What I’m Watching: Better Things

Better Things: Season 3, Episode 4 “Monsters in the Moonlight” (B+)

It’s episodes like this that remind me of why I do like watching this show and why its star Pamela Adlon truly does deserve the Emmy nominations she’s been getting for her work. I always think she’s great, but then there are half-hours like this. Hallucinating her dead father telling her that it wasn’t worth it to make a fuss before she did just that was emblematic not of her not having a right to speak up but instead that she should have known it wouldn’t do anything. It was quite a speech, but Nikki laughing off her very honest comment about her promiscuity was a sign that no one even bothered to listen to her or cared. The other guy who did speak up was similarly ignored, and his contribution didn’t help much anyway. I enjoyed the opening scene with Frankie driving poorly and then storming out of the car, only to get even more furious that Sam was more than willing to let Duke have a chance to steer and do donuts in the parking lot. Max showing up at the end of the episode was the last straw, and of course she pulled the card that her mom wasn’t acting happy to see her when it realty was what Sam always knew and feared would happen. Max has never been particularly ambitious, and giving up on her higher education so early on is hardly surprising. Having a self-professed adult with minimal motivation living under her roof is going to be a major headache for the already-rattled Sam, whose dreams of her ex are proving both particularly steamy and disturbing.