<i>Better Things</i>’s ‘Eulogy’ Is One of the Best TV Episodes of the Year
It’s a testament to the particular counterintuitive genius of Better Things that when the FX show dedicated an episode to Sam’s pride in her career as an actress, it included a sequence in which she participated in one of the most ridiculous car-commercial shoots of all time. (Can I drive now?)
“Eulogy,” the sixth episode of s second season, is one of the weirdest, loveliest, and most inspired half-hours of television to air this year. Pamela Adlon’s show has always observed the intersection of motherhood and work—Sam (like Adlon, who plays her) is a working actress, with has really considered her pridein her job, and the fulfillment it brings her. In the face of her daughters’ characteristically snotty reaction when one of her old shows came on the air, Sam demanded some recognition. The result was a parenting moment that encapsulated ’s ability to be strange and sardonic, and to punch viewers in the gut when they’re least expecting it.
