Ready your tissues for the final season of Somebody Somewhere
Somebody Somewhere
★★★★★
Binge, from October 28
If I hadn’t heard of it and someone loosely described Somebody Somewhere, I’d probably say it doesn’t sound like my cup of tea: a woman returns to her Midwest hometown where she befriends some wholesome church-going folk, there’s little in the way of a propulsive plot, and there are some terribly earnest interactions.
But this incredible series – all small moments and large character studies – is one of the best American shows in years. And I’m bereft now that I’ve finished this third and final season.
Joel (Jeff Hiller) and Sam (Bridget Everett) in the final season of Somebody Somewhere.Credit: Binge
Written by actors Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen as a vehicle for comedian and cabaret performer Bridget Everett, the story is loosely autobiographical. Everett (also a writer) is fortysomething Sam, who returns to her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas (Everett’s real-life hometown) to care for her dying sister after more than a decade in another state. The first season saw Sam grappling with grief, her mother’s alcoholism, and a sense that she had nothing to show for her years away.
She stayed in Manhattan merely because she didn’t have a reason to leave, but after she was befriended by Joel (comedian/actor Jeff Hiller), a gay Christian man who had admired her in their high school choir – and who Sam doesn’t even remember – she began, slowly, to feel a sense of belonging. Despite her cynicism and his upbeat sincerity, they formed a strong bond, especially once Joel introduced Sam to a LGBTQ singing group at his church, reigniting her love of singing.
Joel (Jeff Hiller, right) moves in with boyfriend Brad (Tim Bagley) in this final season.Credit: Binge
Their joyous friendship has always been the heart of Somebody Somewhere, even if, in the last season, Sam is enraged when Joel finds love with older man Brad (Tim Bagley). Partly she is mad at herself, as she has been in one sense or another since the beginning.
There’s an undercurrent of melancholy throughout, but Somebody Somewhere is also incredibly warm and very funny. And why is it so surprising to see middle-aged characters who look like real people? Its pace is also unlike most television drama. Characters hang out at home, drive to places in real time, gossip, go to Bible study – the stakes are, in the traditional dramatic sense, low.
It’s also a celebration of the kind of setting – a conservative rural town – we’re more accustomed to seeing characters escape from, rather than lean into. Joel and his mostly queer friends, led by the perpetually upbeat Fred Rococo (drag king Murray Hill), a trans agriculture professor, have created a community into which Sam, despite her reticence, is wholeheartedly welcomed.
This season is about change: Sam has a job at a bar, and her friendship with her sister Tricia (Mary Catherine Garrison) is thriving. Fred has married Susie (Jennifer Mudge), and with Sam’s parents living in another state, the family farm has been rented out to a man she and Tricia call simply “Iceland” (Olafur Darri Olafsson), as he’s Icelandic. Then Joel announces that he’s moving in with Brad, and it feels like a final straw for Sam; her loneliness threatens to overwhelm her.
But at a Thanksgiving gathering, she has a quiet epiphany (nothing happens loudly in this show), and by the final episode – which I won’t spoil – Sam accepts her vulnerability, and opens herself up to taking risks. Nothing is wrapped up neatly – Somebody Somewhere is far too naturalistic for that – but it’s an ending that fans of Everett’s funny, infuriating and nuanced character will love. Ready your tissues.
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