet in a grief group, and it should’ve stopped there, but of course, it doesn’t. One is furious at the world, the other is guilty about something she won’t say, and somehow they hold each other up through every bad decision. Half the time they are yelling, half the time they are crying, and you keep thinking they’ll give up on each other, but they don’t. They just keep showing up, wine in hand, like that’s the only rule they’ve got left.
What makes it addictive isn’t the murder or the mystery, though. It is the way they forgive each other without speeches. Just little things like the silence after an apology and the stupid jokes that make no sense but ease the tension. It feels real in an uncomfortable way that’s a bit uncomfortable, yet real.
Derry Girls (2018–2022)
Oh, the more you talk about Derry Girls, the less it is. These girls make noise; we call it art. They talk over each other, they are dramatic about everything, and you know what, we are here for it. Erin’s trying to be deep, Michelle’s inappropriate as always, Clare’s panicking, Orla’s somewhere in her own world, and poor James is just trying to survive them all. Every episode is a personally curated gift by Netflix to those who embrace weirdness.
It’s not about the plot at all if you understood the show. True fans know about how they stick together when everything around them is complicated and a bit dangerous. It feels like every friendship you’ve ever had in school. You never cared for it being loud and stupid. But you knew it was the safest place on earth.
Girls5eva (2021–)
They used to be famous. Now they’re middle-aged, tired, and still a bit ridiculous. And yet, they are trying to make a comeback with the same friends who remember every bad haircut and emotional breakdown. They fight, and they fall apart mid-song, but the second the music starts, you can see how much they still love it and each other.
It’s funny in that way where you can tell the writers actually like these women. They tease them, sure, but there’s so much affection in it. Watching them feels like reconnecting with old friends who still make you laugh till you choke, but also know exactly what you’ve been through.
Grace and Frankie (2015–2022)
Ahh, there is no need to explain the bond between these two, as it’s pretty much clear by the name. Two women who should technically hate each other end up sharing a beach house because their husbands fell in love. Whoever thought of it was a genius! For years, we have seen women in cinema fight over men, and watching them bond over a shared trauma reminds us how precious female friendships are. Grace is all control, Frankie’s all mess, and watching them find a rhythm is comforting in a weird way. They drive each other mad, but in that way where you know they’d collapse without the other.
There is this scene where they are drunk on the floor, laughing about nothing, and it hits you that this is what growing old with a friend looks like. Not neat, just alive. You finish an episode and kind of want to call someone you miss.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)
Those who have experienced a healthy friendship know that there is no such thing as a “boundary” in it. And Stacy and Lydia feel exactly like the kind of best friends you have before you know what boundaries are. They are glued together till a boy ruins it, then they act like life is over, and it’s both hilarious and a little painful because that’s how teenage friendship works.
It’s a small and sweet friendship which is weirdly sincere. They mess up, they sulk, and they make up in that clumsy teenage way that makes adults nostalgic for problems that used to fit inside a school day. By the end, it’s hard for you not to smile because you remember what it was like to care that much about someone.