'Adults' Season 2 Ending, Explained
Adults (2025), one of my favorite shows and one of the only hangout comedies left on TV, is back with its second season. It’s a more confident, more mature venture with Anton (Owen Thiele), Billie (Lucy Freyer), Issa (Amita Rao), Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), and Samir (Malik Elassal). Despite the logistical constraints, the show reaches new heights and ends on a few twists that will leave fans, myself included, begging for a third season as soon as possible.
Seriously, it’s mind-boggling to me that Adults must tell a season’s worth of stories in eight 22-minute episodes. It does so in a far more streamlined approach than Season 1, which pays off by the season’s end. It also helps that the Adults cast has grown into their parts and their comedic timing this season. Everyone is firing on all cylinders, even when they aren’t the main focus of a scene. It gives the show more depth beyond what’s on the page, which is already excellent. It all culminates with Adults Season 2 Episode 8, “Vote for Paul Baker,” where everything is on the line–from the friend group’s house to their various relationships.
Can The Friend Group Save Their House From The HOA?
The issue around the house arises when Paul Baker runs for president of the Homeowners Association. He finds competition not from the incumbent, Sandy Adler (David Paymer), but from his daughter, Nina (Zosia Mamet). There’s already a lot to unpack in this alone. On the one hand, Paul Baker reveals that the only reason he got involved with the HOA is that Anton indirectly encouraged him. He cares what Anton thinks of him! I can’t get over Paul Baker and Anton checking in with each other this season, from how Paul Baker’s other friend group reflects on him to how Anton’s relationship with his sister Talia (Raven-Symoné) reflects on Anton.
Anyway, Paul Baker’s efforts to win work too well, putting him ahead of Sandy. So, Nina, who wants her 70-year-old father to have something to do with his time, blackmails Billie to throw the election. There’s even a nod to Girls (2012) through Mamet saying, “You think you’re the first people to be young and adorable in New York?” Otherwise, Nina will tell the HOA that they’re breaking a rule by having five unrelated people under one roof. The Adults Season 1 finale shows the lengths this group will go to to stay together. Everyone rallied around Paul Baker and volunteered to marry him when his Visa expired. This season does the same when Issa and Paul Baker break up. Samir asks whether their breakup means Paul Baker will move out, but Issa shuts down that concern. There’s no separating this group.
So, the friends rally together, with returning guest star Julia Fox playing herself, to get Paul Baker to lose. Anton and Issa even take to the library, where the election is being held, to intimidate voters from voting for Paul Baker. It’s the same amount of effort that everyone puts in for Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) to get votes for Pawnee City Council in Parks and Recreation (2009) Season 4, Episode 13, “Bowling for Votes.” The difference is that the Adults characters pivot to damage Paul Baker’s character in the community and succeed.
Who Ends Up Together In The 'Adults' Season 2 Finale?
Issa finally gets Anton to admit his feelings for Paul Baker. He even agrees that he loves Paul Baker! It just so happens to accidentally air on the news coverage of the election, so everyone sees it. Regardless, Issa encourages Anton to tell Paul Baker the truth and reassures Anton that their friendship won’t change because of it. So, Anton runs home to Paul Baker. It’s a perfect bookend to Adults’ first episode, where Anton lies about running the New York City marathon. That side quest is what brings Paul Baker into the group in the first place. Now, Anton is actually running to Paul Baker in a moment that feels big, like romantic-comedy big.
At home, Billy and Samir encourage Paul Baker to do what makes him happy. For Paul Baker, being happy is being with Anton. The balloons fall in celebration of Paul Baker losing the election and him and Anton finally being together. Meanwhile, that same night, Samir and Carly (Rachel Marsh) break up before long-distance can decide for them. It’s a tough choice for Carly, but she can’t ask Samir to uproot his life to follow her to Seattle for her dentistry residency. Adults does a really great job this season of showing their relationship’s strengths (and Carly as a character). It’s sad to see it end after so much effort from them both, but the fact that it’s sad proves Adults did its job well.
After all, the writing is on the wall for a childhood friends-to-lovers arc for Billie and Samir. Therefore, Samir and Carly breaking up gives me hope. The season does that, too, with Samir assuring Billie when she spirals about being “too old” or when Billie tells Samir that she was sad when she thought he’d be leaving. Still, never in a million years did I think this season would end with Issa thinking that Paul Baker and Anton are hooking up, only for it to be Billie and Samir. On the other hand, I love that Issa brought the librarian, Margaux (Mia Fowler), home. They match each other’s “weird little guy” energy perfectly! Needless to say, the whole house is in new relationships, and I need to see what happens next. Adults Season 3 when?!
