Series / Intimate

From left to right: Leo, Emil, Bruno, Oskar, Max.

Intimate is a 2023 German comedy series about five guy friends from Hamburg in their early twenties: Bruno, Max, Leo, and identical twins Emil and Oskar, who all constantly get into uncomfortable situations and tend to dig themselves even deeper trying to get out of them.

Intimate is also a show made by five guy friends from Hamburg in their early twenties, as Bruno Alexander, Max Mattis, Leo Fuchs, and identical twins Emil and Oskar Belton star as fictionalized versions of themselves. You know how Curb Your Enthusiasm is this semi-improvised Cringe Comedy show about a rich old showbiz guy constantly making a fool out of himself? Well, imagine Larry David was five German guys at the start of their careers instead, the show featured copious amounts of sex and nudity, and the second episode featured Larry, desperate to not be cancelled, performing oral sex on his identical twin brother… Yeah.

The show actually started out as a series of Youtube videos the boys began filming while they were still in school, attempting to emulate similar comedy shows. After becoming professional filmmakers they were able to sell the concept to German streaming service Joyn, who picked it up as a series. All eight episodes of the first season are directed by Alexander, the Beltons, and Fuchs, with Mattis serving as executive producer. The guys also write all story outlines, while the actual dialogue is improvised.

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This show provides examples of:

• Accidental Public Confession: Emil scores a role in part (so he thinks) due to having claimed to be non-binary and calls Bruno to gloat, not realizing his phone is still connected to the music player on the nearby table and everyone at the audition can hear him.
• Adam Westing:
  • The boys play versions of themselves, albeit much less successful (and presumably much more obnoxious) than in real life. Only Bruno and Oskar are established to be working actors from the beginning, and they are aspiring to move on from public broadcast channel shows to streaming.
  • Danish actor Roland Møller plays an extremely volatile version of himself with Hair-Trigger Temper.
  • German actor Jonas Nay as a pretentious colleague/rival of Bruno and Oskar who's into drugs and casual sex.
  • Christian Ulmen appears as himself, that is, the obnoxious, fictionalized version of himself from the series Jerks in a Crossover.
• Ascended Fanboy: Oskar, already in a sour mood when he is told his show is only watched by boomers, has to film a sex scene with Ruby, a former extra, instead of the well-known actress who was originally supposed to play the part. The shoot goes badly until Ruby reveals she is actually a big fan of the show and was dreaming of filming a scene with Oskar, which sufficiently strokes Oskar's ego, making him able to perform with enthusiasm.
• As Himself: In addition to the Adam Westing examples, several producers, casting directors and public figures appear as themselves. Also, the roles of the make-up artist and the assistant director of the Show Within a Show are played by the actual show's make-up artist and assistant director.
• Aspect Montage: Done several times; for example, in Leo's first scene, several quick cuts of his complete mess of a room already establish him as a slob before he appears in the frame.
• As You Know: Played straight once in the first episode when Max refers to "my clothing brand" when talking to Isabella instead of just calling it by its name, but also weirdly averted when Leo asks Florian to move in with "us" without specifying that he lives with Bruno and Max; no doubt Florian wouldn't need to be told that, but as it's never established in dialogue nor shown outright until well into the season, it becomes slightly confusing.
• Bedroom Adultery Scene: The season ends on Felix, Oskar and Bruno's director, walking in on them about to indulge in a threesome with Felix's wife Alice.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Max very reluctantly agrees to let his girlfriend peg him, so they visit a sex shop to buy a dildo. Max insists on the smallest size… until the clerk recommends that the dildo should the size of the partner's penis.
  Max: Right, then that would be 'large'.
  Clerk: [cheerful] Alright, you wouldn't be the first guy to overestimate himself here.
• Big "SHUT UP!": When the boys are chilling on the roof of the building Emil and Oskar live in, a man yells at them to come down. Leo responds with "Halt die Fresse!"^note  a very aggressive way of saying "shut your mouth", not knowing the guy is the twins' Cranky Landlord.
• Birthday Party Goes Wrong: When the twins want to celebrate their birthday, Oskar convinces their landlord to let them throw a party by promising to invite his teenage son Keno, a geeky shut-in. Oskar, Emil and Bruno then spend the whole day trying in vain to get anyone else to attend, so in the end the "party" just consists of the main five plus Keno silently sitting on the couch until midnight.
• Blatant Lies: A staple of the show. In episode one, Jonas meets Leo and Florian, and Leo, desperate to cover up his affair, tells Jonas he must be confusing him for someone else despite Jonas already having called Leo by name. The gag gets repeated in the season finale when Alice's daughter recognizes Oskar in front of Bruno despite Oskar claiming they don't know each other, leading Bruno to realize he's not the only one having an affair with Alice.
• Blunt "No": Two instances where the boys are Not Even Bothering with an Excuse:
  Florian: [speaking over the intercom] Hey babe. Can I come up? I really need to use your bathroom.
