Caemeron Crain
The following recap contains spoilers for Somebody Somewhere S3E5, “Num Nums” (written by Lisa Kron and directed by Lennon Parham)
It’s Thanksgiving and Tricia (Mary Catherine Garrison) is upset that her daughter Shannon (Kailey Albus) has decided to spend the day with Rick (Danny McCarthy). She’s in a foul mood when Sam (Bridget Everett) arrives to pick her up, but it’s nice to see that break a bit as the sisters have Thanksgiving with Sam’s friends.
Joel (Jeff Hiller) and Brad (Tim Bagley) host the event, and we see how Brad has been making some compromises to make Joel more comfortable after their conversation in last week’s episode. They’ve gotten Joel’s piano back, for instance, and Brad lets Joel load the dishwasher.
During dinner, Susan (Jennifer Mudge) pries into Brad’s life history after she and Fred (Murray Hill) learn that Brad has a couple of grown sons. Brad is as gracious as ever as he explains how he married his best friend right out of high school and repressed his sexuality for a long time, but man if Susan isn’t kind of the worst throughout this interaction. I don’t know how estranged Brad is from his sons, or to what extent it’s true that he just doesn’t see them often because they’re busy with their own children, but it’s Thanksgiving and they aren’t there. It’s just rude how Susan pushes so hard for details. Don’t be like Susan.
Thankfully, none of this ruins the holiday. The group manages to restore a joyful vibe. Tricia gets very drunk and expresses genuine thanks for being included. There aren’t a ton of Thanksgiving-themed TV episodes, and it’s a common trope for Thanksgiving stories to involve conflict and/or disaster, so it’s nice (and fitting) to get one from Somebody Somewhere.
Once they leave, Tricia passes out in the passenger seat of her Escalade, and Sam decides to take some leftover turkey to Iceland (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson). Awkward romantic sparks fly as Sam asks Iceland if he ever drinks beer with anyone other than Jerry (Gary Houston), and he says that he doesn’t. So, Sam says she was just curious and leaves.
Back on the road, Sam cries a little and tries to call her dad, but his voicemail box is full. Tricia remains passed out. Sam takes her home, gets her tucked into bed, and, on request, sings to her. The song is “I’ve Never Been to Me” by Charlene, if you’re curious.
When Sam returns home the next morning, she finds Iceland waiting for her. He’s been wondering if she meant to be asking him if he’d like to drink beer with her, and they make indeterminate plans for a date. She’s off to Catch Club, so he’s going to call her. Hurray!
There are some signs in Somebody Somewhere S3E5 that Joel may be unhappy. On the night of Thanksgiving, after Brad goes to bed, Joel opens the gift that Sam brought him. It’s a picture of the two of them, along with some magnets depicting stick figures engaged in sex acts. Joel uses one of them to put the photo on the fridge, but then he starts crying for no apparent reason.
I don’t think it’s because of how Brad will likely react to the magnet, though that may feed into the moment. We know that Joel has wanted to have children, and that he’s given this goal up because Brad wouldn’t want to do that at this point in his life. Sam tells Joel earlier in the episode that she’s come to understand Joel’s decision, but I think this is why Joel cries.
He attempts to shake it off, of course, but I wonder if Joel is going to second guess his decision to build a life with Brad in the coming episodes. It would be a bummer if they broke up, but I could see a way where it would parallel the story Brad tells about loving his ex-wife but getting divorced because he needed to be true to himself. At least I think Joel feels that resonance and that’s why he cries.
See you next week.
