Better Things Season 4 Discussion

[Door County Cherry]

The show is back on March 5th.  We're going to do season threads from here on out so please post all discussion of the episodes in this thread.

You can still use the other threads for things unattached to episodes.  

S04.E01: Steady Rain

Quote

Sam picks the girls up from a trip.

S04.E.02: She's Fifty

Quote

Sam embraces her life.

 

[Jeanne222]

I watched.  It was a double header.  Still loving Sam!I

 

[Liamsmom617]

 Some episodes of this show leave me thinking, "WTF did I just watch?" Others are unbelievably relatable. I have nowhere near as much money as Sam and my kids are (thankfully) more respectful toward me than Frankie and Max. But I have 3 kids (all teens now) and we do have a somewhat jokey, unconventional relationship at times, so I can relate to all of that. 

  When the camera panned over Frankie's room and we saw the word "penis" written on a sheet of paper, I cracked up. One of my 15-yr-old daughters is at the "dick jokes are hilarious" stage right now, and on a recent Disney trip w/her school's band, she got one of those Mickey ears "charms" (which you can have engraved w/a name) engraved w/the word "penis". (She also has a fake IG account in which she pretends to be a guy.) She doesn't have the gender issues Frankie has; she just has a lot of guy friends and thinks dick jokes are funny. But seeing that "penis" written on paper in Frankie's room amused me to to end. (Though, in hindsight, perhaps it has to do w/her gender situation?)

  Oh yeah, and when the kids didn't help Sam load their luggage into the trunk in the pouring rain, ("She's fine.She's got it.")--TOTALLY my kids, though if asked, they'd help. It just doesn't occur to them otherwise. (And, if called on it, they'd say, "Just ask us, Mom. We can't read your mind!") Also, Duke giving such sage, sweet advice to Sam's friend going through the breakup...that's totally my other daughter. 🙂

   So glad this show is back! 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Liamsmom617

[sistermagpie]

I thought that was a very interesting premiere, putting everyone in a different place. Frankie's gotten over her all-terrible all the time stage in time to turn 15. She still has issues with her father, obviously, and I liked how ambiguous the show kept it as to how the girls' experience with their dad had been during the trip.

Also like how Frankie, who obviously considers herself very Woke, is looking for excuses for why she can have a quinceanera and not be doing any cultural appropriation. Very human, very white and very teenager. She's still the kid most intensely focused on challenging and psychoanalyzing mom, which is nice. Also glad it seems that Max has a regular job now. Her life's now more like a teenager with a summer job than a teenager on spring break. The kids are all very different and interesting people--they also all seem to reflect some different aspect of Sam.

[scrb]

Only watched the first half hour.  OK, I see a lot of paintings all over the house that I don't recall seeing previously.  Turns out the middle daughter has taken up painting and is some kind of a precocious genius at it.

I thought maybe the old daughter, the photographer, took up painting and these were her work.

Then the pick up and both of the younger two girls are affectionate and such.

For a second there, I thought the show was trying to gaslight the viewers who've watched the previous seasons, that these girls have grown up and they're maturing.

Then they let Sam load their luggage.  Right back to normal!😁

So Sam turns 50 and it's like a day in the life of thing, I guess?  She has to mother her daughters, her mother and her gay friend.

I still scratch my head at the rave reviews this show has gotten.  It's okay, it's not some mindless broadcast network sitcom.  But are these characters and their lives interesting?

Succession showed how great a show could be with just about every character being unlikeable, despicable even, because the story and characters are interesting.

Better Things has unlikeable characters but not sure they're that interesting, no matter how they dress it up.

The two older daughters are artists now, so I guess Sam is great for harboring these creative souls, putting up with their whiny behavior for years.  The youngest one is a sweetheart, still seems to be.  But she doesn't have some artistic talent, at least none that they've shown, so she has to be a sweet kid?

If that's how these girls turn out what a load of bull that would be.

