Better Things Season 2
The first season of Better Things, based heavily on co-creator and star Pamela Adlon’s real life, followed Sam Fox, a middle-aged actress mom juggling auditions, dating, and the parenting of her three daughters: Max (Mikey Madison), Frankie (Hannah Alligood), and Duke (Olivia Edward). Co-created with Louis C.K., it has a similar slice-of-life feel to his series, Louie. However, it’s far more hopeful and far more controlled with its storytelling. The storytelling is a charming surprise in how it stealthily teases out conflict. Something Better Things has proven to be adept at is presenting a “day in the life” situation and then gradually revealing the problem that needs to be dealt with beneath it. For nearly half the episode, it almost feels like there’s no conflict; we’re simply checking in with Sam, her daughters, her friends, and her mother. Jumping around between everyone at the party is a great setup for a season premiere as it quickly and organically reacquaints us with all of these characters. Frankie, the middle child, is still talented (she sings) and is alternatively an antagonist and a comrade to her mother. Duke, the youngest, is a shocking little hellion, who, left to her own devices with her friends, is playing truth or dare, daring one girl to stick four Monopoly houses up her vagina (“That’s the same as a hotel,” the lone boy of her friend group helpfully observes). Sam’s mother Phyllis (Celia Imrie) is still wonderfully inappropriate at all times, declaring right in front of Frankie that after Sam’s divorce the children “never quite bounced back.” The conflict is revealed to lie, as it often does, with Sam’s oldest, the 16-year-oldMax who is dating a guy in his thirties named Arturo. This isn’t a show of extremes, so Arturo isn’t a violent predator or anything; he’s just a creepy douchebag. The problem resolves quickly and fairly quietly, but it’s meaningful in its execution. In a great scene, Max has to get over her natural teenage inclination to view her mom as the enemy and admit she’s in over her head. Sam then just tells the guy in her no-nonsense way that, duh, he shouldn’t be dating a 16-year-old. In a cornier sitcom, Sam would have a sum-up heart-to-heart with her daughter at the end, but this series is more realistic, ending with her choosing to leave Max alone with her thoughts for the remainder of the night.
