What I’m Watching: Better Things

Better Things: Season 2, Episode 7 “Blackout” (B+)

I liked this episode a lot, since it featured a minor catastrophe and Sam’s typically casual reaction to it, followed by some unexpected intimacy that didn’t go as anyone planned. After Frankie tricked her mom into throwing her phone in the sink so that she’d have to buy her a new one, making smoothies and watching TV were suddenly off the table thanks to a power outage. The way that Sam speaks to her daughters isn’t entirely her own fault – they do make some dramatic accusations. Max seemed to think it was a nuclear strike and they were all going to die, and Frankie was preoccupied with Sam saying they weren’t going to die and then it coming true anyway, while Duke was as usual the most relaxed of the three. After Sam left with Jeff, the conversation took a more mature direction, with Jeff summing up that the worst part about divorce was being asked about it all the time when Sam wasn’t at all interested in talking about Xander and his relationship with his daughters. Running into Robin at the hardware store was extremely awkward, particularly because Sam didn’t bother to clarify that she wasn’t dating Jeff. When he made a move in the car, Sam had quite the reaction, repeating “no” over and over while holding her hand over his mouth until he came out with a poorly thought-out “Well…” and then proceeded to say some rather blunt and vile things that made her laugh to think that she even considered something happening between them. “I think that we should bone mainly because I really want to bone you right now” was the truly classic and memorable line of the hour.