Caemeron Crain
The following recap contains spoilers for Somebody Somewhere S3E2, “Dinky Dinkies” (written by Lisa Kron and directed by Robert Cohen)
Somebody Somewhere S3E2 begins at what I presume to be Catch Club, with Fred (Murray Hill), Susan (Jennifer Mudge), Joel (Jeff Hiller), and Brad (Tim Bagley) tossing a softball around on a field. Sam (Bridget Everett) arrives late and brings doughnuts. Susan isn’t happy about that (the doughnuts), as she feels Sam is tempting Fred to break his diet. I think that’s fair enough, but Susan kind of twists the knife with a comment about how Sam can live however she pleases, so long as she doesn’t bring Fred down with her. Ouch.
“Dinky Dinkies” circulates around how the relationships Fred and Joel have formed with Susan and Brad, respectively, have altered the dynamics of their friendships with Sam, and how Sam is experiencing that as a kind of threat. It’s not that Sam doesn’t like Susan, for example, but Susan is Sam’s friend’s wife and not Sam’s friend. There is a way in which Susan is separating Sam from her friend. And now something similar is happening with Joel, as he moves in with Brad.
Sam offers to help Joel pack, and while the two box up his things, Joel tells Sam that he’s given up on the idea of having children because that isn’t something that Brad will want to do. Brad already has kids, though they’re in their 30s by now and Joel has never met them. Sam worries about Joel giving up a goal that has been central to his vision board, but she also knows it isn’t her place to push too hard. If he’s OK with it, she is too. But a lot is changing, and it’s clear that Sam doesn’t care for it.
Meanwhile, Brad enlists Sam to help him compose a song expressing his love for Joel. He wants Sam to sing it, but she prods him to sing it himself. When the time comes—at Brad and Joel’s housewarming party—Brad can’t muster the courage to follow through. He shakes his head, so Sam says, “OK,” and sings the first verse. With the second, she gets Brad to take over.
This is, in my opinion, the best moment of the episode. It’s another instance of Somebody Somewhere making my eyes wet with joy, as Brad (who isn’t a very good singer) pours his heart out to the man he loves.
Sam sleeps on their couch because she’s drunk and wakes to a Brad who’s at the ready with coffee and breakfast. Brad is great, but he doesn’t get the joke involved in Sam giving the couple a Dutch oven. Joel, who quickly joins them, does, but Sam decides to leave to deal with her hangover, despite Joel’s protestations.
I think that has to do with Brad offering Sam money, because Joel has told him she’s missing the income she’d gotten from renting out Joel’s house. As “Dinky Dinkies” ends, Sam pulls into her credit union to check her balance and then pukes out the window of her truck. There’s a hangover at play here, sure, but also some good ol’ Midwestern shame.
See you next week.