If the show stays on the air long enough, is there any doubt these daughters will be living with Sam, still behaving childishly, well into their 20s?

 

[Ottis]

I decided I pretty much hate the music on this show. It’s mostly some kind of hippy, 70s vibe and ugh. With occasional millennial punk. I did like “These Shoes Suck” but we heard like 10 seconds, way less of that song than any other. 

I’m surprised woke girl is so blind to the wrongness of appropriating the Latino ceremony for girls.

So much drama on this show. Just invite loser dad and move on.

And then there are some really nice adult scenes like Rico talking about his break up, and Duke hugging him. 

Is it bad that when Sam’s girls act nice it makes me suspicious? 

[sistermagpie]

21 hours ago, scrb said:

Only watched the first half hour.  OK, I see a lot of paintings all over the house that I don't recall seeing previously.  Turns out the middle daughter has taken up painting and is some kind of a precocious genius at it.

I thought there were always paintings all over the house. I never thought Frankie was supposed to have painted all of them. Seems like she'd have to have been seriously manic to do all that in however much time she had since we last saw her.

 

[scrb]

1 hour ago, sistermagpie said:

I thought there were always paintings all over the house. I never thought Frankie was supposed to have painted all of them. Seems like she'd have to have been seriously manic to do all that in however much time she had since we last saw her.

 

Yeah I am making an assumption.  But the camera really focused on the paintings and now in the title sequence, they feature the paintings in the background.

So maybe Sam is a collector and she's been accumulating them for years but never recall them really featuring them.

Then they show the daughter just painting.  She painted more of an abstract while those other paintings were figurative.  Would have quite a range if she did paint all of them.

[For Cereals]

I get the car, but the snake?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

While part of me is all for the show having the creative freedom to do different stuff, I really did not need the first three minutes of meandering shots through Los Angeles. I could also do with less scenes of Sam cooking (or just shorten them).

I rarely take Max's side on anything, but if she worked until 2:30am then it's fine to let her sleep past breakfast. And it's not like she was just out late with her friends. She was working which is a legit reason for her to be up late.

Poor Rich. It's devastating enough to get dumped but to try to talk the dumper into believing that he doesn't want to dump you? Yeesh.

Sam was a sweet supportive friend to the the woman whose husband left her.

Wow, it really sucks that they re-hired everyone except Sam for the reboot of a show that she did for ten years. That's gotta hurt.

A+ for using that old Kelly song. I still remember the video for Shoes. Sometimes when I'm shoe shopping, I still get the urge to start yelling, "These shoes rule! These shoes suck!"

Heh and the Molly Shannon shout out was funny.

On 3/7/2020 at 8:30 AM, sistermagpie said:

I thought there were always paintings all over the house. I never thought Frankie was supposed to have painted all of them. Seems like she'd have to have been seriously manic to do all that in however much time she had since we last saw her

Yes, there have always been paintings all over the house. They're especially prominent in the common areas and have been shown in past seasons a lot. In a previous episode, Sam discussed collecting the plethora of art that's in the house.

 

[TVbitch]

A huge snake and a little chinchilla.... what can go wrong? 

Sam tries so hard to be "cool" but she seems just as needy, overly dramatic, and impulsive as her kids. 

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, TVbitch said:

A huge snake and a little chinchilla.... what can go wrong? 

Sam tries so hard to be "cool" but she seems just as needy, overly dramatic, and impulsive as her kids. 

Honestly, the main difference is that she works hard and supports herself and them.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4.1 clips:

Duke's speech

Phil in the car

4.2 clip

audition

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S4.E3: Escape Drill

Quote

Sam gives her friends a marital intervention.

Promo:

Original air date: 3/12/20

Edited March 11, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[One Imaginary Girl]

On 3/9/2020 at 8:52 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

While part of me is all for the show having the creative freedom to do different stuff, I really did not need the first three minutes of meandering shots through Los Angeles. I could also do with less scenes of Sam cooking (or just shorten them).