  Leo: [who currently has an affair in his apartment] No. [hangs up]
  
  Keno: [approaches dressed in a medieval warrior costume] Oskar?
  Oskar: Oh God.
  Keno: Do you want to come to the LARP festival with me?
  Oskar: What's LARP?
  Keno: Live Action Role Play.
  Oskar: No. Sorry, I won't. Fuck off.
• But Liquor Is Quicker: Jonas states his wish to top Leo, who is pretty reluctant. Jonas then suggests taking drug-laced drinks to get in the mood.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Max usually gets dragged into the others' schemes instead of instigating them and suffers. Best seen in episode four, where he twists his ankle climbing over a fence and is caught by the police while graffitiing a train, while Emil, whose idea the whole thing was, gets off scot-free. He also tends to attract women with fetishes when he’s the most vanilla guy possible himself.
  • Keno, the twins' landlord's son, is belittled by his father, patronized by the LARP leader, and bullied by Oskar. But he does get the girl in the end.
• Calling Shotgun: When the guys spontaneously decide to take a vacation, Max points out his car is a four-seater, so one of them won't be able to come along. The others instantly start playing games to determine the loser: calling shotgun, touching the ground, and "the floor is lava". Leo is able to keep up with the first two games, but as he's the only one not directly standing next to a couch (and even Max steps on the chair behind him just to be safe faster than Leo can react), he loses out in the end.
• Camping Episode: Overlapping with Sick Episode: The boys have the scabies and are forced to quarantine, but decide they might as well go camping, as long as they don't interact with anyone (inevitably, they do).
• Celebrity Paradox: Roland Møller appeared with Emil and Oskar Belton in the 2016 film Land of Mine in real life, but here, he and Oskar apparently haven't previously met. Given the fact that Emil doesn't appear to be an actor at the start of the show, the implication may be that the film never happened in this alternate reality.
• Censor Box: Occasionally used to obscure people's faces in the b-roll footage. Also happens at least once in a main scene, when the guys load up the car and drive off to the campsite in episode six; the scene uses a handheld camera and was apparently shot without closing down the street for the shoot, so a passerby's face gets obscured.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: Leo smokes all the time anyway, but also uses it as a coping mechanism when he's in an uncomfortable situation. After he overhears Florian and Jonas talking about him on the bus, he struggles with lighting the cigarette due to his hands shaking.
• Comedic Sociopathy: All over the place, particularly when Bruno or the twins are involved. The tone is set in the first episode when Emil reacts with glee to watching Marie breaking down after hearing the fake news of his death, with him thinking she'll want to get back together immediately once he "returns".
• Contrived Coincidence: Because it's a Cringe Comedy, creating awkward situations takes precedence over realism:
  • After having a one-night stand with Jonas, Leo leaves as he has to help his boyfriend Florian move. When they are at Florian's new apartment, his roommate arrives… guess who it is? A particularly uncomfortable example of Introduction by Hookup.
  • Bruno and Oskar have told everyone on set, including their angry co-star Roland Møller, that Oskar's brother Emil has died to explain why they keep screwing up their takes. Later that day, the boys decide to take a dive from a bridge into the Alster (a river flowing through Hamburg) just when Møller happens to canoe there, seeing both twins very much alive.
  • Bruno becomes interested in a woman he meets completely by chance, and far from his workplace. She turns out to be his boss's wife.
• Costume-Test Montage: Bruno and Emil prepare to go to a climate protest, but since they really just want to pick up girls there, they put more effort into trying out outfits than preparing signs.
  [Emil comes out wearing a mesh shirt]
  Bruno: Are you Harry Styles, dude?
• Cover Identity Anomaly: Oskar pretends to be Keno to bed the latter’s online girlfriend when she shows up in person, but he doesn’t know the first thing about gaming.
  Giovanka: Have you been to the maze?
  Oskar: Yeah, I've been to the maze. But it was very difficult to get out.
  Giovanka: How do you mean, out?
  Oskar: Well, you have to get out of a maze, don’t you?
  Giovanka: …That's where you grind.
  Oskar: …That's what I meant.
• Cranky Landlord: Stefan, the twins' landlord, is just looking for an excuse to kick them out.
• Crash-Into Hello: Bruno first meets Alice when he accidentally backs his scooter into her bike.
• Cringe Comedy: Very much. The whole show revolves around the characters getting themselves into extremely uncomfortable situations. (In German it's called Fremdschämen.)
• Depraved Homosexual: Leo tries to paint Jonas as this to prevent Florian from moving in with him (as Leo slept with Jonas and is afraid he'll tell Florian).
  Leo: I’ve got a very, very bad feeling about that guy. He’s one hundred percent gay!
  Flo: Yeah? So are we?
  Leo: Yeah, so are we, exactly! That guy's like two heads bigger than you, he could rape you in your sleep!
