Take Three: SMILF

SMILF: Season 1, Episode 3 “Half a Sheet Cake and a Blue-Raspberry Slushie” (B+)

I’m still not sure exactly where this show is headed, but its characters are very interesting and seem to be doing a solid enough job of steering the ship thus far. This show has started employing a device where Bridgette imagines a situation playing out one way and spends a few moments in her head with men and women alike lining up to give her sexual pleasure or dancing with a man she just met in a supermarket. It’s moderately effective, most so as an indicator of the creativity that lies within Bridgette, who up until now has utilized most of that energy writing papers for teenagers she tutors. She hasn’t made much of her life, befriending and smoking pot with the landlord’s son but still responsible for her rent, and she doesn’t have many actual job prospects since she wants to bring her son along with her. I enjoyed seeing Nelson, her roommate, Rafi, and Bridgette just chatting in the apartment, and it’s nice that there isn’t any true bad blood in that group, just honesty. What we did get was a hint of romance with the man who wanted to pay Bridgette just to meet her, but then went downhill immediately when she responded in exactly the right way to an unwanted, nonconsensual move on his part that echoes much of what has been making news headlines recently. Opening the episode with the PTSD photo shoot, the eating porn, and Nelson interviewing a sexist sports star showed this series’ surprising depth and potential to be great as it establishes itself.