One of the things I really appreciate about this show is the realism of Sam's home.  It's a little cluttered and messy, but that's to be expected when you have kids and the parent's job could mean very long days.  (Plus she's sandwiched between kids and her own mother, who needs to be looked after a bit.)  A lot of TV residences seem kind of sterile, but this house seems to have stuff in it that the family member likes and may have kept for sentimental reasons.   And I like the cooking scenes--most shows at most show people eating but not how the food got on the table, and it can be a pleasure to cook.  It looks like Sam enjoys it.

[The Hound Lives]

On 3/6/2020 at 2:08 PM, scrb said:

 

Then the pick up and both of the younger two girls are affectionate and such.

For a second there, I thought the show was trying to gaslight the viewers who've watched the previous seasons, that these girls have grown up and they're maturing.

Then they let Sam load their luggage.  Right back to normal!😁

So Sam turns 50 and it's like a day in the life of thing, I guess?  She has to mother her daughters, her mother and her gay friend.

I still scratch my head at the rave reviews this show has gotten.  It's okay, it's not some mindless broadcast network sitcom.  But are these characters and their lives interesting?

Succession showed how great a show could be with just about every character being unlikeable, despicable even, because the story and characters are interesting.

Better Things has unlikeable characters but not sure they're that interesting, no matter how they dress it up.

The two older daughters are artists now, so I guess Sam is great for harboring these creative souls, putting up with their whiny behavior for years.  The youngest one is a sweetheart, still seems to be.  But she doesn't have some artistic talent, at least none that they've shown, so she has to be a sweet kid?

If that's how these girls turn out what a load of bull that would be.

If the show stays on the air long enough, is there any doubt these daughters will be living with Sam, still behaving childishly, well into their 20s?

 

I think I have stuck it out because I dislike the characters so much. 😬 I hate watch. Well, don’t hate but I’m with you, these people are not interesting. I like Sam 75% of the time. The other 25% I think she’s a lifeless drag. 
The kids though? Awful. I understand we’re talking about preteen and two teenagers. I know those age as well. They can be snotty, manipulative, self-serving and self-righteous. This show takes all of those exhaustive traits and multiplies it by 1000. I am all for progressive parenting. A little longer “leash”, more open conversations. But these three girls, with the exception of the occasional glimmer of kindness, are awful. Max is an entitled load. Frankie is an entitled load. Max is on her way to the same. There is no balance. I know the show isn’t following the usual comedic script of network television but it’s tough when then is no one to root for. 
I don’t even root for Sam very often. Sometimes I wonder how she has adult friends at all or when she ever thought she was maternal. I hate to feel this shit because I want to LOVE this show. Sam is close to my age, a lot of her experiences are mine. They are just presented in a way that makes me cringe at approaching 50, not celebrate it. Your mileage may vary, of course.

[scrb]

S04E03 - 

That scene where Frankie barks at Sam to get out and slams the door in her face and Sam running off with her tail between her legs to Max’s room and Max rolling her eyes at her for not getting it as far as what Frankie is up to is Better Things in a nutshell.

Her daughters get to talk to her and do whatever they want.  Maybe there have been instances when Sam put her foot down but doesn’t seem likely, does it?

Plausibility becomes a problem because you can’t believe how they keep walking over her, openly contemptuous of her.

 

So Max is putting money away in her IRA because she doesn’t want to be like Sam when she’s Sams age, worried about money.  Again the disrespect for her mother but they never depicted her having any kind of money issues.  She did lose a voiceover gig and drove a modest car but has a pretty large home in Southern CA and is obviously supporting them, maybe helping out the mother.

Sam’s finances would be stronger if the daughters left the nest as they reach adulthood so richly ironic that Max is commenting about Sam’s money situation.

But that manicurist gave Max good advice and then the waxing scene was suppose to be clever with references to Sam’s genitalia?

