S01.E03: Brown

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Sam brings home a colleague for dinner.

[auntiemel]

This episode was so melancholy, but so good!!!

[BingeyKohan]

This show is not lighting the boards on fire but I do love it. I guess there's not that much to parse ("slight" is what you'd call it if were a short atmospheric novel), but this depiction of Sam's chill nature in the midst of a somewhat unkempt life is very romantic to me. (Think of her living room compared to the anti-septic ones on Modern Family! It's interesting, in fact, that even though her home presumably cost much more it isn't that much better appointed or kept than the family's home on The Middle. Though Sam has nice, eclectic taste in art, or at least painter friends who give her stuff to hang.) 

I've seen some commenters (not necessarily here) talk about how monstrous her children seem - aren't they just normal? I don't have children but remember being one and I don't think any of our babysitters were delighted with us, either. I also thought it was sly of the script to sneak in a moment that challenges us to see if we feel differently about Sam seeing her show no interest in refuting her friend's husband's taunt that she 'sucked a lot of dicks' to get where she was. Clearly he's a weasel and (behaving perfectly in character) Sam gives that kind of shaming no power whatsoever. But I wondered if beyond being commentary on the misogyny of a man who think he's punching down when he's really punching up, it was also a challenge to us: So what if she did, because she wanted to, not because it benefited her professionally? Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and the dick (on the couch) is just a dick.

[DrivingSideways]

I love this show and this was a great episode.  However, I didn't understand the part with the mom.  Surely Sam would know if her mom were capable of throwing out the N word randomly.  

Sam's kids were better this episode but in previous episodes they've been absolute monsters.

[Jade Foxx]

LENNY MUTHAFUCKIN KRAVITZ. 

That's all I needed. 

[scrb]

Dos with the Duchovny cameo, they were diming an ep. of Californication right?

That is Kravitz?  He's barely taller than Adlon, who's a smurfette.

Edited September 24, 2016 by scrb

[Hecate7]

21 hours ago, DrivingSideways said:

I love this show and this was a great episode.  However, I didn't understand the part with the mom.  Surely Sam would know if her mom were capable of throwing out the N word randomly.  

Sam's kids were better this episode but in previous episodes they've been absolute monsters.

What it brought out to me, is that white people don't know how black people are treated, unless they are standing next to one at the time stuff's going down. Just as men don't know how women are treated online, etc... You think you know someone, but you really have no way of knowing how they treat people black people until you're in a room with them and a black person, and can observe firsthand. Sam was wrong, and her director friend Mel was right. Mel had a reason to know what to expect in that situation. Sam did not. She did what people usually do, though, and said "Hey, I KNOW my Mom."

Sam's Mom didn't trot out the N word randomly, and wasn't in the habit of doing so. What she did was tell the story about how she insisted on buying a brand of hose that had the N word in its very name, as if it were an example of how black people sometimes infringe on white peoples' rights. She's not a bigot, she's ignorant. As Mel said, she's 70. Sam would have boycotted the hose, or asked why on earth the store carried a product with that name on the cover. And she'd have apologized to the salesgirl for that label even being on the hose, even though she didn't put it there.

Sam apparently hasn't had a black male boyfriend before, or at least, not one that her mother knew about.

Edited September 25, 2016 by Hecate7

[tennisgurl]

Hi there Lenny! And a wild David Duchovny appears! I kind of wonder if they are going to do an Extras thing were Sam runs into celebrities playing ridiculous versions of themselves. 

I liked this one too, and I hope Lenny comes back again, I liked him and Sam. I buy the stuff with the mom, and both Mel and Sams reactions. Sure, Sams mom might not be a hateful bigot, but she is an over 70 year old white lady, who think a story like that is just the right and appropriate story to tell when her daughter brings a black guy home for dinner. Maybe, as Mel said, if she had told her in advance, she wouldn't have said all that. Or maybe she would have. But Mel took that whole incident super well. 

