With an impending wedding in the air, it would make sense that love would worm itself into the fabric of Somebody Somewhere. Not that it’s been absent. It was Sam’s love for her sister that first brought her back to Manhattan. And it is the affection she feels for her family (no matter how vexing those relationships may be) that keeps her there. Moreover, no matter how uncomfortable it may make her, it’s also clear that Joel cares for her quite a bit. He loooves her, as he needles her often. She clearly also has a soft spot for that blindingly optimistic BFF she’s made. But romance has, for the most part, been an elusive theme. Until now.
It begins with an awkward moment as Sam starts back up again with her singing lessons with her old school teacher (Barbara Robertson) decades later. She’s called to sing something she loves. Perhaps even a love song. It’s a simple request but it hits a chord. Sam gets pensive and even gets a tad emotional once she sings a few bars of “That’s All” (“I can only give you love that lasts forever”). Sure, she’s there to hone her voice so she can perform at Fred’s wedding but there’s something about these professions of love that make her uncomfortable. That’s only made worse by yet another throwaway line once they begin working on Sam’s breath at a later lesson: The feeling of getting to master her breath is, she’s told, “like the first time falling in love.”
Talk about a sore subject. It’s only later that Sam confesses to Joel that such a harmless line cut right through her because, well, she’s never been in love. It’s an admission she tries to brush off as a defensive posture. Why would anyone, let alone she, want to fall in love when it so clearly comes with so much pain, so much disappointment? “Why would I do that to myself?” she asks Joel. The Sondheim fan in me almost wished the show had gone full Company here, as Sam likely needs a dose of “Being Alive.” Then again, Joel’s grinning wide-eyed outlook on the world was enough to soften Sam enough (eventually!) to admit that maybe she should grapple with those feelings rather than push them away forcefully.
She should learn a thing or two from Joel who may well be in his very own rom-com. For our beloved Brad (Tim Bagley) made a welcome return and got to have a lovely meet-cute with Joel as the latter waited out for Sam’s lesson to be over and agonized over his own assignment for Fred’s wedding. (Will Fred want a religious kind of wedding, even as Joel is still struggling with how to return to the church after those lies he had to own up to last season?) Hiller and Bagley are a wonderful comedic duo, each of their twee awkwardness making their dynamic feel unlike any other queer flirting you’re likely to encounter anywhere else on American television—followed, of course, by talk of a boner and pleats, because that’s the kind of show we’re in.
The other show we’re in is a dysfunctional family dramedy, and it’s a testament to Somebody Somewhere that even in dealing with particularly painful topics like Mary Jo’s behavioral issues and the stress they cause her daughters, the show never becomes dour nor weighed down by such dark moments. That moment when Tricia and Sam are told her mother’s going to be transferred to Wichita where she’ll get the help she needs is heartbreaking because it begs the question of how much can you love and care for someone who so obviously doesn’t want either (from you, at least)? Mary Jo is still “vicious,” as her daughters note, and yet there’s no question of what her two daughters will do. Here is love as sacrifice, a feeling familiar to many of us watching.
No wonder Sam can get so bogged down when she has to assess her life, especially her romantic life. Everything around her can feel like a chore (even hanging out with Joel, who won’t let her just stare at the wall in peace). What kind of room could she make for anyone else? The season did begin with a rule of NNP (“no new people”) and now, between Brad and Susan, can we expect someone else to show up for Sam?
Then again, maybe Somebody Somewhere is setting up a broader conflict between the two central BFFs that’s borne out of Sam’s rigid idea of what her (love) life can be. How long can Joel keep up his sunny smile in light of Sam’s constant smirk-turn-frown? Can Sam really keep up with his positivity? Does he have enough patience to keep bringing her up from her burrowed depths of depression? Can Joel win her over into his optimism or will he eventually cave at her indomitable sense of cynicism?
Stray observations
- Do we think it’s spelled “Tricia’pon a Star”? Unsurprisingly, Tricia is pretty great at this whole event design planning thing and was unsurprisingly attentive and empathetic to what Fred and Susan wanted as they came over to figure out what kind of table setting they’ll best enjoy at their wedding. (Also, of course Susan and Tricia would hit it off!)
- Speaking of Tricia, I may have to borrow “That is so drama, can you just not?” as a valid response when I have no time for whatever is taking place in front of me.
- Speaking of Tricia Part 2, I truly laughed out loud when she asked, “Who is Amy Sedaris?” (which, really, is what Amy herself would’ve wanted).
- More Tricia and Sam bonding, please. First it was drinks at home and now it’s drinks by the car. What’s next?
- Because of its unassuming and low-key vibe, one may get the sense that Somebody Somewhere is more focused on dialogue and chemistry than any stylistic preoccupations. That’s a needless dichotomy and I wanted to make sure to highlight one aspect of the show that risks being unheralded: its costume design. It may not be flashy nor eye-catching in a traditional way. But understood as wholly helping flesh out who people like Joel and Sam are—and, ironically, how much or little they actually care about their own appearance, not to mention the way they clearly work on a given budget to achieve their everyday wear—what Tasha Goldthwait is doing is quite remarkable. Sam’s oversized shirts, Joel’s shorts, even Tricia’s beige aesthetic, give us a window into a world of big box stores where things like “style” and “fashion” feel like foreign words. Still, the show keeps forcing us to avoid judging books by their covers. (See: Brad and his tote bag!)
- In case you were wondering, Joel’s busy reading Dearie: The Remarkable Life Of Julia Child because of course he is.