 

I don’t care about the friends who were house sitting.  She was bitter that he moved on, kicked him a couple of times, but the dialogue wasn’t memorable.

 

 

[sistermagpie]

8 hours ago, scrb said:

Sam’s finances would be stronger if the daughters left the nest as they reach adulthood so richly ironic that Max is commenting about Sam’s money situation.

It is nice how obviously entitled Max is. She doesn't want to be like Sam, whose credit card she just used to randomly buy a chinchilla, for whom Sam just bought a giant cage she's trying to put together (or maybe that was for the snake?). She thinks she's being the more financially responsible by putting away money in her retirement account while skipping over how she doesn't have to pay for rent or food or clothing because those are still coming from Mom. 

Also that she claimed she never said Frankie was a boy which, of course, she totally did.

I admit, while I don't have a problem with Sam's style of parenting it is strange to me to imagine myself at nearly 15 having some guy in my bed in the middle of the afternoon in a house full of people including my mother, as if my bedroom is a hotel room and nobody's going to awkwardly interrupt.

I was a little surprised Sam didn't knock, she's so very careful about the girls' feelings and privacy. She was probably only so careless because she'd brought home goodies she was excited about. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It's so sad to see sweet smart Duke turn into a teenage girl who thinks she's fat and needs a nose job.

There are times when I just can't relate to the show. This week it was when Sam got home and found Frankie in bed with some random guy. Sam kept apologizing and Frankie was furiously yelling at her mom to get out. If my parents had found me in bed with a guy when I was in high school, they would have thrown his ass out, yelled at me endlessly, and then grounded me forever.

The making amends scene was a great reminder of what an asshole Jeff has been. I still remember the scene where Sam told him what she thought of him.

[txhorns79]

On 3/13/2020 at 11:37 AM, sistermagpie said:

It is nice how obviously entitled Max is. She doesn't want to be like Sam, whose credit card she just used to randomly buy a chinchilla, for whom Sam just bought a giant cage she's trying to put together (or maybe that was for the snake?). She thinks she's being the more financially responsible by putting away money in her retirement account while skipping over how she doesn't have to pay for rent or food or clothing because those are still coming from Mom. 

I wanted to be like: "Maybe your mom has money issues Max because she dropped what must have been tens of thousands on your college last season, only to have you randomly show up at home and announce you were dropping out."  

I also feel like there would be a near riot at a clothing store if a clerk purposefully skipped over a bunch of women standing in line to try to ring out the younger, more attractive one.  Has anyone ever actually had that happen?      

Quote

There are times when I just can't relate to the show. This week it was when Sam got home and found Frankie in bed with some random guy. Sam kept apologizing and Frankie was furiously yelling at her mom to get out. If my parents had found me in bed with a guy when I was in high school, they would have thrown his ass out, yelled at me endlessly, and then grounded me forever.

Sam can be almost frustratingly permissive with her daughters.  Though I think it's because she doesn't establish good boundaries with them, and seems to vacillate between the times she wants to be seen as their mother and the times she wants to be their friend.

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, txhorns79 said:

I also feel like there would be a near riot at a clothing store if a clerk purposefully skipped over a bunch of women standing in line to try to ring out the younger, more attractive one.  Has anyone ever actually had that happen?      

Never. But if it did I absolutely believe that the women themselves wouldn't stand for it. I can't believe the woman at the front wouldn't have noticed the guy waving her over and simply walked up to the counter herself. Nobody would stand for that.

Max really was presented as incredibly young (while also sexy) in this ep. She has her earnest speech about saving money, also suggests that women in their 40s (and who look like they're in their 40s) maybe aren't strong enough to wait on line for too long and also gets praised by Sam for remembering to check the exit to see if the lost child maybe walked outside, as if she were the lost toddler herself.

