Bridget Everett (III)

"Somebody Somewhere" is three for three this season; this past Sunday was about fear.

Sam begins voice lessons, and she makes seemingly casual references to her "heavy voice" and "all the work I need to do." It turns out that, as a teen, Sam had heard these slightly nasty remarks from her teacher -- and she took them to be the gospel truth. In fact, the teacher might have been having a bad day -- or the teacher might have been simply wrong. But Sam had wanted a reason to shoot herself in the foot -- and she seized on the deadly thing that the teacher had offered to her.

In a parallel story, Joel worries that he can't attend a friend's wedding because he no longer gets along with God. And his friend has the correct response: "I need you there; it's about you and me. We'll leave the God stuff for later."

These neurotic, shy people speak my language. Also, I'm so interested in Sam's mom -- who cannot remain in the nursing home, and also cannot exist comfortably anywhere else on Earth. The brutal scene in the nursing home dovetails nicely with wine-drinking in the parking lot; a nurse walks by and says, "Morning, ladies. I'm headed out for my own bottle of pinot -- right now."

I'm really moved by Sam -- and I'll follow her anywhere.

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