• Dine and Dash: When Leo starts working at a café, the guys assume they all can eat there for free, only for the annoyed owner to tell them Leo himself can have a discount and that's it. Emil and Max then leave separately, both telling Leo (who's sitting outside talking to his recent hookup Jonas instead of working) the other has paid. Leo half-heartedly yells at Max to come back, but when Jonas invites him to his place, he decides to just leave as well.
• Dream Intro: Episode five begins with Roland Møller finally snapping and delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Bruno and Oskar, which is then revealed to be a nightmare of the latter.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: After Jonas tells them how many perks his new job on a streaming show comes with, Bruno and Oskar arrive on set demanding special treatment only to be blown off by everyone, and when they phone their agent, she claims to be busy and hangs up on them. On top of that, Oskar finds out the actress he was supposed to be shooting a sex scene with has pulled out and is being replaced with a former extra, much to his annoyance.
• Establishing Character Moment: Over the course of the first few scenes of the pilot, we get good impressions of the five protagonists:
  • Bruno, a low-level TV actor, argues with his director about the plot of his show and his character's appearance, then tells him that he has only a vague idea of the script and is planning to improvise, establishing his Small Name, Big Ego tendencies.
  • Max has awkward sex with his girlfriend and becomes uneasy when he discovers she has watched porn on her tablet, showing him to be uptight and an Insecure Love Interest. Afterwards he gets dragged into a Zany Scheme by Emil.
  • Emil's Dogged Nice Guy and Know-Nothing Know-It-All persona is established with said scheme, as he is trying to win his girlfriend back and convinced a Faking the Dead stunt will do the trick, despite Max and the audience realizing how obviously stupid it is.
  • After having sex, Leo shrugs off his lover's complaint that he paid no attention to him; then it's revealed that he just cheated, as he has a boyfriend; when they meet up, he gets annoyed after a passerby dares to smile at him. All of this goes to show that he is inconsiderate, has unresolved issues regarding his masculinity and sexuality and problems with his temper to boot.
  • Oskar, Bruno's co-star, is shown to be even less serious about learning his lines, approaches a girl in a very brazen way (taking coffee out of her hand, claiming it's terrible, and throwing it away) and tells her his character is a lead and Bruno's is supporting despite them having equal roles, making it clear he is cynical and shameless even among this bunch of guys.
• Everybody Smokes: All five main characters smoke, and alongside lots of Random Smoking Scenes it's also sometimes used as a plot point, gag, or for characterization — Jonas and Leo smoke together after sex, Emil is able to break the ice with his potential co-star at an audition over a cigarette, Leo has several Cigarettes of Anxiety and physically attacks a player at the LARP game who chides him for breaking the immersion, the owner of the campsite Bruno, Oskar, Emil and Max travel to gets on their case when they immediately break the no-smoking rule, etc. While showing casual smoking isn't as frowned upon in a German series as it would be elsewhere, it's still unusual for it to be so prevalent. As the guys are starring As Themselves and all smoke in real life, they do so on screen as well.
• Everyone Has Standards: Turns out even the guys have some:
  • When Bruno tries to find out who the mystery woman he ran into is, he follows her to a sauna, where he meets a guy who's secretly filming everyone. Bruno is happy to use his intel to identify the woman, but when the man offers him videos of children as well, he calls the police on him.
  • Oskar pretends to be Keno in an attempt to bed his online girlfriend… but at least he asks her if she's eighteen beforehand. And when he later subs in for Emil at the latter's delivery job and Emil's ex Marie comes onto him, he decides to give in… but this time at least he makes sure she's aware he's actually Oskar (which she is).
• Faking the Dead: Emil thinks Marie hearing he died will make her realize she still has feelings for him, so he has Max call Isabella to tell her the "sad news" while they are hiding out in the park near the girls. (Unsurprisingly, when Marie finds out he's alive and well, she's just pissed off.) Emil's fake death also provides a convenient excuse for Bruno and Oskar to pull out of the shoot of their series for the day, as they haven't learned their lines.
• Faux Yay: The season's last two eps have Emil, Bruno, and Oskar pretending to be non-binary, gay, and bi, respectively, as they feel cis straight guys like them are disadvantaged in showbiz. Leo plays Bruno's fake boyfriend and has to protest when Bruno's agent assumes he is also lying about his sexuality.
  Stefanie: Let's mingle. And a bit gayer, please. [makes a limp wrist gesture]
  Leo: I am gay! I'm actually gay!
• Foreign Language Title: It's a German series with an English title.
• Four Lines, All Waiting: Except for Oskar, each guy has a recurring storyline with his respective love interest: Emil tries to win back Marie, Bruno pursues a married older woman, Leo asks Florian to move in with him (then gets dumped over his cheating), Max deals with Isabella trying to spice up their love life. The episodes themselves usually feature three to four subplots (for example, episode one has one plot with Bruno/Oskar, one with Max/Emil, and one with Leo).