[possibilities]

I was genuinely shocked Sam's response to finding Frankie in bed with a boy was to tell Max "but you said Frankie was a boy." Sam couldn't figure out that whether or not Frankie is a boy, Frankie could still be in bed with a boy?

 

[BC4ME]

I'm actually surprised they brought that Frankie is a boy thing up because they seemed to completely drop it. It's been years ago IRL, but I don't know how many years for the actual character since it was mentioned.

[TVbitch]

 

On 3/12/2020 at 9:20 PM, The Hound Lives said:

I think I have stuck it out because I dislike the characters so much. 😬 I hate watch.

Me too. None of them seem to have any self awareness. 

[Door County Cherry]

On 3/14/2020 at 3:04 PM, txhorns79 said:

I wanted to be like: "Maybe your mom has money issues Max because she dropped what must have been tens of thousands on your college last season, only to have you randomly show up at home and announce you were dropping out."  

Yep.  She's supporting her daughters.  She's supporting her mother.  And it sounds like she's still paying her ex-husband either alimony or child support.  I do think she has made reference to alimony in the past.  

So any money issues she might have aren't related not knowing how to save. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

Yep.  She's supporting her daughters.  She's supporting her mother.  And it sounds like she's still paying her ex-husband either alimony or child support.  I do think she has made reference to alimony in the past.  

So any money issues she might have aren't related not knowing how to save. 

Exactly. For all intents and purposes, she's supporting a family of six (three kids, her mom, however much she's paying her ex, and herself) and she lives in LA which has a high cost of living. Her oldest daughter thinks it's no big deal to spend $500/month on Lyft (on Sam's credit card) or to drop out of school mid-semester so Max herself is where some of Sam's money issues come from.

I thought it was a bit much that Max even mentioned Sam not managing her money well considering that these girls have a roof over their heads, three meals a day, iphones, vacations, plenty of clothes/shoes/makeup. Sam not only owns her own house but she bought Phil's as well. When you take all of those things into account, Sam seems pretty fucking financially responsible, especially for a single parent.

[sistermagpie]

9 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Exactly. For all intents and purposes, she's supporting a family of six (three kids, her mom, however much she's paying her ex, and herself) and she lives in LA which has a high cost of living. Her oldest daughter thinks it's no big deal to spend $500/month on Lyft (on Sam's credit card) or to drop out of school mid-semester so Max herself is where some of Sam's money issues come from.

I thought it was a bit much that Max even mentioned Sam not managing her money well considering that these girls have a roof over their heads, three meals a day, iphones, vacations, plenty of clothes/shoes/makeup. Sam not only owns her own house but she bought Phil's as well. When you take all of those things into account, Sam seems pretty fucking financially responsible, especially for a single parent.

I think that had to have been the point, to show how incredibly blinkered Max's pov is. As was mentioned, Max spends money as if it's not worth anything. She's allowed to use her mother's credit card and obviously never thinks of anything she buys on it having to be paid for, or adds up how much she's spending with it. But somebody at work told her about a retirement account and now she feels very grown-up and responsible by putting a percentage of her paycheck into it (for now--who knows how long she's been doing it) and thinks by doing that she'll be much more set than her mother is at 50. Even though Max's job as a hostess is not paying as well as any of her mother's acting jobs.

Though I think what Max mentioned was specifically Sam always *worried* about money--iow, it's not like she's ever thought of them as wanting for anything, she just knows that Sam talks about money and hustling to get work. For some kids that might have translated into having an awareness of money themselves, maybe being careful about using Mom's credit card because they see her having to worry over it and chase and work jobs to get it. But Max went in the other direction, being completely careless about her mother's money while telling herself all that anxiety must just mean Mom hasn't heard about these retirement account thingies and is doing it wrong.

[possibilities]

Sam has at least a little of the responsibility for all of her kids being spoiled ungrateful oblivious brats, though.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4.3 clips

roots

42

Waxing

 

Edited April 3, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S4.E4: DNA

Quote

Sam gives Phil a DNA test, catches something and releases on Max.

