What Shrill Can Teach Us About the Bare-Minimum Boyfriend

Photo: Allyson Riggs/Hulu Of all the gripping characters in Lindy West’s vibrant Hulu series Shrill, from the devastatingly charismatic best friend Fran to the dreamy, dare I say smashing, English houseguest Lamar, none transfixed me so much as perhaps its most mediocre man, Ryan. Ryan, played by Luca Jones, is the sort-of boyfriend of Annie Easton, Shrill’s West surrogate, herself brought to life by the triumphantly hilarious Aidy Bryant.

Ryan is unequivocally stunted. He has no discernible ambition, he’s selfish in bed, and he’s honestly just annoying in that way that white men can be. The psychological pull of a man who treats you like crap can be explained through a variety of theories. For one, many people tend to equate drama with excitement, so it’s easy to wind up sticking with partners who put us through the ringer.

And no one tries quite as pitifully as Ryan, the bare-minimum boyfriend. Aside from the unhinged comedy he offers the series, like trip-sitting a dog in one of the most unmoored from reality but still so seemingly plausible for Portland scenes I have ever seen, he deftly portrays a guy making an effort to relate to someone in a genuine, supportive way. In the show, we see Annie assert herself and refuse to be his backdoor mistress any longer, and Ryan starts stepping up.

Even with true glimpses of affection for Annie, we know she can do better. So why all the effort put into seeing the lovable goof side he clearly possesses? Perhaps, as writer Saeed Jones posited on Twitter, it’s to help us identify the Ryans in our own lives so that we may rid ourselves of them. But perhaps it goes a step further. It’s not just that we see the Ryans and acknowledge their allure and how hard they are to shake, it’s that we forgive ourselves for the Ryans.

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