• Formula-Breaking Episode: The Camping Episode, aside from change in location, is a bit of a departure from the rest of the season in several ways: it takes place over a longer timespan than other episodes (which play in near-real time or cover a few hours) and is a bit more of an ensemble piece than usual (while most of the episode follows Bruno/Emil and Max/Oskar separately, the storylines converge in the end). Also, while it resolves two plot points from the previous episode (Leo's mystery condition, revealed to be scabies, and the mass order for Max's sweaters, revealed to be from Oskar and Bruno), none of the major storylines progress.
• The Friends Who Never Hang: Of all the possible intra-group dynamics, some get multiple subplots and significant screentime (Bruno/Emil, Bruno/Oskar, Emil/Max), others at least one dedicated subplot (Emil/Oskar, Max/Oskar), but as for the rest:
  • For the most part, Leo appears either in his own subplot or in the few scenes with the entire group; aside from the episode where he attends the LARP festival with Max and Oskar, there are only a few scattered instances where he interacts with the other boys. This is particularly blatant in episode six, where he misses out on a car seat for the camping trip and gets left behind, as well as the season finale, where Bruno brings Leo along to the coming out event as his "boyfriend"; the scene that sets this up is the only instance of them interacting the entire season, but afterwards they immediately end up in separate subplots.
  • Bruno also barely interacts with Max (the only pairing aside from Leo/everyone to not have one subplot together), leading to the odd situation that the three roommates (Bruno, Max, Leo) are only seen together in their shared apartment once, while Oskar and Emil are also present.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: Emil attempts this in episode four to make up for his earlier Faking the Dead stunt by spraying Marie's name on a train. He actually convinces Marie to meet him and stand in a spot where the train passes… from the side he didn't spray on.
• The Grunting Orgasm: Leo does this while having sex with Jonas; Jonas appears less than satisfied.
• Happy Ending Override: At the end of episode five, Max is down in the dumps, having been unable to sell a single product from his clothing line (and Isabella telling him they need to open up their relationship) when he suddenly receives a large order for his sweaters. Three minutes into the next episode, he finds the entire stash of clothes in the closet of the guys' apartment; it turns out that Bruno and Oskar ordered them out of pity, and Max was still unable to actually gain a single customer. The storyline is then dropped for the rest of the season.
• High-Five Left Hanging: Max does this to Emil when the latter tries to get a high five after they've sprayed a train with a love message to Emil's ex; considering Max twisted his ankle climbing over a fence to get to the tracks and Emil accidentally covered his back with spray seconds before, it's no wonder that he doesn't share Emil's enthusiasm.
• Hitler Ate Sugar: Emil gets upset when he sees Marie talking to one of her fellow students. Commenting on his mullet, he says that guys with that kind of hairstyle are just going along with a trend and are thus also the kind of people who would have voted for the Nazis.
• Home-Early Surprise: As part of his affair with his boss's wife, Bruno decides to surprise her naked in her bedroom. Naturally, she's late and it's his boss who actually discovers him. Bruno gets into a sticky situation, but not in the way he expected: His boss believes he was actually trying to surprise him, and what's more, he turns out to be very interested.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: The scene transitions feature rapid-fire editing, still photographs, the camera "running up" staircases, behind-the-scenes footage in black and white or sepia tones and various other visual quirks.
• Incredibly Lame Fun: Isabella asks Max to come up with three wishes to spice up their sex life, and she does so likewise; while hers are actually risqué (a threesome, pegging, visiting a sex club), his suggestions are "sex in the living room" and doing it blindfolded.
  Isabella: We have sex in the dark anyway. Why cover the eyes?
• Instantly Proven Wrong:
  • Bruno overhears girls on a train talking about the climate crisis and tries to charm his way into the conversation by saying domestic flights should be forbidden. Right afterwards, the train conductor shows up and tells him he’s eligible for compensation for his cancelled flight.
  • Right after Bruno and Oskar try to convince themselves their show has lots of young fans, they are recognized by two middle-aged ladies.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: It doesn't quite get violent, but while high on drugs, Leo and Jonas' cuddling turns into a sort of wrestling match determining who gets to top the other, ending when Jonas manages to pin Leo down.
• Irony: When they audition for a role, Bruno tells Emil they have no shot since they aren't diverse enough, so Emil claims to be non-binary. The audition goes well, but the casting directors can't decide between him and another guy, so they leave the decision to the leading lady after a conversation with both. After some initial awkwardness, Emil is able to win her over with his natural charm and confidence (whereas his competitor is a bit of a dork), but then accidentally reveals that he isn't actually non-binary. Before getting thrown out, the casting directors tell him that his identity never mattered to them, so had Emil just been himself, he would've landed the role.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Oskar's an ass in general and a particular one to Keno, the nerdy son of his landlord who looks up to him. In both episodes with Keno, Oskar, despite barely hiding his annoyance, does something semi-nice at first (giving Keno advice on how to approach his online girlfriend after inviting her over; giving him the shield he finds during the LARP game, which enables the player to challenge in a duel) only to screw him over later (when the girl shows up, Oskar claims to be Keno; when he discovers there's a pretty maiden to be "won" in the LARP game, he destroys the shield while Keno's not looking).
• "Just Joking" Justification: When talking to his potential co-star during an audition, Emil thinks it's a good idea to recount his Twincest experience with Oskar as funny anecdote, but quickly backtracks when the girl turns out to be disturbed rather than amused.
• Language Barrier: Roland Møller only speaks broken German mixed with English, which makes conversation difficult and explains why he has no patience for Bruno and Oskar's improv attempts. He repeatedly tells them to "stick to the Linien", a literal (and wrong) translation of the English word "lines".
• LARP: In episode seven, Keno invites Oskar to a LARP session in the local park, which he agrees to, bringing along Max and Leo, to prevent being thrown out of his and Emil's apartment by Keno's dad. Leo punches one player who criticizes him for smoking and gets banned, while Max meets a girl that is seemingly more "normal" than Isabella but turns out to be even kinkier. The initially highly irritated Oskar becomes interested in the game when he starts to believe that whoever "rescues" the Damsel in Distress genuinely gets to spend a night with her as a reward. When he wins the final duel and tries to take her home, her, the other players and the game leader are appalled since they've been fighting against the Nerds Are Pervs stereotype.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Leo's poor treatment of Florian (cheating on and constantly lying to him, insisting on their fixed roles in the bedroom despite Flo expressing interest in topping) eventually catches up with him when Jonas, his affair, gets him to bottom for the first time while high on drugs, which turns out to be a very painful experience. When Florian walks in on him cooling his butt in the shower afterwards, Leo covers by claiming he wants Florian to top him for once and is preparing for that. However, he subsequently can't handle Flo trying to enter him and finally cops to the affair. Not only does he get immediately dumped, he later also finds out Florian and Jonas are now a couple.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Bruno's first scene has him arguing with his director about his tendency to improvise. Of course, the dialogue in the scene as well as the show as a whole is improvised.
• Limited Social Circle: Max and Leo have their respective partners, and Emil reconnects with Selma, an old friend of his, but otherwise the guys only hang out with each other. Oskar and Emil aren't able to get anyone but their three friends and their landlord's son to attend their birthday party.
• Long List: When Bruno and Oskar chat up an extra on set, Bruno rattles off a list of TV shows he's already been in to impress her. Oskar dismissively refers to them as a bunch of crap.
• Lousy Lovers Are Losers: Max and Leo are both introduced via sex scenes. Their performances are representative of their major character flaws: Uptight Max can barely bring himself to look at his girlfriend and pulls out before climaxing, while insensitive Leo only cares about his own gratification and just shrugs when Jonas points out he didn't even get to come.
• Love Triangle: Several:
  • After having cheated on Florian with Jonas and gotten dumped over it, Leo finds out Florian and Jonas have gotten together.
  • Emil is trying to get back together with Marie, who attempts to seduce Oskar. The latter refuses until finding out Emil took a role from him and decides to have sex with Marie as revenge.
  • Bruno has an affair with Alice, the wife of his director, Felix, who believes Bruno is in love with him… and reciprocates his "feelings".
  • And then it's revealed that not only Bruno has been having sexual relations with Alice, so has Oskar.
• Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Leo and Florian. Unfortunately, Leo very much buys into all the assorted stereotypes and tells Florian to his face that the latter is the "woman" in the relationship.
  Leo: I don't mean biologically speaking, just… of course we're both men… but on a social...
  Florian: …level we're a gay couple between two men.
  Leo: …in which you're the woman.
  Florian: I'm not a woman! And I'm not gonna turn into one because, I dunno, I'm letting you pay for my coffee once in a while… or because I'm bossy? Is it that? Cause you're the top you’re the "male part"? If Isabella takes Max from behind, does that make her the man in their relationship then?
  Leo: In that moment, maybe, yeah.
  Florian: Is this the only way you can feel comfortable with being gay?
• Mandatory Line: Whereas the others have a storyline in all eight episodes, Leo only makes brief appearances in two of them:
  • In episode three, he doesn't show up until the birthday party near the end, and only speaks once when giving the twins their present. (Florian's actor Lukas von Horbatschewsky is credited for this episode, but doesn't actually appear, so a subplot with him and Leo might have been cut.)
  • In episode six, he only appears during the first four minutes where the boys hang around at home with scabies, being left behind while the others go on a camping trip. He's Out of Focus during these four minutes as well, not getting an individual moment and his most prominent line being an annoyed "Bye, guys" as he watches the others leave.
• Men Can't Keep House:
  • Bruno, Max, and Leo's apartment is a complete mess, with garbage lying around everywhere, dirty dishes being cleaned in the shower, and the only contents in the fridge looking like they're about to come alive.
  • Emil and Oskar's apartment is in much better shape and rather nicely furnished (it's said that they're subtenants), but Oskar's idea of "cleaning up" before his date arrives is spitting on a table to remove a stain and throwing several used tissues scattered around his bed out of the window.
• Mistaken for Gay: Felix believes Bruno to be gay after he finds him naked in his bed (he was trying to surprise Felix' wife instead).
• Mood Whiplash: Episode seven dials up the Cringe Comedy levels even more than usual, but also has the show's one genuinely dramatic moment when Leo breaks down crying after overhearing his ex-lovers badmouthing him on the bus.
• Montage Out: The season as a whole ends with one, showing Bruno and Oskar about to have sex with Alice when Felix walks in on them; Leo trashing his room in frustration after finding out Florian is now dating Jonas; Max watching Isabella having sex with another couple in the sex club, unwilling to join in; and only Emil getting a happy ending: having finally given up on trying to win back Marie, he shares a kiss with his old friend Selma.
• Mrs. Robinson: Alice, the wife of Felix, Bruno and Oskar's director, is a bored middle-aged woman who derives pleasure from younger guys serving her.
• Must Have Nicotine: When a player tells Leo glasses are allowed during LARP as he needs to see, Leo counters that he needs cigarettes to "come down".
• My Girl Is Not a Slut: Max is rather irritated by the fact that Isabella has a porn site opened on her tablet and plans to attend orientation day in skimpy clothing. It's more due to his own prudishness than his belief in a Double Standard, though.
• Nerds Are Virgins: Oskar watches Keno gaming and then needles him with questions, clearly expecting all three answers.
  Oskar: Ever fucked?
  Keno: [beat] Nuh-uh.
  Oskar: Ever kissed a girl?
  Keno: [annoyed] Also no.
  Oskar: Ever jacked off?
  Keno: [sheepishly] ...Yes.
• No Ending: In a similar fashion to other Cringe Comedies, several plotlines just finish on a particularly uncomfortable beat with no real resolution and sometimes a mild form of Snap Back. Episode one, for instance, ends with Isabella being angry at Max for going along with Emil's Faking the Dead scheme and trying to guilt-trip her for watching porn, but despite the next episode taking place the day after, none of it is brought up again. That episode in turn ends with Florian finding out about Leo's attempt to drive him out of the apartment, which we also see no fallout from (Leo just mentions how bad things have been between them recently two episodes later).
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Max is intimidated by Isabella's dad, who in turn is obviously unimpressed by the meek Max.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Episode five has Leo trying to see a doctor for a strange itch on his hand, but having lost both his insurance card (which he needs to see the doctor) and ID (which he needs to report his missing insurance card), he gets sent back and forth between a clinic, the government bureau, and the police, and everybody involved is as unhelpful as possible. The subplot is never actually resolved in that episode. By the next one, the problem has spread to Max, who visits a doctor and gets diagnosed (with scabies, as it turns out).
• One-Hour Work Week: Emil, Oskar, and Bruno are seen working (or auditioning) regularly, but also have seemingly all the time in the world for various hijinks (Bruno and Oskar's show seems to have an unrealistically loose schedule, shooting the same episode for weeks). Leo is implied to work odd jobs. Then there's Max, whose storyline involves trying to get his clothing line going, which he appears to have invested quite a bit of money in; presumably this requires a regular job, but we never get to see what he actually does for a living.
• Open Relationship Failure: Isabella declares she wants an open relationship after Max is unable to satisfy her in bed and tells him she doesn't want to see him for a while. When they meet again, Max pretends to have had a threesome to show her he's gotten more adventurous, which actually manages to impress her. They visit a swinger club in the season finale, but while Isabella starts having sex with another couple, Max pulls away, which seemingly destroys the relationship for good.
• Out of Focus: Of the five guys, Leo has by far the least screen time: In two episodes, he only shows up briefly (in episode three, he only appears at the birthday party near the end and in episode six, he is not part of the camping trip), and his subplots in the latter half of the season are relatively brief as well.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: When Bruno and Jonas meet at an audition, they get into an Argument of Contradictions about whether the roles they applied for are both leads.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Played with. The boys are, in many ways, essentially progressive zoomers who are non-judgmental and would not go out of their way to be offensive, but keep doing very stupid things due to their self-centeredness. The one time it's played more or less straight is when Bruno blows an audition and declares that he only failed because he doesn't hit any diversity points.
• Precap: The pilot opens with a highlight reel of the entire season (plus some real-life photos and additional scenes of the boys hanging out). It makes for a fitting introduction to the show's montage-heavy and fast-paced editing style, but was probably also done because the episode proper has almost no set-up or exposition and for much of the runtime, the only thing that links the three storylines together is that two of the characters are obviously brothers. The group doesn't appear together until the final scene and is only established as a friend group by the opening montage before that.