Promo:

Original air date: 3/19/20

[Lone Wolf]

Random observations:

I think Phil and the girls are pretty invested in, if not appreciative of, Sam's financial support.  Unless it had other meaning on which someone can enlighten me, that three-spits-on-their first-two-fingers ritual that they all did in the car after the airport pickup when Sam mentioned having her work. struck me as a superstitious your-mouth-to-God's-ear thing.

The two cooking sequences reminded me of a scene in the Louis CK show that used to be on FXX (and on which Adlon collaborated) in which Louie was making fried chicken for his daughters.  Similar editing with the quick cuts (and all three made me hungry for what they were making). 

Speaking of cars and other shows, anyone who's also following Curb Your Enthusiasm may have noticed that Sam was driving the same electric BMW that Larry David is this season.  Probably just me, but she kind of reminded me of him during the waxing sequence - she seems a little more verbose in general than I remember her being in past seasons, but especially during that scene.

 

 

[scrb]

Larry drove an BMW i4 in season 9 too since it was last year.

I think season 8 was several years before that, when the i4 wasn't on the market yet.

But Sam isn't keeping it anyways.

 

As for the cooking sequences?  Meh, whatever, she's gotten efficient at it.  They never depicted her as a foodie or a chef-wannabe.

I guess the point is she makes good food, still cooks for her daughters, as opposed to say let them charge it on her credit card, like they charge everything else.

Girls take Ubers so they can go out to eat or not try too hard to show up for meals.  So the fact that she's cooking a good quantity of food suggests the girls show up for meals, or maybe at least eat leftovers.

Who knows maybe she will host dinner parties regularly and her guests will rave about her food over and over again or something.  Sam lives out the House Hunters fantasy of entertaining all the time, yakking it up with guests because she has open concept floor plan, etc.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

What's the point of going through the dog poop? It's not like the fingertip could be reattached.

[heatherchandler]

On 3/6/2020 at 1:08 PM, scrb said:

 

 

I still scratch my head at the rave reviews this show has gotten.  It's okay, it's not some mindless broadcast network sitcom.  But are these characters and their lives interesting?

 

 

 

I loved this show at first, then by last season started to hate it.  I think I like it again, but they definitely need interesting things to happen!

 

On 3/9/2020 at 7:52 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 

A+ for using that old Kelly song. I still remember the video for Shoes. Sometimes when I'm shoe shopping, I still get the urge to start yelling, "These shoes rule! These shoes suck!"

Heh and the Molly Shannon shout out was funny.

 

 

OMG shoes

I missed the Molly Shannon shout out.

[scrb]

It’s a literal zoo in that house.

They don’t have enough animals so they capture an owl?

For a second Sam grew a spine but decided just to laugh off Max’s awfulness.

Is she ever going to earn enough as a restaurant hostess to leave home?  She doesn’t seem to have plans to find a better-paying job in the foreseeable future.

 

[Door County Cherry]

I'd like the fight she had with Max if I felt at any point Max would take her epiphany and treat her mother better but I'm not holding my breath. 

Don't get me wrong, I think an ebb and flow is realistic, it just makes for frustrating TV. 

[possibilities]

They didn't bleep "c***" and I didn't even notice until halfway through the scene.

I have a hand/thumb injury that isn't healing, so I was enthralled by Sam's hand plot, but it kind of didn't go anywhere. She seems to never show any signs of it, except in that one piano scene and during the doctor's exam.

They didn't capture the owl, it flew in and they brought it out and called the wildlife services. How it managed to get under the covers in Sam's bed, I don't know and it kind of freaks me out thinking that could happen. But I enjoyed getting to look at an owl in close up.

I honestly can't decide if I like this show or not. I absolutely hate how Sam parents (or doesn't). Duke is not bad, but the other kids are insufferable and Sam seems to think it's cute more than anything else. Even after she yelled at Max, she didn't seem to really mean it. It was just a momentary irritation?!

[sistermagpie]

10 hours ago, possibilities said:

I honestly can't decide if I like this show or not. I absolutely hate how Sam parents (or doesn't). Duke is not bad, but the other kids are insufferable and Sam seems to think it's cute more than anything else. Even after she yelled at Max, she didn't seem to really mean it. It was just a momentary irritation?!

I did like that correctly identified the kids as the c***, the asshole and the one who's great. And the kids knowing who was who.

I also liked Duke's hysterical laughter at her friend's injury, followed by her throwing up.

Totally bought Max's pov, as entitled as it was. Of course she'd have already adopted the "I'm the real working class because I have to stand on my feet while you Hollywood types just sit in a trailer!" and blaming Sam for not doing the laundry when Max thought she was doing a laundry. Also I like the details that Max is a pretty hostess and not a waitress, which at least to me seems like a much harder job.

[Liamsmom617]

So I am confused...did the owl bite the girl's fingertip off, or did she shut the car door on it or something? 

[sistermagpie]

21 minutes ago, Liamsmom617 said:

So I am confused...did the owl bite the girl's fingertip off, or did she shut the car door on it or something? 

Duke shut the car door on it.

[Liamsmom617]

On 3/12/2020 at 9:38 AM, One Imaginary Girl said:

One of the things I really appreciate about this show is the realism of Sam's home.  It's a little cluttered and messy, but that's to be expected when you have kids and the parent's job could mean very long days.  (Plus she's sandwiched between kids and her own mother, who needs to be looked after a bit.)  A lot of TV residences seem kind of sterile, but this house seems to have stuff in it that the family member likes and may have kept for sentimental reasons.   And I like the cooking scenes--most shows at most show people eating but not how the food got on the table, and it can be a pleasure to cook.  It looks like Sam enjoys it.

I am with you on the cooking scenes---I don't like to cook, but I like watching Sam do it! Ironically, though, while maybe cluttered, her house appears unrealistically clean to me. Though in S1 we did she that she had a woman, Esperanza, who came in a couple of times week to clean, so maybe that is why. 

42 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

Duke shut the car door on it.

 Thanks. That's what I thought....for some reason that is less horrific than if the owl had bitten it off.

[Lone Wolf]

Again with the spitting on the fingers.  Is that a real thing or a show thing?

I'm glad they finally addressed Sam's hand issue.  IIRC, she was wearing a more elaborate contraption in other seasons and we never knew what the problem was.

Good on Duke for handling the owl situation while everyone else was fumfering.

Good on the show for taking the power away from the c-word.

Good on "Jozay" (Phyllis) for having no problem with Frankie's proposed cultural appropriation.

 

[heatherchandler]

So, I’m still thinking about that cooking scene... when Sam was grilling the tomato, is that a thing people do?  I’ve never heard of that.

[possibilities]

I have heard of grilled tomatoes, and I've even tried it. It's not great, in my opinion. It's not horrible, but I think raw tomatoes are much tastier.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Max continues to be the worst. All of the girls are old enough that they should be doing their own laundry but Max especially. JFC. When I was 10, my parents told me that if I wanted clean clothes, I needed to put them in th washing machine. They said if I wanted unwrinkled clothes, I had to iron them myself. My parents did not have an in-house fluff and fold service. They did not wash all of my stuff, fold it, and put it in my drawers for me. I never minded doing my own laundry. My parents were just teaching me a basic life principle: be responsible for yourself and for your own stuff. Why should someone else wash, iron, and put away YOUR clothes?

I just rolled my eyes when Max told Sam to stop being so dramatic. This coming from someone who thinks that standing for a few hours a night is hard work. As for Max saying, "I can't believe I still have to put up with this bull shit," uhhh, no, you don't have to put up with the indignity of your mom not doing your laundry in the house where you pay no rent and get free food three times a day. Feel free to GTFO if you feel your life under Sam's roof is too rough for you. Maybe follow through on your previous threat from last season to live on the street and see how fun that is.