The kids were still bratty, but at least a more realistic bratty. They seemed like normal mouthy teens, not demonic spawns from hell. 

[Bcharmer]

Yeah, the kids were more tolerable this episode, which gives me hope. I loved Mel. Can he be MY boyfriend?  I also hope we get to see more cameos of actors playing themselves, like with DD.  That makes it fun.  So far, this is becoming my favorite new comedy.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

The middle child, Frankie, has some sort of OCD, which I'm guessing will become a major plot point eventually.  In the second episode she had to say her teacher's name a certain number of times and in this episode the hand slaps with Mel had to be an even number.  Keeping those compulsions from dominating her life must take a lot of energy.

[Jade Foxx]

On September 26, 2016 at 9:03 AM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

The middle child, Frankie, has some sort of OCD, which I'm guessing will become a major plot point eventually.  In the second episode she had to say her teacher's name a certain number of times and in this episode the hand slaps with Mel had to be an even number.  Keeping those compulsions from dominating her life must take a lot of energy.

I noticed it. Question is, is Sam aware, or simply thinks it's a cute "quirk" her daughter has?

Mine started in childhood, though I kept my "rituals" internal. It's a beast to go undiagnosed until adulthood.  Interested to see where this goes. 

[DoubleUTeeEff]

On 9/24/2016 at 9:15 PM, Hecate7 said:

Sam's Mom didn't trot out the N word randomly, and wasn't in the habit of doing so. What she did was tell the story about how she insisted on buying a brand of hose that had the N word in its very name, as if it were an example of how black people sometimes infringe on white peoples' rights. She's not a bigot, she's ignorant. As Mel said, she's 70. Sam would have boycotted the hose, or asked why on earth the store carried a product with that name on the cover. And she'd have apologized to the salesgirl for that label even being on the hose, even though she didn't put it there.

Since the other two colors of hose were "nude" and "white" she could have just said "brown"!  

I think this episode is where the show started getting better.  I didn't like the first two episodes so much but starting with this one I think it has potential.

[Hecate7]

On 10/21/2016 at 0:27 PM, DoubleUTeeEff said:

Since the other two colors of hose were "nude" and "white" she could have just said "brown"!  

I think this episode is where the show started getting better.  I didn't like the first two episodes so much but starting with this one I think it has potential.

Good point!

[chocolatine]

I just started watching the show on demand, and I really like it. The daughters annoy me sometimes - even cutesy Duke because you just know she'll turn into a monster like the other two eventually - but I love Sam in her work scenes. I was *really* disappointed she didn't get to have hot sex with Lenny in this episode; they both deserved to have some fun after that awkward dinner. I hope they get another opportunity this season.

On 9/24/2016 at 0:04 AM, scrb said:

That is Kravitz?  He's barely taller than Adlon, who's a smurfette.

I saw him in concert years ago, and yes, he's surprisingly short in person. Still very sexy though :)

Edited November 17, 2016 by chocolatine

[ProudMary]

I'm currently binge watching all the episodes on demand as I was reading a year-end entertainment review that had "Better Things" as one to watch.  I wasn't particularly impressed with the pilot or the second episode but I figured I'd give the show at least 3 eps. to find its stride.  And with this episode, I believe it has. Glad I stuck it out.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I found Sam's mother obnoxiously self absorbed and annoying in the previous episode but during this episode I was probably making the same faces that everyone else around the table was making (I think Frankie's WTF face may have been the closest to what my face looked like during that pantyhose/N word soliloquy). Just wow. But also not surprising.

I noticed Frankie's OCD in the previous episode when she repeated her teacher's name several times but it was even more obvious this week. I hope that Sam notices soon and gets her a good therapist.

Sunny's husband is a piece of work so I loved that Sam called him out on his shit and then dismissed him when he tried to slut shame her. However many dicks she has sucked has nothing to do with the fact that Jeff is a shitty person.

Edited October 21, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo