Television has long loved the "single mother trying to keep her family and life together" motif. Shows such as honest depictions of single motherhood. Through comedy mixed with dramatic episodes, these shows broke TV taboos and showed that it was possible, though not always easy, for a woman to raise her children on her own.
Pamela Adlon has become one of the latest actresses to create a critically acclaimed show surrounding a single mom and her three daughters. Based on her own life, Better Things was created by Adlon and her friend Louis C.K. and has delighted audiences with frank and funny episodes over four seasons. Here are 10 of the finest.
White Rock: Season 2, Episode 9
Pamela Adlon's Sam and her three daughters (Max, Frankie, and Duke) take a trip to visit family in Canada. This episode takes on subtle undertones of each family member through stories of an Aunt they barely knew. The episode and all it takes on is in the same dramatic universe as the film Little Fires Everywhere.
For the first time, viewers get a good insight into young Duke's thought process and how she sees the world. It is an important episode for those who follow Sam and her daughters and is done with a mellow and soulful tone and a patient script.
Sick: Season 2, Episode 4
The premise is simple. Sam gets sick and the girls have to take on more responsibility. Sam's mother Phyllis tries to help and does for the most part but Phyllis is more of an annoyance than a big help.
The episode takes on resentment and selfishness and gives an inside look at how teens and pre-teens learn a bit of self-awareness regarding their home life and how they see and value their parents.
Shake The Cocktail: Season 3, Episode 12
Oldest daughter Frankie decides to leave home and live on her own after feeling that she is being stifled by living with her mom and sisters. Sam has a tough time dealing with this and the two argue big time over the decision.
Sam begins to question many parenting decisions regarding all three of her daughters, second-guessing herself on many issues. Adlon wrote the script, as she does most of the show's scripts, and brought some serious issues to the audience yet refused to wrap everything up in a nice bow by episode's end. The episode hits home form anyone who has ever questioned their own parenting choices.
She's Fifty: Season 4, Episode 2
The writing on this episode is rather perfect as we find Sam examining where she has landed career-wise. After the humiliation of having to audition for a role that she made famous in the first place, Sam goes on an inner journey of career-path madness, as she realizes people have furthered their careers as hers seems to have stayed dormant for too long.
Proving herself an amazing mom, Sam struggles to find her self-worth but realizes she has given life to three headstrong daughters that, as Sam realizes, are the true wealth of her life.
Listen To The Roosters: Season 4, Episode 10
For the first time, Adlon addresses the audience before the episode begins, letting viewers know that this was going to be her personal tribute to Los Angeles, the city she loves. Music is used brilliantly in this episode, as Sam and her daughters traverse their daily issues but this time, on even deeper levels. By the time we hear R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming" over the imagery of Sam's three daughters playing at the beach and then breaking the fourth wall by looking at the audience, the episode has found its own form of grace.
There are moments where the episode rises to the level of Art and resembles the purity of a film such as of Endearment regarding its potency in the depiction of mother/daughter relationships.
Woman Is The Something Of The Something: Season 1, Episode 4
Sam is concerned about ageing and wanting to look her best. Plastic surgery goes against everything she believes in but after noticing her backside is sagging and lines around her eyes, Sam makes an appointment to visit a plastic surgeon.
This episode gets to the heart of ageing for women and whether or not they let themselves become influenced by the world around them and its definition of beauty. Adlon shines as always as a modern woman facing the timeless issues that many women face later in life.
Only Women Bleed: Season 1, Episode 10
What starts as a run of the mill day with Sam getting her girls off to school, becomes a mini-power play and an episode of revelations. Sam has a busy workday on the set of a film but Duke is sick and there is no one to watch her. Frankie gets sent home from school and it is revealed that she is having issues with fellow students and her own identity as a young woman.
This is an episode of slow reveals that examines the all-encoming power of parental responsibility. If any episode can be compared to Ron Howard's film Parenthood, this would be the one. This is quite the compliment, as that film was one of Ron Howard's strongest works.
Batceañera: Season 4, Episode 9
Frankie's Bat Mitzvah is coming up but she becomes enamored with the quinceanera and decides to have both. Sam is a bit confused but comes around after a heart to heart with her daughter.
The episode has a wistful style that comes together by the end where most of the show's entire cast is reunited at the party, each one dealing with the difference between cultural appropriation and embracing the ways of other cultures in respectful ways.
Graduation: Season 2, Episode 10
Oldest daughter Max is graduating High School and wants her estranged father to come to the party. Sam is against this but realizes she cannot refuse the request. In the craziness of it all, Sam forgets to get Max a present which leads to some powerful revelations between the two.
Extremely funny and very poignant, this episode holds some of the harshest truths for its characters and masterfully sets up the seasons by moving each of the daughters a bit closer to their emotional independence. Intentional or not, the conversations between Sam and Max have a quality reminiscent of the teenage films from John Hughes.
Eulogy: Season 2, Episode 6
Needing to understand how she is seen by her daughters and friends, as recent events have made her feel underappreciated, Sam has her friends and family write a personal eulogy so she can experience how they truly feel about her.
The episode is deeply personal and quite moving. It is a piece about pride and we see this examined through Sam's current gig as an acting teacher and how she relates her own experiences with her daughters to her class. There are laughs, there is anger, tears, and love. As the show teaches us, such is life.