I was cheering when Sam finally stopped babying Max but I disagreed with Sam classifying Max cleaning up after herself as helping Sam. No, that's not helping. That's being a responsible person. Even CHILDREN learn how to clean up after themselves and her spoiled brat of a daughter is blaming her because she doesn't have a black dress to wear to work.

Like Max, I have two younger sisters. Helping with my sisters wasn't an option. It was expected. I didn't get paid or rewarded for it. That was just part of being the family, so Max saying it wasn't her job to help with Frankie and Duke just made me shake my head. Max has absolutely no responsibilities. She lives rent free in a really nice neighborhood and she doesn't lift a finger to take care of herself, let alone contribute to the household in any way (cooking, cleaning, taking out the garbage, paying for any expenses).

[TVbitch]

I thought Max wanted to be thought she was a photographer, has that been dropped?

The piano bit at the beginning went on too long.

Duke taking charge with the owl reminded me of when Christopher Reeve's character took charge when a bird got in the house while everyone else freaked out. Was that The Bulter or that one where he goes back in time and meets Jayne Semour? Anyway, the scene defined his character in the movie brilliantly and I thought they were doing the same for Duke. Then five minutes later she loses her shit when her friend is injured, so then I was like, huh?

Sam physically forcing Phil to spit was super uncomfortable. This season seems to be bits and bobs of things with little storyline.

[sistermagpie]

49 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

I thought Max wanted to be thought she was a photographer, has that been dropped?

I was really happy when she asked what she did and she said she was a hostess. I was worried they'd have her be supporting herself taking pictures after a few months but it seems like they're being more realistic. She probably ran through the few people she knew and friends of friends letting her take pictures of her and had nowhere to go from there.

49 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

The piano bit at the beginning went on too long.

Duke taking charge with the owl reminded me of when Christopher Reeve's character took charge when a bird got in the house while everyone else freaked out. Was that The Bulter or that one where he goes back in time and meets Jayne Semour? Anyway, the scene defined his character in the movie brilliantly and I thought they were doing the same for Duke. Then five minutes later she loses her shit when her friend is injured, so then I was like, huh?

 

I think Remains of the Day? That one ended with Anthony Hopkins' butler letting the bird out the window and Christopher Reeve was his boss.

I bought the thing with Duke. She's great with animals but sensitive--sudden, violent injuries overload her system, probably, especially because she's the one who hurt her friend by accident.

[TVbitch]

6 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

I think Remains of the Day?

THANK YOU

Yes, Remains of the Day. A pigeon flies down the chimney and everybody stands there ineffectually while Christopher Reeve steps by them, puts a towel over the bird and rescues it. --This had to be an omage to that. 

[heatherchandler]

7 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

I was really happy when she asked what she did and she said she was a hostess. I was worried they'd have her be supporting herself taking pictures after a few months but it seems like they're being more realistic. She probably ran through the few people she knew and friends of friends letting her take pictures of her and had nowhere to go from there.

 

Of course, in real life, Pamela Adlon's oldest daughter went to Columbia College in Chicago for a few months, then dropped out and moved back home, and was then cast as a lead in a major movie (Blockers).  I wonder if the show will reflect what really happened.

[sistermagpie]

18 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

Of course, in real life, Pamela Adlon's oldest daughter went to Columbia College in Chicago for a few months, then dropped out and moved back home, and was then cast as a lead in a major movie (Blockers).  I wonder if the show will reflect what really happened.

I hope not. I don't know everything about her life, but it seems like the real life daughter was maybe interested in acting all along and maybe already working before she went to college? (Of course her Mom's contacts would have helped a lot and Sam on the show doesn't seem to have the career that the real Adlon has, just similarities to it.)