DIE!" embraces her mom one last time, and then promptly passes out. This goes on for several seconds – in between Max giving the side of Sam's face a big, long lick because, well, she's very wasted – until the drunken daughter finally blubbers: "DO. Listen to me, I would DIE if you died, mom, I would KILL MYSELF!" Suddenly, Max grabs Sam's face intensely, and blurts, "Mom! I love you SO MUCH!. Max crawls onto Sam's bed rattling off nonsensical ramblings, and embraces her puzzled mom, rubbing her hands all over Sam's head. One scene in particular feels like a direct callback to "Eulogy." In "Family Meeting," Sam is bombarded by Max, who comes home extremely inebriated after a night hanging out with her friends. "Eulogy" and other episodes from throughout the show's run reverberate intensely as transition and death become even more pronounced themes throughout Season 5: Sam and her brother Marion (Kevin Pollak) clash over finances and what to do about their aging mother Phil (Celia Imrie) Sam and Frankie tour the Hollywood Forever cemetery and discuss Frankie's nonbinary identity the Foxes attend a Zoom funeral for a family member Duke, now fully in that horrible phase of life known as tweendom, wrestles with not "feel connected to anything." Rich (Diedrich Bader), Sam (Adlon), and Max (Madison) in Better Things. The whole thing is morbid yet warm, just one example of how the various identities and generations within the Fox family butt up against one another, but always manage to come together on their own terms, eventually. she's my mother!" Max indignantly pronounces. "I was always proud of her and never told her," Frankie admits "I never cared about what she did because she was mom. Max and Frankie's remembrances are loving yet honest and true to their personalities. (The scenario they've concocted for their demise: a car accident, while en route to pick up Frankie.)įor a show awash with moving and heartfelt moments, this one is way up there. They've surprised her with a "funeral," and she and Duke lay on the bed as everyone else takes turns eulogizing her.
When Sam returns sometime later, the living room has been turned into a memorial of sorts, with candles everywhere and a bed of pillows in the center of the room. Pop Culture Happy Hour The tension between fear and relief in Jerrod Carmichael's new special, 'Rothaniel' I believe most of us crave a Sam in our lives, if we don't have one already. Sam is a hub, the kind of person who serves as the central link for a wide and diverse network of family and friends, a woman who values and nurtures her connections by showing up for them and creating a home where they can all comfortably converge. It was the kind of show you put on not knowing exactly what you were going to get – more mood-forward than plot-driven – but understanding by the end you were going to come away feeling a little bit closer to Sam and her world, as though they were a part of your own. Over five seasons, it never failed to make me feel something, anything, during the course of an episode: mirth, empathy, embarrassment, sadness, introspection, catharsis, hope, a glass cage of emotion. It's extremely difficult for me to land on a favorite episode of FX's Better Things, co-creator and star Pamela Adlon's semi-autobiographical dramedy about Sam Fox, a single mom and working actress living in L.A. This article contains spoilers for Season 5 of Better Things.
Max (Mikey Madison), Sam (Pamela Adlon), Frankie (Hannah Riley), and Duke (Olivia Edwards) in Season 5 of Better Things.