More ‘Better’ Pamela Adlon is back with Season 4 of ‘Better Things’ on FX

By Sachi Kameishi TV Media

When asked about “Better Things,” a show she not only created but runs, writes, produces, directs and stars in, Pamela Adlon (“Californication”) had this to say:

“My life has changed exponentially because of this show. It’s not just another job for me, it has completely cracked open my whole life.”

Adlon has been knee-deep in the television industry since her mid-20s. You’ve almost definitely heard her iconic voice in “King of the Hill” (as Bobby) or “Recess” (as Spinelli), and you may have seen her in Showtime’s “Californication” or FX’s “Louie.” It was the latter that provided her with the big break she had been waiting for: The series and her work with controversial comedian Louis C.K. showcased Adlon’s writing, acting and producing talents, and soon FX gave Adlon her very own TV show.

“Better Things” is an off-beat, unfiltered look at the life of a struggling actor and mom, and it often feels like the very best of what television has to offer. The show has received massive critical acclaim, and Adlon’s writing and acting has never been better. In other words, it’s been a long road for Adlon, but it’s been worth it. The highly anticipated fourth season premieres Thursday, March 5, on FX.

One need only take a look at the premise of the series to understand the intimate investment Adlon has made in every aspect of its narrative. She plays the lead character, Sam Fox, an actress and acting coach who is struggling to find a way to make it in Hollywood now that she’s reached middle age. On top of her professional woes, Sam deals with all the major challenges of being a single mother to her three daughters. Those daughters are Frankie (Hannah Alligood, “Miracles from Heaven,” 2016), Max (Mikey Madison, “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood,” 2019) and Duke (Olivia Edward, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”), and all three steal every scene they’re in. Sam has her gay best friend, Rich (Diedrich Bader, “American Housewife”), to rely on, as well as her very British mother, Phyllis (Celia Imrie, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” 2011), who is both encouraging and emotionally draining.

Adlon is, herself, a veteran actor and the main parent to three daughters the same ages as those in the show, and she has a very English mother who lives right next door to her. As you can see, this series is a very personal project. “You write what you know,” is the adage that comes to mind. In the hands of a lesser writer or less courageous showrunner, this kind of personal material could come across trite or maudlin with toospecific storylines or unrelatable slice-of-life moments.

But Adlon’s take on her own life is spectacular. She is unflinching, and gives us heart-wrenching, relatable moments such as one in the third season when Sam is at the height of a meltdown driven by anger at her absent ex-husband, disturbing dreams, extreme parental frustration and the consuming, overall exhaustion of growing old. Sam says, “It’s a lot. And some mornings I just lay in bed in my room and I stare at the ceiling and I say, ‘I just can’t do it anymore, I just can’t, I just can’t, I just can’t, I can’t, I can’t.’” It’s the kind of low point many of us reach (or will reach) in our lives, and it’s somehow comforting to see it on TV.

“Better Things” is more articulate than most shows and portrays painful, universal situations in a way that never lets the characters off the hook, but it infuses even the darkest moments with humor. The show has spent three seasons covering issues like aging, sexual identity, gaslighting and the horrific things mothers and daughters say to each other in anger — all this would be at home in a heavy drama, but Adlon infuses each scene with almost radical empathy and love. Add her dark humor to the mix, and you have one captivating series.

The Season 3 finale was set on Sam’s 50th birthday, the event that had loomed over the characters for a while now. Sam hit the dreaded milestone in the midst of a storm of complications that included an attraction to her therapist, menopause, a fallout with her eldest daughter and her ongoing haunting by her late father. Oh, and her father died when he was 50.

As she is blowing out her cake’s candles, with only two of her three children present for her, her father’s ghost congratulates her. “You made it,” he says. “Now what are you going to do?”

Tune in to find the answer and watch as Sam’s midlife crisis be- gins to unfold in the premiere of the fourth season of “Better Things,” airing Thursday, March 5, on FX.

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Director:MelinaMatsoukas.Stars:

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BokeemWoodbine,ChloëSevigny, Flea,SturgillSimpson,Indya Moore,BenitoMartinez,Jahi Di’AlloWinston.2019.132min.

Drama.

Dark Waters

When a local farmer asks corporate lawyer Robert Bilott (Ruffalo) to in vestigate a number of unexplained deaths linked to the DuPont chemi cal company in West Virginia, he reluctantly accepts, despite being employed by large corporations himself. Examining the claims as a courtesy, Bilott soon realizes that the chemicals produced by the company have not only infiltrated every home in the small West Virginia town, but possibly America.

Director:ToddHaynes.Stars:Mark Ruffalo,AnneHathaway,TimRobbins,BillPullman,BillCamp,Victor Garber,MareWinningham,Wil- liamJacksonHarper,Louisa Krause.2019.126min.Biography.

Playmobil: The Movie

Magically transported into the animated world of Playmobil after the death of their parents, siblings Marla (Taylor-Joy) and Charlie (Bateman) find themselves in the midst of an animated Viking battle. When Charlie is captured and taken away by rowdy pirates, Marla enlists the help of food truck driver

Del (Gaffigan) and secret agent Rex Dasher (Radcliffe) to help locate her beloved brother. After Charlie falls into the clutches of the tyrannical Emperor Maximus (Lambert), Marla and her new friends must work together to bring down the evil ruler and save her brother.

Director:LinoDiSalvo.Stars:Anya Taylor-Joy,GabrielBateman,Jim Gaffigan,DanielRadcliffe, MeghanTrainor,AdamLambert. 2019.99min.Animation.

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