• Product Placement:
  • Max's clothing line exists in real life, run by the actual Max Mattis, and its existence predates the show by several years. Comes with a heavy dose of Self-Deprecation though, as it's a flop In-Universe and the fictionalized Max is portrayed as too timid and indecisive to properly run a business.
  • Many of the places seen in the show (the gym the characters frequent, the café Leo briefly works at, the club Max and Isabella visit) are real businesses appearing under their actual names. The catering service of the Show Within a Show Bruno and Oskar star in is the actual show's catering service. And Die Zeit, the newspaper that organizes the "Proudly Gay" event in the season finale, is of course actually one of Germany's foremost newspapers, with its longtime editor-in-chief cameoing as himself. Macbooks, on the other hand, always have their logos obscured by stickers.
• Ready for Lovemaking: Bruno tries to convince Alice to finally sleep with him (they are having an affair, but she only wants oral sex performed on her) by covering her bedroom in rose petals and presenting himself nude on the bed. Too bad her husband shows up first.
• Real Award, Fictional Character: An amusing variation: Jonas is said to have beaten Bruno at the New Faces Award in 2021 (Bruno unconvincingly claims he didn't enter the competition). The real Bruno Alexander, however, did win said award, while the real Jonas Nay is also a previous winner, but his actual win dates back to 2012. The fictional 2021 award to Jonas is later seen in his apartment.
• Roommate Com: Hits most of the hallmarks: urban setting, twentysomething cast (albeit early instead of mid- or late twenties, which makes everyone's immaturity a bit more palatable), dating foibles, Slice of Life, Seinfeldian Conversation, One-Hour Work Week etc., but downplays the roommates part, as only relatively little of the action takes place within either of the apartments.
• Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Emil is quite delusional in thinking he still has a shot with his ex, who is very obviously done with him, and uses some Insane Troll Logic to justify it. It takes him the entire season (and finding out she slept with Oskar) to get over her.
• Sex Montage: Episode four, aptly titled "Sexszene", cuts between three sex scenes during its, ahem, climax (Oskar and Ruby, while filming a sex scene, start doing it for real; Alice lets Bruno go down on her; Leo attempts to let Florian fuck him, but he's still too sore from just having cheated on him).
• Shirtless Scene: The guys tend to lounge around in their underwear when by themselves, and most episodes have at least one of them shirtless or nude.
• Show Within a Show: SOKO Undercover, the "Vorabendserie" (pre-prime time program) Bruno and Oskar star in. It's a fictional spinoff of the real SOKO franchise (SOKO stands for Sonderkommission, special investigative team) that airs on ZDF, the second German public broadcasting channel. Bruno and Oskar play a pair of drug dealers, which somehow amounts to lead roles.
• The Slacker: We only see Leo working once, as a waiter. He only serves his friends and then sits down with them, complains about his boss within earshot, promises to do a better job only to immediately take a smoking break, and then abandons the whole thing when the others leave without paying and the opportunity to have sex arises. His room also consists of practically nothing but a mattress and a clothes rack and he's shown to be short on cash, suggesting he's just barely getting by.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Bruno and Oskar are actors who are convinced they don't need to learn their lines and can just wing it. When an audition goes wrong, Bruno is convinced he's just "too straight and white" instead of genuinely not good enough.
• Smug Snake: Jonas Nay, while superficially friendly, gives Oskar and Bruno career advice that oozes Condescending Compassion, and badmouths Leo (although Leo never gave him a reason to) in front of Florian in an apparent (and successful) ploy to get together with him.
• Snowball Lie: Bruno pretends to be gay as a cover story to keep his affair with Felix's wife coming out. Felix then asks him to come out publicly at an event, where he realizes presenting as his "authentic" self might land him a major role. An envious Oskar decides to "come out" as bi to have a chance as well.
• Straight Gay: Leo, to a fault. He has no stereotypical mannerisms at all but it's also suggested he isn't all that comfortable with his sexuality. He's emotionally closed off, insists on always topping during sex and has a very heteronormative view of his relationship (i.e. he considers himself the "man"). At one point Florian flat-out asks him if presenting himself like this is the only way he can feel comfortable with being gay; Leo doesn't answer but the implication is clearly that it's true.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: When the news of Emil's "death" reaches Oskar and Bruno (which is just a part of a trick to win back his ex), they are confused for a second… and then immediately deduce that there's nothing to worry about because Emil is obviously just trying to win back his ex. More of a case of Jerkass minds think alike.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When caught by Felix in his attempt to surprise his wife all Ready for Lovemaking, Bruno is initially relieved when Felix believes Bruno was actually trying to seduce him and plays along, but things become more complicated when Felix suggests Bruno take part in an event where closeted celebrities come out publicly and then makes a pass at him. Then Alice arrives, and Bruno hastily agrees to Felix's suggestion to get out of the situation. At the event, Bruno realizes presenting as gay might get him a breakthrough role, and becomes eager to keep up the charade.
• Swallow the Key: In episode three, Bruno and Emil join a couple of environmentalists who chain themselves to trees to stop their demolition and then swallow the keys. Emil and Bruno go along with the former but neither of them will do the latter (since they only went along with the group in first place because they were looking for people to invite to the twins' birthday party later that evening).
• Take It to the Bridge: The first episode ends with the boys (except for Max) actually pulling off the stunt that supposedly claimed Emil's life earlier by jumping off a bridge into the Alster. This functions as a Series Establishing Moment as it sums up the characters' (and by extension, the show's) carefree and irreverent attitude.
• Take That!: Straight male entitlement and insecurity, such as Bruno's belief that not belonging to a minority hinders him from getting good roles, is clearly portrayed as ridiculous.
• A Threesome Is Hot: Isabella is rather keen on having a threesome with Max, never mind the gender of the third party. She even suggests "a threesome with Oskar. Or Emil. Or both". (Max points out that would make it a foursome.) She gets her wish in the season finale, but with Max only getting to watch.
• Title-Only Opening: Originally, the opening only consisted of a title card (the show's logo on a green background, accompanied by a brief music cue) played after the cold open. A few months after the episodes were released, a brief montage of clips and photos was added to the beginning of each episode as an Extremely Short Intro Sequence.
• Totally Radical: Oskar and Bruno's appearance in their show as skateboarding drug dealers is this. They try to argue that "nobody [our] age has looked like this in twenty years" but are told that they only need to be believable to the show's target group of ages 60 and up. Their director Felix, a middle-aged, dull guy, also uses already kind of passé youth slang such as "lit" in an attempt to appear cool to them.
  Felix: It's Wednesday, my dudes!
• Tragic Keepsake: After hearing that Emil "died", Roland Møller gifts Oskar his late wife's necklace. (Oskar's still wearing it when Møller finds out Emil is alive and flies into a rage.)
  Møller: You can talk to the dead with it.
  Oskar: Thanks, Roland. [fake crying, to Bruno] That'll help me a lot, won't it?
  Bruno: Sure, dude!
• Trauma Button Ending: After being pressured into committing an act of Twincest by their dates, Emil and Oskar are visited by their mother, who notes that they are uncharacteristically mopey. She then recounts an incident from their childhood where Oskar peed on Emil while they were in the bathtub, and when she realizes they are not amused by the story, jokingly asks them if they just got done bathing together again, which is enough to make Emil throw up.
• Twincest: In episode two, Emil and Oskar's double date takes a disastrous turn when one of the girls turns out to be a former classmate of theirs they used to bully. They decide to do anything she wants in exchange for her not telling anyone about their past, which includes undressing in front of each other and eventually Oskar sucking off Emil (off-screen).
• Twin Switch: On their double date, Emil and Oskar reminisce about the time they switched places in class until a girl told on them (who turns out to be one of their dates). Episode five has them pulling it off in the present day when Oskar convinces Emil to sub in for him during filming of his show since he has a case of herpes. It's played a little more realistically than other instances of this trope in that the switching does not fool people they know: Bruno immediately figures it out and so does Marie when she meets Oskar pretending to be Emil.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Times five! Downplayed with Max and Leo though — the former's main dilemma is that he's not as sexually adventurous as his girlfriend, and he actually tries to salvage their relationship. The latter, while unquestionably a huge jerk to his boyfriend, is at least shown to be sincerely down after being dumped. In contrast, Bruno and the twins' shenanigans and general awfulness are strictly Played for Laughs.
• Uptight Loves Wild: The free-spirited Isabella and the rather repressed Max are a couple, but it's not going well.
• Urine Trouble: After being forced into an open relationship by Isabella, Max meets a girl at the LARP event who appears to share his distaste for anything that isn't "normal", particularly fetishes. As they are about to kiss, Max excuses himself to pee... only for her to throw herself into the direction of his stream and catch it with her mouth.
• Wag the Director: In-Universe, Felix is a bit of a pushover (and wants to be the boys' buddy), so Bruno and Oskar are able to get away with more than they should.
• With Friends Like These...: The boys have little problem screwing each other over (Bruno revealing the Twin Switch purely out of pettiness because Emil outacted him), abandoning each other when trouble arrives (Emil fleeing the scene after graffitiing a train and leaving Max to be caught by the police), or just generally being assholes to one another (Emil, Oskar, and Bruno cheering and gloating as they are about to go on a camping trip while a sour-faced Leo, having missed out on one of the available car seats, bids them goodbye). Bruno and Oskar have a nice Friendship Moment in the season finale, but it's undercut by the revelation a few scenes later that Oskar is also having an affair with Alice.
• Zany Scheme: These unsurprisingly happen a lot. In particular, Emil's attempts to win back Marie don't consist of him actually trying to talk to her or make amends, but harebrained stunts that only work in romantic comedies.

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