Netflix’s Unstable with Rob and John Owen Lowe: An unapologetic nepo baby project

John Owen Lowe is not a name that rings a lot of bells except when put next to the name of his much more famous father, Rob Lowe.

The writer, actor and producer has worked almost exclusively with his dad on projects (The Grinder, The Lowe Files and Holiday in the Wild) the older Lowe has the cache to have greenlit.

And that includes Unstable, a workplace comedy that debuts its second season today on Netflix. The series is generally amiable, swinging between moments of genuine goofiness and pathos to others that feel stilted and staged.

What’s more interesting about Unstable is that it is, unapologetically, a nepo baby project. It’s not trying to hide it, it’s actually interested in engaging with it. The question is whether it has anything substantive to say about nepotism or if it’s a massive campaign of trolling.

Unstable was co-created by the two Lowes (from here in we’ll refer to them by their first names, Johnny and Rob) and Victor Fresco, the latter of whom also did Better Off Ted, Sean Saves the World and, most notably, Santa Clarita Diet.

Johnny is also a writer on the series, as he was on 9-1-1: Lone Star, a series on which Rob is the lead.

In Unstable, Rob plays Ellis Dragon, an affable if something of a manchild founder of a successful biotech company. He is a billionaire and a famous inventor who’s graced the cover of magazines. Johnny plays Jackson, his son, who also has a great scientific mind but is always in his father’s shadow.

In the first season, Jackson reluctantly starts working for his dad after Ellis displays some emotional spirally behaviour and Ellis’s chief financial officer Anna (Fleabag’s Sian Clifford) asks for his help.

Jackson wants to be his own man, and forge his own path — the typical beats you’ll hear from kids labouring under the legacy of their famous parents.

But once he’s in Ellis’s domain, it’s hard for people to see him as anything other than his dad’s kid who grew up with all the attendant privileges. The comedy in Unstable comes from that conflict, the push-and-pull of father-knows-best and the rebellious streak of an offspring who hasn’t been able to mould their own identity.

The second season starts with Jackson again trying to break away from his dad’s influence, quitting the business and signing on with Peter (Lamorne Morris), another entrepreneur who’s doing work in Jackson’s field.

Ellis is distraught that his “baby bird” flew the coop, so he buys Peter’s company to have Jackson back under the same roof. It also emerges that Peter only sought out Jackson in the first place because he wanted to get closer to Ellis — so, yes, he got a job because of his dad, but it’s also an invalidating blow when that happens.

As a character, Ellis is there for comedic effect. He does ridiculous things like waste all day obsessed with a motion-capture suit or has a live-in therapist (Fred Armisen) and it largely works because Rob is so charming. It’s the dimples, isn’t it?

As a parent, he does things that are relatable even if it’s too helicopter parent-y. He gives Jackson way too much advice (which rarely pays off), perhaps unable to fully recognise Jackson’s agency.

But Jackson is the one to watch. Given Unstable was inspired by Rob and Johnny’s real-life dynamic, and not just the 28 years since he was born but the past nine years of his professional career, it’s a personal statement on the experience.

Mostly, it seems to be frustrating to have someone always trying to control you, to be viewed as an appendage to another person. The story beats feel like they’re driven more from Johnny’s perspective than Rob’s.

In that way, maybe this is more his show than his father’s. In a Q&A between Johnny and Rob in Interview magazine, the son lists among the advice his dad has given him, “Make sure that they’re powdering your face because you get a little shiny in the afternoon”. And Rob even playfully chides Johnny on giving too long-winded answers.

On a more serious note, Johnny has acknowledged that having a famous relative opens a lot more doors for you, which is not something other more precious nepos – ahem, Ben Platt – have been honest about.

So, you can definitely appreciate that Johnny has a self-awareness he’s OK to be public about.

But sometimes it definitely feels as if Unstable is trolling the audience. One of the new cast members this season is Iris Apatow, the younger daughter of producer and director Judd Apatow (her older sister Maude is also an actor, most notably on Euphoria).

And her character is the former step-daughter of Clifford’s character who lands an internship at Ellis’s company in exchange for a favour from her dad. So, here is another nepo baby, playing a nepo baby. That feels very intentional.

If Unstable is a reflection of how Johnny feels about being a nepo baby (or, a nepo maybe he has called himself because he only has one famous parent rather than two, for example, Maya Hawke, she of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman), then it seems like he’s relatively relaxed about it.

Yes, it comes with its frustrations and he will have to fight really hard to be taken on his own terms, but there are so many privileges. He seems to actually like working with Rob – and most people would never work with family. On social media yesterday, he posted, “I love working with my dad!!!”. That’s three exclamation marks.

The show is not thorny or anxious enough to really dig into how the nepo baby debate reflects social angst over inequality and unfair advantages, or maybe it’s just the mark of someone who hasn’t had too thorny or too anxious a life.

But, eventually, maybe even soon, Johnny will have to do something without Rob. Even Rob thinks so. The older Lowe told his son in that Interview exchange, “There’s a lot more we could do but I think it would be really healthy and good for you to do something away from me.

He added with clearly a wink, “I just don’t want it to be too good”.

Everyone gets to have a complex.

Unstable is streaming on Netflix